: Why She Did It

Micheal didn't move seeing her cough up a large clot of blood. She emotionlessly whipped her lips as it smeared across her face and she gazed at him.

He noticed the emotions that threaten to escape but she was suppressing them to such a degree that it exploded.

He only sneered. "How could you not regret what you did?"

His voice had turned cold. The sorrow was gone as all that was left was biting rage as he condescendingly stared down at her.

Kayda swallowed back the rest of the blood stuck in her throat. She heaved a sigh. "She had the Angor plague, Micheal."

When her words hit Micheal, his face twisted and his head raised in shock.

He could only stutter before he could get a word out. "What?"

Kayda, weakly stood up. She was covered in dirt and that was when Micheal finally noticed something wrong with Kayda.

She had gotten thinner. She was thin before but now she looked like a skeleton. And when he looked at her standing before him, his eyes shook even more.

"Kayda." His voice was amongst the definition of a whisper. "Your wings."

Kayda sadly smiled. When he had last seen her, she was still slightly new to the underground world. But now? They were all grown up and had their own scars to nurse.

Looking behind her, she seemed to be looking at a phantom. "I like to think that maybe this could make up for what I have done, but even then, it still hurts."

Micheal stood up. His eyes were complex and deep. His face changing through each emotion quickly like slides.

"Kayda." He muttered. He looked at her. His eyes now focused. "What happe-"

"Miss Kayda?"

Both Micheal and Kayda turned around to see butler Stevens standing in an archway leading into the courtyard.

Butler Stevens was just on his way to deliver the medication prescribed by Dr. Myer to Kayda. He felt a bit anxious as when he left the room, Dr Myer was fuming. He didn't know how long his lord's temper could last before she ended up getting herself into a situation that she would regret severely.

But when he was called back in there, his lord seemed calm. Not at all at the end of his patience. But the next instructions he was given made him feel a little lost for words.

As he was lost in thought while traveling to miss Kayda's room, he had heard a ruckus. He wasn't concerned at first. He knew the knights of the manor would sometimes lawlessly breach the rules and cut through courtyards to get to places faster.

Before, if this had happened, he wouldn't have minded as much as the manor only had a few residents that lived here, but now, miss Kayda was staying in one of the rooms that overlooked that courtyard.

As a guest, the hosts had the responsibility to ensure that they are not desturbed.

Butler Steven frowned as he made his way over to the courtyard. He could hear voices at a distance, but as he came closer, one of the voices started to sound strangely familiar.

When he had made it to the courtyard's entrance, the first thing his sight landed on was the unsightly appearance of miss Kayda covered in dirt with blood traced from the corner of her mouth.

"Miss Kayda?"

The two main people involved in the ruckus were surprised by his voice as they turned to look at him.

Observing a bit more, his eyes completely took in the knight standing in front of her, a sword laying on the ground, and obvious traces of a sprawl.

Butler Stevens' face darkened a considerable degree. It was obvious that he had been angered.

"Miss Kayda, if you don't mind, I would like to politely ask this knight to explain the situation I see before me right now."

Kayda stumbled in her thoughts for a moment. She took a glance at Micheal. He was frozen in surprise and shock. Then she took a glance at butler Stevens. His face continued to darken every second there wasn't a reply.

Before the silence could delay on any further, she stepped forward. "Butler Stevens." She called.

Her calm and raspy voice caught butler Stevens attention as he turned his once dark face to her.

She took in a breath. "I was admiring the birds when I had pressed up hard against the window. I ended up hurting myself and catching this knight off guard. I surprised him when he was just doing his duty. I apologize for this misunderstanding."

She had her head bowed in apology. Micheal could not get a single word passed his tied tongue and his dum struck brain.

Once butler Stevens heard her excuse, his eyes narrowed even more. He couldn't bring himself to believe a single word she said. There were too many loopholes.

His eyes darted to Micheal. He scanned him up and down. Checking his memory for any information he had on him.

This knight couldn't be simple. He had only known Kayda for less than four days, and he had not even gotten five words out of her in a single sentence. But when it came to him accusing this knight, she had so much to say?

To many loopholes. And to much suspicion.

Butler Stevens professionally masked his thoughts and returned his expression to that of an ordinary old butler. With a smile, he looked at Kayda. "I see then. I will not pursue this matter any longer. But I am afraid that this knight here had broken some rules by even being in this court yard. Punishment is inevitable."

Kayda nodded her head. "Of course." If she didn't want to seem suspicious, then she couldn't stick up for Micheal too much. But judging by the glimpse of emotion she gathered from butler Steven's face while she was giving her excuse, he didn't fully believe her. She needed to be careful.

What she didn't know was that butler Stevens had already deciphered that there was a strange relationship between the two of them.

But he didn't need to let her catch on to how much he had already figured out.

Butler Stevens put on a professional expression and moved his body to the side. "I'll escort you back to your room Miss Kayda. I'll call Dr. Myer back seeing as you have gotten a few more wounds. From your 'fall'." He emphasized on the word fall.

Kayda just nodded expressionlessly and followed butler Stevens back to her room without giving Micheal a single glance.

Micheal stared at Kayda's back as she was led away. So many different emotions turned inside of him while a whirlwind of thoughts spun through his head.

There were too many questions. To many answers he didn't have. Too much time was lost between them that when he finally saw her again, she had become a person he didn't recognize.

He held his head and groaned. He remembered her words. His sister had the Angor plague. That's why she did it. But this answer only gave him more questions.

He pushed them aside and picked up his sword to go find his companions. He needed something to spar with if he was going to get this feeling out of his system.