TWELVE YEARS AGO

The smell of freshly bloomed roses filled the girl's nostrils as the wind blew into her room from outside one evening. Victoria Kinderlund lifted her eyes from the piece of parchment she had on her desk beneath her hand and the quill in the other.

"Mommy, you're home!" She shouted as she dropped the quill onto the desk. The girl ran through her home and down the stairs as she listened to the sound of the doors opening and closing.

Victoria rounded the corner and slid to a stop. She looked up at her mother, who wore a beautiful blue-grey gown, with her dark brown hair pinned up.

She smiled as her mother sent her a wink, unable to contain her own smile.

Victoria ran forward and threw herself into her mother's arms as she held her arms open wide. Her mother knelt down and scooped her daughter up, pressing kisses to her cheeks and to her forehead.

"Look at you, have you been writing letters again?" Her mother asked, wiping the ink away from her chin. Victoria nodded.

Her mother set her back onto her feet as Victoria's father entered the room. The man, pleased to be reunited with his wife, walked forward and pulled her into an embrace before kissing her sweetly.

"Our daughter has excellent handwriting." He said. "Oh, Adeline, how I've missed you, my love."

The woman smiled as she peered down at Victoria. "You've done a fantastic job raising her while I was gone, Augustus. And I swear that she looks more like you whenever I see her."

Augustus knelt down before Victoria and took his daughter's hands in his. "Why don't you go retrieve your letter? I know very well your mother would like to read it."

"Oh, yes!" Adeline said. "I want to see it!"

Victoria nodded before running through their home and back up the stairs. She hurried into her bedroom and ran towards her desk, before grabbing the piece of parchment.

When she got back downstairs, she came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs when she heard the sound of glass shattering. Victoria peeked around the corner to see the doors were open.

"NO!"

The sound of her mother's screams caused the young girl to flinch. She dropped the parchment and hurried towards the door.

"Mommy?" She called out.

The young girl gasped as her father appeared, seeming disheveled and beaten. He hurried inside and slammed the door shut, running towards Victoria.

"Papa, where's mommy?" She asked as he lifted her into his arms.

"We must leave, Victoria." He said. His voice was on edge, and she could see the sweat glistening on his face.

The man stopped as pounding occurred on the doors. Victoria stared as her heart thumped inside of her chest.

"Quickly." He said, pulling her cloak over her head. "We don't have time, Victoria! Hurry!"

The door was shoved open, and she looked up to see an armored man holding Adeline hostage before him.

"Mommy!" Victoria screamed as she trashed in her father's arms. Augustus's arms were wound around her like an iron cage as he stared at the soldier.

"Release her." He demanded as he lifted his hand. "Or die."

Adeline shook her head as tears fell from her eyes. "Augustus—"

Victoria hugged her father harder as the soldier pressed his dagger deeper into her mother's throat.

"I said release her!" Augustus screamed.

"I want you to watch as your wife dies, the way I watched mine die!" He said to Augustus. "And your girl will watch, too!"

Victoria cried loudly as she stared at her mother.

"Victoria, my love, do not watch." Adeline said. "I want you to turn your head right now and look at the painting of you on the wall, do you understand?"

"No, mommy!" She cried.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?" Augustus screamed. "To tear apart a family because yours was?"

"I want you to suffer as I have, King Kinderland of the Nilfgaardian Sorcerers. They died at your feet, and now, so will she."

Adeline opened her mouth. "Augustus, don't—"

Augustus lifted his hand farther into the air, preparing to strike the soldier with a restraining spell. But before the spell hit him, the soldier dragged his dagger across Adeline's throat.

Victoria gasped, watching as her mother's blood poured from the opening in her throat. The soldier released her as Augustus's spell hit him, and he stumbled back.

"NO!" Augustus screamed. The main clenched his hand into a fist, and the soldier was lifted into the air and thrown across the room, towards the fireplace. His head was consumed by flames, and he screamed as he burned alive.

Augustus watched him as he burned, feeling Victoria wiggle in his hold. The girl managed to slip from his arms, and she landed on the floor.

Her father walked towards Adeline, staring down at his wife.

"Damn it." He whispered, shaking his head lightly. His knelt down and lifted her head into his lap, staring at her eyes that remained open. Her skin already grew pale as the rest of her blood left her body.

Victoria sobbed on the floor as she watched her father stand up straight and unbutton his shirt. He pulled it off before leaning down and placing it over his wife's head.

"Look away, Victoria." Augustus demanded. The girl had already seen too much, and was left in shock, unable to process her father's words.

The man turned around and glared at his daughter who was huddled up in the corner.

"LOOK AWAY!" He screamed, causing her to jump. Victoria buried her face into her hands as she sobbed loudly.

Seconds passed, and she peeked between her fingers to see her father carrying her mother towards the door.

"God, no." He sighed. "Not my wife."

Victoria stayed in that corner and wept.

That night, Victoria sat in the bath and hugged the old rabbit's toy that her mother had made her to her chest.

Her father scrubbed her skin clean of the dried blood, grimacing at the dirty water.

Tears filled her eyes the harder he scrubbed against her skin. Her skin became red and began to sting.

"That hurts, papa." She sniffled.

"Do you want to be covered in your mother's blood for the rest of your life?" He asked her harshly. Victoria was left to shake her head no as he doused her with water.

He lifted the child out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel before exiting the room. Victoria stood there and stared down at the rabbit, wiping her nose as she thought back to her mother's story when she first received the toy rabbit.

"Has papa ever told you my story about the dull rabbit in the woods?" Adeline asked as she held Victoria in her arms.

"No."

"Well, there's a story that a woman who loved rabbits died, and several days later, a dull grey rabbit appeared in her daughter's home. She believed it to be her mother coming to say hello."

Victoria looked up at her mother.

"It's said that those who stumble upon a dull grey rabbit, are being protected by one who they once loved. . . In the body of a calm animal, they tell you that no matter what, everything is going to be all right in the end."

"Have you ever seen a dull grey rabbit?" Victoria asked.

She smiled. "I did, when I was your age. I believe it to have been my grandmother, who raised me until her last breath."

"Do you think I'll see a dull grey rabbit when you die, mommy?" She asked.

Adeline exhaled and stroked her thick brown hair. "Maybe so, my sweet girl. But the day I die, will be far away from now. You will be grown up and able to take care of yourself, you will have children of your own to love, as I have loved you."

Victoria wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her tightly. "I love you, mommy."

Adeline hugged her daughter tightly and closed her eyes as she inhaled her sweet, natural scent. "I love you more than you could ever possibly know."

She tucked the girl in, and turned off the light. "Get some sleep, my little flower. And when you wake, you will be rejoiced as the sun welcomes you to a new day."

Adeline blew her a kiss, and the door closed.