The Baroness of Surli (7)

 

Samh 1.19.1345 01:47

Talrederick lay on a mat outside the ultra-helio staring up at the stars. He had always bragged to his men about how strong he was, but tonight, he discovered he was horribly weak. Guilt riddled his soul. 

Over the weeks of her sitting by his side in the Infirmary, he had fallen in love with her. Even though many volunteers and nurses had humored his whims and flirted along with him, she alone had caught his heart—at a time when he had pretty much given up on anyone doing so. He was unprepared the day the bandages on his face were removed and a doctor immediately identified him and initiated the transfer. As soon as he had been well enough, he had returned to the Jibialand War Infirmary with plans of proposing. But his angel was nowhere to be found. 

He had never thought to ask her name. Unfortunately, there had been several women with golden hair who volunteered their time. Without anything else to go on, he had returned home sad and empty handed, but he had never stopped thinking about her—or longing for her to be by his side. 

Still, when Captain Raingiovanni was telling him about his missing daughter, he never imagined it would be the angel he had sought. He thought back through the last 12 hours, trying to figure out what he could have done to better prepare himself for this meeting. Initially, he had comforted himself by believing if it had been anyone else, he could have resisted. He could have pushed her away, tied her to the cot, and left the ultra-helio for the night. Now, he wondered if he was perhaps just as much of a scoundrel as the beasts that had abducted her. He was weak, and he hated himself for it. 

To make matters worse, her last words to him before she had drifted off to sleep were, “I knew you would come for me, Eloscar.” That line made him realize his act was worse than he had initially thought—the drugs had made her believe he was her dead husband. She apparently still loved the man, and Talrederick had taken advantage of her mistake.

There would be no sleep for him tonight. He had to figure out how he was going to apologize when she woke up and realized what he had done. 

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