by Daul, Amanda
The sniper who had shot Karson in the Vailwood reformatory had been an undercover soldier and Karson had been a part of it. The General had a ploy set in Vailwood and in a successful attempt to mislead her from there, Karson had volunteered to act as decoy in order for her to escape. It made Arissa feel guilty at the thought of not knowing that someone she had once been friends with had put himself in danger like that.
The dead body that she had found in the woods had been a spy from the General’s army who had been tracking Arissa. However, they had first captured him and forced him to mislead another group of real soldiers who had been in the area. They had killed him, thinking he was Cayl because of the similar jacket that he had been seen with on several sightings. It had been the shot she had heard and Trax confessed to being the one to kill the Captain.
“Because who wouldn’t enjoy putting a bullet in that thief, am I right?” he had added on, proudly.
When Arissa had finally confronted Cayl about how he had gotten injured, he told her how he had been shot during an attack on the Varkland mountains. Apparently the attack from the highwaymen that she had been present for had not been the first.
This was all too much for Arissa to process, but slowly the information began to sink in after she repeated it in her mind several times. When she asked about the General, everyone either scowled in anger or offered a string of inappropriate terms to describe him with.
Cayl explained how the General had vanished during the confusion at the execution, his voice regretful.
Arissa felt her heart sinking. After hearing all of this, she had hoped that at least she would hear that he had been captured or, even better, killed while she had been fighting for her life. They hadn’t changed a thing.
When she voiced her thoughts, Cayl corrected her quickly, reminding her that everything had changed. They were back together and both alive, there was finally a dedicated group of people who could overthrow the General and because of what had happened in the city square, it was obvious that Arissa had not been a part of any murder plot against the Governor. They didn’t need to hide and run away anymore. They could finally go home.
The only thing left for Arissa to question was her own shooting. “I don’t understand. If it was you guys who had shot Karson and the Captain and the man I saw in mountains...then who shot me?”
It took a moment for either Trax or Cayl to answer, as they seemed to be the most talkative of the group of ten people around her during the conversation. Eventually Trax spoke up, “We don’t know who shot you, Arissa. It threw us all off. We had a completely different plan for saving you and capturing the General at the same time, but after that...it was just sort of a rush to get you out of there. We wouldn’t have been so lucky if that stallion of yours hadn’t showed up.”
Arissa didn’t say anything to them, but she knew who had shot her. The same man who had wanted to kill her at the Governor’s mansion. Everything after that had happened so fast, she hadn’t even told anyone about it yet.
Ever since being reunited with her horse, Arissa had felt a lift in her spirits as well. Now she simply sat in her chair back in her house that she had missed so much. She could hear Cayl’s footsteps echoing down the hall.
When he entered the pale room, his face was lit up into a wide smile and bright eyes. Arissa returned the expression, feeling her excitement rising quickly.
“Are you ready?” he asked her, taking a seat beside her rocking chair, reaching out to grip her hand tightly.
“I’ve been waiting for months, of course I’m ready!” Arissa attempted to sit up farther in her chair, but pain shot through her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down.
A young woman who worked occasionally for them as a maid entered the room and at the sight of the soft bundle of blanket in her arms Arissa’s heart shot up in her chest, pounding deeply in her throat.
When the maid reached Arissa, she couldn’t wait any longer to see what she had been looking forward to seeing again for months. She gingerly took the bundle in her arms and heard Cayl thank the woman as she left the room.
Arissa gently pulled back the folds of the blanket she held and suddenly felt tears falling freely from her happy eyes. Her shoulder flashed with hot pain under the white bandage when she moved her arm, but she was too elated to heed to it.
The last time Arissa had seen her newborn daughter had been on that dreadful night that seemed so long ago now. She had been singing the baby to sleep when the window had been shattered and Cayl had been kidnapped the first time. Before flying off to the Governor’s, she had quickly stashed her baby with Cayl’s sister who lived with her husband outside of Daer. The couple lived very far off the radar, having no association with anything political or notorious at all. In fact, most people didn’t even know they were associated with Arissa and Cayl, which was exactly why she had chosen them to take care of her daughter while she had been on the run.
She had only been a few weeks old then and had grown considerably since. Her pale skin was flawless, as were her eyes that were already a glistening green, just like her father’s. However, she had her mother’s hair, the silky strands of black hair matching Arissa’s exactly. Everything about her was beautiful and perfect.
Arissa and Cayl took turns holding her and talking to her, both of their faces lighting up when she smiled and laughed at the sound of their voices. Arissa even saw tears streaming from Cayl’s eyes as he held his daughter close.
It was hours later when Cayl had left the room to get Arissa another dose of Yasmine’s medicinal tea. Her child lay in her arms, asleep, as she gently rocked, thinking about the last time she had been able to hold her. It had killed her to leave her behind, but obviously there had been no choice.
Arissa couldn’t help but stare at her daughter as she slept. She spoke softly to her.
“You were the only thing keeping me going while I was out there, babe. As hard as it was, I thought about you every single day. The thought of your sweet face reminded me of everything that I needed to fight for. And from now on, I promise that everything I do is going to be to protect you. I want you growing up in a world where you don’t have to worry about obeying people. You deserve so much better because you are good. You are perfect, and I am going to see to it that you are treated that way. The bad people will be gone and you won’t have to know about any of it.”
Silent tears still staining her cheeks, Arissa pressed her lips to her sleeping daughter’s forehead. “I promise, Janelle. You’re always going to be safe as long as I’m here.”
Janelle answered by heaving a tiny sigh as she turned slightly in her sleep.
Cayl appeared beside them, setting the cup of tea on the nightstand table. He gently held Arissa, without disturbing their baby, capturing her lips in the subtle darkness of the lantern light for a fleeting kiss.
His green eyes were alight with passion as he held her gaze. “What you said is true. We will be so much stronger now because we know what we’re fighting for. This war isn’t over and it will never be over until we have won.”
Arissa nodded in total agreement. “We will win back our freedom together.”