Absolution (closed)

[heartofcourage]

Kitty watched the trio leave and turned to look at Tamblin as he slammed his fist against the desk and raged. “I won’t tell you that I told you so, but you know this is all your doing. If you had just let her be herself, you wouldn’t be in this position.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'd be here regardless o' Selena... Lochlan jus' doesn' quit..." He slumped forward and laid his head on the desk. "Never should've had children... Never should've married... Should've jus' let all this burn with me an' left you out of it..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"If you had left me out of this, I wouldn't have had my children. They are my world and I wouldn't have survived this long without them." Kitty said as he muttered about how he never should have dragged her into this. "As much misery as we go through, I would be nothing without them."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You'd 'ave 'ad children with someone else... someone in Skye, maybe... 'r some place far from this godforsaken pit o' Hell." Tamblin remained where he was, slumped over his desk. He wanted to retreat to the cellars and just drink consciousness away, but he had no will left to even move at the moment. "... I should've left you all in Italy..." he whispered.

 

[heartofcourage]

“We can’t change any of that now, can we?” Kitty asked him As he swore that he should have left her in Italy. “All we can do is hope that our children are better people than us.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Tamblin simply sighed before muttering, "... How's yer little girl doin' with Ashelin an' Warwick...? Saw 'er the other day out with Ciaran an' Cole... Pretty little thing, those boys seem t'adore her."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty wanted to spit venom at Tamblin for even mentioning Valentina. The sore spot on her soul was that little girl and the life that she had wanted with Vincenzo. The fact that she couldn't even be a mother to her, the one thing that she was good at in this entire world, still caused her great sorrow. However, when she looked at Tamblin and saw how terrible he truly looked, she knew he asked out of curiosity and the fact that he would soon be losing his eldest daughter.

"She is the apple of Ashelin's eye and I dare say she'll be smarter than her father." It was all Kitty could say about the little girl that barely knew who she even was.

 

[KieranSoares]

"She's okay, then...? No' caught up in this nightmare... I know there's nothin' I can say t'you about her... But I want you t'know I'm glad she's okay..."

 

[heartofcourage]

“She’s happy and healthy. It’s all I can really ask for, I suppose. I can watch her from afar.” She said softly as Tamblin mused on about Valentina. “She has family that loves her and a father that adores her. I have to be content with that.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Good..." He slowly rose from his desk and turned toward the door. "... I need sleep..." He always looked so exhausted, avoiding sleep out of paranoia until eventually he didn't care anymore, and then he'd sleep a whole day and the cycle would start all over again

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty nodded as Tamblin retreated and she was soon entering the great hall again, watching a Ashien and Kayla dutifully read from the book she had left them with. She also spotted Lynndon by the great fire, tense and stoic as always. Walking towards him, she paused in front of her son and cleared her throat softly to gain his attention.

“Will you ever forgive me, Lynn?” Kitty asked softly of her son. “For all of the things that I have put each and every one of you through?”

 

[KieranSoares]

Boar didn't look up, staring into the fire, not realizing it was one of the habits he'd picked up from Tamblin. "Nothin' t'forgive, Ma," he muttered, again sounding too much like Tamblin after he'd come down from a rage and knew he'd been cruel or vicious. "Ye've only ever done what y'needed to t'keep us all alive, an' give us chances fer some future outside Da an' Oliver's shadow. Tha' doesn' mean I'll jus' lay down an' take what they throw at me... but I shouldn' be goin' off on you. You've 'ad more'n enough."

 

[heartofcourage]

“That’s not what I’m asking, Lynndon.” Kitty said softly as her son stared into the fire in front of him. “Can you forgive me for all of this?”

 

[KieranSoares]

"For what, Ma? Things you couldn' control? Things you didn' know would happen?" Boar met her gaze then. "Don' apologize for what you couldn' have done anythin' about."

 

[heartofcourage]

“For telling you to wait and treating you as a child.” Kitty said softly as he finally looked at her. “For not being strong enough to end this on my own.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"What could you 'ave done, Ma?" Boar asked her, guilt and depression starting to creep into his expression. "We all know how this is gonna end... We jus' don' know who'll still be standing in th'other side... I don' want t'fight, Ma... But we can't keep waiting... I won' wait long enough fer Kayla t'grow up into some prize t'be auctioned off t'the most dangerous bidder. This has t'end soon."

 

[heartofcourage]

“I could have put a stop to all of this when you were younger, love.” Kitty said softly as she leaned down to kiss Boar’s forehead, her wounded son born of a terrible event who would never know just how much she worried about him. “I might say and do things that you might not understand, love. Everything I do, I do it for each of you.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I know, Ma. Just don' hate us when we try t'change things an' return the favor... All we want is fer all of us t'be happy. One o' the things we want most is t'get you back t'Vincenzo, maybe even bring him here..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Never say things like that out loud, Lynndon." Kitty said softly, silencing Boar as he started to talk about bringing Vincenzo to her and letting her life a happy life. "There are too many ears around."

 

[KieranSoares]

"They already know, Ma. An' what can they do? He's under protection since Val was born. Da's killed a' least five of 'em fer even thinkin' about hurting Vincenzo 'r Val. If they were gonna do somethin', Oliver would've done it already. They don' care about some Italian doctor." Boar did lower his voice, but he seemed sure of his words.

 

[heartofcourage]

“I’ve tried my hardest to give you a sweetness, Lynn. You make me a promise right now. Swear to me that you aren’t even going to lose that.” Kitty said, showing him the worry that she had for her young son.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I won't, as long as I 'ave all o' you," Boar promised quietly. "I know I get angry, but I'm not cruel. I'm careful about tha'. I don' want t'be Da."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty leaned down and kissed his forehead, hugging her son tightly as if that might save his soul. She knew he was playing a dangerous game within himself, trying to protect his siblings while defending himself.

“Always remember your Ma loves you.” Kitty whispered softly with tears in her eyes.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You never 'ave t'worry about tha'." Boar hugged her tightly at that. Even at thirteen, he far outsized Kitty with his broad shoulders and muscular frame, though he was about even in height with her for the moment.

 

[heartofcourage]

All was quiet as tension slowly built inside Inverness keep over the course of the next week. Selena hid much of the time, not wanting to run into one of the ambassadors from Wick, and the rest of the children kept an eye out to make sure that she was never alone. Kitty had caught a cold after the initial meeting and was confined to bed as the simple illness completely wiped her out, leaving the children to their own devices.

Selena was walking down the hallway with Kayla, taking the little girl to their mother, when she noticed the dark cloaked figures standing in front of Kitty's door. She paused, pulling Kayla to a halt. She didn't like the way that they seemed to be waiting for something. She turned to see that other men had appeared behind them, trapping them in the hallway.

"What have we done?" Selena asked one of the cloaked men, holding Kayla against her side. "We're simply wanting to go visit our Ma."