Evil I Become...

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After all that had happened during the day I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to the ball anymore, not that I had any real choice.

The ball was in full swing and I had already been serving wine for the last hour. As I returned back from refilling the jug of wine I was holding, I decided to talk to Joanne who was stood by my mother as she talked to one of the hundreds of guests.

“Are you enjoying the ball Rocco?” she asked me once i'd settled, leaning against the wall.

I was confused and felt strangely alone in the room but I had a feeling that telling Joanne would be a bad idea. I trusted my instincts and simply replied with a brisk nod. She never said a word to me after that.

We stood awkwardly against the wall for a while until my mother began to walk away mid conversation from the woman she was talking to. I immediately put up my guard and as Joanne and I shared a worried look we walked over to her. Mother looked pale and in pain. Joanne clearly saw the worry on my face and told me to stay with my mother while she called for a midwife and Lucias.

Clearly with a struggle mother weakly said “Its time Rocco”. This was the signal which we had decided a long ago, the baby was coming.

Lucias ran past me knocking the still full jug of wine on the floor in the process. I kicked the fallen jug out of the way as me and the midwife closed around my mother. The crowd had fallen silent and only my mothers laboured breathing could be heard.

More midwifes began to arrive and they picked up my mother to return to her room. I knew at this point I could do no more.

Joanne had left with the party and I was standing there not entirely aware of my surroundings. At least not until in the silence I was certain I heard a rustling coming from the rafters above my head. When I looked up I saw darkness but in the silence of the room I thought I was delusional when a voice said “Shhh… he’ll hear you and our plan will be ruined”. I was tempted to call the guards but forgot about the idea when a scream could be heard from deep in the castle. It pierced through me like a knife knowing it was mother and that she was in pain, but there was nothing I could do. I wasn’t allowed near her.

The silence in the room was broken by Lord Allad who efficiently adapted to his new role as leader. “Ladies and gentlemen this is clearly a precious time for the kingdom but do not let that spoil the celebrations. After all this ball was to celebrate the birth of the Duchessa’s child, was it not?”. Cheers erupted from the crowd and a smile came across my face. It was pleasing to know that everyone was still willing to celebrate even though worry was now a feeling that was thick and heavy in the room.

People began to get back to celebrating but I wasn’t in the mood. Just to make my problems even bigger Mila walked up to me and asked “Do you need help cleaning that up?” she gestured towards the spilt wine which was slowly staining the tablecloth which had been pulled down in the commotion.

I bent down and began to clean the mess completely ignoring Mila’s question. I knew it was rude but in my current position I thought I was inclined to a little ignorance. Although I  never gave her a true answer Mila also helped to clean up the mess.

As she wiped the floor with the already ruined tablecloth she said “I’m sorry if I shocked you earlier”. She hesitated before continuing “The Lord and Lady told me never to reveal my heritage but I feel so alone sometimes. I was hoping you would understand that… being an orphan.”

It wasn’t a case of I didn’t know what to say it was more like I didn’t want to hurt her. She was right I did feel alone sometimes and despite the bombshell I still felt something for this strange girl. Something that burned deep inside of me but I wasn’t sure what.