BETRAYAL OF DIGNITY
Part 28
Side Story 3
"The train to Windsbury is about to depart!" came the booming voice of the station master.
The platform was a sea of people, making it a challenge to move even an inch forward.
"Stop pushing! You nearly bowled over an old woman!" Eliza grumbled as she pushed through the crowd, arm in arm with Chloe.
As Eliza carved a path through the throng, the frail woman beside her, leaning on her cane, could easily have been mistaken for an old woman. Chloe tightened her grip on the black hood concealing her face. Only when the bell echoed loudly through the station did she manage to reach the train.
The station master announced the trains imminent departure through his loudspeaker. "Last call for the train to Windsbury via Swane! You must board now!"
With Eliza's support, Chloe managed to ascend the steep steps of the train.
"Please take this," Eliza said, handing her a bag she had prepared earlier.
As passengers jostled past her to board the train, Chloe paused to glance back at Eliza. This would likely be their final meeting. She nodded in gratitude, her face still concealed save for her eyes.
Eliza returned the gesture, a smile lighting up her wrinkled face. "Have a safe journey!"
It was then that Chloe saw him standing still amidst the crowd, his gaze fixed on her. Her eyes widened. She swiftly turned around, grabbing a pillar for support. His hat was pulled low over his face, but she recognized him at once. It was Damien, who should have been in Swane; there was no mistaking him.
Her heart raced as if she had been sprinting, her palms damp with perspiration and her legs threatening to give way.
As her hood slipped off, the swarm of boarding passengers glanced her way. Pushing her way through the crowd, Chloe managed to step onto the train. Her hand, which was clutching a train ticket purchased for a premium from a stranger, trembled like a leaf as she checked her seat number.
"Quickly, take your seats! You there! Show me your ticket!" the station master barked.
The carriage bustled with activity as the flustered station master's voice filled the air. Chloe hastily pulled her hood back up and squeezed her eyes shut, silently praying that the gods would help her. Abruptly, a series of heavy footsteps came to a halt beside her.
"I've left something behind!" a man exclaimed in haste.
The voice was not her husband's. A man with a red beard, dressed in an ill-fitting suit, saw her gripping her cane and bowed his head in embarrassment. "I apologize, madam. I left my bag under the seat," he explained.
Without a word, Chloe rose from her seat, watching the mans back as he retrieved his bag from the seat opposite hers. She exhaled a sigh of relief.
The red-bearded man chuckled at her, his face glistening with sweat. "My apologies. Have a pleasant journey, madam.."
As Chloe looked away to stare straight ahead, the man trailed off awkwardly and quickly exited the train.
With a resounding blast of its horn, the train finally commenced its journey, the night's chill seeping through the windows. As they pulled away from the station, an expanse of densely packed birch trees appeared. Inside the crowded third-class carriage, Chloe released shallow breaths as the train wove its way through the tall, slender trees that seemed to reach for the sky.
A faint, bitter smile played on her lips, its reflection dimly appearing in the window. Just like him, she had concealed her face, but she alone had recognized him. In their numerous wagers, Chloe had never managed to outsmart Damien, but this time was different.
"You lost, Damien," she whispered.
She pictured his hands, which by now were likely gripping the reins of a horse galloping toward Castle Birch. His elegant and powerful hands, capable of both eliciting cries of joy and inflicting pain by tightening a noose around one's neck, would never touch her again.
I hope you appreciate my gift, Your Grace. In the perfect world you are constructing, my absence, as imperfect as I am, will not matter.
A dry chuckle escaped Chloe's lips. Outside, it looked as if snow might be on the way. The murky night, where visibility barely extended an inch ahead, seemed to foreshadow the uncertain future that lay before her.
But it was all right. She had managed to shatter Damien Ernst von Thisse's flawless scheme.
