The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family - Book One: Pandora

Chapter 10: A Tide Turning Event

She had expected the young lady to return, but she hadn't expected to see her in this place. It felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under her when she saw someone standing by that grave.

She was displeased, there was no denying that. "I don't know how you found this place, but this is sacred ground for the people who live here."

For a second Rowena couldn't say anything, she felt as if there was a lump in her throat that she couldn't swallow or ignore. What could she say? She knew what this was, so there was no excuse for her coming here.

"I..." she started, expecting to be cut off, but Iris didn't say a word, just kept looking at her.

Not even knowing what to say, she closed her mouth and stared back. It was awkward, she felt embarrassed and like an idiot.

The older woman saw the implications behind Rowena's presence at the grave, indeed she was displeased, but she wasn't mad. She felt a lack of energy instead.

Sighing, she pointed to the woods surrounding Eisenwacht and the cemetery. "Shall we take a walk, my lady?"

Since she had no real options and knew that this wasn't going to be a mere stroll, there was no reason for the young noble to say no. Nodding her head, she caught up to Iris and matched her pace.

It took a few minutes of silence for her to realize that it wasn't that easy. Every slow, meandering step they took felt harder to her as Iris just looked at the trees and the summit far above their heads. Though she didn't really notice the undoubtedly frosty air through her cloak, the sight of Iris walking with what was essentially a large scarf draped around her shoulders and back made her feel cold to the bone.

"There's nothing in that grave," Iris said, startling the girl beside her a little.

But Rowena had already suspected as much. "I thought so."

A curious look went her way, though Iris soon looked back at the landscape she could walk through blindfolded. "It was our child, Ansgar's and mine."

'And yet it didn't even have a name?' She had a really bad premonition. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."

Suddenly, the black-haired woman stopped walking, making Rowena do the same. "What I'm about to tell you is something very personal, that is true," she said, "but I'm not sharing it out of trust or any sense of obligation I feel towards you, Lady Rowena. I am telling you because it will be the quickest way for you to understand that you must leave us alone."

Perplexed, the person addressed just stood there with a blank expression as Iris decided to continue her little walk.

"The baby had no name and no date of birth, simply because it was never born." As the Duke's daughter listened, she felt a shiver run through her body, knowing what might come next. "When I was younger, barely twenty-seven years old, I finally got pregnant after years of trying. We didn't want to endanger it, so I withdrew from work for the time being."

It sounded like a story she had heard a thousand times. A couple desperately wanted children, and they were finally going to be parents - until tragedy struck. And when it struck, it struck hard.

"But I was full of inspiration, so I couldn't just sit still. I went to the mountains while my husband was in the capital to do the Imperial Court's bidding."

She did not mean the mountains they were walking in, but a little further northwest of Eisenwacht, near the border. And for a while there fell silence.

For the Principality of Nathos had neither the power nor the means to properly bless its own lands, which meant that the outlying areas were crawling with low-grade Visitors, weaseling their way through the cracks in the protection.