Seeing Amistad's face cloud over, and his posture that said nothing could ever stand in his way, the curator lost his courage. He knew Amistad was a nonviolent man, but… He had also heard about what happened to that one guy who kept trying to bother Laura when she was out conducting field work.
From what he had heard, Laura complained to Amistad because the man kept harassing her. Amistad had gone down there and broke the man's hand. He was apparently so scary when he threatened the man and broke his hand, that the man completely avoided Laura from that point onward.
If Laura was going to go to a location that he was already investigating, then he would give that spot up to Laura. No one knew what Amistad had said or done to the man, but before that, there had been many other women who had been bullied by him. That all changed after Amistad broke his hand.
Mr. Palmer had once asked the man about it. The man instantly shut his mouth and said very frightened that it was nothing. That Amistad hadn't done anything. But at that point the man was so scared he had to call it an early night.
Amistad might be nonviolent and known everywhere as a very gentle soul, but after that, for a long period of time people feared him just a little. But nothing like that had happened since, so people had forgotten about it, and once more treated Amistad like he wasn't a threat at all.
Even Mr. Palmer himself had forgotten about it.
However seeing the state Amistad was in right now while looking down on him, Mr. Palmer suddenly remembered. He backed off. "You're right," he said sheepishly. "This is a confidential matter. I was only testing your resolve to keep it confidential."
Mr. Palmer put on his business smile, and said, "I can see that you are busy. I will see myself out." He didn't know what Amistad had done to that man all those years ago, but he was not willing to find out first hand either.
…
…
Violetta watched the curator walk out of her mothers office. He seemed apologetic while he was still within eyesight of her parents, but as he turned to leave she saw him clenching his fists. It looked like he hadn't truly given up.
She walked into her mother's office and placed the books on the desk. "He's gone." She had watched him leave out the front door.
"Amistad, what do we do?" Laura looked at him misty eyed. She knew they were not supposed to keep Eitri documents. Only now did she think she was being set up by someone. Why else would it appear on her desk the night before she was supposed to meet the curator?
Amistad looked at her with sad eyes. "We'll have to get rid of it," he said to her softly. "We can't keep it, or they will use it as evidence against you."
Violetta looked at her parents very confused. "Why is this evidence? Evidence of what?"
Amistad looked at his daughter and knew that he was finally going to have to tell her another secret. "This writing is called the Eitri alphabet. It's an ancient script used by the elves in only their oldest or most sacred documents. It is also against the law to have anything with Eitri writing on it unless you are royalty. There are special cases where sometimes a historian might be in charge of researching something in the Eitri language for the government, but that is an extremely rare occurrence. And we don't have the documentation for it to have been mandated as research from the government. Nor do we have proof that we are actually royalty."
Anyone listening in to that last sentence would have heard it as sarcasm. But to Violetta those words held the literal meaning.
"So, Violetta looked at her mother to avoid her fathers eyes as she asked, "...everything with Eitri writing is considered illegal to have?" Her mother nodded. Violetta continued, "What about a tattoo?"
Amistad subconsciously looked at his left hand as it shined in the light. Violetta was obviously referring to this, right?
Laura laughed, "Eitri language is so rare, there's no way anyone could have it as a tattoo."
"Oh," Violetta said. Her father's hand always had that circular pattern on it. She knew it was there, and that for some reason, she was the only one who could see it. She knew Heath couldn't see it. If he had seen it, he would have asked about it right away.
…
...
When she was twelve Violetta had noticed that Heath couldn't see what was so great about her fathers left hand. She was admiring the way it glinted in the light again. She told Heath, still keeping this a secret from him, that her father's left hand was prettier than his right hand. Later that night she had asked her father, "Why can't Heath see why your left hand is... special?"
Amistad looked at Violetta and explained. "Heath's father, my brother, doesn't have the same mother as I do. The reason we are brothers is because we share the same father. But the reason you see my hand as special is because it was given to me by my mother. The royal line is something I inherited from my mother's bloodline. It's only logical that Heath couldn't see it."
Violetta once again thought that the king and her father were truly not brothers at all. Even if they looked alike. How could they not share any DNA if they were brothers?
…
…
"Amistad," Laura looked at him pleadingly. "I can't do it!" She was holding the document in her hand like it was precious. "I can't destroy it."
Amistad looked at his wife lovingly. He really did want to spoil her. A part of him wondered if he really should have tried to fight harder to get his throne back. Laura would have been a great queen. But he knew he couldn't protect her if he had fought and lost, she would have been executed with him. She was pregnant at the time. He couldn't risk it.
Then he saw his beautiful daughter, and his resolve was sealed. Because he wanted his wife to never endure that kind of pain again, he decided they shouldn't have any more children.
He didn't want Laura to go through any hardships. He took his books that Violetta had placed on the desk, and threw them in the furnace. He smiled at Laura. "We don't have to burn it if you don't want to."
Laura looked at the document in her hands, and then she looked at Amistad. She had an internal battle, but in the end, she handed the document to him. If he hadn't lovingly told her that they didn't have to burn it she would have held onto that document with all her strength. But his doting look made her soften. She knew she would pull him into this trouble if they didn't get rid of it. She had to hand it to him.
"Are you sure?" He asked her.
She would never be able to burn it herself. She nodded.
Once he saw he nod, Amistad threw the document into the fire and held onto his wife.
Violetta really regretted her foolishness. How could she have done such a stupid thing. Seeing her mother cry over that stupid piece of paper, made tears well up in Violetta's eyes. This was all her fault. Amistad seeing his daughter starting to tear up, pulled her into his embrace with his wife. They shared a loving family hug.
"Oh dear," said Laura with a shaky voice from her tears. "Violetta I know you truly understand the importance of our family business now. Seeing you shed tears like that over such precious lost knowledge… I'm so proud of you."
Violetta couldn't look at her parents right now. Did her mother have to hammer in extra guilt so hard?