The old lady turned her head slowly to look at Amira, she knew what that sad face meant.
"I miss my father so much," Amira said in a sad voice and her brown hazel eyes glistened with tears, she was on the edge of breaking down.
It breaks her heart whenever she thought about her father because she missed him more than life.
Lady Serena looked at her granddaughter with gentle eyes. How could she not miss her son? Her flesh and blood?A part of her heart?
"I miss him too.I miss my son so much."Lady Serena placed the sweater she was knitting on the wooden floor and wrapped her hand around her granddaughter's shoulder.
Amira leaned her head on her grandma's shoulder and closed her eyes gently and Silence reigned in the room.
"Do you think father will be released this year? He has been in jail for two years already."Amira raised her face to look at her grandma.
Amira's father was accused of poisoning the king, he was the commander and the king's adviser.
Amira was raised by her father with the help of her grandmother since Amira's mother died after giving birth to Amira.
Lady Serena sucked in the tight air when she heard her granddaughter's questions. Her grip around Amira's shoulders tightened ten folds.
Amira's grandmother closed her eyes and tears flowed from her eyes. A deep frown settled on Amira's features when she saw her grandma crying.
"Why are you crying, grandma? Did I say something wrong?"She asked with a worried voice.
"No, you didn't say anything wrong."Lady Serena shook her head in denial. She looked away and wiped tears from her eyes.
She hated it so much. She hated it when she became emotional instead of being strong for her granddaughter. It's just that...it was hard to hold back tears sometimes.
She grabbed Amira's hands and gave them a slight squeeze. The young girl looked at her grandma's hand on top of her before raising her head gently, confusion settling on her face.
"Why are you crying then?"She asked with creased eyebrows.
"I'm so sorry Amira."Lady Serena said in almost a whisper as she lowered her head. She was so guilty to look her granddaughter straight in the eyes.
Amira knotted her eyebrows when she heard her grandma's words since she had no idea what she was talking about.
"Sorry for what? Why are you being sorry all of a sudden?"She inquired, her voice full of confusion.
"Sorry for lying to you all this time."The old lady pulled her hands away.
"Lying to me?"Amira asked with a raised brow, totally confused.
"What did you lie to me about?"She inquired.
"About your father.About my son."Amira's grandma lowered her head in guilt, not able to look her daughter straight in the eyes.
"You lied about my father? But how?"She asked as she tried to search her grandma's face.
"My son is never going to come back."Soft sobs escaped from her lips as she told her granddaughter the truth that she has been hiding from her for two years now.
"What?"Amira's voice came out as a whisper. It was like the whole universe was moving in slow motion.Amira couldn't believe what her grandma had just said.
"So you have been lying to me all this time?"She closed her eyes and hot tears flowed from her eyes.
Amira's heart ached painfully as if someone was squeezing it into a tiny ball and it was becoming hard for her to breathe.
"I decided to hide the truth from you because I didn't want to break your heart dear."Lady Serena tried to explain to her granddaughter who had a blank look on her back.
"You were full of hope. That's why I decided to hide the whole truth from you, that your father will never come out of jail."
Amira's grandmother cried,she decided to let out the tears that she has been hiding for the past two years.
It has not been easy for her for the past two years.It took her alot of courage to pretend that everything was fine,that her son will come back home someday.
Lady Serena used to look herself up in her room and cry her eyes out because she didn't want her granddaughter to know anything about her father's jail sentence.
"You could have told me, grandma."Amira paused and wiped tears from her eyes using the sleeves of her black knitted sweater.
"I have been hoping that..."More tears flowed from her eyes which made her pause and take in a deep breath.
"Father would come back to us. That someday we'll be whole again."A soft sob escaped her lips. Amira bit the insides of her cheeks to prevent more sobs from escaping her lips.
"Keeping the truth from me has not done any good to grandma."She sobbed once again.
"It has only broken my heart into a million pieces."She grumbled in between the sobs.
"I'm so sorry dear."Lady Serena apologised once again. She didn't like to see Amira crying that much and she didn't know that hiding the truth from her would hurt that much.
She was just trying to protect her.Lady Serena didn't want to crash her granddaughter's hope into tiny pieces.
"There's nothing we can do about it because those bloodsuckers can't listen to us no matter how much my father pleads to be innocent."
Amira's shoulders collapsed in defeat, her mind couldn't think straight at the moment. All that was on her mind at the moment was her father and all those years that he was going to spend in jail.
Wylan's kingdom was ruled by vampires. The vampires didn't care about listening to the accused because they thought they were always right in everything they did.
Amira despised those creatures so much because they didn't care about other people. She even hated them more when they refused to give her father a chance to prove that he was indeed innocent.
Amira was still sobbing when an idea popped into her head.
"I need to do this.Let me give it a try."Amira stood up and descended the wooden stairs hurriedly.