In The Days All Gone

"We know about you." The words were slow and harsh.

Adele lowered her eyes slowly, mind racing as her lids flickered shut. How did they know? How could they have even found out about what had happened? This was why she had not told them. This was why...

The group of men standing before her watched her with new eyes, their gazes unfamiliar and no longer friendly. Willum, standing at the front, stared, his gaze hurt and tormented by the news. He turned away, shaking his head, not trusting himself to speak. The man standing beside him spoke again, one hand raised to rest lightly on his friend's shoulder, a comforting weight. "Tie her up. We'll return her to the castle and give her back to him."

Adele stopped, her eyes opened, her confusion spreading through her gaze. Return? But...why? Surely they... Then she realised what was wrong. They had not yet guessed the truth behind the owner of the castle. They did not know the secret.

Slowly she looked up. "I cannot go back there."

Silence. They all ignored her. Three men moved forward, ever wary, to take her hands. She didn't even struggle, so intent was her gaze on the man who had just spoken.

She met his gaze steadily and repeated herself. "I cannot go back there, Alexi," pause, "I cannot. Please."

"Do not tell me what you can and cannot do, Adele." He spun on her, eyes narrowed and voice loud as he shouted. "How dare you ask for something when you have so readily taken from us as you have pleased?" Alexi paused, breathing heavily, shaking his head slightly and holding himself back.
Adele watched his eyes glance sideways at the rest of the men and Willum beside him knowing that if they had not been present then he would most likely have hit her.

Her eyes dropped again as she swallowed hard, scared of his voice and the implications behind his words. Inwardly she was screaming objection to what he had said but somehow she knew that nothing she said would help the situation. And for the first time in three years, she gave up. Her shoulders moved slightly into a slump that she had fought to never let return and, swallowing again, she could only just maintain her composure as tears came to her eyes. Be strong, she demanded inwardly. You must not let them see you weakened. You must not let their pitiful words affect you. They do not matter. But she knew she was lying – and that made the tears harder to stop.

So they tied her up and, after being led to a post in the middle of the village, forced her into a kneeling position where she was taunted and the little children ran up to make fun of he; little children who had idolised her and cried out her name with joy when they saw her returning to the village.

Night fell but certainly not quickly enough. However with the relief that the silence of the night brought, came the cold and freezing wind that bit through her bare hands and arms. Adele longed for the warmth of the small hut she had slept in the night previously or even the thin worn blanket given to her by one of the children, only to be torn out of her grip by the shocked tug of their parent.

Eyes closed tightly, she couldn't sleep. She could not get her brother out of her mind; his hurt eyes; his shocked look. How could she have let the lie continue for so long? She could have trusted him. Willum had certainly trusted her and, although they were not blood, she had trusted him to an extent.
There was one other person she could not get out of her mind; the person whose memory brought a great wrenching sense of pain to the base of her stomach whenever she thought about them, simply because they were not there with her.

Her head bowed with the memories and without warning she began to cry. She didn't cry. Never. She had forced herself to forget and to live with the lie she had told. But now, rejected by those she had tried to make into her new life, she was unable to maintain the façade. Tears streaming silently down her face, she raised the one hand that she was able to and buried her face into it, screaming wordlessly into her palm in a great hiss of breath.

Without any warning at all, a jacket came down around her shoulders, someone fell to their knees before her and two arms were around her, his hand at the back of her head and pressing her face into the warmth and security of the familiar chest in front of her. "I've got you, little sister." The words were quiet and the voice was low, but he was there.

Adele shook her head, her hand coming up to Willum's shoulder and holding him close as if she were scared that he was going to leave her. Slowly her screams became softer until she was merely whispering something into him over and over again.

The man, rocking her back and forth, suddenly realised what she was doing and leaned down closer. He closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly then, taking hold of her face, forced her to look at him.

Her words faltered and stopped as, blinking, she met his gaze. He opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. "I...I know w-what you're going t-to say," she said, sniffing and still trying to avoid his eyes. "I...I..." Adele trailed off. Inside her heart was leaping out of her mouth, terrified of what his reaction would be and what would happen.

Willum watched her, frowning. For a long moment she almost hoped that he already knew but deep down she knew that this was impossible. Finally he spoke. "Why?"

She swallowed hard, looking everywhere but him, trying desperately not to have to answer, head hurting from the thoughts exploding from it. Eventually she drew in a deep shuddering breath. "I loved her."

He stared at her. "Pardon?"

Now that she had already said it once, it was easy to say again. Looking straight at him she repeated herself, words slow and soft. "I loved her," pause, "I still love her."

Slowly a glimmer of light flickered across his face. And he spoke "Her?"