AN: An update!? WHAT!? I know, this must come as a surprise to those of you who thought this story was done and over with. Well, I am pleased to announce that I am currently in the process of writing the sequel!
The sequel will be titled The Man Who Sold the World and it will be released December 16th as a Wassailia present.
For now, I hope you enjoy this short little epilogue!
Nobody was supposed to talk about what had happened.
That was the one rule Sofia really couldn't come to terms with. She had accepted the fact that she was bound to the castle grounds at all times and she understood why she was forced to have at least four armed guards around her any time she stepped out of her quarters. She even tolerated the extreme vetting process her friends had to endure in order to visit with her for the allotted five minute time period before they were sent away. She could reconcile with all of this but she absolutely could not stomach the idea that they were to remain tight-lipped about everything that had occurred over the past several years.
The things they had heard, the things they had seen, the things they had felt... they were supposed to ignore it, to pretend that none of it had happen. They were supposed to bury it deep down inside and forget about it all. That was impossible for her. Unfathomable even. How could she be expected forget it all when her body was littered with constant reminders? The scars around her ankles from the years she'd spent shackled in a cell, the residual impression of the amulet that marked the flesh along her spine, her wedding band encircled around her finger forever tying her to a man who's name she wasn't even allowed to mention, all of it screamed to her; remember, remember, remember!
But, of course, her belly growing beneath the gowns she wore was by far the most prominent reminder of the events that had occurred and she couldn't keep silent about it. Not for much longer...
Thankfully she had her sister to confide in.
Amber too was having a difficult time keeping her thoughts and feelings contained. The atrocities they had experienced were imprinted on them like a brand that had seared their very souls and pretending that none of it had even taken place was not only unhealthy, it was an insult to their very existence.
So every evening after the castle was darkened at the curfew implemented by their over protective parents, Sofia would sneak from her room via a secret door down a long, winding passage until she came to Amber's room.
It was here they spoke of all the things that their parents had hoped to keep buried. It was here they expressed their anger and their frustration, their pain and their sorrow. It was here they shared their experiences over the years, however unpleasant, and consoled one-another when the overwhelming grief of it all seemed too much to bear.
It was here they healed.
Though as safe of a place to converse as Amber's room was there were still many things that Sofia simply couldn't tell her sister, particularly the truth about how her pregnancy had come to be.
Amber had assumed, perhaps rightly so, that her sister had been taken against her will and forced to endure such heinous acts just as she had. The very thought was upsetting to Amber and often brought tears of fury to her eyes but Sofia knew the truth would be even more damning for the older woman to hear. She just couldn't bring herself to look her sister in the eye and tell her that she had willingly given herself over to the man that her entire family blamed for all of their suffering.
So she kept those details to herself and skirted around the topic every time Amber mentioned that there were spells and potions to eliminate the pregnancy. It wasn't something she was interested in hearing so she changed the subject every time and prayed silently that it wouldn't be brought up again, though it nearly always came back around eventually.
Before too long her parents would become aware and they too would likely suggest that the most prudent course of action would be to do away with the pregnancy that they would assume was unwanted. She was prepared for it and everything she might have to say in refusal but ready as she may be, the thought didn't hurt her any less.
It seemed that she was the only one to see her pregnancy as a second chance; as something good that had come out of a very bad situation.
That was the belief she was going to cling to as her belly swelled more and more each day with vibrant life and she was never going to let anybody tell her otherwise.
AN #2: So I'm about to sound like a paranoid nutcase right now but I will be flying out of state this weekend. I am DEATHLY afraid of planes and am convinced that the plane will undoubtedly crash if I am on it. IF I have not posted The Man Who Sold the World on the 16th just assume the worst.
I know, like I said, paranoid nutcase. Anyhow, thank you as always for reading and please let me know what you think!
