Elena stood at the edge of the army campsite, staring down the long rows of tents in anticipation. She wanted to go see Damon but the camp was much larger now then it previously was and she was nervous to walk down the long rows, passing unknown men and in all honesty she had no idea where to even start looking for him. Elena had tried to convince him to stay in the castle but Damon had declined, stating that he belonged with his men. Someone stopped beside her and she shuffled from foot to foot.
"Are you going to go see him or just stand here all day?" Elena sighed, turning to the familiar voice of her brother. "What's wrong Lena?"
"Nothing Jer…" He furrowed his brows and crossed his arm's, showing his disbelief.
"Lena cut that crap. I haven't seen you say a single word to mother since I've gotten back which is very unlike you, what's happened?" Elena looked at the ground, the mud caused from many trampling feet seeping into her flimsy shoes. She had wondered how long it would take for Jeremy to catch on to the rift between her and their mother. Ever since that day Elena had barely said two words to the women. The fact was she didn't know what to say to her, she had been lied to her whole life and it was taking a while to get her head around it all. How could she even explain to her brother they were actually cousins and the man who was her blood father hated and blamed her for the death of her mother?
"It's not important Jeremy" he let out a sigh and shook his head, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a comforting manor.
"Elena when this war reaches us it will be mother's and yours responsibility to look after the townsfolk. You two will be in charge of getting them to safety and their well beings. How do you expect to do that if you can't even speak to her?" Elena had to admit, he had a point. Each passing day Mason's army advanced on them and while the men were on the front lines the women would be the support in the city. "So far I've been stockpiling supplies so we can last in a siege for a few months but I need the help of both of you. I'm stretched thin Lena, I can't prepare our army and be in charge of the civilians"
"I know Jeremy, it's just…." She stopped herself and looked around her surroundings'. This wasn't the place to discuss this. "I need you to come with me Jeremy and I need you to support me"
"You know I'll always' have your back Lena" she nodded solemnly and grabbed his hand. Elena lead him to the back of the castle where the door's to the dungeon was placed and ignored the sideways glance Jeremy was giving her.
"My king, princess" the two guards at the front knelt down on one knee then stood back up.
"I wish to see Jonathan Gilbert" the guards looked to Jeremy warily, waiting for him to accept her request. He remained silent for a moment, confused and angry at the mention of his father's murders name. Elena bit her lip, if he declined her request she would never be able to get the answers she needed.
"My king?" one of the guard's tried to coax an answer out of Jeremy, they were beginning to feel uncomfortable under his piercing gaze.
"Let her pass…" he turned to Elena, uncertainty in his eyes but he had agreed to support this decision; even though he had no idea what business she had with the traitor. Elena and Jeremy followed the guards down to the furthest end of the dark, cold and gloomy corridor. The silence of the lowest levels of the castle ringing with clicking heels of boots. Elena felt her stomach tighten, she had though many times about seeing Jonathan but her courage always eluded her at the last minute; too afraid to hear what he had to say. They were a few cells away when Jeremy dismissed the guard and waited until he was sure they were alone before turning to Elena. "Are you sure about this Elena? This man killed our father, why do you feel the need to talk to him?" she gave him a weak smile before answering him. The words stuck in her throat but she managed to force them out.
"That man is my father" she waited for what felt like hours before he spoke. His shock evident in his widened eyes and his hand trembling. "I need answers Jeremy and he's the only one that can give them to me"
"Can't you ask mother! She'll have them to Elena!" she shook her head, a sad smile on her face. There was a reason she had been avoiding Miranda.
"Our mother has dealt with too much already, she's barely out of her grieving for our father and I'm afraid if I ask her about this she'll return to her quarters again" Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, eventually nodding in agreement. Elena made her way to the front of the cell and peered inside at the man sitting in the corner. His dirty blond hair hung in front of his soot cover face, matted and tangled. His clothes were beginning to become tattered and his hands were in front of him, cold iron shackles holding them together by his wrists. If it was anyone else she would have felt pity for them and even though he was her blood she couldn't bring herself to feel and caring emotion towards him.
"Uncle…Elena has some questions" Jeremy's voice was a cold as the temperature of the cell, his hate for the man in front of him evident.
"What makes you think I would answer anything that murdering bitch has to ask" Elena flinched, she had never been spoken about in such a manor before and she felt his words place a burden onto her. In his eyes she was responsible for the death of his wife, her mother.
"Do not address her with such vile words you traitorous bastard! You're the only murderer here!" Elena placed a hand on Jeremy's arm to calm him down. This wouldn't get them anywhere.
"My mother, who was she? What was she like?" Elena hopped she would find some comfort in his words, she felt as if some part was missing in her when she thought about her birth mother. Jonathan flicked his eyes to the ceiling as if he was remembering distance memories, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Isobel, she was beautiful. I remember the first day I saw her. It was her eye's that pulled me in. Those brown orbs filled with such warmth and love. It was like she was a walking sun, everything she touched just lit up and the second I laid eyes on her it was like the world stood still" Elena smiled, she had been scared he would tell her a story of a hard women, cold like the man in the cell before them. "Isobel…she was so gentle. I don't know why she agreed to marry me, we we're complete opposites. She was the sun, warm and inviting and I was the moon, cold and distant but she changed me, made me want to be a better man, a better person"
"Did she…did she love me?" he let out a hysterical laugh as if Elena had told some sort of joke.
"Love you? Of course she loved you! When she found out she was pregnant she was ecstatic. She ran to every baby stall in town buying up everything she could get her hands on. We both we're so happy, we we're going to be a family and then YOU happened" he staggered to his feet and towards the bars. His face pressed into them and his eye's dark with hatred. "Because of you she woke up screaming and I knew something was wrong. There was blood everywhere and before I knew it I was pushed into the hallway listening to my beloved's wife's tormented screams and she pushed you out of her"
"You don't need to hear this Elena" Jeremy gently grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away from the crazed man but she stood still. Tears streaming down her face as Jonathan continued waving his hands wildly at her.
"When they let me back into the room she was gone…that warm sun that radiated from her was replaced with this vacuum of stale death and then they tried handing you to me and I knew…I knew it was your fault she was gone. She had given up her life so you could live and I've hated you every second for it. You should have died that day not her!" Elena choked back a sob, her hand at her chest. She could feel his despair, his burning anger at losing his meaning in life. "I tried to kill you, I walked over to the window and was going to drop you out of it and then my brother came in and ripped you out of my arms. They kept you, raised you as their own and I was forced to live knowing that my daughter killed my wife. As you grew up you began to look like her, you had the same eyes and every time I saw you I had to restrain myself from killing you, for getting my revenge"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jeremy pushed Jonathan back onto the cell floor and stepped in front of Elena who had fallen to her knees. Her body shaking from the uncontrollable emotions she felt. "You're a blind fool John. Your wife LOVED Elena, she gave her life so her daughter could live. Yes it was tragic but if she was anything like you have said she gladly gave up her life for Elena. If Isobel could see you now she would be disgusted"
"What would you know boy! Your just a pathetic child playing king just like my brother and soon Mason will come a bring this kingdom to rubble like it deserves!" Jonathan cackled madly as Jeremy gently pulled Elena to her feet. She was exhausted and yet in her mind she felt a sense of calm. Her mother loved her and she knew it because of the child growing inside of her. She knew if she had to die for her child to live she would happily give up her life so her child could live.
"I feel sorry for you John" the man on the ground froze, his confused eyes staring up at his soft spoken daughter. "My mother made a choice and it was a choice I know she would make all over again if she could" she raised her hand to her stomach and smiled, feeling a slight kick against her hand. "To feel a child grow inside of you, to have that bond with something so precious. Your own life means nothing. You're just bitter and you hate me because she chose me over you. She chose to leave you and give you me instead and I feel sorry for you because you can't see the sacrifice she made for us" Jeremy smiled down at Elena. She knew he had been worried that she would take away a negative experience from this but she couldn't and know she could forgive her mother because she understood. Miranda had protected her, not from the truth about her mother but from her father. They had given her a home filled with love and warmth and protected her from the hateful ramblings of a broken fool. "I'm done here Jeremy".