Post by Daniela Savarese on Oct 17, 2015 1:09:05 GMT -5
Air. Space. Freedom. The wind and the speed. Time.
Daniela needed all of these, and could only have some of them, she knew. Time was the one thing she could not have. There was no time.
No time to weaken. No time to mourn. No time to grieve. No time to break down. No time.
Her father was gone, presumed dead now. The searchers she'd sent out came back with next to nothing beyond a bloodstained jacket she'd recognized as his. There was no sign of the horse he'd taken, or his body. Nothing but that jacket. No ransom demand had come had it been an abduction, and had he left the realm, someone surely would have seen Antonio Savarese boarding a ship. Instead, there was nothing to tell her one way or another whether he was alive or dead.
She was to be the Countess now, one of the last scions of an essentially dying House. Daniela had to appear strong, invulnerable in the face of an ongoing feud and supportive of her Duke. The other members of the family looked to her now to lead, and she refused to let them down. Susanna, Donato, Gabriele, Corrado, and Davide depended on her. The pressure on Daniela was of such weight that she felt like she was smothering and had to break free before she perished.
Ignoring the sensible voice in her mind that suggested she was being a little melodramatic, she changed into a riding dress and went to saddle her horse. A long, solitary ride to the lakeshore could only do her some good, she decided. Any offers to escort her were brushed aside; Dani wanted to be alone, to feel the wind whip through her and the landscape pass her in a blur. Aware that the minute she left, they'd try to flag down Donato, she all but vaulted into the saddle and departed without another word.
Within minutes, horse and rider were galloping flat out towards the lake. Her hair streamed out behind her, long black locks that rippled in time with the vibrant red skirts that belled around her. She paid scant heed to anything or anyone around her, the two running as if they could leave all of the pain behind as they reached the water's edge and continued around, following it like a path...
@santinotesoro