1371, THE IRON WOODS
When Gisela woke up the sun was high in the sky and Renard was long gone. She lay alone in bed for a few minutes, the feeling of loneliness was strongest in the mornings- throughout the day she had patients to attend to, herbs to gather and balms to make, at night Renard would sneak away from under his father's watchful eyes to spend time with her. On some nights he'd make love to her, other nights they'd just hold hands as they lay together under the stars, talking about the life they'd make together….. once she was able to transform under the full moon.
In the mornings however, Gisela had nothing to do but think. And she did think- hopeful thoughts about the full moon, sad thoughts about her father and wistful thoughts about a mute boy with silver eyes. As she stepped into the outdoors, a gust of cold wind washed over her. She sighed.
Winter was fast approaching. Things always went quiet for her once it began to snow.
For the entirety of her walk into town, Boris kept insisting she returns home. Gisela ignored his whining and continued on. Every now and then someone would stop to greet her, avoiding her eyes as they spoke. Soon Gisela could tell that something was awfully wrong.
Boris. There was no reply
Boris!, the spirit stirred.
"What is it little one?"
"What's going on Boris?, everyone's acting strange today."
The usually chatty spirit went silent again.
"You wouldn't lie to me would you Boris?"
The spirit brushed gently against her mind, a gesture that often soothed her as a child.
"I'm sorry little one, Gerard Faire, has decided to pick a mate for his brat."
Gisela felt like she had been struck in the chest, she quickened her pace and soon she was sprinting towards the alpha's home. Her thoughts were a mess as her heart hammered against her ribs, she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't. Renard would never betray her like that and Gerard, though he had treatment her poorly over the past few years, he did care for her.
All her hopes died the moment she pushed open the doors to the great hall. Renard Faire, the man whom she had given her heart and body to, stood hand in hand with another woman. All present in the room immediately turned to face Gisela.
The alpha rose from his seat.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" His voice was calm yet all could hear the authoritative edge.
Gisela was unfazed, during the years she had spent with the alpha and his family she'd grown accustomed to his moods. She boldly stepped forward, staring daggers at the dark haired girl still clutching her lovers arm.
"You promised Renard to me alpha, I..."
Gerard cut her off before she could say more.
"That promise has been dissolved for many moons child. You know this!"
"You swore you would give me time! You promised that if I turned with the full moon you would bless our joining!"
The alpha stared patiently at her. "Tell me, have you turned then, Gisela Fonteney?"
Gisela looked away. "No, alpha"
Tears stung her eyes, on her way here she reminded herself repeatedly that there was little she could do to stop the alpha from giving his son to another. She had known it would happen eventually and a small part of her mind had made peace with it. But she had to at least try.
She looked at Renard and her heart broke even more when he would not look at her. Her eyes ran over the woman besides him. They were about the same height, with roughly the same proportions, her face had a striking heart shape and paired well with her lush cherry lips, her blue eyes held a hint of pity as she returned Gisela's scrutiny. The healer shook her head, fate was cruel indeed, her lover's mate would be someone who looked so much like her and it was laughable. She didn't want to think that perhaps Renard had chosen this woman because of the resemblance.
Pushing her thoughts away she turned to Renard.
"May I speak to you. In private."
Renard tensed and his father leveled Gisela a hard stare.
"Please."
The alpha sighed and nodded solemnly at her.
She walked ahead of Renard unto the hallway. He entered and closed the doors behind him.
Tears glistened in her eyes.
"Why?"
Her lover at least had the decency to look ashamed.
"You promised you wouldn't let this happen to me, to us. And yet here you are." The tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she angrily scrubbed the back of her hand against them.
"Answer me dammit!"
Renard looked her in the eye for the first time since she interrupted his betrothal.
"My father was very intent on seeing me joined in bed the next moon. He presented me with an ultimatum last week. If I didn't take a mate he would approve of by then, he'd choose one of my brothers as his successor." He walked until they were standing very close. "Tell me Gisela, what would you have done in my position."
Gisela couldn't be bothered to wipe the tears now, he'd been planning to do this for a whole week and yet he still came to her, night after night. He'd shared her bed and listened to her dreams all the while probably creating a mental list of suitable mates from the young women in the pack.
She was sobbing uncontrollably at this point.
"I'm sorry Gisela." Renard wrapped his arms around her. She allowed herself the familiar comfort of his arms for a few moments before roughly tearing herself from his embrace.
"So what? You'd lose your place as the next alpha but we'd have been together. All the things we'd promised to do with each other, the life we'd have had together, wouldn't it have been worth it?"
Renard stayed silent and her heart shattered into innumerable pieces.
"Wasn't it worth it?"
His silence was all she needed to hear.