Wars of the Heart
Amelia Luna-dynn is a young damsel of unassuming character. However, there is a deadly secret she harbors: that she is the daughter of a forbidden race, a tribe despised by the royals of the Kingdom. She is the sole survivor, discreetly living an unseen life as a commoner. But there are scars on her back that betray her origin, requiring her to cleanse herself in order to stay alive and unrecognised. With such reins attached to her race, it is impossible to find someone who would love her despite the dangers of her origin. But one night, when at the verge of being eaten by beasts, she is saved by a mysterious man from the grasp of death. Curiosity drives the damsel to chase love. Despite being downtrodden, she stumbles upon the opportunity meeting with high society by joining a Book Club run by the beautiful daughter of the Duke, Charlene Walterus. Amelia makes friendships with nobles and soon comes close to a romance with a man she suspects to be her secret rescuer, but is hopeless that his heart is far gone in the arms of the duke’s daughter. Will she win a wedding with the man of her dreams? But most importantly, will her fantasies of a perfect marriage come true? Or will she suffer a strained marital relationship, with unrequited feelings, far from the heart of the one she loves? Excerpt: That night, he was exhilarated to have married the woman of his desires. But Charlene had told him a bothersome fact about the origin of his newly wedded wife that he could not shake off his mind, for he knew she would have told him, had it been true. The tall man stepped into Amelia’s chamber and found her seated at the rim of the bed, blushing. The very sight of her innocent disposition had always brought him the insane urge to sweep her up in his arms and protect her. But before they would make love, there was an important question blaring at the edge of his mind. “Y-you’re here”, her soft voice was almost breathless. She rose to her feet, but rested against the wall, shy and nervous. “Amelia”, he tasted her name, drawing close to her. Tenderly placing a finger under her chin and lifting her face to meet his, he gazed into her eyes and asked, “Is it true that you are of the Celeste Clan?” There was silence in response and fear in her eyes. She did not deny it. A strong feeling of hurt enveloped his chest, when he realised that she was no different. Charlene’s words about her were not simply contemptuous lies of jealousy planted to his attention, but the raw truth. ~ Amelia gasped when he rammed his fist against the wall in the absolute pangs of frustration. It was like it burnt his senses to think that she would deliberately hold something as significant as her origin from him, regardless of all things of his secrets that he had shared with her, while they were yet secret lovers. She knew the fault was hers, but she had been too scared to relay, for she had loved him far too much to lose him. “Why did you hide this from me?” he breathed, voice cold and low and deadly, colored by his unpronounced rage. His face was dangerously close to hers, such that she could hear his very breath, seething. Tears began to pierce her eyes, threatening to fall. She had never meant to deceive him. But in that moment, she was afraid. Heart throbbing loud enough to be heard, her lips were quivering and she shivered. When his gaze swept down at her frightened disposition, there was a flicker of tenderness in his eyes. But it lasted not even as long as a moment’s worth. He was cold. He did not confront her for the secrets she was keeping, but silently withdrew himself. There were many things she wished to say in apology, but she could not find her voice. And by the time she could speak, he had left her chambers. Tears flurried down her face. She could not believe that her fears had ruined the very first day of her marriage. It was the day she had wished to divulge her secret to him, but it seemed like it had already been out.
2. Death or Deliverance?
DEATH OR DELIVERANCE
~
Edge of the wild woods,
Skirts of the Village of Drift-combe,
Kingdom of Velicia,
Mid-night reigned by a full moon,
The Seventh Night of the Month of November,
Thirty Third Year of the Reign of King Jesse Crestings
~
Just as Amelia was feeling cold and moved towards her garments that were draped over the branch of the tree, she heard the sound of low, but deep growls from the woods around her. Fear began to grip her senses as she looked around, knowing that the beasts had arrived before she could make her escape.
Then, from behind the tree where her clothes were hung, a pair of deadly eyes opened in the seething darkness. There was a large and mounting shadow in the shape of a bloodhound that was approaching her humble figure.
She screamed and began running for her life, knowing full well that she was their prey. Many pairs of hungry, beastly eyes glowed in the darkness of the wild around her. Several of such gigantic lupine monsters came forth from the shadows of the night in the woods and chased Amelia.
In a few moments, she was breathless and surrounded by the ravenous beasts. She saw their ferocious gazes, long sharp canines protruding out of their jaws and saliva oozing down. They had thick fur manes around their necks and strong muscular bodies, sharp claws in their paws and danger resonating in their deep set eyes.
Some were stripped and others were dark. But the difference in their appearance deterred nothing from the ferocity that their blood thirsty expressions spelt.
She closed her eyes tight, crying profusely, her mind hurrying its prayers. The thick tension in the air was coupled with the deafening sound of their howls and ragged breaths.
Memories of a decade ago flashed in the eye of her mind at the prospect that she was cornered by the gigantic beasts. Tears burnt her eyes, threatening to fall.
It had been that day, when she had watched her entire native village perish under the onslaught of those very monsters that had consumed every human present in the area. It was like a judgement that condemned the land. And whilst she ran away, she was the sole one that had survived, with the memories of those hounds mercilessly consuming her kith and kin.
Amelia shuddered, for she knew that her final breath was near.
Then, one of the monsters venged towards her, hungrily, to devour her being. The sound of its growls compelled her to open her eyes and see the final sight of its approach, mounting greatly over her, and she screamed, turning away.
Just then, the expected pain of the beast's jaws overcoming her body had not arrived. She felt a heavy weight landing down beside her in a thud and she opened her eyes to see what had happened. There was nearly a lake of blood staining the grass around her and she turned to find that the head of the beast that had come against her had been severed and was lying on the ground, scarlet blood oozing out.
Just as she stared at it, disbelieving and shocked, she heard the sound of a blade. Looking up, she saw him:
A tall man: countenance hooded and capes flying, harnessing his large sword into its sheath, standing on top of the headless body of the gigantic monster he had felled. Her pulse was still throbbing at an ignited pace after nearly having brushed shoulders with death itself, but a part of her could not believe that she was saved.
When the shock of the beast's beheading had sunk into the surrounding, the other monsters that were encircling her began to come at her in open attack.
The man swooped down from his place on the exposed neck of the dead hound and advanced towards her. Amelia could hardly collect her senses before she felt his strong arm grip her waist.
Shoved against his chest, she held on to her towel in one hand and the gathers of cloak over his shoulder-blade in another. His movements were quick and he wasted no second to even look around. In a heartbeat, he reached out to grab a rope that was hurled towards him and they lifted off the ground.
It was a close shave before they escaped the fangs of the other beasts that had hungrily come to devour them.
Dazed, Amelia looked over her shoulder and noticed that there were a few other men in dark capes who were challenging the hounds and severing them. Within a few moments, the place was cleared. A couple more of the gargantuan monsters were killed by the unknown men and the other beasts had fled.
Then, they descended down to land on safe grounds. When Amelia's bare feet met the floor, she looked up to see that the man that had saved her was masked and she could only see his eyes. The shadow of his hood mastered a great part of his face. His collars were turned up and covering his jawline, although she had seen that it was sharp when the attire shifted.
His scent was fresh and masculine and wild, and the damsel had never quite found such odour upon anyone in her village like that before.
She felt his grip around her waist slowly and gently easing as he withdrew his arm. She quickly released her grasp from his shoulder and took a step back. He was much taller than her and he stood against the moon, with shadows over his already masked face.
Tucking a lock of slightly wet brown hair behind her ear, she whispered a "Thank you" to the man that had rescued her from the brink of death. He nodded, wordlessly.
Something inside her stirred with curiosity to know his identity. He seemed foreign from the faint hints that she could gauge. His eyes were fair. From the darkness of the night, she was uncertain of whether they were blue or green, but she knew that they were fair coloured, pupils dilated, possibly due to the rush of the occurrence.
And they were most engaging when he gazed into her eyes the way he did. In the silent ambience, it made her heart beat faster than it should have. Then, his gaze descended from her face down to her slight apparel.
Amelia could feel her cheeks and neck burning as she tightened her grip on her towel, feeling embarrassed. "I was taking a bath down in the river but the beasts came and I did not expect it...", she mumbled on, making the situation more difficult and awkward. Her voice ushered out in breaths and whispers and she was abashed.
His brows lifted and his gaze wandered to the river that was a distance behind her.
"I-I am finished now", she confirmed.
There seemed to be a shade of amusement in his eyes before he nodded again. A single lock of dark hair descended from beneath his hood, but he was swift to shove it away.
The other men that had discomfited the beasts, dressed in the same dark, hooded capes as the man before her eyes, assembled behind him and descended down on one knee, bowing. The damsel noticed that there were four of them, making the whole team a company of five, with the first man as the head.
They were the vigilantes that the villager folks had been blazing about.
~
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