Chapter 48

As they drew nearer, Daphne’s joy turned sour. Planks were missing from the sides of the cabin, broken as if a wild animal had pulled them off. The gate and fence had been torn down and vines were starting to grow over the remains of the gate.

Her heart clenched in grief seeing the state of the cabin. She expected some damage, but not like this.

Arthur growled, “Those bastards did this…”

Daphne slid off his back and approached the cabin. There was blood still staining the floor. Glass was still everywhere and her bed had been broken in half. It seemed like they’d tried to destroy everything in the cabin, but nothing she was concerned about had been damaged. The few books that had been on the shelf had been knocked off the shelf but seemed intact. They had been her grandmother’s.

“Help me clean it up?” Daphne asked.

Arthur shifted into his human form and came to her side, “What should I do?”

Daphne smiled up at him, “We’ll start with the outside.”

It took a while to pry the rest of the broken panels off the sides of the cabin and replace the door, but after they got that done, they boarded up the windows. After cleaning up the glass and hauling her broken bed to the center of the room, they started to repair it so they’d have something to sleep on that night.

Arthur had never learned much about carpentry in Brown Valley, but Daphne was a gentle and patient tutor, showing him how to wield a hammer until the bed was back in one piece.

Arthur carried it towards the corner it had been in, but Daphne stopped and kneeled.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a panel here…” Daphne said, her voice curious. “I don’t remember this…”

It was odd, almost unnoticeable with a perfectly carved hole in the center, just big enough to stick her finger into and lift it. She gasped seeing a box inside, no bigger than Arthur’s lockbox.

“What’s in it?” Arthur asked.

She had no idea and lifted it out of the crawlspace. There was no lock on it. Arthur sat beside her as she replaced opened the box. There was a small satchel of money, some papers with faded writing, and a small portrait inside of a cloth bag.

She gasped, “It’s the portrait!”

“What do you mean?”

She set the box aside and began to pull the drawstrings loose.

“My grandmother told me once that my father was an artist. He painted a portrait of my mother once. She told me she didn’t know where the portrait went, but maybe this box belonged to my father!”

She pulled the portrait out of the bag and gasped as golden eyes looked at her from the portrait. Her heart clenched in grief and shock. She hadn’t ever had much of a chance to imagine what her parents looked like outside of what guesses she could make based on what she and her grandmother looked like, but to see her mother in such startling detail shook something in her.

Had Arthur felt this way when he’d seen his father’s portrait?

She was just as pale as Daphne. In place of Daphne’s dark hair, she had vibrant blonde waves. There was very little difference in their faces, and her eyes were just as piercing, near glowing in the painting, as Daphne’s were.

Arthur kissed Daphne’s cheek, “She was very beautiful.”

“S-She was…”

“I wish I could thank her for bringing you into the world.”

Daphne chuckled and looked at him, grateful to have him here when his stomach growled. His face turned red and she laughed, putting the portrait back in the bag and standing.

“Let’s make lunch, hm?”

Arthur leaped to his feet, “I’ll go hunting!”

Arthur left in his wolf form as Daphne pulled out some of the other provisions she’d brought with them. He came back with a large deer and they set up a roasting pit outside. It made her think of their life in Sharp Armor’s village. It was different from the years of living alone in the cabin or even with her grandmother, but she was glad for it. The simplicity of it was soothing and Arthur’s companionship made the cool of the night negligible.

After dinner, they went to bed, curled together on the bed. It was much smaller than the bed they shared in the palace, but it was cozy.

“Daphne,” Arthur said, feeling far more awake than he should after climbing the waterfall and repairing the cabin.

“Yes?” She asked with a sleepy murmur.

“I’ve thought about it,” Arthur said. “I think I still… want this peaceful, simple sort of life with you.”

She hummed, squeezing him close and pressing a kiss to his collarbone.

“Then, we’ll have a peaceful life.”

Arthur smiled, “Thank you for accepting me.”

“I love you,” she said and the sound of her calm breathing pulled him after her into sleep.

The air was cool across his face, but he was warm, wrapped in a thick blanket. Had the fire gone out? That wouldn’t explain the jostling, rhythmic feeling through him and the wet, stuttering voice above him.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s our fault. It’s our mistake, but he won’t care…” She sniffled. He recognized her voice. Why was his mother crying? There was no reason in the entire kingdom that the lovely Luna Sabina should ever cry.

Did his father know she was crying?

“I’m not going to let him drag you into this!” She murmured.

“Mommy?” He asked, turning his head into her shoulder. He smelled the scent of Alma’s freshly laundered bedclothes. “What’s happening?”

“I’m taking you somewhere safe,” she said, her voice gentle and convinced. “Somewhere you can be happy as ordinary children. Somewhere no one will find you.”

Confusion filled him. Arthur wanted to say something, but he looked away into the scenery passing by.

It was the same path Arthur had taken to get them to Daphne’s cabin.

Arthur’s eyes snapped open at the realization. Another memory about his mother’s escape.

“Arthur?” Daphne asked in the dark. She pressed a hand to his chest. “Did something happen? Is someone nearby?”

“No,” Arthur said, pulling her closer and burying his head in her hair, breathing deeply. “I just… had a dream about my mother…”

Daphne’s hand tightened her grip on him, “Do you want to talk about it?”

He wasn’t sure where to start, so he started from the beginning. The details were blurry, but it was clear that she was escaping the castle and taking them to Brown Valley. He’d been right earlier that she’d taken the same path they had taken up the waterfall rather than going around, but he couldn’t reconcile his experience with Haley and Irene and his mother’s words in the dream.

“She wanted us to be happy… to grow up like ordinary children,” Arthur said softly. “But she knew that wasn’t possible, didn’t she?”

“Because of the Royal family’s powers?”

Arthur nodded. There was no way anyone who lost themselves to bloodlust as easily as he had before bonding with Daphne could grow up as an ordinary person.

“Is it possible that the people she left you with knew about your power?” Daphne asked.

He flinched. The thought of Haley and Irene sent a rush of anger through him.

“I don’t know.” Arthur clenched his jaw. “I doubt they would tell the truth if I could manage to ask them…”

If they met again, they wouldn’t survive it. He’d promised himself that he would avenge Alma one day, but could he bring Daphne with him into such a dangerous situation? Would she even agree to stay behind? Would she agree to come with him to keep him from losing control?

“… you want to go, don’t you?”

He gasped and looked down at Daphne, her golden eyes near glowing in the faint moonlight spilling through the slits between the boards. How had she known what he was thinking? She smiled at him through the dark and brought a hand to his face.

“I’m getting the hang of this bond, you know?” Daphne said with a sly smirk.

“Going back won’t… change anything.”

“No,” Daphne said. “But it might help you forgive yourself and find some peace.”

Arthur said nothing, squeezing her close and hoping that he could just go back to sleep.

When he woke up, Daphne was still sleeping. He kissed her head gently and got out of bed to wash up, dress, and go outside. The sun was rising over the forest. He heard her wake up, shuffle around inside, and come to the doorway.

“You’re up early…” He turned and found her fully dressed with her bag on her shoulder and a smile. “How far is it from here?”

“Daphne, I…”

“I’m coming with you,” Daphne said meeting his gaze. “How far is it?”

Arthur wanted to protest, but he nodded and shifted into his wolf form, “Maybe a few hours.”

She closed the door behind her and climbed onto his back and Arthur turned towards Brown Valley.