UNSHEATHED

Chapter Sixteen

They worked well into the night by torchlight. After hours of digging in the area near the rock, Elena felt certain they had found most, if not all of the stolen plunder. The lady Rainna, too, must be found and brought to justice.

As the first light began to glow rosy over the horizon, Elena could see that everyone was exhausted. People had searched and fought this past night, and some were injured. There were dead to return and mourn.

She called a halt, setting guards all along her route back. She prepared to share the news.

If the Prince had been pleasant with her in the morning compared with the day before, he was now overjoyed with her success, though he kept looking over at the bodies laid out on the ground. Elena could see him searching, looking worried.

"She's not there, My Lord."

He sat down on a bench in the courtyard, still scanning the bodies on the ground. He shook his head and balled his fists and held them that way for a long while. Sadness and anger never sat well together, Elena reflected. She didn't know what to say, so she left him to his silent brooding.

Joran was less moody. He stood watching the guards work, and directing them where to place the bodies and the riches that they had found. He had a ledger book listing what had been in the treasury and he checked off the items as they came in.

Elena found it curious that Joran wasn't troubled by the knowledge of his mother's actions.

"Do you think we found most of what was taken?"

"It's too soon to tell for certain, but the chances are good. After all, where could they exchange the items for supplies or coin? I think they meant to hide it and come back to take from the stash as needed."

Elena nodded. "Unfortunately, now that we have the treasure, they don't have any reason to come back. We'll have to find another way to catch them."

Joran's bright blue eyes stayed focused on his ledger, only looking up at her when he spoke.

"We will be posting a reward for them now that we have the money. It should help. The laws are quite clear on the subject of treason, though. I spent most of the day checking. They have forfeited their lives. We don't have any grounds to be merciful." She was surprise in his matter-of-fact tone. Joran scanned her expression and paused for a moment before going on.

"She abandoned us the very day we were born. I have never set eyes on her before this incident. While she held me captive I saw no emotion in her."

Elena had never known her mother. She wondered how difficult it would be if she were to discover that her mother was a cold-blooded kidnapper and a thief. During her brief encounter with the woman, Rainna had seemed quite mad.

"She must surely have been troubled, sick in some way." She couldn't imagine having a child, let alone twins, then abandoning them without a word.

For a while Joran checked items off his ledger and made notes of the names of the dead on a list. Many were Castillonian Hilliri.

When the last items had been catalogued, he closed his ledger and tucked it under his arm. He looked at Elena for a moment.

"Did you ever have any children, Elena? I remember your wedding."

He was there, Elena remembered, along with Jaline. That was at least 30 years ago.

"No, I didn't. I wasn't married very long. My husband died less than a year later."

"I'm sorry."

Elena shook her head. "It was an arranged marriage and not the happiest one either. I was relieved to be able to return to my work."

Children were not something Elena thought about much. They didn't fit into her military life, but she imagined that being a mother might have its pleasures and satisfactions.

"Why do they do that in Estallium? Have someone else chose your husband for you?"

Elena shrugged. "Young women from well-born families are expected to marry to make alliances."

The truth was harder to swallow. Elena had been married off to keep her away from the capital. Her half-brother hated and mistrusted her ever since she came to live with them. After their father had died, there was no one left to protect her.

Right after the funeral, her brother, now the Emperor, announced his plan, and a day later, she was married. She had no right to object, so she didn't.

"You know the hilliri only marry for love." He looked down at his shoes.

Elena opened her mouth and smiled. "You're in love."

Joran reddened and shook his head.

"Please don't say anything, Captain. I haven't told my father yet."

"I would never say anything. It's none of my business. I'm happy for you."

Joran beamed as he looked off into the distance. Elena decided to leave him to his thoughts. Talk of love and marriage never made her happy.

Following her husband's death, she fell into a secret affair with her former instructor. If she had ever loved any man, it was Maranus Fidelis.

He was a decent, hard-working man who always tried to do the right thing. His strong sense of honour overshadowed their relationship from the very beginning. It was both his best quality and his worst.

The one thing they always fought about was marriage.

Elena was being polite when she told Joran her marriage had been unhappy. In fact, Atreus had been extraordinarily cruel, leaving emotional scars on her that took many years to heal. Maranus had been tenacious and devoted to her for a long time before she resolved to allow accept him, but she still refused to marry him. If Elena had agreed, she would have been forced to resign from the Legion and sent to live with his family in Gwardahene, a full day's ride from the city. She would have hardly ever seen him.

One day, Maranus decided he could no longer abide the shame of having to sneak into her room at night. He gave her an ultimatum. He would leave and take a post far away from her if she didn't agree to marry him. Unwilling to leave the work that kept her feeling strong and capable, she refused, and he left. That was over twenty years ago. She hadn't seen him since.

Elena never shed a tear at his departure, despite the searing pain of her heartbreak. He had broken what hadn't needed fixing.

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Cheers!

Rebecca