Page 5 of Rising Out of the Darkness
This would be just another scar to add to my collection, reminders of the fact that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be enough.
My gaze washed over the garden that I’d taken over tending after my mother passed. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, allowing the calming scents of herbs and plants to flow over me.
There had always been something soothing about being outside and being with nature. It was one of the reasons I loved going on walks in the morning. It’s the only time I found peace within the turbulence of my mind. Whenever my feelings became too overwhelming, it was nature where I escaped to regain my balance.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed, bending down to brush my fingers through Mother’s favorite flowers, verbenas. As I began to rise, a white butterfly fluttered into view, landing on my wrist. Itsdelicate wings flittered once more before it took off back into the sky.
The sun warmed me with each step I took towards the training ring where my father waited. I couldn’t help but hope that butterfly had been a sign of my mother’s forgiveness.
Chapter 2
Elena
My father paced as I approached the training ring. I shrugged the satchel off my shoulders and tossed it into the dirt, then pulled out my gambeson and threw it on over my tunic. I hastened over to my father.
He shoved a sword into my open palms. I almost dropped it but recovered my grip just in time to meet his disheartened gaze. “Sorry, I?—”
Dismissing me with his hand, he turned towards the center of the ring. My fingers tightened around the hilt as I followed behind him.
Father stopped in the center of the ring and nodded towards me to take my stance. I’d witnessed Warren Morrigan’s many moods, but today he seemed completely out of character.
Straight to training it is, then.
Rolling the tension from my shoulders, I readied my stance. He lifted my arms to where they should have been and nudged my feet with his own to give me a more balanced stance.
With a nod, he stepped back to take his position, and his deep voice echoed between us. “Begin.”
Father lunged towards me, sword swinging. I parried the attack just in time. The weight of our swords clashing together radiated through my already sore muscles.
Before he could launch another triad of attacks, I twisted out of reach. We circled each other as I adjusted my slipping grip on the hilt of my sword. No matter how much I’d trained with swords, I could never quite seem to get it right. Honestly, the only thing I was decent with was my dagger.
Father advanced forward, and I parried his high attack once more and shoved back with all my weight. We both stumbled backward as I struggled to calm my breaths. My heart thundered against my chest. So many thoughts ran rampant inside my head that, though I tried to regain my focus, I failed miserably.
Lost in thought, I barely noticed his next move. I blocked his attack just in time, but my hold on the sword slipped and it crashed into the dirt behind me.
A growl erupted from my father as he dropped his own sword, running both palms through his dark chocolate hair. “Elena, where is your head at?”
“I—”
“You need to focus, Lena! I won’t always be able to protect you. It’s about damn time you start figuring out how to do it yourself.”
A sharp gasp escaped my lungs. My father’s face fell, regret written all over it. Shame swallowed me whole, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
It was barely midday and I’d already failed multiple people. Something told me that I shouldn’t even attempt to follow through with my Ascension ceremony today.
As I took a step back, my father reached out and pulled me into an embrace. Resting his head over mine, he whispered into my hair. “Gods…I’m so sorry, Sunshine.”
I buried my head deeper within in his chest as I mumbled, “You don’t need to be sorry. I wasn’t focused like I should have been.”
He pulled me back so he could see my eyes. “No, Sunshine. You have nothing to apologize for, I do.”
He guided me over to one of the pine trees that lined the outer edge of the training ring. Once we were both seated on the ground, leaning against the tree, Father broke the silence.
“A group of the Royal Guard rode in early this morning for the ceremony, and they’ve been causing chaos since.” He sighed, running his hand over his face.
The worry lines across his forehead seemed even deeper than usual. I placed my palm over his hand in the grass between us and gave it a squeeze. “However, that’s no excuse for the way that I spoke to you. I apologize for hurting you, and I didn’t mean any of those words.”
He let go of my hand and pulled me into his side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. This was the version of my father I knew and loved—the supportive, calming man, the one who had always been there for me.
