Heroine

Final Bonus Chapter

Aramine sat at the head of the table, watching over her family, Logan was shovelling down his food like no tomorrow, Aramine smiled and spooned the food into her sons mouth.

Logan was alive
Felix was alive
Tia was alive
Aramine was alive.

Jonathan Rossi was dead,

But inside, he had killed her, just a little bit.

It felt like he won.

She watched her children laugh with Logan, and was still.
A single tear that ran down her face from grey eye. Knowing that he stole a part of her made her feel void.

Maybe Aramine Rossi was far from alone,
But maybe, just maybe?
That's how it should have been.

Maybe there was another name to engrave on that memorial outside the cathedral,

One that read Aramine Rossi.

finalmente stava vivendo felice, ma sembra che,
(She was living at last happy, but still it seems.)

Ha vinto.
he won.

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Unknown POV

The rain pelted down on the graveyard outside of the cathedral, my boots made the stones crunch beneath me. My umbrella was dotted with water and the fog hung thick in the air, my breath came out in white puffs.
I Saw a memorial with names that simply read "those who have fallen." I didn't read the names. But I did see something else, a special grave stone which dated back to 2016, there was fresh flowers, I wondered if the couple with the two children had left them, the woman with the red hair.

I approached the grave and ignored the name, but what caught my eye was a small drawer attached which seemed ajar, the drawer was stiff and hard to open, it eventually it shot open and the drawer popped out, the drawer contained a polly pocket with pictures and some muddy water.

I removed the polly pocket from the drawer and saw pictures of the same woman with the red hair in a gorgeous wedding dress, the man smiling and a date,

'23/09/17 Aramine and Logan's wedding' was scrawled in messy writing.

There was also an older picture,
' 01/01/17 Mattea born'

I smiled at that.

Another newer looking picture of a crying little girl as her mother with the red hair held a new baby boy.

'Felix born, Mattea delighted! 24/06/25'

I ignored the other pictures of holidays and snow days until one caught my attention, it was a picture of the couple sitting on matching thrones in smart outfits, she had a slim gold dress with long lacy sleeves and a train that trailed on the floor from where she sat, he was wearing a sharp tuxedo with a bow tie and they both had golden crowns on their heads.

This intrigued me, and so did the caption.

"Our coronation 21/10/16"

I was puzzled but forgot about it when I saw a letter, I opened it up.

'Dear Matthew.
Well a lot has happened since you've been gone. First of all Aramine turned out to by my mate...'
This puzzled me, however I continued.
'She also chose me to be her king and we now happily rule over the people, about seven years ago she gave birth to my first child, our daughter Mattea, named after you Matthew, she is so beautiful like her mother, you would have loved her. This year our second child was born, I wish you could have met him, he has Aramine's beautiful eyes, he will be one soon, and how crazy it is that you have been gone for eight years now brother, I miss you, and I know we will meet again,
Aramine misses you as well, she believes that you can't read any of this but if that were true then she wouldn't leave these pictures.
She still blames herself and Jon is only just dead now.

We are happy at last.

Love from, Aramine, Logan and your niece and nephew, Tia and Felix.
20/08/23'

A small tear leaked from my eye. I folded the letter and placed it back with the photos feeling guilty for snooping,
I spot a woman standing over by the gates and feel her eyes on me, she is wearing a dark red cloak and a patterned black and golden dress, the one with the red hair, she was Aramine Rossi, and I know her.

I quickly glance at the name on the stone,

Matthew Hunter,

Beloved grandson, brother, uncle and friend.

I spin to face Aramine and walk slowly towards her curious gaze, stepping on the gravel and careful not to soak my boots.

"Do I know you, you seem familiar." Aramine whispered, her voice just the way my grandmother described, royal.

"I believe you know my grandmother miss Rossi." I state,

"Please call me Aramine, but I am married now, it's Mrs Hunter, and who might I ask is your grand mother?" Her piercing grey eyes were beautiful, and she seemed powerful from here, we were around the same height but I felt swarmed by her presence.

The rain had stopped and Aramine lifted her hood off and shook out her red hair,

"I believe you used to work for her, this is an invite to her funeral, her name was margerie George."

Aramine gasped in shock, her face scrunched up as her hands covered her mouth.

"Yeah... I own the alteration shop now, Edith does as well, Edith says that Ashley is doing well in Rome, whoever that is.
my Gran said you used to work for her for a while, and that she wondered what happened to you." I muttered.

"Oh my goodness," her sweet voice whispered.

"Thank you," she nodded before pulling her hood up and taking the funeral invite before she turned to walk away.

"Wait, Aramine." I said, reaching forward before I could even process what to say.

She turned in confusion.

"What did happen to you?" I ask, remembering the words of my grandmother.

"That is a story for another day." She said.

Fifty years later I can still see her face, framed by those red curls, and that smirk, that smirk.
The one of genuine happiness, that graced her features an lit up her eyes, after that she had turned away and strode down the gravel, her cloak trailing behind her as she disappeared into the fog.

I didn't know it then, but she would never show up to the funeral.

That was the last time I ever would see Aramine Rossi.

And I knew, she was going to be okay.