[PK] A Beloved Betrayal

[IrradiatedGoose 305]

It took time for the letter to make it's way to Kieran's hands. Not to the fault of any courier or messenger. But to his own. He had been away all these years, building defenses in Aelwen should the need arise of it's strategic placement, all the while keeping himself occupied from the bloodshed around him. Kieran briefly stopped at Tir-Glas to pick up supplies for his work, mail included, making his way back to Aelwen shortly after.

As soon as he arrived at Aelwen he set everything aside and opened the letter, reading it over. His breath caught about halfway, reading the words over again to be sure he saw them right. Unfortunately he did. A sadness came over him with a mix of regret and anger. Despite their later years having been complicated, he still cared for Russ. They were rather close after all... A small lump formed in his throat but he did choke. His eyes felt heavy and glassy but he did not weep. Instead he stood there looking over the note, until pocketing it, keeping it for whatever reason compelled him to do so....

[Frostdrop1 1843]

As Reinhard watched the small pyre burn, part of him seethed. It was a personal anger, and yet not for himself.

But the sweet girl he had accepted as his own. The one who he could not even remember his first meet of, settling down for hot cocoa in a little tavern to shelter from the cold. The one who cried how how she had none of love, and their harmed, lost brother.

Aedith had come in tears once more, her mind set to that which was gone. It was the beginning and end of the curse that was Wick, was familial heart-ache. The mother that had left her, abandoned her. The one that mauled her; and yet, the delusion of love remained. He could not deny it, not fight it. He knew that delusion all too well and how its claws wrenched beneath one's skin. Agony it was as it weighed on the heart, but addictive. He knew how cruelty was a temptation to look harder for the love that was supposed to lay beneath.

And yet, it was never really there. It was possession.

He should perhaps have seen it earlier in all that she wrote, rather than beliving in some naive ability for her to love. Better, he hoped for Aedith. She wlways deserved better. Glimmering cinders reflected off of his eyes as he watched the fire grow, alit by the lonesome daughter. Within so burned that which was a tie, and a letter secret to only her. As much as he silently spited the matter, it was all he could offer their dear Star. It was all they could gift her, for he knew she needed it and so they gave it.

Closure.

He had spoken first. Such was not easy for one so slighted, but he forced it so. Partly, he had need to respect the lost. Mostly, he yearned to do right for Aedith, even if she understood how difficult they perhaps found the small proceedings. Respect was given to her determination, even if he thought it wayward. And, a hope that she had escaped the chains that made her so cowardly. Perhaps if not in life, then in death.