Forgiveness is Divine // Laeghton

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae pulled her cloak around her as Laeghton’s horse, the one he insisted she take, trotted through the streets. Now that she was well within the gates of the city, she wished that she hadn’t agreed to come and meet him. Every step toward his home made her heart speed up with fear. What if he they could reconcile? What if he found out about what had gone on with her marriage and then he threw her out.

No. Laeghton would never do that to her. She had to believe that he wouldn’t do that to her. After the way he behaved in the church. She had to try to believe that he really hadn’t gotten any of her letters, even if the thought of that was enough to make her sick. She urged the horse toward Laeghton’s home, though the animal already seemed to know where he was going.

She reined the horse in, adjusting her hood again, as she neared the front gates of his manor. She didn’t wait for assistance, but instead slid down off the horse herself, looking up at the familiar and at the same time altogether foreign building. She had so many good memories of this place and the people in it. She didn’t want to know if the people in the building remembered her, or if he had gotten entirely new staff, but with a hesitating hand, she knocked, waiting to be escorted to wherever her brother was waiting to speak with her.

Lyrics (C) Mindy McCready
Banner (c) Rylah

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

It had been a few days since Laeghton had last seen his dearest sister, and he was getting worried that she wouldn't come back as she had said. Something had clearly been troubleing her these past years. More than troubling, it seemed. More like plaguing. And it was that which Laeghton wanted to cure in her, to fix and to mend. He was a caretaker by nature, to everyone except himself. In helping others, he lost his own identity and once his driving force was gone he had nowhere to turn.

Once he'd lost his sister. It wouldn't happen again. But the other day at the church, he'd had to let her go her own way--he had to prove to her that his trust within her was still what it had used to be, and that he allotted this trust in her. She had to know that. She had to realize that she always had somewhere to come home to. And that wasn't something he could do for her, she had to learn this on her own. (They do say that the hardest thing to do is let go of someone--but that if you love them, you must.)

They had a lot to talk about today, these two, and Laeghton was ready for whatever she had to say. He had the tea on (like it had been for every day since he'd seen her again) and the Brandy put away. Perhaps his alcoholism would fix itself, as it were, now that his best friend was back where she belonged. That, and Cady had been working with him on that.

Now in his castle was only him, his four manservants, and Cady. It was a huge castle, and yet it was empty as could be. He'd dismissed most of his court within the last five years, in pieces, and lived nearly alone. He had no wife anymore--they'd been long since divorced after Wren Rae left. The castle was a lonely place, but everything Laeghton needed he could find in the town of Avonderre a mile below. His town. And so he settled in alone. This day as it were, there was a knock at the hall door, and Laeghton went to answer it himself. Surely it was Wrennie!

"Sister," he smiled, a smile that probably made him look old and weary. But more than that, Laeghton was just glad his sister was home.

STATUS complete TAG tagged charrie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae looked up as the door opened, a little surprised to see Laeghton himself opening the door. She gave him a quick curtsy and looked back over her shoulder. "I...I brought back your horse...brother." She tested the word on her tongue. The taste of it didn't make her want to be sick, so maybe this meeting wasn't going to be as bad as she thought it was. She wanted to give him something, because she saw how hard he was trying to make things right between them.

She pulled the hood off her cloak and stepped inside with her brother. Her fingers worked at the knot holding the cloak around her neck, but the fact that they shook out of nervousness made it difficult for her to get the tie unfastened. She looked around the manor that she had so loved before her kidnapping. "It's just as I remember it...only more melancholy..." she said to herself, not really meaning for it to come out of her mouth. It was a thought that escaped in words. She realized that he had been suffering just as much as she had, and the thought made her feel slightly guilty for the way that she had treated him at the cathedral a few days earlier.

She turned back to look at her brother. "I'm sorry it too so long for me to return. I...I had to get some things in order before I left." Mainly these affairs were her thoughts, as the lady Aislynn had been so kind and supportive in all of this. "But I am here now, for whatever good it may do for both of us." She held his gaze, unafraid to meet his eyes this time around, though she knew her eyes were nothing like they were before. "Where shall we go to speak?"


Lyrics (C) Mindy McCready
Banner (c) Rylah

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

He almost chuckled at her words. His horse? Why, that was the last thing he cared about being here. "More importantly, you brought back my sister." He smiled tenderly and took her gently into his arms. He had to enfold her; he had to make her feel the warmth that he wanted to bring back into her life. This girl was something special, especially to him. And she'd called him, for once, her brother.

He moved to help her with her cloak, hoping not to make her uncomfortable. In other older days, she hadn't minded him being near her, but he was the only man she'd near. Things had definitely changed, he'd caught air of that the other day when speaking. She had a husband, apparently, and something had happened. That was all he'd asked. He looked around at her comment. She was right. Softly, Laeghton said, "It's been this way for five years, Wrennie. I divorced my wife and dismissed my household. I keep no company anymore. Sure, things have changed. But, Wrennie, if you want a court again..." he trailed off, tired of listing his recent shortcomings. He would do what he had to to get the old Wren Rae back with him.

He smiled to her and began to lead her toward the smell of tea. He ignored her comment about being late, he didn't really care about that. "There's no one here anymore, Wrennie. We can talk anywhere. But do have some tea, please." He smiled warmly. He wanted her to know how he felt. He wanted her to know that he still loved her no matter what. He wanted her to feel safe and warm and everything else. And he wanted her to be fixed, this time for good.

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae was a bit startled when he pulled her into his arms. Flashes of her husband ran through her head for a moment where she hesitated, not hugging him back. But the voice in her heart reminded her this wasn't her husband, and that her brother had never before raised a hand to her. After a moment, she raised her hands and folded her arms around her brother's waist, leaning her head against his chest.

His fingers untied the cloak and she turned to allow him to take the cloak from off her shoulders. She offered her hands for the cloak. She didn't want to presume anything, and if she needed to walk away, it would be better to have her cloak with her. She looked at him.

"I...I'm sorry if that was because of me Laeghton. I never meant to cause you any pain. I would never wish that on you," she said, looking at her hands. Once more, she had lost the will to look him in the eyes. The fact that he had been so miserable and she had treated him so poorly before made her feel so incredibly guilty. "I'm sorry to hear about your wife, brother." She twisted the ring on her finger. "This is your home, Laeghton. If you do not wish a court, then do not keep one."

She followed her brother into his rooms and took a seat in one of the chairs, a familiar gesture that she didn't even think about as she performed it. She looked up at him once again to accept the tea from her brother. "Thank you," she murmured, setting the cup in her lap as she thought of what to say.

"The last time I was here...we spoke of...ambition I think it was," she said, wanting him to know that she did remember him. She managed a half-smile as she picked up her tea to sip it. "A far cry from this time, hmm?" she said.

Lyrics (C) Mindy McCready
Banner (c) Rylah

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

It was a wonderful feeling when Wrennie embraced him in return. At least she trusted him enough for that, and to come home on a promise when he would have much rather taken her back with him. She wasn't different. People didn't change; they only faced trials and found who they really were. But they didn't change. And that meant that his sister was, somewhere, still the girl she'd once been. She held out her arms expanctantly and he gave her the cloak she wanted.

He listened to her with a heavy heart. "I know, Wrennie. It seems like a lot of things have gone wrong in the past five years, and communication hasn't been what it should be." He smiled sympathetically. He was so glad she was back--and yet there was a bittersweet pulling at his heart that he couldn't ignore. He wouldn't be whole again until she was fixed, and he would never be the person he'd once been. Not completely. And perhaps that was for the better, because for all the heartache that wisdom brought, it also allowed for him to better rule his people. He was a better man now, and he just had to find the joy in it. "Oh don't be sorry. I rid myself of a bad woman, and I'm glad for it." He really hadn't liked her at all, and now he knew.

They went to take tea, and once they'd been seated, there was a short silence. Finally, Wrennie spoke. "We've talked about a lot of things, Wrennie. And why stop now?" He smiled, his eyes soft. "Wren Rae Mercer--that's your name now, no matter what you think--I'm not going to press you to tell me anything. When you want to, you will, and I know that because I know you--I still know you, after five years and too many drinks. I will never, ever forget who you are."

He took a sip of his tea and sighed in relief. It was so good to have her back.

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae shook her head. "I just...I don't understand. All the letters...my husband swore he sent them..." She didn't want to believe that in addition to everything else, he had lied to her about the one thing that mattered to her. Then again, was it really so hard to believe that a Tyrian man would not send letters to Sol and Avonderre? To anyone else it would have appeared treason. She might have thought of that before telling him that she wanted to write to her family. She had just been so upset at the time and needed to believe that the man she had been forced to marry wasn't entirely evil at heart.

She half smiled. "You rid yourself of a bad woman...." Here she swallowed. "And I a bad man. If I had known you were so unhappy..." She didn't know how she would have finished that sentence. She had tried writing, and it wasn't as if her husband would have allowed her to come across the borders to be with her family. She wanted to be there for him, but God or the fates or whoever had the thread of her life in their hands had conspired against her and removed her from the only people that had mattered to her.

She shook her head. "I am not the girl you knew, Laeghton. There's pieces of her...but the girl you knew would never have done what I did..." She broke eye contact with him. She sipped her tea in silence once more before working up the courage to ask the question she dreaded knowing the answer to. "How fares everyone? Mother? Father? Reutch and Caurier and Ghymian?" She hungered for news of the world that she had been stolen from and kept hidden from, but feared that he had been the only one that hadn't received word, that the others had simply forgotten her and moved on with their lives. Maybe they had received word from Tyrian and thought the worst, that she had turned on the kingdom that she had held so dear to her heart.

"Laeghton..." she murmured after another few moments of silence. "I...I have to ask you, not as your sister, but as a sinner and as a...a criminal...will you offer me sanctuary here? Or should I return to Lady Aislynn?"

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

Laeghton arched an eyebrow in inquisition, his features framed by an overwhelming sense of frustration. For what, he couldn't tell exactly, but perhaps for whatever it was that his best friend and only sister had been through. And by the tone of her voice, perhaps it was her husband. "This... man of yours, Wren Rae, how is he? Not a knight in shining armor I think?" His lips parted in what might have been a smile on any other day, or any other topic. One thing he didn't like was when anyone scathed his sister.

He brought the teacup to his lips when he saw that she wasn't going to finish her phrase, so as not to probe the problem any farther. He wished right now that he'd added a bit of brandy to the cup, so as to soothe his nerves, but knew that alcohol wasn't something he should invest in right now, steadfast as it had been for half a decade.

In a few minutes, after a pressing silence, Laeghton replied heavily, "Ah, but I think I can help you fix that. I know who you are. And right now, it seems that perhaps you're the one who doesn't know yourself. I have letters and books and poems that will remind you in time. And memories--those are the greatest herbs of all." He smiled knowingly, his hazel eyes gleaming with the knowledge of one who read Greek scholars and modern poets alike. Yet for all the intelligence that Laeghton possessed, he seldom got the chance to engage it anymore. Few scholars were there in Sol, and his sister had been his sole confidante prior. "They're all well; the family is still in Sol and the men are all married now. Minus myself. We mourned for three years for you, after spending half a year searching."

He looked her deep in those no-longer-innocent eyes, so full of sadness. As a sinner? Hell, he was one too. "I would take you if you were Satan's wife." He managed half of a smile.

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae let out a short, humorless laugh. "A knight he was, but not in shining armor." She stared at the carpet, her thoughts going back to the night she had been kidnapped, her eyes just as distant. "He..." She hesitated a moment, her own sense of propriety preventing her from coming out with the full truth. Instead, she used the euphemisms she had been forced to use at court when she was actually allowed to go. She cleared her throat daintily and then started again.

"He was a strong man." She knew that from all of the times that he had hit her. "And clever." She had lost count of the times he had trapped her in her words. "He...loved me very much..." Or at least her body. She didn't dare look up at him as she told the half-truths and nearly choked on them as she always did. "We had our disagreements." When didn't they? She wanted to cry just thinking about the man, whose presence had made her so miserable.

She smiled and looked up at him, the mask she had so often worn in court falling into place again. "Memories, like herbs, have different side effects. There are those that soothe, and those that only serve to fan the flames." She finished the tea in her cup. She could almost imagine things had never happened when she sat here with him, so nearing the conversations that they had had before her marriage.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, the relief audible in her voice. "I'm glad to hear they are well. I...I didn't think to check in on them when I was staying with Lady Aislynn." She got to her feet to pour herself more tea. "I...suppose I should have thought about that. They..probably would want to know that I am alright. Especially after searching for so long."

She let out another humorless laugh. "I may have been..."

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

Laeghton watched his sister carefully, reading every sign he saw and wondering if she'd ever tell him directly what had happened to her. He watched her face as it flowed through several very different, unfathomable emotions. He knew that what she felt was far different from whatever he had been going through the while. He watched as her subtle gestures illuminated to him a whole world of pain and sorrow behind her stone face.

He knew.

Every word that passed her fearful lips was laced with passion and pain. Everything she said was, in some ironic manner, true--but he knew his sister and he knew that she could manipulate words to deliver certain connotations. She wasn't lying, but she was not alright either. This "knight" of hers... Was he drunken? Abusive? Controlling? Manipulative? Unintelligent? Arrogant? He wasn't good--that much, Laeghton understood. It was the absolute details that he didn't have, and that he wanted, but he knew better than to push for Wren Rae to tell him things likethat. Those kinds of details were priveledges, and he wasn't steeped deep enough into her trust for that yet.

"I don't think that's quite so," he half-whispered, but dropped the subject and didn't expect an answer to his probing. To her next comment, he replied casually, "And yet one cannot help but wonder what one herb will do to them until they try it. Curiosity is only human, Wren Rae. Give it time; I'll show you who you are again. But God brought you home and that is fair enough for today."

Laeghton remembered all of their family back in Sol. Their brothers and parents, and also the friends that had once encircled them to the point where they were nearly family as well... They were not here. They were all in Solraya. He sighed and almost felt guilty for moving and accepting his post, but the guilt left almost immediately. "We'll write to them, you and I, and when you're up to it, we will go visit them together." He smiled reassuringly. She had to know that she had his faith.

"You'll tell me when you want to. But Satan makes interesting stories."

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae’s hands shook as she sipped her tea again. She could feel her brother’s eyes watching her as she tried to keep everything together. She knew that he had seen through everything and her throat choked up with emotion. She wanted to cry again. She had spent so many of her days crying, so many nights crying herself to sleep. She swallowed several times to stop herself from crying, setting her tea cup on his desk and moving over to the window, laying her fingers gently against the stone surrounding it. She took a few deep breaths.

“What do you want from me Laeghton?” she asked softly, playing with the edge of her sleeve. Every so often, the healing purple-green of a bruise would peek out from in under her sleeves, but she didn’t pay any attention to it, her mind turned elsewhere as she watched the streets bustle with activity. “You know better than anyone I do not like to speak ill of anyone…even if they deserve it.” She shook her head. “It changes nothing. I was his property for better or for worse.”

Wren Rae nodded. “Yes, I suppose that is so,” she murmured. “I have been delivered from hell.” She folded her hands in front of her. “I’d like to see them, if they wish to see me that is. But…I think you are right. I think that I need a little bit more time to readjust to life in Sol. It’s so different from Tyrian…”

The instant the words left her mouth she brought hand to her lips, wishing she hadn’t said anything. Would he think her a traitor now? Panic entered her eyes, replacing the melancholy that had been there and she turned to face him, her free hand bunched tightly in her skirts. “Please…forget I said anything Laegh...” She cast about for anything that she could say, but found nothing. Instead, she could only stare at Laeghton with bated breath, hoping he wouldn’t turn her out.

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

Wrennie was trying so hard not to cry, and Laeghton could tell. He wasn't going to say anything; he knew better and he knew that there was so much he would never know. She was different now, and she could be the same woman she used to be if she'd just let him in. But that was the hardest thing for her to do, and Laeghton knew. He wasn't going to push her that far now. She stood and went to the window, looking down on his town of Avonderre.

He sighed and turned in his seat to face her, though he could see only her back. "I just want you to trust me, Wrennie," he said softly, his words endearing. If she'd just let him in... No, he wouldn't push it. He had already said so much. But she was hurting, both emotionally and physically, it looked like, and he was determined to help her heal. "And you do not have to. But I will tell you that it may help you to tell me... You do not, by any means, have to, but you can trust me, Wren Rae, like you always have." It was a pretty weak plea, he had to admit.

Back to the family. They weren't all like Laeghton, and he knew that. He didn't honestly know if they'd be accepting or not, and he didn't really want her meeting them face-to-face without a little time to get better. Laeghton watched her some more, and determined that if he couldn't fix the internal pain yet, perhaps he could help the rest. He stood and went to the cabinet, pulling out an herbal mixture he had for the times he thought he'd never make it out of drinking alive. He poured another cup of tea for her and mixed part of the remedy in. Her pain would be gone, at least temporarily. Maybe she'd trust him again. "God has brought you home, Wrennie." He placed the brew on the sill beside her and then heard her out---What? Tyrian?

Laeghton turned away sharply, fists clenched and fighting himself to take deep breaths. He hated Tyrian. This was it. This was the last straw. Tomorrow he'd go down to Sol and make his case. He'd fight Tyrian himself. He'd kill that damned king. And he'd get it out of whomever had hurt his sister---he'd kill them. Laeghton couldn't speak. He was at a loss for words and was infuriated beyond languages, though he spoke many. "Je tuerai tous Tyriennes," he swore under his breath. He looked back at Wren Rae. He shouldn't be doing this.

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Wren Rae couldn't help it. He was being so kind to her. The kindness was so overwhelmingly foreign, and that she thought that was enough to bring her to tears. She should expect nothing but kindness from the man she had always turned to, yet she balked at the thought of asking him to help her bear her cross.

"I do trust you, Laeghton. You are my brother, and I...I do know in my heart that you will never hurt me." She brought her hands up to her chest, wringing them slowly. "I remember the way we would play together as children, and the way we would talk for hours, long after the sun had set when I was a young woman, and you a grown man." Her eyes shifted to a group of children playing in the streets. "That's why it hurt so much when I thought you abandoned me, Laegh." She brushed delicately at her eyes.

"All those years of thinking that you didn't care...all that time spent hating you...I can't just remove those memories, that hatred. For all I try to be a good Christian...I can't...I can't just let that go." She felt her breath hitch and couldn't stop the tear before it leaked out of her eye. She brushed it away quickly. "It's not that I don't trust you...it's myself that I don't understand. I can't understand why I would think that you would ignore me like that. I guess..." She paused a moment. "I guess it was because I thought that you had heard what had happened to me...and that you would hate me for turning on Sol...the kingdom that you and I both loved more than anything else..." She amended softly, almost too softly to be heard, "I didn't want you to be ashamed of me..."

"God has brought me home, Laegh," she said, agreeing with his statement on some level. "But though I am returned to the place I grew to love...I am not through the valley of shadow yet. I still fear the evil that haunts my nights." It was the first time she admitted to the nightmares that plagued her. "I still fear that he is in every shadow, behind every open door." The man had tormented her for the last five years. "I know that he cannot be but..." Her eyes slid sideways to the cup of tea he placed on the windowsill for her. "Thank you," she murmured automatically.

Wren Rae saw his quick turn away from her. Was he about to throw her out? Instinctively, she pressed her back to the windowsill, biting her lip and looking so very vulnerable. She couldn't take the rejection again. If Laeghton turned her out, she could think of nothing else to do but return to Tyrian to face out her punishment. However it was his next words that stunned her.

Je tuerai tous Tyriennes

Instantly her eyes flashed with concern. His eyes moved up to meet hers and Wren Rae couldn't help herself. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "Please, Laegh...don't...don't put yourself in that position." Her voice shook with the tears that she couldn't hold back any longer. She was not certain that he would appreciate the tearstains she left on his tunic. "I would never forgive myself if you were hurt...It would be all my fault..." She looked up at him. "Please...I'll beg you not to go after them...my husband is already dead...is that not enough?" she asked softly.

[Lord Laeghton Mercer]

It was getting clearer as Laeghton watched his sister. She was struggling to believe things that she used to believe, but wasn't certain of anymore--if it was all the same, so was he. There had been a time when he would have sworn her spirit was unbreakable, but clearly she was something altogether different now. Maybe not broken, but clearly harshly bent, and not even Laeghton would have imagined her like this. He was bent too, but not nearly so much. She was distressed, she was lost. And it worried him all the more.

"You know what?" he surrendered himself to, saying softly, "Be angry at me, Wren Rae. Hate me. I can't convince you to trust me again- you're going to have to learn to trust me again, and that's up to the Lord and yourself. Whatever you want to think of me, think. I cannot stop you." He offered her a shy smile. She needed it, and the Lord knew that. And it was much too true--begging didn't change anything. Laeghton should know that. So he stopped. He had to. Her final healing couldn't come from him, he realized. It had to be a reconciliation with religion, faith, love. He could aid in that, but he could not control it. And then Laeghton looked her in the eyes and told her something else she needed to hear: "I will never be ashamed of you, Wren Rae Mercer."

To her next comment, he need say nothing; it had already been said. God could deliver her from this, not him, and she would have to find that out for herself. Right now, all that was in Laeghton's power to do was protect her and be there to comfort her with whatever he had to offer, in word and deed. The tea was enough for now, and once she drank it, she would feel a hell of a lot better, even if it was just for a little while so that she could get herself to sleep. That, too--he wanted her to sleep well for once. She hadn't seemed to have that blessing in five years.

He was just about to embrace her when he remembered her frailty. He dared not touch her in the state she was in, lest he hurt her more. With a sigh, he stood back.

But after his quick-tempered reaction, she clung to him anyway. Laeghton couldn't think straight now--he already hated Tyrian as it were, and this was just it. He was a lord, and he had people to fight for him. He had every reason in the world to kill that damned "King" of Tyrian, and all the men that lived in his castle. But he couldn't do that, not like he'd so quickly, defensively thought. Immediately, Laeghton surrenderred himself to his God's gentle wisdom. He took several deep breaths, letting the last of the rage leave him, but could find no words.

No, he shouldn't do that. That was rash to think. He couldn't hurt poor Wren Rae beyond what had been done--he would be the final inch of her shroud. He had to be the example, the strong one, at least for now. Five years hadn't taught him anything. "I'm sorry," he managed, "Forgive me. I cannot think past revenge yet. I will do nothing of the sort." He promised this and held her fast to him. He didn't care if she cried, though he would rather her not have to spill more tears than she already had.

STATUS complete TAG Wrennie ATTIRE click me
LYRICS Broken Things; Ryan Kelly NOTES alas, there are none.
COPYRIGHT Flik of Roleplaying Extras

[Wren Rae Mercer]

Wren Rae felt her heart breaking as Laeghton completely surrendered to the caprice of her mind. She felt like a small girl again, fearing the shadows cast in the flickering light of the candles she would read by. She knew in her heart that Laeghton would never hurt her. And even if she hadn’t, he had made no attempt to hurt her now. She looked at the floor, twisting a piece of fabric in her hand in a nervous gesture. A hint of a smile played at the corners of her mouth.

“You make it so hard to be angry with you, my sweet Laegh…” she said. “I never could be angry with you for very long. Not even when you went away to study in France.” She made a soft noise that was a semblance of a laugh. “I still have that little brooch you sent me when I was old enough to start wearing them. I think that was when you hadn’t written for several months.” She slowly looked up at him from behind her eyelashes. He wasn’t ashamed of her? Not for anything that she had just said or for anything that had happened to her? “You always humbled me in my anger. I admired you so for that.” She shook her head. “You don’t deserve to be hated.”

She reached over and picked up the cup that Laeghton had left for her on the windowsill, sipping it delicately as she tried to think of what she could say to him. The tea soothed her more than she expected, and she could almost imagine that the pain from the bruises was starting to dull. But of course, tea couldn’t work wonders like that. She knew that from experience. She smiled at him. “This tea is very good, Laeghton…” she said softly. “Thank you.” She set the cup down once she had allowed herself to take in the luxury of its taste and the sensation that it created, the feeling of no pain.

Wren Rae let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she had been holding. She couldn’t imagine losing her brother to war, especially now. She’d only just gotten him back, after having thought herself lost to her family for so long. She wiped at her tears. “Thank you…thank you Laeghton.” She still clung tightly to him. “I could not bear to think that you would throw your life away for a criminal…” She knew he would not press her, but she wanted to give him something. More than anything he deserved that.

She looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears again. She had to tell him. Now. While she still had the courage to say the words. “I killed him Laeghton…I killed my husband…” They were no more than a whisper, and she couldn’t help the slight tremors that made her body quake. He promised he would never be ashamed of her…but when she had so deeply sinned against God…She felt her knees become weak. She had to trust he wouldn’t send her back for her punishment. If she couldn’t trust him with this, then she knew that five years had been too long a time to repair the damage. She looked up at him, her whole soul clinging to the one hope that he would accept her as she was, just as he had always done.