The Baron of Latiz (17)

 17

Samh 9.30.1339 16:31

Amoranda moved to the security room and watched the interaction through the cameras. As she looked at the gate, she saw a poor, thin, pale youth hardly able to sit on his horse it was so big. The horse, although tall, looked as if he needed a doctor more than his owner. While she watched, Silvergor’s normally gruff stranger voice came much gentler as if he were afraid the youth might take off in fear.

“Why don’t you get down, and I will take you to the lady of the house?” he finally asked.

Amoranda realized there was nothing to fear from this visitor, who was too weak and unassuming to create any problem. She went back to the parlor to wait until Silvergor conducted the youth to her. After the stranger was seated, Silvergor glanced at her questioningly. Amoranda silently nodded so he turned and shut the door on the way out. She expected he was probably standing guard in the hallway in case she needed him. 

“I believe it is normal,” the stranger said in a flood of tears, “for those of us in absolute agony to want all mankind to join our miserable state. I want you to know, however, although I am miserable, I am envious of your peace. I am hear solely to prevent you from befalling the same fate as me.”

“Your looks without your tale evoke pity in me,” Amoranda replied. “Please, may I give you something to drink so you have the strength to tell your story?”

“Food and I have been mostly strangers to each other for several months but telling you what has been burdening my heart will give me both strength and joy.”

Amoranda sat in silence wondering how her own fate was tied into the fate of this stranger. She could not imagine the burdened background of this visitor or what kind of adventure was so important to share. 

“Madam,” the stranger said, “I have one request before I begin. I ask you to understand I was young and naïve when my ordeal began. Please do not be too severe upon my conduct or condemn me by telling me I have reaped the dessert of my own folly.”

“I will do my best to hold all reflection to myself. I have committed my own follies and am aware of how easily they can lead to evil.” Amoranda promised.

“The first thing I want you to know is that despite my dress and hair, I am a woman—albeit a wretched, miserable, and unhappy woman. My father was Baron to a very plentiful estate and when he died and my mother died, I was placed under the care of an old family friend and neighbor. I was to inherit my father’s estate when I was either married or reached the age of 24 as is custom. At that time, I was only about fourteen years old and our neighbor who stood in for my father was as tender as my own father had been. If he had kept within the bounds of honor and loved me only as a daughter or arranged a marriage for me, I might have remained happy and innocent. Within less than a year, however, I was getting ready for a ball where I had been led to believe I was to meet the man that would be my betrothed. At this point, I was living on our neighbor’s estate, and he came early to my room and watched me as my maid finished my hair.

“’Katamitoria,’ he said, ‘you are too lovely.’ 

“When I asked him what he meant by this, he seemed a little confused and left the room. I had a bad feeling, but I did not want to assume the worst about anyone—especially one who had taken me in and cared for me—so brushed off the event. 

“At the ball, I could feel him watching me. I eventually asked him if he was going to introduce me to my intended, but he told me if I did not know who it was, I would not learn it at the ball. On the way home, however, he informed me that he had arranged to marry me.

“’How?’ I asked not willing to understand him. ‘Why?’ 

“’Oh, Katamitoria, stop talking. Your innocence only further seals your fate. The wedding will be in two weeks.’

“It is not possible for me to tell you, Madam, how shocked I was. I could hardly keep from passing out. I begged him to recall his scattered senses—to find another to be my guardian if he was unfit. As a father figure, I respected and adored him. As my future husband, I was revolted.

“Nothing I said affected him or caused him to rethink what he was about to force me to do. I had no knowledge of how to legally stop the proceedings without a friend or guardian in the world. My heart sunk. I saw an only a man whom I had known and believed to be noble to be a black criminal entangled in a guilty lawless love. 

“As soon as we got home, I fled to my room and locked the door. I spent the night crying, thinking how to extricate myself from the miserable condition I was in. I could only think of one since my guardian was too far gone to be brought to reason. I had often heard a desperate disease must have a desperate cure so I resolved to stop this sham of a wedding by going where he would never see me again.