“Mrs. Hurley, welcome in.” The large man draped in heavy robes motioned her closer to the desk at the center of the room. With a heavy thud, the doors shut behind her. Katarina spotted her child following a new scroll doing a few loopty-loops through the air. Aravis added, “Don’t worry, nothing at her height is actually important.”
“Thanks,” Katarina wheezed with relief as she sank into a seat across the desk from him. Aravis Blightwood was an imposing sort. Massive, broad shouldered, face sharp enough to cut, she couldn’t imagine working with him.
“No,thank you for coming in. You’ve been busy, I hear.” Aravis said it with no change in tone, but she told herself the comment was friendly in nature.
Katarina shrugged, not sure what to say. The Lord Commander was a busy man, what he was doing with a meager case such as hers was beyond her. She didn’t understand but appreciated it regardless. “Taking certain precautions, I guess.”
“Good.” Aravis nodded, finally looking up from his work.Whatever that even is.It looked like he was reading over case files but she couldn’t read them. “I wanted you to receive this from me personally. Especially given your mailing address is a mystery right now.”
“Huh?” She furrowed her brow as a small stack of papers were slipped her way. Only, on the top was a name change form that was already approved.A form I didn’t fill out.She flipped to the second and found a stamped, signed, and sealed divorce filing. “A divorce? You pushed it through? I hadn’t even finished filling it out yet.”
“An uncontested divorce based on domestic violence is one of the few mercies I can provide in this life, Ms. Witchbane.” That time, his voice did soften and his face showed it.
Hearing her last name once more nearly caused her to tear up. Katarina blinked rapidly to keep from running her eyeliner. She’d barely gotten it straight that morning. What with Isabella hyped up on pancakes, Sera losing her marbles over what happened, and the email from HR reminding her that they truly didn’t care about her…it was a miracle she’d scraped herself together.There are few mercies in this world.She inhaled sharply through her nose and straightened her spine.
“I’m surprised,” she managed to push out of her lungs.
“Well, given your physician’s testimony and what I personally witnessed, it was warranted.” Aravis folded his hands over his desk and sat back. Katarina froze, a deer in headlights. Isabella was cutely dancing around the office, giggling up a storm about the papers playing tag with her. And there Katarina was, unable to say anything sensible.
“It wasn’t… I mean, he wasn’t like thatallthe time.” She hung her head, hair falling around her cheeks.
“Just because it could have been worse, doesn’t mean you are undeserving of safety,” Aravis’ soft voice bounced around in her skull.
“I just…I just keep thinking…maybe…”
“Maybe if you left sooner, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad?” Aravis’ arched a brow. Katarina peeked up from her lap. He cleared his throat. “Look, I can’t speak to what happened beyond that front door. But I found a woman protecting her child, pressed against that door, who was terrified. It’s different when you have to consider the life of another. I think, maybe, you considered it weakness because you were thinking about what you would have done if you didn’t have her.”
Katarina shifted to glance over the back of the chair. Isabella wiggled happily in a spinning whirlpool of glittering breeze and bobbing wisps.Would I have stayed if she wasn’t here?It stung deep in the center of her chest. A cruel voice creeping up into her skull, whispering how that sweet-faced fiend was the reason she took it. Why she stayed…why she let him get away with it. Younger Katarina,fedKatarina, wouldn’t have let him lay a hand on her.But I got you, didn’t I?Katarina shifted back to face the Lord Commander.
“Tell me he’s staying in the dungeon.” The words fled her like they’d been punched out of her.
“I can’t,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Even pressing charges, property damage is 30 days minimum and a fine. Now that you’re divorced, you can take him to court for the damages, but…the best I can do is 30 days.”
Katarina took a deep breath in, nodding.30 days? I can work with that.“But you can promise he’ll be in there for 30?”
“Minimum, you have my word.”
Katarina took the papers and tucked them into her purse, slinging it up and over the arm she didn’t carry Isabella in. “I can work with that. Thank you, Lord Commander. I appreciate it, truly.”
“Ms. Witchbane, just one more thing,” Aravis grimaced, stopping Katarina before she could rise out of her seat. He raised a singular, crooked claw before slowly lowering it onto the desk. “I’ve heard a thing or two, that you’ve been seen at Bare Bones Cars & Repairs?”
“Yeah?” she squinted at him with confusion.
“Might be best to get your car repair done quickly and move on,” Aravis nodded grimly as he grabbed up his pen. “Not a safe lot for a single mother to hang around.”
Cold fear crept up her spine and made her back sweat.Why’d he say it like that?All the reviews online were glowing. Even the deep, hard to find reviews, six pages back and from over a year ago, the reviews were fantastic. For a shop that handled the public, it made her feel confident she could do one right thing when everything else was going wrong.
“Why’s that?” she leaned forward over her lap, lowering her voice.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss ongoing cases, Ms. Witchbane.”On going cases!Panic. Straight to the heart. A spear that pierced her flesh and twisted up her guts.On going! Meaning still investigating!
“Well, seeing as I’m crashing on the owner’s couch, I’d like to know if I’m finding a new couch to crash on,” she hissed lowly to keep Isabella from catching on.
“Which owner?” Aravis huffed, arching a thick, onyx brow. “Titan Bonesaw, the original shop owner…or Jessie?”
“Jessie.” She glared, her teeth gritted.
Aravis sighed heavily and her stomach flipped.What does that mean? What has he done?His gaze fell to the papers. “He’s a good kid. Too bad he’s in charge of the family business.”
