"Dad, I have a question." Lorna places her hands on Darius' desk and catches his gaze, eyes sharp. "What happened to my mother?"
He held her gaze for a moment then closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair.
“Lorna…” Darius mumbled, rubbing his temples. He took in a deep breath and let it go, composing himself.
“She was murdered by some– some damned Greymane loyalists.” Darius spat, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze again. “I was forced to watch.”
dariuscrowley:
Crowley’s face darkened.
Slowly, he got up and pulled open a drawer. He sifted through papers for a moment, before extracting three similar letters. There were evident fold marks, words worn out by age, and ripped corners.
One had the faintest hint of dried blood.
He stepped back to his desk, laying out the letters. After eyeing them over for a slight moment, Crowley sits back down.
“Look closely. They all have the royal stamp, here.” He spoke softly, pointing to the faded red ink appearing as the Gilneas emblem. Crowley moved his hand, tapping the signature. “Signed by the same noble too.”
Lorna snatched them up, eyes darting across them frantically. Formal hand, signatures in their proper places - she couldn’t deny what her eyes were seeing.
Her eyes burned. No, no, no, her mother had been dead for years! She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t, she couldn’t, she -
She hiccoughed, and let the letters fall to the floor. The Greymanes had killed her mother. Tess’ father had her mother’s blood on his hands. Liam’s family was responsible for ripping her childhood apart.
“Dad…” Her voice was as unsteady as her knees, and she sunk to the floor, tears adamantly refusing to fall. “I…”
