by Aurora, Lexi
“I know,” I said softly. “I know. I’m not afraid of you, I just—the dream…”
“It’s okay,” he said. He stood up and walked to me slowly, deliberately taking each tentative step. He was able to get close to me before he knelt down to look me in the eye. I was barely aware of Matilda in the room then, barely aware of anything but him. “We’ve all had them. I know what they’re like.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked, glancing at Matilda. We were speaking in low enough voices that I didn’t think she could hear us across the room, and if she was listening she gave no indication that she was paying any attention.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I suppose we’ll have to turn her in.”
I sighed. I didn’t know what to say, what other choice did we have? Though I understood why she would want to be rid of Jason, why she couldn’t stand the thought of marrying him, what she had done had been brutal and serious. The investigators had been hounding the city to find out who’d done it, and I knew that eventually they would find her. It was better for her to turn herself in, explain what she had done and why she had done it.
“Should we tell her father?” I asked. He nodded reluctantly.
“I think we have to,” he said. “He’ll have to be there.”
“Okay,” I said. I took a long sip of my tea, closing my eyes. When I opened them, Julian was staring at me with a small smile on his face.
“I know this isn’t appropriate timing,” he said in a quiet voice. “But you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Miss Temple.”
I smiled back at him, wanting so badly to kiss him that I felt it in my chest. Instead, I got up and went to Matilda, sitting down next to her on the couch. Julian followed me and stood in the doorway, leaning against it and watching me as I took the girl’s hand.
“We’re going to bring you back to your father,” I told her. She looked at me then, eyes wide in panic, and her breathing started to grow rapid before me.
“N—no,” she said. “I can’t—I can’t go back to him. He’ll—“
She cut herself off abruptly. I studied her face for a moment, waiting for her to continue, but she only stared at me. I looked up at Julian.
“We can’t stay here,” I told him, looking around at the broken windows.
“We’ll go to my place,” he said. “And talk to your father in the morning.”
Matilda said nothing, but looked up at Julian.
“I don’t want to marry you,” she said.
“You won’t have to,” he told her gently. “I promise you that.”
She nodded. She stood up and we followed Julian outside after putting our coats on. I let Matilda borrow one and we went outside to where Julian’s horse was waiting.
“Can you get your horse?” he asked me. “Or do I need to come back with a carriage?”
I looked at Matilda. “We can share a horse,” I told him. He shook his head.
“You’re coming with me,” he said to Matilda. “I’m not leaving you alone with her.”
“Julian—“ I began, but he cut me off with a look that was dead serious. I decided not to argue with him, putting my hand on Matilda’s shoulder.
“He’ll take care of you,” I said. She stared at me for a moment before nodding. Julian took her hand and helped her onto the horse, shooting one last glance at me before taking off. I began to walk toward the stables next door, getting to my horse a few moments later and leaving in the direction of Julian’s mansion. When I got there, the two of them were inside his front room. He was standing across the room from her and both of them were staring at the fire that he had lit, not looking at each other.
“Are you tired, Matilda?” I asked her. She nodded, her eyes half-lidded. I turned to Julian. “Can we show her to a room?”
He nodded, then gestured for us to follow him. We went up the stairs and into the room two doors down from Julian’s. It was a large room, comfortable and feminine. Matilda sat down on the bed and gave us that blank stare.
“We’ll see you in the morning,” I said to her. She said nothing as I closed the door behind me. Julian took my hand then and led me to his bedroom, where he undressed me slowly and laid me down in bed.
“Are you going to make love to me, my lord?” I asked him. He grinned but shook his head, kissing me softly on the lips.
“You’re exhausted,” he said, and climbed into bed next to me, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “Let’s sleep, love.”
My heart fluttered at the word, though it was only a term of endearment. Still, it made me smile as I fell asleep with my head pillowed on his chest.
Chapter 23: Julian
The second thing I did the next morning was send word to Markwell that his daughter was in my home. The first thing I did was make love to Fiona, who gasped and squirmed underneath me, her body as responsive as it had been the first time. I’d wanted to tell her that I loved her the moment she woke up, the moment I saw the fiery red of her hair in the morning sunlight, the green of her eyes dazzling and sleepy. She had looked so beautiful that my heart had done flips in my chest, and I felt like I’d had no choice but to wake her up fully with my mouth between her legs. I couldn’t get enough of the taste of her, even in a situation as dire as the one we were in.
I had let her go back to sleep after that, making my way downstairs to find that Matilda was in the kitchen having tea with the cook, a woman named Berta who had been with us since I’d been a child. Berta was sitting close to Matilda, who was sniffling but smiling for the first time since I’d met her. The cook had that effect on people and had always been one of my favorite people in the world. When I walked in, Matilda looked at me and paled, the smile dropping from her face.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve sent word to your father that you’re here. He should be arriving shortly.”
She stared at me with a terrified expression, but said nothing. I felt sorry for her but angry at the same time for how Markwell treated her, the things he had done to her. I poured myself a cup of tea and left Berta in the kitchen with Matilda, hoping the cook could cheer the girl up a little more before she left. I went upstairs to find Fiona still sleeping, and put the tea down on the table beside the bed before sitting down next to her. I touched her shoulder, grateful to be able to do so, and she stirred and blinked up at me, her face blossoming into a smile.
“Good morning again,” she said. I leaned down to kiss her, tasting her lips.
“Good morning,” I said. “I brought you some tea.”
“How romantic,” she said, smiling as she sat up and picked up the cup. She took a sip of it and looked at me over the rim.
“Did you send word to Markwell?”
I nodded. “About an hour ago. Hopefully he’ll come soon.”
“I don’t know what to say to him,” she said, looking suddenly worried. “About Matilda. About what she did.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I told her. She studied my face for a moment.
“Really?” she asked. “Do you know what to say?”
I exhaled, dragging my teeth over my bottom lip. “She murdered my brother,” I said. “I don’t know what to say. But I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m afraid for her,” she said. I kissed her again, then kissed her forehead.
“So am I,” I said. I looked over at the large clock on the wall. “We’d better go downstairs.”
She nodded, then slipped out of bed and began to get dressed. I stopped her for a moment, pulling her naked body into my arms and dipping my face to take one of her nipples into my mouth, sucking on it until she moaned. Then I lifted my head and planted a quick kiss on her lips, which were pouting and pretty.
“That’s not fair,” she said. I grinned at her.
“You can pay me back later,” I told her. She laughed and I let her go to get dressed before we went downstairs. Matilda was sitting on the sofa and we joined her in the front room.
“Hi, Matilda,” Fiona said, sitting down a
cross from the girl. Matilda looked up at her but didn’t say anything. “How are you?”
“Fine,” said Matilda, then looked out the window, decidedly turning away from us. Fiona and I exchanged a glance, and she had opened her mouth to speak when the front door burst open and Markwell stormed in. His face was blood red and his jaw was clenched tight. His eyes were even paler than I had ever seen them, almost white.
“Matilda,” he hissed when he got in, and hurried over to her. “What did you tell them?”
“Nothing, father,” said Matilda, and started to cry as Markwell wrapped his hand around her arm and tugged her in his direction. I crossed the room quickly and wrenched his hand away from her, shoving him backward in the process so that he wasn’t able to reach her.
“You will not touch her like that again,” I said to him, my body tense with rage. Markwell swung at me then but I managed to dodge it and hit him in the stomach with my fist, knocking the wind out of him. He recovered after a moment and lunged at me, knocking me down to the ground. He hit me in the face once but barely clipped my jaw before I had him rolled over and pinned to the ground. I was bigger than he was, taller and heavier, and I managed to subdue him even when he tried to fight me.
“I’m sorry,” cried Matilda. “Father—“
“Shut up,” Markwell roared. Matilda began to cry harder.
“I killed your father,” she said. “Lord Castellano. The old man.”
I froze in shock, staring at her instead of Markwell. He was dazed on the ground and didn’t try to fight me, but stared at his daughter as well.
“My father made me,” Matilda said. Fiona got up and went to her, wrapping her arm around the girl’s shoulders as she sobbed. “He wanted—he wanted Lord Castellano, the son, to become earl before we got… before we got married.”
To my surprise, Markwell started to laugh. “Stupid, stupid girl,” he spat. “I knew you were no good for this family.”
I pulled my fist back then and let it connect with his face, knocking him out cold. I looked up at Fiona, who’s mouth fell open in shock. Matilda stared at me, too, as I got off of Markwell and stood up.
“I’ll send for the investigators,” I said. Fiona nodded and sat down, guiding Matilda to sit with her. I went and found Smith, telling him to send word to the authorities to come to the mansion immediately. He did what I asked at once without question, disappearing through the servant’s door and taking off right away. I went back into the front room and sat down on the floor next to Markwell, staying close to him in case he woke up.
Markwell didn’t wake before the investigators soon arrived.
“What happened?” asked the lead, looking down at the passed out Markwell.
“I knocked him out,” I said, showing him my hand. “He killed my father. And my brother.”
Fiona shot me a look and Matilda stared at me wide-eyed. The inspector looked at both of them.
“Did he confess to all of this?” he asked them. They both nodded. The investigator did, too, and poked Markwell with his foot.
“Knew that bastard was up to something,” he said, and I was surprised to hear it. I hadn’t known that Markwell was a suspect at all.
The investigators took Markwell away shortly, bringing Matilda with them. I was left alone with Fiona, who crossed the room to me to take my injured hand in hers. The knuckles were swollen and bleeding, and she brought them to her lips for a tender kiss before looking at my face.
“Are you okay?” she asked. I nodded, leaning in to take her mouth with mine. We kissed for a long time, wrapped up in each other, my passion fueled by what we had just gone through. We went upstairs and crawled into bed together, touching each other all over for the second time in the day.
Chapter 24: Fiona
“We should go back to the house,” I said, my head resting on Julian’s chest.
“To clean up?”
“Yes,” I said. I lifted my face to look at him. “And there’s something else I need to do.”
“What’s that?” he asked, his face spreading into a smile when he met my eye. The sight of it made me feel light and beautiful and I had to smile back at him. I nuzzled his jaw.
“I want to find out what is in my house,” I said. “What’s keeping us apart there.”
“How?” he asked.
“Another séance,” I said. He raised his eyebrows.
“Do you think I should be there?” he asked. I nodded.
“I need you there,” I said. He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, then got out of bed. I got up as he got dressed, and then I went downstairs to eat quickly while Julian had someone saddle our horses and bring them up to the mansion. We got ready to go, mounting the horses, and walked them slowly together as we made our way back to my house. When we got there, all I could do was stare at the place from the outside. Every single window was broken, the yard around the house littered with glass that sparkled like diamonds in the light. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and I looked over at Julian before we dismounted.
He took my hand as we walked inside, but was thrown forward off of his feet the moment we crossed the threshold into the house. He hit the floor with a loud thud that made me rush to him immediately. I tried to touch him, but every time I did, I got pushed back as well, though the touch was more gentle with me. He shook his head and stood up, brushing himself off.
“Let’s do the séance,” he said, his jaw tight. I led him into the front room where I had the table set up and we sat down across from each other, taking our familiar seats. I lit the candle in front of us and didn’t try to take Julian’s hands, hoping that what I was trying would work without a complete circle of energy.
Julian closed his eyes before I could ask and I did the same, taking a deep breath before I spoke.
“Grandmother?” I said, the word coming out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. Suddenly, I was sure of who the presence was in my house. I could feel her the moment I closed my eyes, her love surrounding me. I felt, too, her disappointment and pain.
“Show yourself to me,” I said in a soft voice. “Please, Grandmother. I want to speak to you. I know you’re here.”
I felt the whole house stir around me as it had the night before, as if it was breathing. I opened my eyes and nearly lost my breath when I saw my grandmother standing clearly next to the table, looking down at Julian with a look of distrust. Julian opened his eyes as if he could feel her gaze, his jaw almost dropping when he saw her. Grandmother looked over at me then, her eyes softening.
“Fiona,” she said, reaching forward to stroke my hair as she had when I was a little girl. Her touch didn’t feel solid but more like a warm breeze caressing my skin. I felt tears welling up in my eyes; I hadn’t known how much I’d missed her until I had seen her again. “My darling.”
“Grandmother,” I said. “Why won’t you let Julian touch me?”
Grandmother cast a glance at Julian that was full of contempt.
“He’s dangerous,” she said stiffly. “Him and his brother. Both of them brought a killer into your life.”
“They didn’t mean to,” I said. Julian stayed quiet, studying my face.
“It doesn’t matter,” my grandmother spat, crossing her arms over her chest. “They’re trouble. And all this one wants from you is your body.”
“That’s not true,” said Julian, his voice firm. “You don’t know me, you don’t—“
“I know you,” said my grandmother. “I’ve been in your dreams. I’ve seen the things you think about my granddaughter.”
“Then you know I think about her all the time,” Julian said. I watched his face as he spoke. “And you know that I love her.”
My heart fluttered in my chest at the words. He met my eye for a moment and held it. My grandmother turned to me.
“I’ve told you about men,” she said, a stern look on her face that almost made me smile remembering all the times I’d seen it.
“I know, Grandmother,” I
said softly. “But Julian is different. I love him, too. I want to be with him.”
My grandmother’s lips pressed into a thin line. She stared at me intently, as did Julian.
“Did you break the windows, Nan?” I asked her, using the nickname I had used for her as a young child. Her gaze softened then, as I had known it would.
“I broke the windows,” she confessed. “I was trying to send you a message.”
“And you’ve been in our dreams,” I said, glancing at Julian. “All of our dreams.”
She nodded.
