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.
63. Reading the Night away
Reading the Night away
~
The Luna-dynn Cottage,
The rustic Village of Drift-Combe,
Kingdom of Velicia,
Darkling hours of Nightfall,
The Eighth Day of the Month of November,
Thirty Third Year of the Reign of King Jesse Crestings
Amelia Luna-dynn tossed and turned in bed, but could not sleep. She thought back to how disinterested Knight Erion had seemed.
She rose from the bed and sat up, pondering over everything.
The damsel wondered if it was because she had seemed weak, as opposed to the strong characteristics Charlene boasted. After all, that had been what the knight had written about on the Bulletin Board.
She hugged her knees close against her chest, feeling low that she wasn't all the beautiful things the man seemed to admire.
The damsel remembered how he had called her 'Char', before recognising her person. She wondered if the man was in love with the Duke's daughter, despite telling Amelia that he was open for a relationship.
She never wanted to break anything that was already going on between the couple. But she had never imagined the man would show such mixed signals.
The maiden decided that she would not pursue any desires towards him until he showed her concrete signs of interest. She knew that if it was otherwise, he still sustained feelings for Charlene.
The thought thereof tugged at her heart and she couldn't rest, for she was feeling waves of anxiety churning within. It was natural that the Duke's daughter was preferred.
Amelia rose from the bed and paced the room, chewing her nails as she thought of what would happen. The book that she was to imbibe for the Reading Association was there, seated comfortably upon her bedside table.
The damsel of long brown hair picked it up and considered reading it that night, despite how much she did not like it. In that case, she could begin work on the report to the Imperial Castle and further visit the Walterus Estate to post some opinion on the Bulletin, while perusing what the others may have posted.
As she began reading the book, went on reading about the romance between a common man of the Drift Combe Village and a maiden of the Celeste Clan, where she would oft visit him and entice him with her exotic beauty.
Something about the romantic moments the couple shared made her ache for a sense of belonging, which she did not find in Knight Erion's latest attitude towards her. The sort of belonging that had flooded her when the stranger had stepped in to save her from Sir Grendin, when he called her his lady.
The damsel continued reading the book in hand.
The story went on about how he was a warrior partaking in battles and the damsel would heal him at every circumstance of a fatal wound.
Soon, in the book, the plague spread across the entirety of the kingdom and the woman in the novel seems to be intentional about the sickness that went abroad. The author seemed to have portrayed her as a person who heals the man that is in love with her and soon marries him in order to retrieve secrets about a certain treasure that solely he seemed to know.
Then, the celeste clan was described as a tribe that joined together to devour the Imperial Queen, where the female lead of the novel was involved as well. In the process, she goes on to murder her love and go hunting for the secret treasure he had relayed to her.
As the process of deciphering the clues was done, the female lead faces the consequence of her action by dying a painful death at the fangs of the Beasty Wolf Hounds.
The damsel reading the book knew exactly why it was raving in the markets with practically everyone trying to purchase a copy and read it. The novel was the sole source that portrayed a close to reality version of what had occurred in the Queen's murder.
Further, it would please the royal family if the people were interested in supporting something that seemed to be portraying the Celeste Clan as a tribe of murderous villains.
Finally, there seemed to be specific leads in the fictional work that had pointed towards a certain treasure that the female lead was greedy for, before she died. Many adventurous folks had taken a venture into the idea and had set out to find the treasure.
However, it all seemed to lead back to the Village of the Celeste Clan, which was presently a forest of trees, but a memorable grave to Amelia.
As the damsel read the story on and on, she eventually fell asleep with the book spread over her chest and dreams in her thoughts.
By the time she awoke, it was the next morning and she needed to get ready to work. Amelia was terribly tired, but duty was beckoning and she could not slack.
There was the fear of what Sir Grendin had in mind against her. She was unsure of whether Lady Hildeth would allow her her job or not.
It took about an hour for the damsel to get dressed up, cook breakfast for herself and her brother, and making her way towards the Boutique.
As she hurried into the place, she saw all the dress-makers were at work, but neither Lady Hildeth nor the man who had tormented her were present.
"Where's Sir Grendin?" she asked, but none of the women were particularly responsive.
"Why do you ask? Did he catch you slacking as well, threatening to tell the lady?" one of the women asked, and the rest laughed along.
It occurred to Amelia that the man could have been playing the same game with all the other women, if it was such a title to his name that he told on people to the Ladyship.
In fact, she remembered Lady Hildeth sending people away after he had reported on their behaviour to her. Amelia feared if he would do that for the resistance she had posted the previous night.
Just then, Lady Hildeth walked into the Boutique, Sir Grendin following close behind. He gave Amelia a particular sharp glare of threat before walking past.
~