Slow.
Everything was in slow motion.
Faces turned towards me with a sea of expressions my mind refused to register. There was a gradual halt in movement and bloodshed as word spread and knights began to stop. It was as if I was seeing without really seeing. I could no longer comprehend.
My vision began to blur as I stumbled back. I looked down at my trembling, bloodied hands. My eyes travelled from the red stains to the lifeless body of King Reddings.
My sob trapped in my throat I stumbled back further, disoriented.
"Poor woman did not dare make a sound..." the demon's words whispered in my mind in a loop, constantly stabbing my mind. Unknowingly my mouth escaped a whimper as I mentally felt myself breaking down.
It was as if my body was ashamed to look in the direction that I knew well where Edmund stood. The horror in his eyes brought intense shame and fear as I looked at my tainted hands and forced myself to look his way.
As my eyes met Edmund's over the masacre and chaos, the realization of what I had done truly began to settle. My body trembled in shock. The numbness began with my hands and spread to my legs. A high pitched ringing sound echoed in the ears and suddenly, darkness began to consume my vision. I felt myself crumbling to the ground.
What have I done?
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I felt myself come to consciousness, my eyes still closed. Slowly my mind noted the quiet conversation taking place somewhere near me. Soft silk sheets below me, comfortable pillows around my head, with the familiar heat of sunlight on my face. Yet, all of this felt quite unfamiliar.
Where am I?
The question brought me completely out of my slumber and my eye fluttered open in sharp alertness. I squinted in the sunlight seeping through the window as I tried to look around.
My eyes landed on Christopher and Johnny speaking to one another in hushed tones, sitting in chaises near the fire place. When they noticed my gaze they immediately stopped talking and stood up.
"Arabella, you're awake." Johnathan said with a hint of relief. I immediately realized that I was in my mother's room back home. Confusion settled in as I jerked up in a sitting position, ignoring the dizziness as I questioned my brothers.
"What am I doing here? Where is Edmund?"
Johnathan opened his mouth and closed it again. He seemed to be struggling to find words, and finally turned towards Christopher. Christopher stood by him staring intensely at me. He slowly began to speak, measuring each word before bringing it into existence. "Edmund thought it best that you recover here."
Perplexed, I questioned, "Recover from what?" I was growing anxious with the stretch of silence as the two shared looks.
"Arry..." John started, but Christopher cut him off before he could continue,
"Do you not remember Arabella?" he asked, and I stared at him even more confused than before.
"I do not know what you are asking, brother. Remember what?" Then it began to hit me. My chest began tightening, "Last I remember is being with my husband and receiving a very worrying letter from Alexander, that there is a war coming. What has happened?" my voice rose on octave as I struggled to scramble off the bed, my long nightgown nearly tripping me. I pushed propriety at the back of my head as it was least of my concern at the moment, "Johnathan, why am I home? When did I get here? Where is Edmund? Speak!" The questions rushed out of me as Johnathan and Christopher both rushed to my aid.
YOU ARE READING
Forbidden Essence
Ficção Histórica#1 historical fiction / 2016 Sent as a spy to the kingdom of West, Arabella would do everything in her power to prevent the war brewing behind castle walls from occurring again. However, she did not not know that her plans would go into ruins when s...
