The Traitor's Daughter (Complete)

Part 36-Aghast!

 Victor felt his feet freeze at the door. Did he understand the prince correctly? He could not believe his ears. How could his majesty conceive to do something so appalling? Only a man who hated him intensely, with every fiber of his being, would think of humiliating him in this way. It didn't take him even a moment to comprehend that it wasn't about being a traitor, but a hate that ran deeper, much deeper. How had he never realized it?

"Come, come, Martin, have you forgotten all court etiquettes?" the prince said in a disdainful voice.

Slowly, Victor turned to face him, fearing what would meet his eye. The prince had by then shrugged into a silken robe and stood before him. Against his will, his gaze was drawn to the woman huddled under the covers. Zena was sobbing, her face pale and aghast.

Turning his gaze away from his daughter, he looked at the man in front of him. Hate had distorted Luke's handsome face and he looked like the Devil himself. Was this the same boy, Sophia had been so proud about?

"Why?" he could utter only that one word.

Luke laughed, the demonic sound echoing in the room.

"Why, you ask, Martin? Aren't you a traitor who betrayed his king? Shouldn't you be punished for that?"

"We both know, my lord, that I never betrayed Zorbia. I neither stole the money nor plotted with the enemy. So, why are you doing this?"

"Perhaps you didn't steal the money meant for the soldiers or side with the enemy, but you did something even more evil," Luke threw at him, seething with rage.

"What?"

"You, Victor Martin, a knight of the land, subject of your king, Roman, betrayed his trust and back-stabbed him in the worst way possible. You led my mother astray and broke up my parents' marriage. Then, when you grew tired of that innocent, trusting woman, that gentle soul, you rejected her cruelly. Shamed by it, and heartbroken, she was forced to take her own life, without caring that she had a son who loved her so much."

Victor was stunned. Did Luke really think that? Who had told him such a distorted version of the truth?

"You are wrong, son...." Victor started but Luke cut him off with the wave of an angry hand.

"Don't you dare call me that. I'm my father's son, not that of a depraved womanizer."

The force of his hate made Victor take a step back.

"You're wrong, Your Majesty, Sophia and I...."

"Shut up, you fool. Don't utter my mother's name with your filthy tongue or I'll have you hanged...." Luke said in a deadly tone.

It was then, that Victor realized, that whatever he said would make no difference to the man standing in front of him. In his heart, Luke had blamed, tried, and convicted him. This was just his way of punishing him for his supposed sins.

"Have me hanged, then, Your Highness. I was never afraid of death. Neither, when I fought for my country on the battlefield, nor now, but you could, at least, have spared my daughter. She's innocent and blameless."

"So was my mother, Martin, so was my mother, but you still destroyed her. Well, you can take your daughter now. She's of no further use to me."

Victor searched in his pocket and took out a little book wrapped in a piece of cloth. Putting it on the table, he addressed Luke.

"I will, Your Majesty, but before that, I'll leave this here for you. It is your mother's diary. She entrusted it to me, asking me to give it to you once Zena was of age, but I couldn't because of the war. I suggest that you go through it if you really wish to know the truth of what happened those years back."

Luke stared at the small diary as if it was a scorpion, ready to sting him. Victor turned, at last, to Zena. The poor girl was trembling with reaction, unable to meet his gaze due to shame.

"I'm going, Your Majesty, far away from here, and I'm taking my daughter with me. It was for this very reason that I had kept her away from the royal court all these years. It is my fault, that I couldn't save her from your cruel revenge. You can keep my estates and everything I had. Zena is the only one I care about," Victor said to Luke, clearly, in a voice devoid of fear or hate, but filled with untold sadness.

He then turned to his daughter.

"Come, darling. I'll wait outside for you," he said, before opening the door and walking out.

Luke still stood frozen, staring at the diary Victor had thrown at the table. Did he dare read it? What would he find there? What if it was something more terrible? Shameful secrets of his mother? He couldn't bear any more hurt than he had experienced since childhood, seeing his mother fade away, all due to this man.

Zena sprang into action. Hurriedly, she got out of bed, covering her nakedness with the sheet. She picked up her dress from the floor, where Luke had thrown it, just a short time ago, and put it on. Why did it feel as if ages had passed since he carried her to his room, protesting, to let her go? He had disregarded her words, then, once he had placed her in the middle of the bed, he had whispered sweet words into her ear, gently caressing her, until she quietened and grew pliant in his arms.

She had never even imagined in her dreams, that he had brought her to his bed for such a diabolical purpose. The only good thing to come out of the whole terrible fiasco was that her father was here and they would be together after so long.

Once outside, Zena ran to her father, who gathered her in his arms. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she hugged him after ages when she had thought that she had lost him forever.

"Don't cry, my child," Victor ran a hand over her head, in comfort. "We'll not stay another moment in this godforsaken place."

"Come," he said, pulling her by the hand, and striding toward the gates.

Guards stopped them at the gates. Wilfred walked over, blustering at finding them together.

"How dare you try to escape?" he asked Victor.

"Ask Prince Lucas why he let a traitor walk away," Victor threw at him contemptuously, then pushing the guards aside, walked out of the gates with his daughter.

Zena threw a last look at the grand palace over her shoulder, as they hailed a passing carriage, and got inside it.

"Where to?" the coachman asked them.

Victor gave him the name of the tiny remote village, where Jane was still waiting for his return.