Aubrey 33

 Chapter 33

***

The carriage carrying Aubrey set off. As he watched the carriage pull away across the square, Khaled turned his head at the sensation.

"Are you sure you ended the conversation well?"

"Did she say it ended well?"

"Yes. She said it ended very neatly."

Smirking, Khaled popped a new cigar into his mouth and lit it. The hazy smoke instantly transported him to the past. More than a year into his stay at the ducal residence, he began waking up in the middle of the night and wandering the grounds. 

His unconsciousness became more and more varied. At best, it was a simple matter of going into the pantry and eating uncut meat, but later, he was found in the mountains beyond the patronage or falling out of windows. As his condition became more serious, Laura used it as an excuse to keep him locked in the cellar.

By this time, rumors had spread through social circles that the illegitimate son of the Duke of Karnus was a madman who wasn’t right in the head, and Laura would visit the cellar every day she heard about it, even from afar. In her hand she held an expensive leather revolver. 

After three years in the mansion, which was marked by various abuses and violence, it was over. Peterson witnessed Khaled unconsciously reach for the knife and slash his arm. In retrospect, perhaps it was his subconscious wanting to get rid of the odor.

Peterson blacked out at the sight of his brother, covered in blood from the knife's slashing motion, and the mansion turned upside down. That was his last night in the mansion. A night filled with black and red. When he returned to the ducal residence to take his brother's place, the situation was the same. 

The people still kept him at arm's length, treating him as if he were insane, and everything he touched was wiped down with a rag and rinsed with water.

The dislike for him continued for some time after he was granted a lesser estate. Khaled let out a deep groan and grimaced. The emotions of the past that had been forced to surface were causing him dull pain. A persistent headache followed. It had only been a few years, only a few moments, and yet, damn it, still.

“Khaled Karnus. I'm not you.”

Yes. She wasn’t not him. She was a runaway slave, not a psychopath who tasted his own flesh and blood in the middle of the night.

"Boss."

"...."

"Boss?"

Khalad's voice came out slowly, lost in thought. The cigar in his hand had long since been extinguished by Lehman.

"Ah."

The only thing that came out was a self-deprecating laugh. Lehman watched him with a puzzled expression on his face and soon had a sleeping pill and a glass of water ready, then wordlessly retreated and turned off the lights on the second floor where he was staying.

"Sleep well."

That was all Lehman could say. 

****** 

When he woke up, it was the middle of the night.

A dull headache from the medication and the lack of sleep. Whether it was the medication or the accumulated fatigue that made him feel so horrible, Khaled’s long legs pounded as he made his way to the ducal residence. He wanted to hurry up and get to work, so he could be free.

"You haven't slept."

Entering the mansion, Khaled ran into Laura standing in the foyer. She was staring at him with a tightly judgmental twist to her face. As if she'd been waiting for him to come.

"I'll go in first."

As he tried to ignore her, as he always did, Laura's sharp voice cut through the air.

"You're really getting out of hand."

He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to face her. She glared at him like a gust of cold wind. Maybe it was all that talk earlier. Maybe it was the overlap. Khaled smirked.

"I'm laughing, because I'm pretty sure you set this up to screw with me in the first place."

"Tell me what you're doing this for."

"You should know better."

Khaled shifted his languid gaze to Lehman. He shook his head desperately. Even if he didn’t, Laura had plenty of eyes on her.

"I can't believe you've been so quiet. You've done something so outrageous."

Laura had heard about the scenario late. Barbara had been too embarrassed to speak up when Aubrey turned down the offer.

"It's over, there's no need to be upset."

Khaled said with the mock affection of a beloved son. That raised Laura's ire.

"How is it that things that look alike stick together, that blood recognizes each other?"

“I'm in a really bad mood today." Khaled murmured. Smile or no smile, Laura didn't stop talking. She spat it out as if she'd been holding it all in.

"I told you, I only brought you back to fill in for Peterson for a while. I knew from the beginning that you were beyond rehabilitation."

"Irredeemable." The word made him laugh. Watching him chuckle, Laura's face flushed a deep shade of red, and she narrowed her eyes, threatening to pop out.

"Pull yourself together, boy. It's none of my business what you pile on Lavonne, but it's not that ridiculous Sandalwood you need to pick up and disappear, it's the stupid Lady Emily Ravant. If you ever ruin my dignity in this way again, I will......."

"I'm doing this for mother's dignity."

Thud. It was a shove that was neither hard nor soft. Khaled was furious, slowly pushing his mother's rigid body away from him and running a hand through his hair.

"When did I ever accept an engagement to that lady?"

"..."

"I merely told her that I would be polite to her, for her own dignity's sake, and that she should clean up her own mess."

By now, Laura was fluttering. Her reddened throat seemed ready to scream at him at any moment.

"And so it is with my coming to the capital. You have taken me in the place of your first-born, and in gratitude for that, do you not at least show your face in the social season, for your precious Peterson is still convalescing?"

"How dare you put either name in your mouth!"

Laura's hand finally slapped him across the face. The onlookers swallowed hard as they heard the oohs and aahs. Khaled didn't touch his cheek, but gently lifted Laura's hand away.

"Mother must be getting older, too. Your slaps aren't as strong as they used to be."

"You're ...... crazy. You're not normal, and I shouldn't have let you in in the first place."

Khaled smirked and let go of her hand lightly.

"Then why did you bring me back, you should have ended it then and there."

"...."

"You have a very weak heart. If it were me, I'd have drowned you at sea."

Smirking, he pushed past his frozen mother and headed for the stairs.

***

If people were colors, Countess Barbara Ravant was a woman who resembled the warm cream color of her mansion. With her soft eyes, long, thin neck, and graceful, lilting voice, she had the power to warm the heart just by looking at her.

If she was like that, she would understand her secret, Aubrey thought. It wasn't her will that brought her to the island in the first place. She had been tricked by Jeff, who often traveled with Diane, and though she had been raised as a slave, she had not been sold to a brothel. Perhaps if she explained these circumstances, her aunt would understand.

Aubrey tried to imagine Barbara's reaction. Perhaps she'd be surprised for a moment, innocent, and then she'd hug her, telling her it was okay, after all, she'd stroked her dirty bare feet and scattered red hair. But.......

"Miss?"

"..."

"Miss!"

Aubrey jerked back, startled by the face thrust forward. Trin narrowed her brow and untied the strings of her bonnet.

"Since you haven't answered me no matter how many times I've asked, I assume you've met the Count?"

"Yes. I met him well."

Hmm. Trin sighed in disbelief. Then she untied her hair, which she had tied into a single braid, and began to brush it back into place.

"The doctor is coming tomorrow morning, and I couldn't make it, so I asked my lady to do it for me."

"I'm fine......."

Trin said, shaking her head.

"You're all right, but do you know what you look like now, like you'd fly away if you blew a hook like that, and you've got a dark shade under your eyes and all those pretty lips."

"..."

"This time, I'm going to find out what's wrong with you."

Trin pursed her lips as if determined, and continued brushing. Before she knew it, Aubrey was staring at her with questioning eyes.

"What is it, my lady?"

Aubrey wondered what Trin’s face would look like, what she would say, if she knew she was a slave who grew up on that island. Would she still like her as much as she does now if she knew her past.

"Miss?"

"Nothing."

Aubrey smiled weakly, but she couldn't just sit back and let the man take advantage of her. She had done something so stupid, with such obvious consequences, and now he was drying people's blood. Aubrey couldn't understand him. No, she didn't want to understand him. She was sick of it all now. She was tired of living in fear of being found out, tired of being played by men because they knew her secrets.

"Do you think my aunt will be back anytime soon?"

Barbara had been out a lot lately. The social season was in full bloom, with tea parties and other gatherings with the ladies.

"She'll be back around four, as usual. Why?"

"Just ......."

Hearing the time of Barbara's return, her heart began to race as if she were face-to-face with her. Aubrey kept talking to Trin, trying to control her anxiety. She hoped that her secret would be forgotten as quickly as the lighthearted stories in this poem. 

***

"My lady?"

Hannah's voice echoed across the doorway, and Aubrey jumped up from her bed in alarm. She paced the room, gathered herself, and headed for the door. There was no avoiding it now. It was inevitable. Aubrey opened the door cautiously and paced. She felt impatient to get this out of her system. Any longer and Jeffrik would be home.

Barbara might be upset, but she wouldn't kick her out right away. But Jeffrik would be a different story, and she had to get to her aunt first. As Aubrey hurried down the stairs, she heard Barbara's unmistakably soft voice. Aubrey's steps quickened as if in pursuit. It was then that she caught a glimpse of Barbara's figure by the pillar at the entrance to the parlor.

"I never realized the island was such a horrible place."

Her voice cut through her like a knife.

"I'd never have known if it weren't for this, and Madam Delove even said she'd vacationed there once, and what a fuss it made."

Barbara frowned in horror. Then she lifted her teacup with a graceful gesture.

"Aubrey?"

She looked up from her tea and her eyes widened. Then she smiled benevolently.

"I've been meaning to ask you something. Come and sit down."

At the mention of a question, her heart dropped to her feet. No, no. No.

Aubrey forced a smile and headed for the parlor.

***

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