Broken: Day 6

Word Count: 36,006

Summary of Events:

Emil encountered the attack swan several more times during the day before finally it was time to head back to rejoin the other hunters; on his way there he passed a lake full of swans, including the attack swan; he went to shoot at it when it disappeared beneath the surface, so he moved to get closer and get a better angle on the swan, only to encounter Arina emerging from the water again; he was astonished when she launched into a virulent and angry tirade against him, saying that he was greedy, selfish, and that he had attacked her . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Surely I am not the selfish and greedy person you think I am," Emil said. "And assuredly you are grossly mistaken when you claim that I have attacked you. I have done no such thing to you."

Arina lowered her hands from her mouth, a simmering of rage showing in her eyes.

"You are blind," she said.

"To what?" Emil asked.

"If you are a master huntsman then you surely know how animals behave," she said.

Emil looked out at the water, then back at Arina. He looked out at the water again.

The swan he'd been seeking hadn't reemerged from the water since diving down.

A sudden sickness attacked his stomach and he looked at Arina: or had it?

"You are the swan," Emil said. "The fast-flying, beautiful creature with the bright white shimmering feathers that has my horse petrified of the sound of wings flapping. You did this to me."

The rage faded again and she bowed her head, her hands clasped in front of her, contrition coming over the whole of her countenance. "It is as you say Your Majesty."

Emil turned away, running his fingers through his hair, ignoring the fact that doing so knocked his hat back to hang around his neck. He felt ready to vomit. He'd been seeking to hunt an animal that was really a living person — the very maiden he'd been petrified would freeze to death last night — in disguise.

Never before had such an anguish filled Emil. He'd never dreamed that he would ever threaten a maiden. He'd been taught that women were not to be threatened with abuse and bloodshed, and yet he had threatened worse: he'd threatened death against a woman, and he'd done so with ruthlessness.

Finally Emil turned around and looked at Arina, whose gaze remained steadfastly down at her toes. Emil grasped her shoulders tightly, even though the wet fabric was quite cold.

"Look at me," Emil said.

She did so, her light blue eyes still looking contrite.

"Words cannot convey the horror I feel," Emil said. "The disgust I feel. That I should've dared to threaten you, that I should've pursued you with such ruthlessness, believing myself to be pursuing an animal for death and consumption, when in truth I was pursuing a human, and much more than that, a human woman."

Moisture made Arina's eyes glassy.

"What, what can I ever do, to show you how truly grieved and sorry I am for what I have put you through, even in these last minutes having drawn back my bow at you, intent to take your life?" Emil asked. "How can I prove to you that I hate myself for having dared to do such a wretched thing?"