Will stood rooted to the spot with shock. What was Cara doing here?. As soon as Cara saw Will, she ran into his arms and started sobbing heavily into his chest. Will held her close to him hoping to calm her down.

Will turned to glare at Lady Mildred and said “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing yet boy. But I did tell her what I would be doing to her family if she wasn’t fully prepared to give up her life for my daughter” Mildred said coldly. Cara started crying even harder at these words.

‘That foul venomous bitch’ thought Will. Cara was training to be a seamstress under the apprenticeship of the tailor. Mildred probably lured her here under some false pretext and was now threatening her family with harm if she wasn’t prepared to become the sacrifice for Messenia.

“One of you is going to give up your life” said Mildred and then looked directly at will and said “Your choice boy”.

Milderd turned and left the room through the door that he came in. The soldier stayed in the room with Will and Cara. His face was expressionless.

Will understood now, this was the reason why Mildred was so confident that he’d willingly give up his life for piggy. If Will wasn’t prepared to do it Mildred would use threats against Rowan, Mary and her siblings to make sure poor Cara would take his place. Mildred knew that Will would never let that happen. And Mildred was right, Will would gladly die if it could stop Rowan, Mary or Cara from getting hurt. Will was right about his assessment of Lady Mildred. She was ruthless and vile, but clever.

Will released Cara from the tight hug and lifted her chin so that he could look in her eyes. Cara’s eyes were puffy and swollen. She’d been crying for a while. Will wiped the tears from her cheeks as he flashed her a weak smile.

“Don’t worry Cara, everything is going to be alright”

“No Will, She’s going to do terrible things to mom and dad if I don’t agree to be the sacrifice”. Cara nearly broke down as she finished the sentence and buried her head into Will’s chest as she sobbed harder than ever.

“Cara, nothing is going to happen to you, Rowan or Mary. Lady Mildred said all that just to scare you”. Will said as he stroked her hair. Cara looked up from Will’s chest as Will continued “Milderd only wants one person for the job and that’s me Cara. She brought you here to try and coerce me. That is all. Nothing’s going to happen to you or your family”.

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“No, Will, you can’t” Cara said, frantically shaking her head.

“I don’t have a choice Cara. I can’t let anything happen to you”.

Cara shook her head and looked determined as she said “I’ll go Will. I’ll tell her I’m ready to be the sacrifice”.

Will was so proud of her for saying that. Lady Mildred and piggy might call themselves nobles but this here was true nobility, something Mildred could never aspire to or achieve. But Will was never going to let Cara take his place.

“You don’t understand Cara, Lady Mildred always meant for me to be the sacrifice. For her, you are just a tool to be used to force me to make that choice willingly. It was always going to be me Cara. Besides, I was never going to have a life in this village. Lady Mildred has wanted me dead since the day I was born. If it wasn’t this, she would’ve found some other way to do it sooner or later. I was always living on borrowed time and now it’s come to an end” Will ended with a sad smile.

Tears started leaking out from Cara’s eyes as she took in Will’s words. Will held her close to his chest again “I can’t tell you how glad I am that I got the chance to know you and watch you grow up into a beautiful girl. Tell Rowan and Mary I love them, that as miserable as Mildred made my life, it was worth living thanks to them”.

Cara’s nails were digging into Will’s chest as she took in Will’s goodbye. He was her big brother and it was going to break her poor mother Mary’s heart.

Will and Cara held each other tightly for a few minutes. Once Cara seemed to have calmed down a little, Will slowly separated himself from her. She looked helpless in her sorrow, but he knew that Mary would make her better. Just like the time she pulled him out of the depths after his mother Anya died.

Will suddenly remembered something important “Cara, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything, Will”.

“Tell Geoffrey that he doesn’t need to chase dangerous deeds to prove his honor. Tell him that even if he isn’t a knight yet, he’s the most honorable person that I’ve ever met. And make sure to tell him never to let his stupid sense of adventure overtake common sense”.

After making sure that Cara remembered the message, Will turned to the soldier in the room and asked him to take him up to lady Mildred.

Just before he left he turned to Cara and said “ Tell Geoff that if he gets hurt doing something stupid, I’ll crawl out of my grave and come back to give a good kick up his hindquarters”

Cara laughed and then broke down crying as he closed the door behind him.

Will wiped the tears that had sprung up in his own eyes as he climbed the stairs. If these were going to be his last moments, he wasn’t going to show lady Mildred any weakness. Little victories, and this might just be his last.

Mildred was waiting on the first floor in the hall as he was coming up the stairs. Mildred had a satisfied smirk on her face as Will stood facing her. She was about to get what she had always wanted. Mildred didn’t say anything as she motioned for Will to follow her. Mildred led him to a room that seemed to have identical size and layout as the room he just left downstairs.

“This is the boy I told you about” Mildred said as soon as they entered the room. The blue haired woman rose from a chair in the corner as Will entered the room. The woman considered him for a moment. Will thought she looked even prettier up close. She took a step towards Will and said” What is your name?”.

“Will”

“Hi Will, I’m Anna. It’s nice to meet you” she said with a smile that showcased her perfect teeth.