Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 45: Outburst

Chapter Forty-Five: Outburst

Bruno's prediction of another storm had been more than correct.

Around lunch time, a thick wall of cloud had rapidly come barreling over the mountains like an airborne tsunami, bringing with it a howling snowfall and unusually fierce winds.

Ella was shocked by the storm's arrival, and she couldn't help but watch it up close. She'd long since shed the layers of clothing restricting her movements.

She spotted two figures moving outside and blinked, feeling cold just by looking at them.

Vrael had gone out into the elements to take care of the chores with his father, Windal was playing in his bedroom with Faeble, Amelia was digging through her pack, and Ninira was in the kitchen.

Xaphile, on the other hand, had done nothing but huddle by the fireplace, head buried in his knees.

"I still can't believe the countess has come to our home," Nini said blankly, pacing around her kitchen in a rapid manner. "Um, I don't have much to offer, but I can make you a good lunch and supper at the very least."

"It's really not an issue," Ella murmured, not tearing her eyes away from the glass window she was standing in front of. "We're the ones in your debt since you've saved us from traveling out in that."

When the woman glanced at her, she pointed at the wall of white obscuring everything in front of the glass.

"It's unlike any weather I've ever seen," Amelia added. "I've never witnessed clouds like that."

"They're common up here," Nini said, then looked at Ella. "Do you really support the liberation of interracial marriages and saving halfling children?"

"Indeed," Ella said simply. "I've never understood the laws. To me, they seem absurd."

"They are," Nini agreed. "A pox on Osric for the blood of all the innocents who died under his tyrannical reign."

Ella's eye twitched, but she didn't turn around. The woman had a scar on her chin that trailed across her neck, and her face matched up to one that had been taped up in Drake's tavern for over ten years. The reward for finding her, dead or alive, was ten million gold pieces.

Her crime was high treason against the Crown.

Ella wasn't really so sure if anyone on wanted posters were truly guilty of real crimes anymore.

"How did you end up here?" she finally asked. "Its strange that you keep a hidden chain-blade inside your sleeve since I only know of a select group of people who own weapons like that."

Ninira froze, eyes wide, then continued what she was doing.

"Let's not play games," she said softly. "You know who I am. You know where I, and my family, live... and you know that I am wanted. What are you planning to do?"

Ella let loose a sigh, but didn't look away from the windows.

"I plan on keeping your location a secret," she said softly. "I'm not interested in the coin that I could receive from turning you in. The general who served King Osric with valor was so loyal that she put her own life on the line, countless times. One has to wonder what happened to make her disappear with wanted posters rising up in every single city all over the country."

Ninira looked shocked.

"You knew I was the King's General?" she asked, stunned. "When did you realize?"

"The moment I saw the scar on your chin," Ella said, lifting a hand and tapping her own cheek. "My late father, the count, used to tell me stories about you when I was small, and I admired you for being the first of many women to lead men into armed combat."