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Isolde.
A stint of silence swept between them as she gauged Roga to know if she was making this up. Yet all Isolde could see was the sincerity in the woman's face.
Now, her eyes have turned red. Roga flapped her lashes as if willing whatever tears gathering away.
"How?" Isolde finally summoned the courage to ask. She watched Roga's throat bobbing. The paleness of the older female's skin told Isolde how afraid Roga was.
"He's the master. The lord's male. Sire Edrand has the power to do whatever he wants. Power to bend others to his will a lot of times," Roga said, but her voice was thick with emotions.
Isolde willed herself to move closer. She held Roga's hand and asked in a whisper, "Has this ever happened before?"
"A lot of times in the past. Before he left for the Abbey of Thorns..."
"Abbey of Thorns? What is that?" She interrupted Roga, trying to sate her curiosity.
"It's a reviving camp. For those with dementia. The Abbey is guarded by mages called Abbots," she supplied.
All the while she spoke, Roga leaned into Isolde. She had the fear that the air would carry her discussion with Isolde to Edrand. Isolde didn't know the extent of Edrand's savagery, but those that had been around him knew, especially Roga. The woman suffered when Edrand's so-called dementia began. Her travails were so deep and scary that she bottled everything up for years. This was the first time she was opening up. To her, Isolde was her safe place; she didn't know why but maybe because she kind of reminded her of Andriandita.
The girl was the star that brightened Draco's life. Roga had been Draco's nanny since he was a boy. She watched him bond with Edrand and Andriandita always.
The first time Draco realized his feelings for Andriandita weren't just ordinary love friends had for each other, she was the first person Draco told.
Roga had advised young Draco to welcome those feelings and to purge them out to Andriandita. The day he had his first kiss with Andriandita, Roga was the first he told. The female was super excited for the lad.
During that period his love for Andriandita bloomed, she began to notice Edrand's bitterness. The woman had tried to let Edrand know Andriandita and Draco were meant to be together. However, instead of Edrand understanding, his inward bitterness for the girl festered, and his obsession for Draco increased.
Unfortunately, during the great purge, Draco lost his woman.
That was the period when everything changed. Edrand began to reveal the monster he was. Whenever he heard Roga trying to remind Draco of memories of Andriandita, Edrand would sneak into her chamber at night with a dagger, threatening the woman.
She tried to inform Draco about her ugly encounters with Edrand, but the lord felt she was bluffing because Edrand never looked like he was capable of doing such. The more she reported her case, the more the threat grew until it reached the extent of Edrand forcing himself on her son, Carldo.
He'd tie the boy to a bedpost, gag his mouth, and take him so hard, Roga would always watch with a broken heart.
The woman got tired and wanted to put an end to the torture; hence, she set a trap for Edrand which he fell into. He was threatening Roga again with his dagger when Draco walked into them.
Quickly, Edrand twisted the whole shenanigan by claiming to Draco that his mental illness had worsened. It happened that Edrand had been asking Draco to allow him to head to the Abbey of Thorns, which Draco didn't see the need.
Hence, that day Draco saw Edrand threatening the female, Edrand used it as a chance to pitch his movement to the Abbey.
He claimed that every day he awoke, the madness increased. He made Draco believe it all happened as a result of them losing their best friend, Andriandita, and the general tragedy that befell the people of Bloomington.
That was the day Draco helped Edrand to send a letter to the Abbots that Edrand would be coming.
"He is demented?" Isolde asked.
Roga scoffed, "That was what he claimed, my lady." She cinched closer and held Isolde's hands. Worry crystallized her vision before she continued. "But I know he is not. The male did everything with a sound mind, my lady. I feel like he had other reasons for going to the Abbey of Thorns. So you see why I couldn't speak up? If I do, I and my boy will suffer. I cannot let that happen." She sniffled and wiped away the stray tear on her cheek.
"Why didn't you tell the lord?" Isolde quizzed, rubbing the woman's knuckles. She was surprised to see Roga shake her head repeatedly. "Why?"
"He'll never believe I'm saying the truth. To him, Edrand isn't capable of hurting a fly. He's so absorbed by his pity for the male that he can never believe Edrand is capable of doing wrong."
That had Isolde shutting her mouth. Her body twitched with anger for Edrand. Amid those emotions swirling through her, Isolde still heard the noise in her head. She felt that same fear for Edrand as she did the first time she saw him on the castle ground.
Both of them stared at the fountain. The water bursting from the central jet with such mesmerizing liquid energy. Isolde and Roga silently gazed at it as the water roared in the air before cascading down into the basin with a shimmery turquoise glow.
"The fountain reminds me of two souls that were in love," Roga broke the silence. Her words capturing Isolde's attention.
"Who were they?"
"A boy and a very pretty girl. Her family is among the three leading families in the whole of Bloomington," Roga released a long sigh.
"What happened to the boy and the girl? Why does the fountain remind you about them?"
Roga reached out a hand to touch the water. She loved the feel of the cool liquid on her knuckle.
"They spent most of the time here. It was the girl who suggested to the boy that they should build the fountain. The greatest sculptor in Bloomington, Aghaytus, was called upon and when it got to the point where the fountain sculpture would be molded, he asked the pair what would be the fountain sculpture. They both gazed at each other and joined their hands together and said to the sculptor 'a sculpture of two hands' that's how this was made."
Roga gestured high up to where the sculpture of two huge hands joined together sat, water sprinkling forth from between them.
Isolde's heart quaked when she stared at it. Her mind brimming with images that were blurry.
She manageably held herself from hobbling, yet the onslaught of images she couldn't make sense of filled her mind.
What were all those? She wondered.
"The boy and the girl were best friends who turned lovers. Fate designed it to be so. Have you ever loved someone, my lady?" Roga asked, staring back at Isolde.
By now, the color had returned to Isolde's face.
"Hmm?" She hummed, fighting for clarity. Roga pitched the question again to her.
Isolde blushed, her eyes wandering aimlessly as she thought about Roga's question.
While Isolde's mind roamed, her heart began to hammer against the wall of her chest. She wondered what could be the cause.
"I have..." She paused mid-speech as her gaze settled upon Draco. Isolde was suspended in a trance as she gazed at the male who was none the wiser of her as he moved to Grastes Garden with majestic grace.
The thundering of her heart heightened at the sight of him. She unconsciously raised her hand and cradled it over her chest, feeling the beat of her heart over her chest.
His torture back in the Viper Mouth filled her mind.
"The lord..." Roga chirped.
Hearing that, Isolde was startled, not wanting the older female to have any misguided idea about her loving Draco.
"No. I mean, I've never loved anyone." She let out, looking back at the fountain. Roga gave her a suspicious eye and smiled.
"You know, the lord has not been with a woman for many years," Roga chimed in but bit down on her lips as if realizing she shouldn't have said that.
"Why is that?" Isolde quizzed as she remembered that Draco was always dressed in his armor and gloves. She stepped forward and held Roga, asking again. "Why hasn't he been with a woman?"
Roga turned pale, shifting her gaze away. She bristled and spat all too quickly, "I have to go, my lady."
Without wasting a breath, she fled like a deer with its tail between its legs. Something wasn't adding up here, the thought came to Isolde.
She stared in the direction Roga fled to; however, Isolde looked back to where the Lord had entered and saw him now coming out. Behind him was Alfos dragging her sister with him.
Isolde jerked into action, rushing towards them to know why they've brought her sister out.
TBC.