Lady Unlike Any

20. Inferno

"A phoenix grows its wings in the inferno."― Mecha Constantine

The exhaustion from the day before was taking a toll on them as they struggled to keep their eyes open. They wished for every last second to stretch till eternity. The comfortable silence was lulling them to sleep but they simply wanted to soak up each other presence for as long as they could.

They needed a conversation to keep them going all night, an excuse to hold each other until the dawn breaks. When the morning comes say their goodbyes but before that, they wanted to live their entire lifetime in one night.

"Kate," William murmured.

"Kathalina, my lord," Kathalina said exhausted, "My name is Kathalina."

"That's why I will always call you Kate because you will never let anyone call you by anything else," He said happily.

"What makes you think I will let you call me Kate?" She questioned with a raised brow.

"Aren't you already letting me do it?" He said cheekily.

"You are infuriating," She huffed.

"Only to you," He answered.

Silence filled the gaps in the night and it was comfortable as were the words were spoken.

"Kate," He said once more.

"Yes, Will," She said, making him gawk at her.

"Do not call me that," He said half sitting, hovering over her.

"How about Willy?" She asked with fake innocence.

"Not!" He shrieked.

"I think I am going to call you, Willy," She said seriously, "or maybe Will. I haven't decided yet."

"No, you are not going to call me anything other than William. I forbid it,"  He said.

"We will see about that," She said, "Will," murmuring his name ever so faintly.

They stayed in each other's arms and once again sleep was a sweet temptation trying to break them apart.

"What happened that day?" William asked clenching his fist. He steeled his heart for the answer he received will not be something he would be able to hear.

A shudder ran through Kate at his question as the memories of the night flashed through her mind. He held her closer breathing in the scent of her hair and showing her he is with her now.

Kate released a deep breath. She didn't want to ruin the wonderful night and yet she wanted to pour out her heart to him. But to speak about it even with the person she was most comfortable with was a herculean task, the word wouldn't leave her mouth.

There was only one way she could tell him without reliving those horrifying moments to make them into something alien, something emotionless. She braced herself for she didn't know if she could make it through this.

"I kicked my fiance," She started chuckling, "at his manhood."

William stared at her with his eyes wide open, like he felt the pain and instinctively moved his manhood away from her a little. Her laugh filled the chamber.

"Pardon my reaction, Kate," He said remorsefully, "I am certain Lord Adams must have deserved it."

"He, uh," Kate tried to speak but the words got stuck in her throat, "I."

William held her tightly once more, she snuggled her head in his chest listening to his heartbeat calming herself down.

"I am his fiance. As my future husband he has the right to demand from me of the wife duties but I couldn't and he was drunk," She whispered, making William make his hold on her tighter.

"He is treating my home like it is already his. He is speaking as if my father's duchy will be his after our marriage, he treats my service people like his own servants. I loathe him. He is absolutely disgusting," She whispered through her cries.

When her sob died down William was full of rage. He was going to murder Lord Adams but Kate's next question brought him back to reality.

"Do you think it was wrong of me to deny his rights as a future husband?" She asked with great pain.

"No," William answered earnestly, "Never."

Silence. Absolute silence, making her hiccups like a sledgehammer to his heart.

"I have never thought this before," He said hesitatingly, "It was acceptable to me for a wife to perform her duties as her husband demands. I was quite ready to ask my future wife to provide me with an heir when I demand and now when I think about this happening to you I loathe myself for the man I was."

"Maybe I was wrong. I do not know what women needs. I was fixated on the noblewomen getting their estate that I forgot to evaluate my shortcomings. I thought I will be doing great service to women by providing them with this one right. I don't even know what women need the most," He said with anguish.

"We can ask them," Kate said, caressing his hair to calm him down.

"Who? How many?" He said tormented.

"All of them," She answered smiling.

"Yes, let's do that," He said breathing her scent in.

"I think what you are doing is something we need but we simply don't understand it till we are put in the position of loss," She said after a long silence.

"What made you think that, my lady?" William asked.

"I am afraid my insipid fiance will become the master of my home with my marriage. I rather burn the estate down with my own hands than let him run like it's his bloody stable house," She said frustrated.

"You were trying to make me understand it all along," She said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Forgive me," He said, "I never wished for you to understand it in this manner. I can't wish that you should have lived in the same world you use to live but I wished you could have understood this pain in another way and not when it poured on you."

"No, my lord," Kate said, "I should be thankful to you. I am one of those women now that need you to fight for them. That stuffed parchment in your study might be our salvation."

"Kate," William said. Please don't marry him. He wanted to say but then was he ready to marry her. He won't even dare to entertain those thoughts for he knew it will take him to the path of impossibility.

In the end, she was his enemy's daughter. Too much was at stake for him to listen to his heart. His love was a small sacrifice for his dream and his family.

"Will you convey my gratitude to your mother?" She asked, "She made you the man you are, even if you started to work on the inheritance bill for your mother, you want it to help everyone. I might not have even thought in my wildest dream that a woman like me could own an estate just only to save her own life."

"I will," He said softly, "I also need to ask for her forgiveness. I made her vision my dream and then gave up on it when it didn't benefit me. I failed as the son she raised me to be."

"We can strive to be better," She said.

"We should always strive to be better," He said,

The rest of the night went with the heavy pain in both of their heart with the feeling of helplessness turning into a burning fire to do something, to change something.

With the same fire in their heart, they parted ways in the morning to fight their own battle.

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