"Mother, what happened?" Mara had stopped braiding the Friesian's mane when I came into the stable. I had to guess I looked beyond frustrated and torn, even though I had tried to hide it before coming in here to pick up Mara and get things ready to head home, "Why are you crying?"

"It's okay, Dove." I knelt in front of her. Why was keeping a straight face and lying to my daughter's face was so hard? I always taught her that telling the truth was always the better choice, no matter what, but now, at this moment, I was aware that lying to protect Mara was the better option and the choice. Why was this so hard? I tried to smile but the tears fell down my cheek before I could stop them, "We will go home soon."

"Don't cry, Mother. Everything will be fine," She smiled back and her tiny hands brushed the tears off my cheek. I held her hands between mines and brought them to my lips, kissing them. Everything was so messed up- even our family- and I didn't know how to tell her what was going on. How could I? She was just seven and as mother, I felt the need to protect her feelings at all costs.

"I know, love. I have you, don't I?" Mara nodded at my question and now a genuine smile crossed my lips, "Good. That is good."

Mara looked me right in the eye. "Why did you shout at each other?"

"I was just frustrated at what happened. I'm sorry you had to hear that." I let her hands go and touched her cheeks, feeling the softness of her skin and noticing the tenderness of her eyes, "Mara, your father did some things, wrong things, and that is why we were shouting at each other."

"Oh," She simply replied, "Can we go home now?"

"Of course," I went inside to gather some of my things, my cape still on the rocking chair near the window, still unfolded. Now, Charles was sitting at the table and it seemed like he was lost on his own thoughts. When he realized I was inside the cottage and getting ready to leave, his eyes fixed on my frame. I looked back at him and his eye met mine, my expression showing no emotion.

"I don't care if you are coming with us or not, but listen to me on this: you need to stop. When it's about aether and- how did you put it? Its power? I know more about it than you do," I fixed my gaze somewhere else, at the view outside the window. It was a beautiful and quite early autumn morning and I could see the leaves falling. If I opened the window, I would be able to feel the thin and cold air biting against my skin, so cold that it almost hurt. Most of the times, autumn reminded me of beginning of the end- the way all the trees lost their leaves and looked dead and how, three months later, spring would come back and bring said trees back to life. It truly was beautiful.

Shaking the thoughts off my head, I looked back at him. Deep inside, I was scared of losing him, of giving up on our family, our future. He would not- no, could not- leave us, would he? If that happened, what would people say? What would they think?

"Darling," Charles got up from the table where Mara and I were having breakfast and approached me, caressing my arms in a such smooth and gentle I would expect from anyone but him, specially right now. The way he was looking at me, like I was a sort of hurt animal that needs help left me seething, "You clearly do not get it-"

"Do not. Do not do that," This was not going the way I expected, "You either stop it or I am going to find a way to leave you and I am taking my daughter with me."


"My lady," I heard Howard greet me when we reached our house. I jumped off the horse and then, like always, helped Mara down. It didn't take us much time to get home- it was obviously slower than it was last night, given the fact we weren't in a rush and weren't running away- and certainly was much nicer than last night's. I could show Mara the woods, the trees and animals, could tell her stories, legends that our people carried for many, many years. We never had the chance to have talks like those and she was delighted by it. It was something I'd like to repeat some day.

"Could you take care of the horse?" Howard nodded. I held Mara's hand in mine and walked inside. Everyone greeted us and asked about my husband and I made up an excuse, saying he wasn't feeling so well, hence why he couldn't ride the horse and come with us. I made sure to tell Charles would be with us in a few hours; I would stay at the cottage with him, but I couldn't keep Mara there forever. As I talked with Dorothy, one of our cooks, I felt Mara impatiently tugging at the skirt of my dress. I finished my conversation with Dorothy and took Mara to the living room instead.

"What is it, Dove?" I asked when we reached there, letting go of her her hand.

"May I play with my friends, Mother?"

I wasn't sure if Mara running around all by herself was a good idea, not right now. Not with so many people hurt, with so many people angry at us. They could use her to get to me and to get to Charles, who knew? People did stupid things when they were angry. Keeping her inside wasn't the best either- she would get frustrated and would start making a mess. Besides, Mara was a smart girl and she would find a way to get to me if anything happened. I sighed before nodding, "Of course, Mara. Be careful, come to me if something happens."

"Thank you, mother," She hugged me, a giggle escaping from her lips, and ran away. When Mara was finally out of my sight, I went to my room upstairs and grabbed the journal I left at the nightstand and started writing about what had happened the past few weeks- I hadn't had much time to actually sit down and write what was happening in my life, to let the anger out. It helped in a way and I wasn't all that angry anymore. After I was done, I put the journal back at the nightstand and started looking for a solution to fix this situation, to fix things between Charles and me. Shaking the thoughts out of mind, I started to prepare a bath for me. I took my own sweet time, taking the longest bath I could. Once I was done, I got dressed again and french braided my hair, then walked downstairs to meet Howard again.

"Where is your husband, Elizabeth?" Howard said, looking right in my eyes. He worked for me for over fifteen years and more often than now I considered him a friend and not an employee. I knew I could trust him and tell him everything, specially about what Charles had done and how that had complicated our relationship. I knew Howard would keep a secret and whatever we talked about would stay between us.

"Who knows at this point? I didn't even know what he had been up to until a few hours ago." I sighed loudly, "My priority right now is keeping my daughter as safe as I can, not on trying to keep track of my husband. I cannot get him to be here right now or at any specific moment, but Charles will be here in no time."

"I understand, my lady." Howard held my right wrist with his left hand and rubbed his thumb on it. I knew what he was trying to do and he was trying to comfort me any way he could right now. It was working, in a way, "May I ask you what happened? It must have been bad, with you running away with your daughter in the middle of the night."

"I may not tell you what happened, not right now. What I can tell you, though, is that Charles did something awful to many, many people. The worse? He doesn't want to stop. He keeps giving me the 'I'm a scientist' excuse." Suddenly, my anger was back and I was very, very angry.


Suddenly Mara, William and a girl I've never seen before ran in. She had two brown pigtails and beautiful brown eyes she wore a light purple dress.

"Look mother what we found!" Mara said enthousiastic. She had two tiny black balls of stuff I didn't recognized in her hand.

"Dove what is that?" I asked scared knowing that it wasn't anything to play with. "Can you please give it to me?" I held my hands out.

"Yes, of course." She gave the black balls to me. "Is it also okay if Amena stays here tonight?"

"Yes, don't want you to stay too William?" I asked him.

"No I am fine Mrs. Lewis." He answered me. I didn't like him so that was fine.

"So you are Amena?" I looked at the little girl next to Mara.

"Yes." She said pointing her chin up. "I just came here, I live with my father."

"That's lovely, for how long now?"

"Two weeks I guess." She smiled shy.

"Well make yourself at home." I looked at Mara. "I am going to sleep Dove, so if there is anything wake me up."

"We will too soon." Mara smiled and hugged me and the three children walked away.

"Can you hide this for me?" I asked Howard who was still standing beside me. "And who is that girl exactly?"

"Came here a week ago, only lives with her dad, her mother died giving birth to her sister who also died. Her dad is a farrier."

"Poor girl." I said. "I am going to head to bed so if you could close down please?"

"Of course my lady." He said.


"Elizabeth, I'm sorry. I really am," Charles brought his hand to my chin and made me look in his eyes. His fingertips were light, tender. "I have done an awful, terrible mistake, and I am trying to fix it now. I promise it won't happen again."

"I know," And suddenly, I wasn't all that angry anymore and what he had done didn't bother me as much as it had when I found out. Suddenly, the good memories we had together were enough to overcome the bad ones, "I was just scared. I should not have yelled at you, either."

"It's okay. You were trying to do the right thing, I understand," He smiled at me and for the first time in weeks, it reached his eyes. I couldn't help myself but return the smile, too. Our smile seemed infectious and before I could say something else, his lips were on mine. The kiss was gentle, full of tenderness I didn't expect from him, not right now anyways. It had been so long since he kissed me like this; I couldn't even remember the last time things had gone this way.

Charles was sorry and he was trying to apologize the best way he could, I knew that much, I realized that as we kissed, and as the kiss got rougher, more passionate, a groan- needy and full of want all at once- escaped from the back of his throat. A low and throaty chuckle escape from my mouth; that was exactly how I remembered him, exactly how I wanted him right now. Charles got on top of me, being careful to not be too heavy, but enough to pin me down. His hands cupped my neck, trying to find a better angle to kiss me. The kiss deepened, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as my hands moved to the buttons of his shirt to undress him. I didn't know if we'd go back to how we used to be before, but we could try. It was, already, a good start.