Moonlight, Roses & Mayhem - Chapter 5
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Chapter 5
Damian didn’t say anything, waiting for Selina to continue. After a few moments, he reached over and held her hand. “Finish the story, Cara Mia.”
Selina nodded and took a deep breath. “Apollonia asked me to become friends with Diana. She was the first one, who had ever sought out our help. Looking back, I believe Apollonia was a little suspicious of our new guest and she had good reason to be.”
“Diana stayed with us for almost nine months and in that time, she became the best friend I’d ever had.” Selina stood up and walked over to the fire. “The first day I saw her, she reminded me of my sister Emilie. The same blonde hair, the same vivacity…even though she was a little taller and her eyes were green rather than blue. At first, I think that’s why I trusted her so completely. Later when we got to really know each other, we joked that we were two sides of the same coin. She was blonde, I was brunette. She had grown up poor, whereas my family had been wealthy. She was bold while I was careful…but together, we balanced each other. And we were both becoming increasingly concerned that the girls were not living the life they deserved.”
Selina drank some more of her wine. “Apollonia had changed a lot during those five years, becoming increasingly convinced that we had somehow brought this upon ourselves. That this curse was our punishment for some sin we must have committed. I explained to her that while I may have been foolish to think Angelo cared for me, I had done nothing to deserve this life.”
“Diana told me she had seen this type of behavior in Paris. Once the guillotine started separating aristocrats from their heads, many tried to say they had brought this on themselves. Well, maybe some had, but Diana had seen women and even children sacrificed to that insanity. She did not believe that they could possibly have done anything to deserve such a fate.”
Selina stared into her wine glass. “We decided something had to be done. I asked Apollonia if we could take the girls out of the castello. Maybe let them visit the town or even go to school with the other children. Unlike ourselves, they had shown none of the signs of being turned. I wasn’t even sure they’d been infected until later.”
She sighed. “Apollonia thanked me for my concern, but she made it very clear that while I could leave any time that I chose, the girls were to stay with her. She was going to raise them to have the proper respect for their faith. When I told Diana, she became very upset. How could Apollonia be so blind? Didn’t she realize that the girls would never have anything like a normal life while closed up in that prison?”
Selina started pacing back and forth. “That’s when I realized Diana didn’t want to stay with us. When I asked her about it, she said she’d expected something else and now she didn’t think Apollonia would be able to help her. Instead, she thought we should leave and take the girls with us. Find a new home in London or Vienna, far away from Paris and Florence. We both wanted to forget our pasts.”
When she stopped, Damian walked over and held her for a moment. Finally, he said, “Tell me the rest.”
Selina nodded. “One afternoon, Diana seemed agitated. When I asked her if something was wrong, she said it was nothing. A few hours later, she told me we should make plans to take the girls and leave that night. I asked her, how would we live? Neither one of us had the money to start over, but she said it didn’t matter. We should just go and figure out the rest later.”
“That evening, I tried to talk to her about it, but she said not to concern myself. It was just an idea and that she had reconsidered. I was right and we should wait. That night, we all had dinner in the large dining room as we did every evening. I was so tired I went to my room and fell asleep almost immediately.”
Selina took a large sip of wine and sat down. “The next thing I remember, Diana was shaking me, telling me to wake up. She was upset and saying I must get up. That I must come with her at once. I was so confused. I asked her why? What had happened? It was then that we heard the scream. It was so terrible I knew someone must have been killed.”
“I looked at Diana and it was all over her face. She had betrayed us. I asked her, what had she done? She started to say something, then stopped. She just looked at me with such sadness and told me she was sorry. I started to say something and then everything went black. Later, I realized she must have pushed me against the bed post, and I hit my head.”
Selina looked down at her hands, which were clenched in her lap. “The next thing I remember, Suzette was sitting by the door in my room. All five girls were in the room with me and they were sleeping on the floor except for Suzette. She told me Diana had come to get them and brought each girl into my room and laid them down, covering them with a blanket. Then, she had come over and kissed me, said good-bye, and asked me not to hate her.”
“I asked Suzette, why had she been awake? She said she wasn’t sure, but when Diana came into their room, she told Suzette to be very quiet and watch over the others once she brought them into my bedroom. That no matter what she heard, she was to lock my door and stay inside until I woke up. She made her promise that no matter what, she was not to open the door, not to make a sound...”