𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑤𝑛 | 𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍

19⋆☾⋆Desperate times

I ran, to the cabin, as fast as my legs could carry me. There I dragged out my shabby black horse that was not in the mood for the haste I wanted to move with. After handing over an apple as a bribe she was willing and we galloped through the woods to Gemborough which lay behind the Salmon. That became a problem when the manor from my mind came into sight, but there wasn't a bridge anywhere near. We splashed right through the clear water, my focus only on the house, not the biting cold of my wet clothes, neither my teeth chattering.

The mansion was just like I had remembered it: a large stone building with a tiled roof little windows scattered all over it, like each one was placed randomly. Ivy slithered up the cobblestone, clinging to it desperately. Behind it were some large gardens and in the distance I spotted the village and the church. Servants walked over the gravel front yard, some with baskets full of laundry, some cutting the bushes into round shapes or tending to the flowers. At the left side some stables were attached to the construction, making it an L-shape. I figured I couldn't just barge in there and claim a box for Vacker, so I slid off and let her roam freely. With my luck she of course immediately went to the freshly groomed shrubs. By that time I was already inside, where the old man from my recollections came down the dark oak twin stairs. He halted, his eyes enlarging at the sight of me, his features stiffening, skin paling. Must not have been a good memory then.

I stared back at him, waiting for him to make the first move. Slowly, the greying elder stepped down further, still gazing at me in a trance.

"You, girl, what is your first name?" He pointed a trembling finger at me.

I replied with the name my parents had given me.

A gasp escaped his weak lungs and he almost fell to the light wooden planks, his knees buckling and finally giving in. I sprinted over and offered him my arm to lean on as he regained his balance. "Who are you, might I ask?"

The man sent me an unbelieving agitated look that radiated I should not have asked that. Or that I should've known that.

"Has she treated you so badly you don't even know your own grandfather?"

"You knew my mother?" I asked before thinking a bit further.

His black eyes bore into mine and his lips thinned into a line. "Don't jest right now young lady."

A tall muscular female servant walked past right at that moment and hurried over as well, dropping her crate full of fruits, eyeing me furiously as if it had been my doing. My grandfather waved her off, but did order her to make two cups of tea and bring them into the gardens.

"Let's take a stroll through the gardens." He gestured to the open doors in between the stairs, letting in a soft spring breeze and looking out over the green sea that were his lands.

I still kept my arm up, acting as his own personal cane. "Why did my mother never mention you?"

The man with a well-trimmed white beard huffed, his face radiating none of the kindness I'd remembered. His eyebrows were sharply arched into a flattened M. It was a hard unreadable wall, stern with his gaze strictly on the horizon. We walked over the gravel paths over the outstretching meadows. A huff escaped from his nostrils. "My daughter," he took in a deep breath, his shield crumbling a bit, "we had to cast her out of the family. She only visited us once with that wretched husband of hers, and with you."

My heart throbbed in my throat and I was sure my arm pits were pools of sweat by then. This was my last shot at having a decent blood relation.

"Why did you cast her out? What could she have done that was so horrible?"