The Heirs

Ethan: Damira's Past

Chapter 10:

(Gabriel POV) -Albuquerque-

I sat in front of the Prince and the King not sure exactly what I was going to say. I had never spoken about this, but I would do what Damira asked. "I was a guard for the Cunningham prison for 16 years before I deserted. You see knights they have a code of ethics, a code of honor that guards don't necessarily have. At the time I didn't know it but, some of the guards had been bribed to allow for certain things to happen. One of those things was Damira." I took a breath and continued.

"Damira had never seen outside the mountain range the moment she was born she was saw as a tool for their family to get back into power. Her Mother and Grandmother began giving her lessons in etiquette, manners, dancing, calligraphy and more since before she could walk. She was expected to quietly do as she was told and was punished whenever she didn't. When she was 4 though it was realized that she wasn't bound to the mountain range. Her Mother had gone to oversee the supply drop off and brought Damira with her. Damira wandered out of the cave for a moment before her Mother began demanding that she come back. When she was back within her Mother's grasp her grip on Damira's arm tightened. Her family didn't like that she wasn't bound to their prison as they were so they raised her in fear: they'd starve her, beat her, burn her, anything you could think of really. She was just so small and fragile. When she was 7 they had branded and I swear I could hear her screams outside the mountain range. I think that she was 10 when she started picking up the supplies for everyone, it was apparently part of her punishments. They would send her on her own to lift these big heavy crates back to the house in these heavy adult ballgowns and she wasn't allowed to let anything fall out. Whenever she came, she always had this long chain on her foot bounding her back. I started talking to her, sneaking in treats, doing little things to help her out, she seemed so sweet and innocent to all of this even being raised by those monsters. I had reported Damira to my superior multiple times but, he just said that she was to be dealt with by the Cunningham's as they saw fit."

"One day though after her 11th birthday I was there to drop off the supplies and she looked like she had been crying. Her family had arranged a marriage for her with someone who was... Let's just say that he was old enough to be her father but, he was king. Her family believed that by marrying a king they would be able to get the one thing they truly craved, power. Everything had been arranged and all that was needed was her consent. She was scared, she didn't know what to do and I didn't know what to do either. I just had this 11 year old in front of me, chained back being forced to do things she shouldn't have to. I made a choice. I took my sword and hacked at her chain until it broke. She was shocked but I took her to my horse and we rode as fast as we could to my family's old cottage deep in the woods. I got her on her feet, taught her how to fight, how to survive on her own. She also changed her name, she wanted nothing to do with her old family even the name they gave her so she started going by Damira. Once she was ready I contacted someone I knew in a few noble families for her to be a maid, a cook and she would be there for a while before she would have to change everything again. She wanted to be a knight though more than anything, never knew why but, I was able to contact an old friend of a friend who knew an older less known knight who was looking for a squire and we got the documentation that she needed to come here."

They were all trying to let the information sink in, "What happened to Mira's father? Was he one of the guards?" Ethan asked trying to absorb everything. "No he wasn't a guard. Eliza would never have a guard's child. She found a way to contact a direct descendant of the Everton line and got him to agree to marry her, she would not have a bastard, and then she had Damira." "Wait Mira's parents are married?" Ethan asked. I nodded my head, "Yes. He disappeared following her birth to help from the outside. He wasn't bound to the prison. Eliza and him were never in love. He came and went as he pleased only coming so they could produce an heir. And then their daughter was born. He stopped coming back after that."

King Hugo kept on looking over at me. "Why did no one ever inform me that Eliza Cunningham had a child?" I looked up at him, "Well the guards in charge were corrupted." "Why didn't you?" he asked clenching his fist. I softened my expression, "Would you have sealed her with her family for the rest of her life?" He didn't respond, "That's why." "Look what happened with the Laurianne Beaumont, she raised her daughter to get revenge on my family and try to marry into the throne why wouldn't Eliza be any different. I will not have her daughter coming anywhere near my family," King Hugo started. Ethan looked over at him shocked, "Damira wouldn't..." He snapped his head and looked at his son, "YOU DON'T KNOW THIS FAMILY. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO MY MOTHER AND TO YOURS. THEY ARE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THEM BEFORE THEY HAD A CHANCE TO HAVE A CHILD TO MESS UP YOUR LIFE!" Ethan just looked at his Father with disdain in his eyes, "Damira wouldn't hurt me. Were you not listening to what her life was like. It was terrible and she escaped and she went back in there to save your daughters. She isn't her parents." Ethan got up and left the room and King Hugo grew quiet, "That's why I didn't tell you." He snapped his head and looked at me, "Because she deserved better than to be sealed away for a crime she never committed." I stood up and was about to make my way out of the room, "Eliza's mother was a Countess who spoiled her child allowing her to believe the world owed her everything, Damira's mother was exiled from her kingdom, had no title of land, and her husband all but left her because of their daughter. Damira is nothing like her mother. She deserved more..." King Hugo looked off to the side, "You said her father was and Everton, right?" I nodded my head, "Yes sir." He sighed, "Then you have no idea what kind of a threat she is to my family." He then made eye contact with me, "She is the direct descendant of 3 of the 5 founding families of the kingdom and I am sure whoever they arranged this marriage to, knows this information and is planning for war."

(Ethan POV)

I ran outside and felt anger surging threw me. How could Dad say that? How could Mira just give herself up? How could any of this be happening? I tried rethinking those last moments with Mira she kept apologizing to me and explaining why she had to do it. I felt like I was missing something though. It then dawned on me, she consented. She agreed to marry someone, some king. I felt like screaming and my breath quicken, my hands were balled up in fist. I heard a shuffle from behind me and saw Mom making her way out coming towards me, "Ethan?" I fell to the ground the rage overtaking everything and Mom rushed over and sat beside me. She rubbed circles into my back and started whispering sweet nothings that really did mean anything.

She waited for me to start, I sat up and looked over at her, "Why do you never talk about the Cunningham's?" She gave me a weak smile, "When I first married your father, we were both not perfect and we had our own problems that we needed to work out. The Cunningham's though," she took a breath, "they made it almost impossible. The Countess... Laurianne she would starve me, torture me, keep me up all hours of the night, her husband was trying to get your Dad to annul our marriage and Eliza was the one they wanted your Dad to marry. After we finally got rid of every bit of power they had, they kidnapped me, made me lose your sister Clara. I don't talk about them because it was a very dark part of my life." I held her hand, "I'm sorry Mom." "I don't know this Damira. You never talked to me about her, but she saved my kids. I'll talk to your Dad and we will try to find a way to keep her safe."

"I couldn't keep her safe," I whispered to myself. Mom heard me though, "Maybe she just wanted to keep you safe." I looked up at her, "I never asked her to do that." Mom just smiled, "Just like your sisters didn't ask you to go after them or how I didn't ask you father to come after me. It is just what you do when you care about someone so much you would do anything for them." We sat together quietly before I said, "I have to get her back." She just smiled, "I know you do."

(Damira's POV)

I felt sore and knew that it would hurt more tomorrow as I felt the lashings along my back. I sat on the familiar cold floor of the room and wished I has a candle or something to bring in some light. I could feel myself losing control but, I had to keep myself composed. I had to think clearly to decide. But, I already knew what I had to do. It was simple enough just a matter of getting it done. I was the sole heir to the Beaumont, Cunningham and Everton lines. No one else could do this. It was the only way to make sure that they stayed out of power forever. It have to be at the right time, the point of no return and I would have to make sure that they would all be taken care of so that they could never attempt this again. The night before my wedding I decided upon. "That is when I will die," I whispered to myself, "the night before."