After an hour of riding, she reached the edge of a sprawling forest, and that was when the rain started to fall.
Sophia knew it was time to turn back, but stubbornness took her; that pesky need to prove that she was indeed free and nothing could stop her when she wished it. She steered the horse toward the trees and then breeched the tree line, which was roughly the same time that bright flashes of lightning took to the sky.
The sky lit up brilliantly, and the ground shook beneath the horse’s hooves. It neighed and bucked and Sophia did her best to steady it.
“Easy,” she whispered into the horse’s ear. “It cannot hurt you. Not while I am – oh!” A sudden crash of lightning had the horse rearing back on its hind legs. “Careful! Easy! Easy!”
It was at that point when Sophia realized she had made a horrible mistake.
The horse bucked and kicked out. The sky lit up. The trees around her creaked and groaned in the wind, and branches fell from the sky and crashed into the earth. The horse took off, Sophia clung desperately to the side, and before long she was lost.
Things only got worse from there…
The ground became drenched in mud, and the horse struggled with every step taken. The forest grew more dense, the trees cast in darkness and rearing up all around her like monsters of the night. She soaked wet through her clothes, and the cold was felt so deep that her bones turned to ice.
What have I done…
Sophia felt like a damn fool as she tried to keep a hold of her horse; her fingers hurt, her grip loosened, and she kept on nearly slipping and falling to the wet earth.
Her goal today was to prove that she could be independent, and that she did not need her husband. More than that, it was to prove that her life was not over, and that if she was strong enough, that she could find peace and even happiness somehow.
Ironically, if this storm persisted, she truly felt that her life might be at its end.
Sophia was lost. She was wet and cold. She could hardly keep her horse in order. And as the rain poured down, as the lightning and thunder continued, and as the horse grew more panicked, she knew beyond a doubt that she had made a terrible mistake.
This is why I always follow the rules…
CHAPTER 20
Gabriel stood by the window to his office, hands folded behind his back, watching as the storm swept across the estate and plunged the world into chaotic darkness.
It felt prophetic in many ways, a metaphor for his life and the woes that currently attacked him at every end. A little dramatic, perhaps, and he knew that to be so, but that did not change the feeling that sat heavy in his stomach and firm on his conscience.
A deep rumble of thunder shook the walls, and typically, his first thought was that of his wife.
Should I check that she is fine? There is no reason that she should not be, but I cannot help but feel that I should go to her nonetheless… just to make sure.
It had been a rough week for Gabriel.
Ever since his argument with Sophia, things had been going poorly for him. Or rather, things had stayed the same in his life, reminiscent of before he married. While that should have been a relief, for reasons he refused to acknowledge, it simply wasn’t.
The two had been avoiding one another like the seasonal flu. Sophia seemed to have made it her life’s mission to not be within a dozen feet of him, and Gabriel was not the type to try and change her mind. He still believed that he had done the right thing, even if he had gone about it the wrong way. All that was needed now was time, and soon it would be as if they had never married and everything would be well again.
That’s a lie… a most horrible one, at that. How much longer can I pretend that I do not care? How much longer can I tell myself that I did nothing wrong?
It was harder than it should have been.
Gabriel was not meant to care about his wife. He was not supposed to think about her or concern himself with her state of being. This marriage was for convenience, the purpose was served, and there was no need to carry on as if things might change. He did not want them to!
Then why did he feel this way? A pit in his stomach that grew daily, that swallowed him whole, that sucked in the world around him so that nothing was left but loneliness and misery.
Why did he miss his wife so damn much…
“Your Grace.” A knock at the door joined the soft call.
He turned and then frowned because he recognized the man standing in the doorway but would never guessed to have seen him there. In fact, Gabriel could not think of a single time he’d seen the man inside.
“Ah… Marcus, yes?”
