Vanity, valor, veracity

Chapter 10

The day had already been harrowing. And now he had returned to HQ to face the misery that awaited there for him. As well as the recriminations.

"Nice of you to join us," sniped Mike, as he saw Erwin returning to his office.

"Mike," said Erwin, a warning note in his voice. "Don't start with me."

"Where the fuck have you been?" that was Levi, who stepped in behind Mike, who had followed Erwin into the office.

"Just quiet—both of you," he said, closing his eyes, as he sat down behind his desk. "It's been a rough morning."

"Oh, really? Dragging yourself from your lover's bed is pretty rough to come back here, I guess..." Mike snarked.

Erwin said nothing, as he massaged his forehead with his hand.

"Leave him alone," that was Hange, who had just joined the three. "Can't you see he's in pain?"

The three of them were silent, just staring at their commander.

"What is it?" asked Levi, sensing it was more than the horror they had lived through the past few days. "Something's happened. Did he beat her again?"

"Worse," Erwin sighed. "Her child—he kept her from her sick child. We got there just in time to see her die..."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Levi finally spoke up.

"When?" he said quietly. "When do you want to do it?"

"Do what?" asked Hange.

"Shut up, four eyes," barked Levi.

Erwin let out a low breath. "He's meeting with the king until tomorrow."

"Good," said Levi. "Then we know where to find him. We can get him down into the underground. He'll never be heard from again."

Hange's eyes went wide as she comprehended what they were talking about. "Do you mean Shelton?" she gasped.

"You never heard this conversation," Levi growled at her.

She paused then said, in a deadly serious voice, "Let me know what I can do to help."

"Me, too," added Mike.

***

He had had myriad tasks to attend to and before he knew it the evening was starting to stretch on. Where was she? She had said she would come. He knew she had arrangements to see to and she had said she wanted to go back to the townhouse to get—what? She had said she had some items for him from her father. His curiosity was definitely piqued about what she could have from Elijah Sorkin for him. Despite all the drama of the day, he couldn't deny he was eager to see what it was.

By 9:00 he was starting to get seriously worried and was considering heading out to find her. But just then, the door to his office banged open and she rushed in, breathless.

"Morgana! I was so worried—I was just about to head out..." he trailed off as he went to embrace her. She looked odd. Her face was flushed and her eyes were a bit wild. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I—I took care of it," she finally stammered, not meeting his eyes, taking a deep breath to compose herself. She then dropped a bag on the floor that had been over her arm in which he could see various notebooks. He looked down at it curiously. "Somehow he knew I had them—but I—I dealt with it, with him..." she said again, her voice hoarse.

"What do you mean? Dealt with what? Who?" He suddenly felt very uneasy. "Morgana—what happened?"

She shifted nervously in front of him, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to pull her shawl more tightly around her. He walked over and gently pulled it down to reveal painful red marks around her throat, as if someone had been choking her. His face darkened.