Shadows Under the Shade - Elysia Dayne: Book Two by Wil Chan

Author:Wil Chan [Chan, Wil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2022-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The Broken Wheel

Bloodletting and death are easy. Killing is killing. All that is required is method and application. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. What comes after that depends on character. I’m not happy. I’m not glad. If the weight of guilt wasn’t so profound, I would be bound only by emptiness. The burden of a false promise is so difficult to bear. How can I show my face to Isabella now, or to anyone for that matter? Disappearing into an expanse of ether as though I never existed… isn’t that preferable?

An intensely hostile pressure encroaches my entire body, squashing, compacting me into the confines of a small box. The heat of battle never felt this antagonistic. And the smell? I only wish I could wash away the sticky, organic layer of inherited garnet clothing. I wear the visceral scent, and it flails in the wind like a cape. My soul is bared, and it’s all dirty laundry.

“I’ll carry her. It’s my burden.” That was my reply to Kechi’s question not long ago.

She tried to reason with me. “A burden shared is a burden halved.”

It’s not the way I see things. My burden has always been mine to bear. Why share something so substantially negative? And Becca’s fledgling body is heavy. With every step, I feel an increase. My problems are my own. My crimes are my own. Becca weighs me down in every sense.

Earlier, I found her dress ripped and discarded like it was an inconvenient piece of rubbish. It took forever to drape her clothes back over her, all the way down to her pretty little shoes. They’re embossed with lilies, like the very first pair of shoes I ever wore when I was thirteen. Becca wasn’t thirteen, but she was still young. I knew trauma, but this was on a different level. This was twisted. Abhorrent.

I can’t let her parents find out. The reality is too gruesome. Their daughter is dead. That is already a terrible truth. I tried my hardest to make her look pristine. It’s best to leave some things in the dark. Sometimes, it’s enough to see the stone without lifting it up. Mister Gwent did his utmost to protect his daughter. Not everyone is fitted out for fighting, but he gave it his all. If he knew the truth, he would be devastated. He would blame himself for the rest of his life. No amount of penance can offset loss heaped upon loss. Could have done? Should have done? I have lost so much sleep over these riddles in the past, so many that they overlap and mingle. If Mister and Missus Gwent are unaccepting, Becca may even end up forsaken on a mortuary slab. No, some truths shouldn’t be uncovered.

The temple is behind us. I never want to see that ungodly place ever again. I wish I had the implements to burn it to the ground. Walking back the way we came, the sun has retreated like a shadow behind grey clouds.

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