After a whirlwind of apologies from both Kelric and Tobias, the group departed from the ballroom floor and was led to a private study.
Kathlyn's father cleared his throat before speaking after everyone sat down.
"Kelric, let me thank you once again for saving my daughters life."
"Ahh.. okay."
My short answer seems to satisfy him.
"Very good. Now, let's talk rewards."
My eyebrow raises, "Rewards for what?"
I see his own eyebrow twitch in response to my question.
"For saving my daughter. Tell me Kelric, what do want?"
His question makes me falter slightly, other than killing every living Kalabarian, I don't have any special interests.
He takes my silence as some sort of bargaining tatic and starts proposing one thing after the other, each time the reward gets more valuable.
"… a house? Hmm.. what about 10,000 gold? Too little.. Tch. You drive a hard bargain young man. Okay, you can't possibly say no to this! My daughters hand in marriage, that's the most valuable thing I have, please accept it!"
"Father!"
Kathlyn's outburst takes the attention away from my wide open mouth.
"My daughter, I think this would be quite a good match! He's not a noble… but he's already proven himself capable of protecting you. I'll go get the steward to make it official."
This is madness. How have things escalated so quickly?
"Can I choose something else? I don't really want to marry your daughter."
I hear three sighs of relief, all for differing reasons.
"Why not!? Are you saying my daughter isn't worthy of you!"
His sudden anger throws me off again.
"No! It's just that.." my eyes search around the room while thinking of an excuse. They land on Marinah and linger there for a touch too long.
The man's emotions fluctuate again as he laughs.
"I see, I see. You should've just said you had someone else in your heart my dear boy.. hahaha."
I hang my head in shame. Am I really so obvious?
Looking back up to the Earl, I speak in a clear tone so he doesn't misunderstand my words.
"I don't need any reward, that's not why I helped Elias and inadvertently saved your daughter."
"Tsk tsk. That won't do. I'm the Earl of Watercrest, what would people say if they heard I didn't reward a benefactor of the Bywater family?"
I sigh in exasperation, this man won't give up. Then, a sudden idea hits me.
"Are you looking for any new servants? I actually know…"
After the reward was settled, both parties walked away somewhat satisfied.
Elias gets my attention as we make our way back towards the ballroom.
"Kelric.. when the dancing begins, please stay far away from me. I don't want to be stomped-"
Thwack
"Owww.."
The ball's attendees stare at me curiously as we make our way back to the main room.
An hour passes slowly as idle chatter dies down to the loudening symphony of the orchestra.
People shuffle to the edges of the room as men and women couples drift to the center, hand in hand.
Elias takes Kathlyn away and gives me a small wink as I'm left with Marinah.
Nothing happens for a moment until I remember I'm supposed to ask her to dance.
I do as Elias told me earlier and sweep my head low and grab her hand to brush my lips against the back of it.
Looking up to see her wide eyes and red face makes me think that Elias pulled some trick on me.
I say the lines I rehearsed anyway, "Lady Marinah, would you dance with me?"
She nods her head in acceptance and I lead her a little further away from the other pairs.
As I put my hand on her waist and clasp the other into her own, I have to bite my tongue too focus.
Soon, I find out it's not just me who's bad at dancing. Marinah's two left feet keep making her fall and I have to hold her even closer to me as we dance.
"Sorry Kelric.. I'm no good at this sorta stuff."
I feel my lips break into a small smile, "I'm not either, I'm just using a method Elias's butler taught me so I don't crush your feet."
Her look is one of intrigue as she responds.
"What method is that? Can you teach me?"
Thinking for a moment, I shrug.
"Maybe not the exact same way I was taught, but if you listen to my commands.."
A few minutes later, Kelric smiled as Marinah giggled.
He spun her around and around tossing her up in the air. Catching her deftly, the downward momentum was turned into a twirl. This kept going till both the hands they used to hold each were fully extended.
Bringing her close once more with a pull, Marinah stumbled a bit and I have to catch her with both arms so she doesn't fall over.
She's still laughing, it reminds me of a beautiful spring day. As I huge her close, my nose picks up on her perfumed floral scent.
My head is lowering unconsciously and only stops when I'm an inch away from making a very big mistake.
I snap my head back back as a guilt, anger and yearning war within my mind.
The music had been lowering in pitch as the gods mercy falls upon me, I take Marinah's hand and lead her to where Elias and Kathlyn stood.
Elias doesn't tease me about what he saw and just stares pointedly at my hand which hadn't let go of Marinah's.
Releasing my grip, I mutter out a lame apology and walk towards the door. Not once looking towards Marinah since my barely avoided mistake.
Elias sees my intention and bids farewell to the girls.
He and I do not speak as we head back to his house. Even the butler seemed to notice the mood and didn't try to make conversation as he took our suit jackets from us.
As we enter the sitting room, Elias can't hold himself back any longer.
"So, so you want to tell me what happened back there or.."
His smile is genuine and not teasing as I expected it to be.
Shaking my head, I respond, "Let me tell you about my past first and then my goal, I hope then you'll understand why I can't be involved in such trivial matters."
With a deep breath, my story begins, "About two years ago slavers had attacked my village…"
I thought Elias was going to cry and stop my story when I told him how I killed Harry. He didn't then, but he did interrupt when I told him how much my slave buyout was.
"That's ridiculous! 150 gold! That means he only bought the other seven for less than 2 gold a piece!"
I nodded and continued, "I was quite angry when he told me this as well, I only had 5 gold in total after my third match. So I asked what I could do to gain my freedom faster. The answer was more dangerous fights. I wasn't limited to just men anymore as beasts.."
My throat hurts a little and I don't remember the last time I've spoken at length like this. Taking a sip of water, my story goes on.
"Let me say this now, I'm not a good person Elias. After I bought out my contract, I didn't have any money. My anger is vengeful and full of hate. An unlucky man happened to show his coin purse in front of me. I followed him to his house and killed him and his wife. Using the money I stole from him, I bought passage over the White Sea back to my village."
Elias doesn't even seem perturbed by my admission of killing two random people. He just taps his chin with his fingers as he speaks.
"Let me get this straight, you, by yourself, are planning to destroy Kalabar?"
"No, I joined Elomburg to make allies to crush Kalabar with me."
He has a follow up question that makes me open my mouth in disbelief.
"So why can't you indulge yourself in a little romance? Seems like a waste to me."
"Because! Don't you see Elias?! I need to keep to keep my focus on Kalabar, Harry will never rest in peace if I don't bring them to justice!"
It's his turn to shake his head at me.
"Kelric, I don't think you're being honest with yourself. You're trying to get rid of your guilt, not avenge your fallen friend. So what if you stray from the path you've taken a little? If the end results the same, why does it matter?"
"Why does it matter? Because revenge is the only thing I've lived for, FOR TWO YEARS! Elais, I cannot abandon this path I've chosen."
He scoffs at me, making my temper rise.
"Did I say you should abandon your revenge? Your Justice? No. I'm merely stating the obvious, you can live for more."
The sudden anger cools at his words as I slump.
"No.. no I can't. There's nothing that-"
"Gods damn it Kelric! Why are you being so obtuse? Do you think you're some wicked beast that doesn't deserve more than hatred and cruelty?"
His words strike me hard because that is exactly what I think.
He stands and walks to the door. His final words make me question what I'm really even living for.
"For a man that has killed so many people, you sure are a coward. Keep running away from your problems Kelric, maybe one day they won't catch up to you."
I bury my face in my hands as the door closes.