Chapter Text
Jacob
I blinked, looking down at Claudia, now passed out in my arms. One moment, we were talking, and the next, the ceiling was caving, and I saw the rook coming towards her, so I pushed her out of the way, and the rock landed on my legs, crushing them.
If my legs were crushing, how could I be moving them with no pain? Claudia... No, that wasn’t her name. Whoever she was, healed me. But how? Her breathing was laboured as she lay on my lap. I had to move her and get her somewhere safe, but I was afraid of hurting her.
Slowly, I picked her up, making sure I could support her legs, still a bit shaky on my own, and exited the cave. Once outside, I waved over one of my Rooks, and they fetched a carriage. The girl keeps moaning each time the carriage hits a bump, making the trip to her flat agony.
When we arrived, I kicked the door open, and Evie and Henry rushed over. “What on earth happened, Jacob?” she asked as she examined the unconscious girl in my arms.
“I-” I didn’t know how to answer my sister. The whole ordeal was still fresh in my mind.
“No matter. “You found her. We can get her to the council at once.” I pulled back out of Evei’s reach. “Jacob?”
“We are not taking her anywhere other than her bed so she can rest.” I pushed Evie aside and brought her to the bedroom. For the first time, I came face to face with what she had been hiding from me. The bedroom wall was covered in paper, steaming from information about me and my sister to the Pieces of Eden.
I shook my head, ignoring it, and got her into bed. After she was settled, I called Evie over to undress her so we could examine her injuries. I turned away as Evie removed her slacks and placed her in what we thought was her nightgown. The hold time, I heard her moaning in pain.
“My lord Jacob, what did you do to her?” Evie asked once she was done with the examination.
I turned to see her legs and almost fell over at the sight of them. “A rock fell on me.” That was all I could say.
“A rock fell on you, so why is she injured?” I looked back at my sister and then back at the bed.
“She did that.”
“Did what, Jacob?” Eive sighed, getting frustrated with my vague answers.
“She fixed my legs by taking the injury on herself.”
Evie shook her head in denial. “That is impossible, Jacob. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?” She reached out to touch my head, but I swatted her hand away
“Stop that. I am telling you the truth, Evie.”
“Well, then we will have to wait for her to wake.” Evie looked back at the unconscious girl and walked away, stopping at the door. “Oh yes, before I forget. When Henry and I were searching this place, we found this letter with your name on it.” Evie pulled the letter from her pocket and handed it to me. “We didn’t read it.” she finally walks away and shuts the door. I pull a chair from the desk and open the letter. The writing on the letter was not just beautiful; it was a work of art, with each stroke of the pen a mystery waiting to be unravelled.
Dear Jacob,
I am sorry for what I said to you the other day, and for all the lies I have told you since I met you. My name is not Claudia Fiore; that is a name I made up long ago when I started running from my past. My real name is Eden Auditore. I am from Italy, but Italy for a long past. The true reason I have come to London is to get the Shroud of Eden.
Before you ask, I am not a vile Templar, but I no longer consider myself an assassin. I lost that title a very long time ago. I really need to stop rambling and get to the point of this letter.
By the time you read this, I will be long gone, or at least I hope I will be. That would mean that my mission was a success. I didn't mean to hurt you the way I did. Honestly, you have made me the happiest I have been in a very long time, and I wish it could have been longer. Thank you for everything, Jacob, and if we were to ever cross paths again, I hope to say it in person.
Yours Truly, Eden A.
I smiled, reading the letter a few times before looking at the bed. Eden lay there, her face contorted in pain. “So your name is Eden?” I chuckled, brushing the hair out of her face. “Well, Eden, it is nice to meet you,” I whispered. She moaned in her sleep, still in agony. Eden Auditore. Why did that last name sound familiar? I returned to the living room, where Henry and Evie were busy discussing the recent events.
“Evie, do you know the name Auditore?” I asked, and she rolled her eyes while putting her cup of tea down.
“Honestly Jacob. Don’t you recall any of the Father’s teachings?”
I leaned on the door frame. “Are you going to belittle me or answer my question?”
“That is the family name of a famous assassin from Renaissance Italy. Ezio Auditore. He saved the Italian brotherhood. Why do you ask?”
I walked towards Evie and Henry and handed them the letter. “Because this letter has her name, her real name.” Evie snatched the letter from my hand, and her eyes widened as she read it. “What is it? What’s wrong?” “This name, this person should be dead.”
“Dead. When?”
Evie put the letter down. “I can’t remember right now. The book I need is back at Father’s Library in Crawley. Henry and I will leave right now and should be back within a day.”
“Okay. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Evie and Henry took off, leaving me alone with Eden asleep in the other room. I returned to the bedroom and sat down beside the bed. Dead, this girl should be dead, and by the sound of Evie, dead a very long time ago. Who was she, and why had she come and thrown my life into turmoil?
Eden stayed asleep most of the day, so I kept myself busy by cleaning up the flat and locating some Rook to bring us some food since Eden left nothing when she tried to flee. After some food, exhaustion took hold, and I fell asleep in the chair next to Eden.
I woke up a bit later to Eden’s screaming. I jolted awake, ready to attack, thinking that someone had broken in, but no, it was Eden, still fast asleep but, by the look of it, having a nightmare. I walked over and tried to shake her out of it with no luck. She just kept yelling.
“Father, please help me please. Stop the pain. I beg of you. Please help me.” I kept shaking her, and finally, her eyes snapped open, and the screaming stopped. Eden looked at me standing and then at my legs. Her eyes glowed a brilliant gold before she wiggled her toes and moved her legs. She took a deep breath, removed the blanket and stepped out of bed with no signs of pain.
“Eden, are you alright?”
She looked up at me and smiled. “You read my letter.”
“I did.” Eden looked at me, unsure of what I might do next. “You never did answer my question. Are you alright?”
She took a few steps. “Everything seems alright. I’m always nervous after a large injury, but besides my new scars, I feel fine.” Her stomach growled loudly, causing me to chuckle.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“A bit. Using this much of my powers always leaves me hungry.”
“You’re in luck. I got some Rooks to grab some food for us.”
“Really?” She asked, surprised at my kindness.
“Yeah. Come on.” I took her hand and led her into the living room.
I was awestruck twenty-four hours ago when this woman saved my life, and she just brushed it off like it was an everyday occurrence. She moved around the kitchen, grabbing food with such grace that you’d never know her legs were shattered.
“I love peaches,” Eden exclaimed, pulling out the jar the Rooks had brought and sat down next to me. “You want some?” Eden offered, holding the jar out to me, but I declined.
“You need it more than me.” She polished off the jar, tossing it into the sink. It was a relief to see the colour return to her face, and I caught sight of the hint of gold hidden in her sea-blue eyes.
“How long was I out?” She asked as we sat in front of the living room fire. She might be on the mend, but her skin was still cold. I couldn’t help but worry about her.
“Just over a day.”
She nodded before looking around the room. “And my gear, where is it?”
I laughed. “Evie thought it was best to hide it until we got the full story.
“And where is your sister?”
“She went back to my family home to grab a few things,” I explained. Eden was quiet, refusing to look at me in the end, opting to stare at the fire instead. I moved closer, and she tensed, ready for an attack.
“I won’t hurt you, Eden. But you’re shivering from the cold. Come here.” I pulled her closer, took the blanket from the crouch and wrapped her in it. “I won’t ask you questions until you’re ready. For now, you are safe. I won’t report you to the council or anyone for that matter.” Eden relaxed in my hold and slowly drifted back to sleep. Not wanting to move or risk her waking up, I drifted to sleep.
I woke to dead fire and saw Evie and Henry back at the table with lots of books. I turned to see Eden still fast asleep, so I got up quietly and walked over to the other two.
“So what did you find?” I asked, sitting down.
“Lots. Father kept records about everything odd in the brotherhood. From what we were able to gather, there is a secret faction within the brotherhood whose sole person is hunting Eden or the legend of her.”
I looked back at Eden, peacefully sleeping, wondering what she could have done to warrant such hostility. “A faction meant to hunt her down? She’s...” I didn’t want to see just a girl because I knew she was capable of something amazing, something that could change the course of our lives.
Evie slid one of the books towards me. “All of this information is from the 1700s till now.”
“You said she was related to the Auditore, yet you can’t find her?”
Evie shook her head. “Let me rephrase that. I did find one thing. Ezio Auditore had three children: two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter, Eden, was said to have died in a tragic accident when she was about twenty-three.”
“Eden told me she was twenty-three,” I confirmed.
Evie wrote down the new information before continuing. “The next time Eden is mentioned again was around the 1700s, and it seems she is hunting for pieces for Eden.”
None of this made sense. How could Eden be twenty-three now when she was rumoured to have died two hundred years ago? I kept looking through the book Evie handed me, and then I came across a photo of Eden, or who we think is Eden, with the rest of her family. It resembled a painting of Ezio, another woman, Eden, and two little kids.
“We need to ask her questions, Jacob. We need answers.” Evie said, causing me to look up and furrow my brow.
“Eden said she would give us them, but she is still resting.”
Evie opened her mouth to reply when a new voice cut in. “I’m not, and I can hear you.” We all snapped our heads up and saw Eden sitting up on the couch, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You aren’t wrong, by the way. I did die in a tragic accident when I was twenty-three. The only thing is, I did not stay dead.” Eden got up, looking at us with no trace of emotion on her face.
“That cannot be possible,” Evie replied.
“You know that isn’t true. The answer to how I still live is why I am in London. The Shroud of Eden.”
