From what I could see in the low light, the tired, hurting look in his eyes, he had felt the strain of it all as well. We looked into each other’s eyes, and I saw the gentle spirit and kind man that I ached to know.
The one that brought me the cane and taught me so much about his world in such a little time.
He caressed my cheek, his touch warm and inviting. Mesmerized by this maddening man embracing me, I traced his mouth with my fingertips. His chest rose and fell, and then he lowered his lips to mine, touching them, and then pressing into them. The warmth, the sensation was exquisite, and I ceased to think, my body acting instinctively as I returned his passion.
Our breath quickened as our kiss deepened, and I opened my heart to him as a flower welcoming the sun.
We stopped after our air ran out, my body aflame, every nerve in my skin tingling. Matthias sighed, long and heavy, as he nuzzled into my hair. Exhausted, I descended into slumber, into dreams of the ocean, of my sister, of Joseph, of an existence free of Callers and Masters and Guards and Foremen and Lessers.
When I awoke to the sound of the bell, I found myself tucked into my own bed. A sweet, delicate scent drifted through the air, and I turned my head to find a small, solitary blue flower next to me.
Chapter 10
It was Sunday.
Three weeks of hard labor passed in a blink as I awaited Joseph’s return. Extensive injury prevented him from reassuming his former duties, but he helped as best he could. My body, worn and tired, drifted off to sleep in Matthias’ arms at the end of many a lesson, sometimes at the start. A month had passed since my arrival, and Matthias announced he would take me to the beach for a morning’s reprieve.
Matthias’ moods were ever changeable in the wake of Joseph’s beating. He would embrace me one day, only to lash at me with his tongue and scowl the next. I feared Sunday would come, and he would be in a cruel disposition. Much to my relief, he made good on his word.
I smoothed my skirts out with my free hand, steadying myself with the other. The sea was before me, and I took a deep breath, conflicted. The waves beckoned me, their calls permeated my bones. Closing my eyes, I opened myself to the songs they sang.
Matthias’ mare nudged me with her nose, and I smiled.
“It is a fine morning, isn’t it?” Matthias’ voice rolled across the cool breeze.
“It is indeed.”
“You seem nervous,” he said as he walked around to face me, head cocked to the side. “This is what you wanted, yes?”
My nostrils flared as I inhaled the salty air, nodding. “Yes. Thank you.”
“It is my pleasure,” he said. “Sit with me?” He smiled and held out his hand, guiding me down to the sand with him. “Although I must be honest. This visit isn’t entirely for you. The beach happens to be my favorite place on the whole island.”
I grinned, and he leaned back. “I love the ocean. It’s calming. I swear it sings to me sometimes.”
My grin faded a little. “It calls.”
“Yes, yes. Exactly.” He focused on the horizon of endless water stretched out before us. “There is something very freeing about that expanse out there. When I was a boy, I used to fancy myself a pirate.” He looked over at me with a devilish grin. “I would steal my father’s things and bury them along the beach. I only recovered a small fraction of it, my hidden treasure.” He laughed, and it was melodious, beautiful, and youthful.
“Those were easier days,” he said. “Or so I remember. What about you? Something tells me you were an intelligent, stubborn child.”
I laid back. “I was, but I had to be. My mother loved me unconditionally, but I was not born hers. My family treated me as one of their own, but our people? With them, it could be a challenge.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Your real mother - did she pass in childbirth?”
I shook my head. “No. I was left for death.”
Matthias sat up, his face flushing red with anger. “I have no words.”
The questions, the topics were all serious, but the corners of my mouth began to lift with a smile. “Thank you for your concern, but Mother cares for me and did an excellent job raising me as her own.”
“Why are you smiling? This is a horrible revelation - to be left for death?”
I tried but failed to hold in my laughter. “I am sorry. It is horrible. It is just that I have never seen you so talkative without attempting to teach me something.”
His expression softened as he nodded. “I should speak with you more, like this. I want to know everything about you.”
My heart leapt into my throat as he took my hand in his. “Ia, I believe I am enamored with you.”
His breath trembled a touch as he lowered his lips to mine, brushing them softly as he spoke. “I have never experienced the feelings you evoke in me.”
A bell sounded in the distance, marking the time. Its ring was soft yet so intrusive.
Matthias blinked and pulled away. “We do not have much time before we must return.” He looked to the water again, nodded toward it. “Would you like to go for a swim?”
Water.
The ocean.
Home.
Without realizing it, he was granting me permission to leave, to return home. I shuddered inside. I was so close, and yet I felt so far. Pulling my stare from the waves, I looked into those green, enrapturing eyes of his and made my decision.
“I think it’s best we go back,” I said, a bittersweet happiness rolling through me.
He winked, and then lifted me up onto his steed. I ran my hand through the mare’s mane as Matthias mounted behind me. I relished the weight and strength of him against me. As he guided the horse up the crest of the dune, I glanced over my shoulder, contentment and uncertainty swirling as I thought on my choice.
Chapter 11
The stables were calm and quiet aside from the wayward neigh of horses. The scent of fresh hay was in the air, made more pungent by the morning mist that hung around us. I found it comforting, routine and familiar.
Ensconced in my labor, a soft touch on my right shoulder startled me. It was Abel, holding the reins of a horse I did not recognize. Behind it trailed three others of the similar soft grey. A carriage past the lot of them was being repaired by two slaves and a blacksmith.
Abel motioned to the water trough, and I nodded, picking up the buckets and making my way to the well. The morning was cold, and the chill was made worse by the water I was now sloshing all over my clothing as I rushed to tend to our surprise guests.
A melodic, feminine laugh penetrated my concentration, and I looked to the path leading up to the main house, finding Lord Malcom engaged with a youthful, brown-haired, beautifully dressed woman. An older gentleman joined them, making large strides to catch up to them, and her loud laughter again rang out, with scolds of “Oh, Father! Surely you jest.”
Lord Malcom was jovial, perhaps even sober, as he spoke at length with them about his horses. They loitered near the stables as the carriage was brought back to working fashion. This father-daughter ensemble, so respected by Lord Malcom, piqued my curiosity and tempted me to eavesdrop.
“We would very much like to see young Matthias, Lord Malcom,” the older gentleman said. “It has been some length since he has called on us.”
I halted my work at the mention of his name and clung to the wall as I attempted to peer at them over a stall door.
“Yes, I am afraid I am to blame for that,” said Lord Malcom, laughing. “He is stepping into his role quite nicely.”
“Certainly a credit to the family name then,” the older man said, leaning in with eyebrows raised and a smile growing wider on his face.
“Yes, he is proud to bear it,” Lord Malcom replied. “Although I must admit I was reluctant to give it to him, it has been the best decision I’ve made, all things considered.”
“Quite, quite,” the older man said. “We were so sorry to hear of your loss.”
Lord Malcom sighed, his shoulders slouching w
ith the heavy weight of a dark memory. “Yes, well, thank you for your sympathy. Richard had always been an intelligent, but weak boy. His mother and I feared from his birth that he was never long for this world, but for him to reach thirty-five so readily…”
His voice trailed into nothing, and his guests stood in awkward silence.
“He had no heirs of his own, you know. Unable,” Lord Malcom continued. “All our generations now rest on Matthias’ shoulders, and if not his, then that detestable brother of mine.”
“Matthias will marry, then?”
“Of course,” Lord Malcom said. “As benefitting his station, which despite a full inheritance and my acknowledgement, is tainted by his mother’s lineage.”
The older man scoffed. “Perhaps in London, but certainly not here. He is a fine, capable young man.”
“With a title now as well,” Lord Malcom laughed.
The older man whispered something into his daughter’s ear, and with that, she curtsied to them and excused herself, easing her way back to the manor.
“I know we’ve yet to be titled, but Mary herself is an only child,” The older man spoke, almost too low for me to understand. “And the man who marries her will find a very sizable dowry awaiting him, including all our holdings here.”
Lord Malcom tilted his head to the side, a soft smile on his face. “A beautiful face with a beautiful purse makes for a good match.”
“Of course, all we need now is a title,” the man said, eyebrows lifting again.
“Indeed,” Lord Malcom said, followed by a click of his tongue. “Perhaps I may assist you in that regard.”
“We would be so ever grateful, Lord Malcom.” The man tipped in a shallow bow. “Well! It appears our carriage is ready to make the trip back home.”
“So it appears,” Lord Malcom said. “It was a pleasure to see you, Henry – and your lovely daughter. Melina Hills is always open to your family – carriage disaster or no.”
“As is our humble estate is to you and yours.”
“I expect Matthias to be visiting you in the near future,” Lord Malcom said as they walked up the path. The carriage was resituated, the finely dressed driver already in his position as Abel assisted in harnessing the horses.
My heart stopped and my breath with it. Under the small talk and light sentences, they were forming a marriage contract. Though I was new to their world, I had heard of such arrangements between powerful families seeking to ensure a beneficial match for their children.
Matthias would be mated to an influential, rich family - not the likes of a limping stable hand.
Work slowed as I dwelled on it, much to my shame. The strong feelings I had for him, the passionate kisses we shared, had blinded me.
Laboring into the evening, I heard the gallop of hooves in the distance and looked up. From the build of his silhouette, I knew that it was Matthias. A light trailed down the path after him.
“Matthias!” Lord Malcom was now alone, striding toward him, calling out until he reached the doors of the stable, his rigid frame watching Matthias as he neared.
“Good evening, sir.” Matthias dismounted next to him.
“You missed a fine opportunity earlier.” Lord Malcom smiled. “Our neighbors to the north paid us a visit.”
I continued my work, straining to hear their words as I shoveled fresh bedding in a stall on the opposite end of them.
“I have no interest in marriage to his daughter, sir, and to fan that flame would be only to her detriment,” Matthias said, his volume rising above the noise of the horses.
“Wake up, boy. You will marry who I say you shall marry,” Lord Malcom said. “Do you know how fortunate you are that I chose to give you my name? Mine? You could be out there a slave, and yet I chose to claim you as my son.”
I peeked around the door stall I was standing in and watched Lord Malcom’s face flush.
“I have done nothing but heed you since I was born, much to my disgust,” Matthias said. “I have whipped, beaten, people who did nothing but displease you because you ordered it. I have given away my soul to be your son, and I will not yield the last bit of goodness I have in me because you desire me to marry a spoiled brat with a swollen purse.”
“It’s that girl, isn’t it? The crippled one from the shipwreck,” Lord Malcom said. “The one you coddle and pity. Do not think for a moment that I do not know you spend every free moment you have near her.”
Matthias’ hands tightened into fists.
“Bend her over a barrel and be done with her,” Lord Malcom continued. “She is a servant, Matthias. She is property, my property, and once you have your way with her, you will not associate with her further, do you understand me?”
“I will do no such thing,” Matthias said.
“You will not defy me,” Lord Malcom said. “You will deeply regret it if you do, as would your mother and aunt and that girl.”
Matthias shook his head, his shoulders slumped.
Lord Malcom scoffed. “You are welcome to join your mother’s family in the fields if you wish. I will have her and your aunt join you. It is your decision.”
His voice grew lower, until I could hear no more, only the clicking of hooves as Matthias neared, guiding his horse to her stall.
I stepped out, and Matthias sighed as he saw me.
“Are you well?”
He shrugged, looking away from me.
“He’s sending me to town to trade.” Matthias ran a brush down the back of his horse. “It is deplorable. Nothing but terrified people auctioned off as though they were livestock.”
He paused. “I will be gone a day, perhaps two. He is attempting to force me to marry and accept his inheritance under threat of enslaving and possibly killing my mother.”
I stood next to him, combing the mane of the mare who nibbled at me as I moved.
“What will you do?”
“We, Ia. You and I and my close family, will leave, someway, somehow,” Matthias said. “I cannot stomach the man he would have me be. It was difficult enough when he made me Foreman.” He rested a hand on top of mine.
We moved in silence, side-by-side.
“I know the monster that sired me, and he will do something to you while I am away, I am sure of it,” Matthias said. “I may be gone for more than a day, and I cannot take you with me. Go to my mother’s home, claim illness, injury, anything. It will buy you time until I return.”
I nodded.
“While I am away, I will find the next ship to leave this godforsaken place and purchase our passage on it,” Matthias continued. “Ia, do not go back to your room tonight. Seek my mother immediately. Do you understand?”
“The few belongings I have - my clothes - are there.”
“It is not worth the risk,” Matthias said. “Feed and water my horse while I gather what I can.”
I halted. “You are leaving tonight?”
“Lord Malcom insists we be there at first light.” He repositioned the saddle, watching as the glow from torches appeared in the dark, tracing a route toward the sleeping quarters of the field slaves. “It appears he has already sent some of the overseers to help me on my way.”
He sat down the brush, turning to me, and before I could react, he wrapped me in his arms. My heart pounded as my chest touched his, as his lips grazed mine, and then he kissed me. I savored his scent, his taste, and the safety I felt in his arms.
“Come back soon,” I said. “Please.”
“I will, and I will seize the opportunity to set our plans in motion.”
He mounted, keeping saddened eyes locked on me as he rode off, steering his horse to a line of wary chain-clad slaves ambling down the road to the cracks of their overseers’ whips.
Chapter 12
“Ia, your presence has been requested for dinner.”
The silver-haired butler from the main house stood straight-backed and nose titled up, wrinkled from the smell of the dung I had been shoveling.
I halted as shiver wor
ked its way up my spine. Matthias had told me to leave, to go to his Mother’s, and I was on my way, but I could not very well leave tools and buckets and everything laying out, abandoned. Not only would it raise suspicion, it would cause trouble for all who worked the stables.
“I am sorry, sir, but I am unwell. I am on my way to the home of the healer, with permission of the Foreman, of course,” I said, determined to walk past him and direct myself to Zatia.
His outstretched arm halted me, stopping but inches from my chest.
“You do realize that this is an order from Lord Malcom?”
“Would he wish illness upon himself?”
The man shrugged. “Lord Malcom will decide that for himself. I will inform him, but in the meantime, you shall follow me.”
“No,” I replied.
His jaw fell open. “Please, for your sake as much as my own. Lord Malcom is not a man to cross.”
The look in his eyes was a pleading one, and as I gazed around him to avoid it, I noticed movement between us and the manor. A couple of the overseers that had been left behind were standing on the path, watching our interaction.
“If you do not come with me willingly, then they will drag you in,” the man said, hiding the words in his breath, his lips hardly moving. “Smile, nod, and walk with me.”
I complied, painting a smile on my face as he escorted me past the men who fell in line behind us until we reached the servant’s entrance. I let the expression fall, my eyes narrowing as the man lead me down a hall, where he opened a door. The room was large, simple compared to the other furnishings of the house but elaborate compared to my small bed and shared room.
Ms. O’Flannery waited for me there, looking down her nose at me through half-opened eyes, and standing next to an open wardrobe with an array of dresses hanging therein.
“Select one, and I shall assist you in dressing,” she held her hands clasped in the front of her dress. “Once you have bathed, of course.”
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