Fractured Crystal: Sapphires and Submission

by M. J. Lawless

  As the driver led her up the steps, she saw a woman in her late fifties, or even sixties—it was somewhat difficult to tell—standing by the front door. The woman was dressed rather formally in a tweed dress suit with a pearl necklace, and her fading blonde-grey hair was arranged in a very old-fashioned bouffant style. Kris guessed immediately that this was Misses Christiansen.

  “Thank you, Jarvis,” she said to the driver. “That will be all.” She extended a hand to Kris somewhat stiffly. “Miss Avelar, I am...”

  “Elaine Christiansen,” Kris finished. “Pleased to meet you.”

  The older woman raised one eyebrow at this before turning to guide her latest charge in through the large oak door. “I must say,” she commented somewhat archly. “You’re not like his usual type.”

  “His usual type?” Kris was somewhat thrown. “And what would that type be?”

  “Thinner, for a start.” Elaine looked back at her. “And taller, too.”

  Kris blushed at this, her skin prickling as it so often did when she was humiliated in some small, trivial way. She tried to think of a witticism to retort with but simply asked, as Elaine opened another wooden door with her name on it: “Is Daniel here yet?”

  “Mister Stone will be arriving shortly,” Elaine replied, leading Kris into the room, the walls of which were adorned with books stuffed on shelves. “Jarvis has to go and pick him up now.”

  “Couldn’t he have sent someone else—for me, I mean? Actually, couldn’t he have just come here with another driver?”

  “Mister Stone is very particular about who drives him around. He... trusts Jarvis. Won’t you sit down, Miss Avelar? Unusual name? Spanish?”

  “Portuguese,” Kris explained as she sat down. “On my father’s side.”

  Elaine’s expression had changed as she was sitting, becoming slightly softer, Kris thought. “I can see why he likes you, though,” she said softly at last.

  “What?” Kris asked, not sure what she had just heard.

  “No matter. I won’t insult you by asking you if this is your first time to Lincoln Hall. I’ve been working here for nearly four decades now—I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s twice your age—and I know you’ve never crossed our threshold.”

  Kris looked around her. “It’s... impressive.”

  “No it’s not,” Elaine said sharply. “Oppressive is the word you’re looking for. I’ve tried to change the ambience, really I have, but I struggle all the time. Mister Stone has been a great help, of course.”

  Maybe the whole place would improve immediately if you’d just lighten up, thought Kris, but instead she inquired politely. “And what is the connection between Da- Mister Stone and Lincoln Hall?”

  “Why, he’s one of our greatest benefactors. In fact, to tell the truth, he’s pretty much our only benefactor. If you had seen this place even only a decade ago—dismal, truly dismal. But Stone Enterprises has taken us under its wing—or, more accurately, Mister Stone has taken it upon himself to provide for us, and so we slowly flourish.”

  “But why should he take a particular interest in this place?”

  Kris was sure for a moment that Elaine’s eyes twinkled as she observed the younger woman. “And why not? Stone Enterprises engages in a number of philanthropic projects. We are merely one of his recipients.”

  “And what is this reception tonight?” she asked at last.

  “We have just recently completed the construction of a new sports hall—next generation of young Olympians and all that. We received a little funding from the government, no mean feat in itself, but of course none of that would have been possible without Mister Stone’s kind support.” After they had been speaking some more, Elaine looked down at her watch. “My, how time flies when you’re having fun. It’s nearly eight o’clock and our guests will already have started to arrive. Well, well, shall we join them, Miss Avelar?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Her conversation with Elaine Christiansen had left Kris even more confused than before. Why on earth she should have been invited here was completely beyond her comprehension: if Daniel had indeed wanted to speak with her, then why not simply give her his own number? Too little of this made sense and, because of that, she felt her aura hardening protectively about her. At the same time, she was too intrigued to discover what was going on to leave.

  Elaine led Kris through a series of corridors and crossed a yard to a plush new building into which a number of people were making their way, a mixture of older boys who she guessed were pupils of Lincoln Hall, and various men and women dressed more formally. Kris was glad that she had selected something more dressy than usual, but also realised that there was nothing particularly special about the outfit she was wearing, a fact that made her feel surprisingly despondent.

  As they entered the hall, which was now filling up as more and more people entered, Kris was left with a young man who had instructions to ensure she was fed and provided with drinks for the evening. Then Elaine left her and mingled with other people, evidently making her way to the dais that had been constructed there.

  “Hello,” she said to the lad she had been left with, who looked sixteen or seventeen. “I’m Kris.”

  He blushed slightly as she offered his hand. In her heels, she was about on a par in terms of height, and she was so used to being more or less ignored that she had forgotten the effect she could have on a gauche youth. After hesitating slightly, he shook her hands. “I’m Jack.”

  “And have you been at Lincoln Hall long, Jack?”

  He nodded. “About six or seven years. I was in a care home before that.”

  “Oh.” Kris was slightly taken aback by this information. She had not quite made the connection between deprivation in the abstract and what that would actually mean. “And do you like it here?”

  “It’s okay,” he said with a small smile. His response was, she realised, standard issue, and that his fairly relaxed demeanour was probably more indicative of how he really felt about Lincoln Hall, which was clearly a safe haven in the world. After a few minutes of chatting, or rather Kris asking Jack questions to which he gave a series of noncommittal grunts, he went to collect a glass of wine for her and some food.

  Turning back to the dais, she saw that Elaine had climbed the steps to its side and was now preparing to address the audience. Another man, sleek and well-groomed, perhaps in his fifties though it was hard to tell, stood beside her.

  “Thank you all so much for coming this evening,” she told them. “As you can imagine, we are extremely pleased to be able to open this new sporting facility, which has been made possible with the generous support of the Stone Education Foundation as well as government and European finance initiatives, something I don’t have to tell you is quite a coup in these difficult times. I am extremely grateful to be able to welcome Felix Coltraine, from Stone Enterprises, who will say a few words to us tonight.” Elaine led the polite applause for the man beside her who launched into a rather dull speech, mentioning a number of bodies and figures that Kris had never heard of, as well as listing all the facilities that had been made available by this new building—a list that Kris found surprisingly comprehensive. Damn! she thought. I wish I’d had a Daniel Stone when I was at school. Realising what she had just considered, particularly in the light of their recent liaisons, Kris suddenly found herself blushing.

  Taking up the conclusion of her speech, Elaine told the people gathered there: “As a special treat, and as thanks to our benefactor, the boys of Lincoln Hall have prepared a demonstration of their abilities to be shown in the gymnasium, and I’m sure that all of you will join me in giving a warmhearted round of applause to what we hope will be the next generation of future Olympians.”

  The audience was indeed warmhearted and, still clutching her glass, Kris made her way with them into a large, extremely modern gym. After the display by half a dozen teenagers had begun, she realised that Elaine was no longer clearly visible and began to look round. When she saw her by th
e door through which they had just entered at last, her whole body froze.

  The headmistress was deep in conversation with Daniel, who was listening very attentively to the other woman, stooping slightly so that he would not miss a word that she said. It was very clearly Daniel Logan, although his once curly hair had been neatly cut back, the sides close-cropped. His jaw line was clean-shave and strong, and he was if not the tallest individual in the room then easily one of them, his broad shoulders and chest proud beneath a shirt, tie and dark blue jacket. At this distance, she could not see those scars which marked his face, but there was no doubt as to who this man was. She was surprised, however, to see that while several people in the room were talking to Felix, only Elaine had stopped by Daniel.

  As they spoke, both of them looked in her direction. When he saw Kris looking back at them, Daniel smiled ever so slightly and she, her heart beating and a blush rising on her face, turned away.

  She had no idea what she was going to say or going to do. Only a week previously she had hated him with an intensity that astonished her, and before that... before that she had wanted him with an equally surprising depth of passion. What would she do now? Why on earth was she even here?

  “Hello.” The voice—deep, rich—was instantly recognisable.

  Turning, she shifted her glass from hand to hand to disguise her trembling. The slight, pale grooves across his brow and his cheek were like a fine etching. Even in her high heels, Kris stood up to just below his chin.

  “I should throw this wine over you, you bastard!” she said in a very low voice.

  He nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. His face was serious as he looked at her.

  “You look very beautiful,” he said at last.

  “Thank you.” Her defences were still up, however. “I did think you would like someone thinner, however.”

  He raised one eyebrow. With a jerk of her chin in the direction of Elaine, Kris said: “She told me I’m not your usual type.”

  Realising now what she meant, Daniel laughed. “That is probably not a bad thing in her book. She likes you.”

  “Really. I’m impressed, Mister Stone—or, should I say, Logan?”

  For the first time Daniel looked pained and his right hand was lifted instinctively. “Please, not that name, not here.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Kris was now in full sarcastic mode. “Would you prefer Bear Grylls? Or perhaps Marie Antoinette?”

  He gave a pained smile to this. “Daniel will do. Pretty much anyone who knows me here does so as Daniel Stone.”

  Kris relented a little in her hostility. “Well, you have a lot of explaining to do, Daniel Stone.” She paused and looked around her. “This is pretty impressive, but why here?”

  Stopping a youth walking by with a tray, Daniel took a glass of orange juice before answering her. “Oh, pride and vanity have built more schools than all the virtues put together.”

  She frowned at him, and he smirked at her expression, relaxing a little more now. “I take it you’re not a big fan of Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees. He thought public good deeds were motivated more by our private vices. Everyone likes to see their name on a plaque.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” was Kris’s response. “You disappear from my life and I’m meant to just accept that you’re some eccentric philanthropist?”

  “You appeared willing to accept that I was an eccentric hermit.”

  “And that’s precisely why I’m not so keen to be taken in twice,” Kris hissed at him. “You still have plenty of explaining to do as to why you took off like that.”

  “I was expecting you to call sooner.”

  “Well, mister know-it-all, if you had bloody given me your phone number via a more conventional route, I would have both called you sooner and been saved quite a lot of bloody heartache.” Kris could not resist slapping his chest. She had run through fantasies of slapping him across the face and throwing her wine over him dramatically, but in the end a half-punch delivered with enough force to make him wince seemed the best compromise.

  It did occur to her that punching the man who was so generous to Lincoln Hall might not be the best course of action, but she was surprised to see that no one particularly reacted, although Elaine (who was talking to Felix across the room) did glance in their direction from time to time, as did Felix. His expression as he saw Daniel with Kris was much more ambivalent than that of the school teacher.

  “Nobody knows you here, do they?” she said, turning her face back to Daniel’s.

  “No. I’m a man who values his privacy.”

  “You are one fucking strange man, Daniel Stone.”

  “Language, language, miss Avelar, there are children around.” Daniel paused and leaned into her ear, whispering quietly. “But then I remember how you told me to fuck you, to take you, on that day by the pool.”

  This infuriated Kris, at the same time as his physical presence and his invocation of their previous time together made her sex open up. With a snarl, she placed a hand on his chest again and pushed him back.

  “So why did you vanish like that?”

  He paused, and now he was deadly serious rather than teasing. “It’s hard for me to explain—very hard, and this is not the right place.”

  “Try me.” Kris’s voice was firm, hard edged.

  With a sigh, Daniel looked down. “We would have had to leave anyway—necessity inevitably drags us back. Once a year I go away to Comrie. Nobody else knows about it—I’ve made sure of that. Even Elaine doesn’t know where I disappear to. A few people have tried to find out, believe me, but I leave most of the day to day running of my affairs to Felix now, and he’s more than happy to cover for me. I think he enjoys the power more than I do these days.”

  Daniel chewed his lip and looked at her with those strange, hazel eyes of his, the one pupil slightly larger than the other. “So, I take off and hide myself away, my escape from real life as you call it, and then one day a woman turns up who looks exactly like the reason why I need to escape from time to time...”

  He stopped.

  “And?” Kris had her arms folded across her chest and was tapping her foot, but her anger was now more feigned than real.

  “Not here, not now. Why don’t you let me take you for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “I can’t,” she replied. At this, Daniel looked genuinely surprised.

  “I’m washing my hair,” she told him. “I’m still trying to decide whether something needs washing out of it completely or not.”

  Now he laughed. “Okay, then,” he replied. “If you decide that your hygiene doesn’t have to be even more thorough, how about Wednesday?”

  “Call me,” she said. “You have my number, after all.”

  She saw that Felix and Elaine were slowly making their way across the hall. “You’re going to be busy. I’m going to go now.”

  “Wait,” he said. “I’ll get Jarvis to drive you back.”

  She shook her head. “It’s fine. I prefer to get the tube in any case.” Not wishing to be too cruel to him, she placed her hand on his wrist, letting it linger there for a moment, enjoying the warmth of his skin.

  “I get it,” she said, her blue eyes staring up into his hazel ones now. “Why you pay for this, why you got her to vet me. This was where you were schooled, isn’t it?”

  She did not wait for a reply but, as Felix and Elaine finally pushed through to the crowd to where Daniel was standing, a bemused expression on his face, she slipped between various knots of people and made her way outside.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kris was unable to hide her smug satisfaction as she made her way to work the next day. In truth, her meeting with Daniel had raised far more questions than it answered, but she was increasingly convinced that those were questions that would be worth waiting for.

  She had to admit that the discovery that her strange lover (as he had been, at least) was a very wealthy man added a certain frisson to her feelings towards him—though that
frisson was not entirely unambivalent. She smiled as she thought how a decade before she would have reacted to him: her pretensions to being a radical artist would have led her to dismiss him out of hand as a one percenter, and in truth she still had a lingering suspicion that rich, powerful men tended to be assholes. Nonetheless, she would be a fool to herself to admit that several years of failing dreams had tended to bring out the more materialistic side in herself.

  That said, she intended to be more cautious this time. The events at Comrie had taken her by surprise (and, she suspected, they had been as unexpected for Daniel as well). Let’s just see what happens, she told herself as she stepped out of the elevator at Hardy, Briskin and Sorrell. Greeting Janice breezily as well as some of her other co-workers, she made her way to her desk. Before she placed her phone on the desk, she checked through all her messages. Nothing from Daniel yet—but, then, she shouldn’t be too eager.

  She couldn’t resist searching for Daniel’s name a little more, and uncovered a couple of magazine articles that would have frankly been tedious to her had they not involved this mysterious man. She was still amazed at how anonymous he appeared online, and soon turned her attention to the account that involved Stone Enterprises, however tenuously. The company was called Chiado Shipping and, despite the fact that typically it would have been a dry subject for her, even without the connection to Daniel Stone her curiosity was allowed a little by the fact that the company’s headquarters were based in Lisbon. That alone, Kris thought, gave her a right to dig around, and she soon discovered that Stone Enterprises had provided finance for a recent restructuring, giving her a little insight into just how far Daniel’s empire spread its tentacles.

  While she was reading through the various notes and reports more avidly than was typical for her work, Mark came out of the office and stood beside her desk for almost a minute before she noticed him.