Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
AARETH
“We’ve been over this.” Aareth tried to control the frustration he felt inside.
“She’s staying because she feels like she owes something to the town, like she owes something to herself for allowing herself to be duped by the queen for so long.
We don’t owe anyone anything. The only thing we should be worried about is getting your memory back and our lives back on track. ”
Brenda gave him that stubborn look she had used so many times before. It was an expression Aareth had come to know well through their years of dating and marriage. It was going to take an act of God to get this woman to budge.
“And your friends, Edison and Elwood?” Brenda crossed her arms over her chest. Another sign she wasn’t going to move any time soon. “You’re going to leave them, as well?”
“I can’t force people to leave.” Aareth did his best to control the volume of his voice. Despite his efforts, the stream of travelers that flowed around them stopped to give the pair of arguing lovebirds a sideways glance. “They have to make their own decisions.”
Aareth turned menacing eyes to the travelers, and he locked stares with a nosy woman who had nearly come to a standstill to listen to the couple. Her mouth was open, eyes large.
“Can I help you with something?” Aareth growled.
“Oh … oh my.” The woman shuffled along.
“You keep telling me that we were in love.” Brenda looked at Aareth with penetrating eyes.
“You keep reminding me that my name is Brenda, not Ashley. Somewhere deep I want to believe what you’re saying, but one thing keeps holding me back: How could I have fallen in love with a man so cold, so distant and selfish, he would leave his own friends behind to fight and maybe even die? ”
Aareth’s anger was melting, being replaced with confusion, even a hint of shame. Brenda was right. He wasn’t the same man she had fallen in love with so many years before. He was scarred, tainted by the world now. He had been chewed up and spit out, and he wasn’t better for it.
The last of Term’s travelers passed by the two, chancing sideways glances at them from the corners of their eyes. The very last rays of the sun were just dying over the horizon.
Brenda shook her head at Aareth. “I’m going back to help her. I can’t tell you what to do, just like you can’t tell them. This is my choice. I may not have a heart, but I have a head, and it’s telling me I need to go back.”
Without another word, Brenda pivoted on her heel. She began the long walk back to Term.
“Brenda!” Aareth called after her, feeling so many emotions he didn’t know which one to give priority to first. “Come on, don’t go. Don’t leave me. I can’t lose you again.”
“My name’s Ashley now.” She turned back to Aareth for a brief moment before she continued to move forward. “And I’m not leaving you. I’m inviting you to come with me, back to save our friends. You’re the one leaving me this time.”
Ashley walked on with a hint of sadness on her face.
Aareth sunk to his knees alone on the road between Azra and Term.