The Ruby in the Storm

Chapter 35: Winged Creatures

Chapter 35: Winged Creatures

Lucy stood there for a good five minutes waiting for her intruder to answer her question. The only thing she felt in her heart was a blinding rage that could have only been rivaled with the one she had felt when she saw James on Belmoran.

"I asked you a question," Lucy said sharply. "What are you doing here?"

At first, Bertha Denning said nothing. She just stood there, her face the picture of shock. She looked like she had seen a ghost. It was a level of vulnerability that Lucy wasn't sure the woman was capable of.

"You called him 'father'." Bertha whispered.

"Bertha, either you tell me what you are doing here, or leave," Lucy snarled. "You have caused so much pain in my life. There is nothing more that you can do to me, Bertha, so please just leave."

Bertha frowned up at her. "You think that it was I that caused you the pain?" When Lucy didn't answer, she stepped forward. "Was it not your mother that slept with my brother, Lucy? The fault is hers for her sin, not mine."

"Your brother is just as much to blame," Lucy replied coldly. "I may have forgiven him, but that does not expel his sins as well. They were both weak, Bertha."

"And I delivered to you the truth of their weakness!" Bertha snapped, her hand bunching into fists. "If anything, you should be thanking me."

"Do not stand there and tell me that you were doing me a favor when you delivered that message. It fell into the wrong hands before it came to me, Bertha, and something tells me that you wanted that to happen. You wanted to hurt me as my mother hurt you when she became the cause of Arthur's death," Lucy stepped forward, squaring up to Bertha, her rage flaring inside of her like an inferno. "You have been haunting my steps the moment I came to Lanfore, Bertha. And you're still doing it. But if you think that I will not risk king and country to put an end to this, then you are wrong."

"It's funny that you are calling him my brother and Arthur, but just five minutes ago, you referred to him as 'father'." Bertha didn't smile. "In a way, you resent him as much as you resent me."

"Perhaps," Lucy whispered. "But his sins were out of love. Yours were out of hate."

Bertha said nothing to that, but looked around where they were standing, as though seeing it for the first time, though Lucy was sure she had come here many times before this.

"I wasn't even born when father built this shed." She said, stepping forward and running a hand over the rotting wood. "To be honest, I do not even know what it was for. He and Arthur would spend hours here, doing God knows what... And I was too little to join them." She laughed. "Now they're both dead and here I am. Even so, I have not had the courage to step inside. I think their ghosts are still there, haunting it... Haunting me."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lucy asked.

"Because I need you to know that I am human." Bertha said, looking at her sharply. "I am not the monster you think I am, Lucy. What I did, I did for myself, and for my family. I hated your mother for what she did to my brother, Lucy, for he was all that I had left in this world. And when he was gone, who was left to protect me but myself? I had no choice, and I am ever haunted for the ones that I was forced to make."

A part of Lucy's soul ached for Bertha, for she knew the woman's words to be true. She did have no one; no true friends at all in the world save for those she threatened. But it was not enough to forgive or forget what she had done.

"Thanks to your choices, I am a wanted woman here," Lucy said, her voice shockingly cold. "I have been accused for murdering James, but you know that. Perhaps you inflected the magistrate to say it yourself, didn't you?" She shook her head. "On top of it all, due to the truth of how I was born, your employer took it upon himself to burn the name of my family, a family that has done nothing but serve and protect this town for many, many generations. You hatred for my mother—one woman—has turned this place that used to be my home into my eternal nightmare. How can you expect me to sympathize with you?"