Chapter 414: Vision_Part 2
"The duke is not back yet?" Evenly asked, realizing immediately why her friend looked like she hadn’t gotten any sleep and was looking for Rav.
Belle gave a nod. "He’s not. Is Rav in his room?" she asked.
As if on cue, before Evenly could reply, Rav came out of his chamber and walked toward them. He greeted Belle with a bow, but his eyes shifted to Evenly, and a faint color settled on both their faces. Belle couldn’t help but notice the look they shared.
Could it be that they had both shared a room? she thought suspiciously and hopefully at the same time, as she would have liked more than anything for Evenly to find someone who would love her for who she was. And who else could do that better than Rav, the man she had noticed many times being attentive to the other woman when they were in Aragonia?
But to avoid putting the two in an awkward position by asking to confirm if they had slept in the same room, Belle quickly addressed the reason she had come to this side of the castle in the first place.
"Rav, he’s not back yet. Can you help me communicate with him to know if he is all right? I don’t trust the king, who has Gaggers as guards, not to hurt him."
Rav, grateful that the lady didn’t pry by asking why Evenly was coming from his room in her nightdress, hurriedly nodded before trying to reach his master. Not long after, he received confirmation that Rohan was all right but was being delayed by something else in the royal castle. However, not wanting to make the lady worry, Rav didn’t tell her that the one delaying him was the king.
"His lordship says he is fine and will be back soon," he told Belle, and noticed how she relaxed visibly, then smiled before she thanked him and walked away with Evenly, talking softly. His eyes remained fixed on Evenly as she left, wishing he knew a way to explain to her that he wasn’t in love with Alison anymore. The only thing holding him back from expressing his true feelings was a guilt he didn’t know how to rid from his heart and mind.
With a war expected to happen, he didn’t believe it was wise to let her leave without planning to come with them to the safe mountain cottage, just as Rohan had arranged.
"I’ll have to make her change her mind," he muttered to himself. "Even if I have to convince her to marry me."
For the next few hours, Belle felt more relieved and was able to focus on other things in the castle without worrying.
She bathed Angel and herself, then made him his pudding and fed him in the kitchen. Lately, her milk had stopped rushing as it used to before, since her son had stopped breastfeeding for over a month now, and unless she pressed it, nothing came out of it anymore. She no longer gave him her milk but instead fed him rice pudding made with cow milk and honey, which he loved and ate gladly.
After finishing his meal and letting him get busy with Rohan’s parchment again, she went to the kitchen to help prepare breakfast before Rohan came back.
Things were going very well in the kitchen until Evenly called her name to tell her something, which led to Belle seeing something she would have given away a finger to never witness.
"There’s something I want to tell you, Belle," Evenly began as she cut the vegetables Rav had brought in from the garden. She thanked him softly, just as she always did, acting like nothing had happened last night to make the air between them less awkward or uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Belle asked, putting a lid on the boiling pot of soup on the fire before turning her full attention to Evenly.
"I want to tell you that I’ve decided to leave Nightbrook and start afresh someplace else," Evenly said quietly.
As much as she would have liked to stay, Rav was the very reason she would have to go away now more than ever. He could never love her the way her heart was already beginning to love him, and she would never settle for a relationship without real love again. She knew he would ask her to marry him again, as she had seen it in his eyes.
Belle didn’t expect that news. She felt her heart turn over in dejection, but she asked softly, "Have you thought about where you will go?" She wanted to tell her friend not to leave, as they had grown close like family, but she would never force anyone to stay against their will when they had made their decision based on their own reasons. But then... wasn’t she in love with Rav?
Belle stole a glance at Rav, who was crouched in the garden, staring blankly at a carrot plant without pulling it out like he had gone out to do, as if he was trying to listen in on what they were talking about.
"I don’t know yet," Evenly replied honestly. "Though I’ve made the decision, it might not be something that will happen right away. I’m still thinking... but I just wanted you to know beforehand." She sighed softly.
"Then I hope something else will change your mind before then, because I will miss you terribly," Belle said, pursing her lips as she walked forward to give Evenly a hug.
Evenly laughed and opened her arms, saying, "I will miss you too, but I do not believe there is anything that could change my mind."
"Oh, I’ll pray that something will," Belle teased as she hugged her friend, because if what she had noticed was true between Rav and Evenly, then in no time her friend might give in to love and choose to stay. They were supposed to stick together, especially with the possibility of war in the future. And if she had to play matchmaker to bring them together and prevent them from being apart, she would. She didn’t want to lose any of them to this war as they meant a lot to her.
Belle was still thinking about this as she held Evenly when suddenly she went stiff like a rock. A terrifying vision rushed into her mind’s eye. It was so clear that the blood drained from her face. She jerked back from the hug and looked at Rav, who was still crouching outside, then back at Evenly, who was looking at her in confusion from her sudden movement.
"Are you all right?" Evenly asked, reaching to touch her, but Belle stepped back quickly, afraid that if she allowed the touch, the terrifying vision would flash again.
What she had just seen was Evenly wailing heart-brokenly as she cradled Rav’s lifeless, blood-covered body in her arms. Belle had learned from experience that these visions were never to be taken lightly after what happened during the hunting game last year, and the thought of losing anyone she now considered family terrified her to her core.
"I’m all right. I just need some air," she murmured and rushed out of the back door to where Rav was, her heart racing like it would thud out of her chest.
Feeling her presence, Rav stood up and turned to her.
"What’s wrong, my lady?" Rav asked, taking in her pale face and how she looked like she would faint. "Are you feeling unwell?"
"No..." Belle muttered, unable to shake off the image of him covered in blood from head to toe, and the look in Evenly’s eyes. Was it something that would happen in the future, or was her mind playing tricks on her?
Rav was someone she cared deeply about, and she wouldn’t want anything happening to him.
"Are you worried about his lordship?" he asked, a concerned frown creasing his brow now at her strange reaction.