“Lucas.” Alex’s voice has hardened and I take a peek up at him. The distaste for Lucas is evident on his face.
“Master Lucas.” Lucas says the correction with a tilt of his chin.
Lucas, who is all dressed in black, looks like a fallen angel. The light hits him perfectly, emphasizing all his angles, making him look harsh, yet beautiful. I don’t want to admire him. I want to say goodbye to Alex, but I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself. Maybe I will see him again in the gardens. I hope so. He is a bit of light in this dark place.
I take a soft step forward, then two. I’m nearly past Lucas when he reaches out. His large hand wraps around my wrist. I freeze at his touch, my eyes flicker to his dark ones that are pinning me in place.
“I never said you could leave.”
I pull away from his touch, but I don’t leave.
“Master Lucas. I was just speaking to Ella, she hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Wrong? What was being implied?
“Ella,” Lucas tries my name out and a shiver weaves its way through my body.
“I have no idea what you two were doing out here. Rules are rules Alex.”
Alex takes an angry step towards Lucas. He releases his hat easily and it falls to the ground. “You know damn well nothing has gone on here, so don’t you dare accuse me of touching her.”
My cheeks burn. I’m at a loss for words.
“Your word means nothing to me. If I say you touched her. Then you touched her.” Lucas raises his chin.
My skin feels hot and sticky. I glance at Alex but he hasn’t looked away from Lucas.
“You’ve always had it in for me,” Alex says.
Lucas takes a step towards Alex. “How will I punish you Alex, for your crime?”
I don’t know what passes between these two, but this is ridiculous. What he is accusing him of, and me for that matter, is outrageous. He might be Master Lucas Andrew O’ Flanoin the third, but I still had my integrity to protect. I take a step towards Lucas, Alex flickers me a worried glance.
“I was out looking for the maze and…”
“Stop speaking.” Lucas cuts me with a lethal stare and my heart beats against my chest.
“It’s okay, Ella,” Alex speaks gently to me before looking back at Lucas. “Do your best.” He grins and my heart hurts for him. I don’t know either of them, but what I can see is that Lucas will do his best, and he will hurt Alex. Alex is one of those people whom life didn’t give him a chance. I hated the injustice of standing here while Lucas spoke down to him.
“Since my father isn’t here, I’m allowed to pick the punishment. So what punishment fits this crime?” Lucas walks around Alex. Intimidating him.
Alex surprises me when he laughs.
“Do you find something amusing?” Lucas’s words are angry and I want to tell Alex to stop smiling. I glance around the garden to see if anyone else is near, but we are alone.
“Henry was right about you. You’re afraid of what you can’t control.”
Alex hits the ground hard as Lucas shoves him to his knees. The action is rough, but Lucas looks calmly down at Alex. My heart has picked a different beat. Black spots dance around the edge of my vision.
“I control everything.” Lucas kneels down beside Alex. “I control Henry. I control you. I control this situation.”
Alex’s face is red with embarrassment and anger. I feel terrible standing here doing nothing. My chest aches.
Alex is staring at his hand on the ground and I’m waiting for the world to shatter, it feels so tense when he looks back up at Lucas and smiles.
“I see you still have your strings. Daddy still controls you.”
A startled scream tears from my lips as Lucas hits Alex in the mouth. The red liquid dribbles from his lips and I’m moving. I know I shouldn’t.
I don’t care when the ground tears at my bare knees, I grab Lucas’s closed fist in hopes of stopping him from hitting Alex again. It works for a moment. I want to smile in triumph until my eyes travel from Lucas’s fist all the way up to his eyes.
I swallow. But I had come this far, I wasn’t backing down. “He has done nothing wrong,” I say. My voice betrays me by shaking.
“You will regret that.” He removes his large fist from my hand and rises easily. I’m stumbling off my knees to my feet.
“What?”
His hand tightens around my upper arm and I’m being pulled towards the house.
“Let me go.” Panic has me yanking away from his touch, but he only tightens his grip on me.
“You’re hurting me.” I glance back at Alex who’s standing now, his hat back in his hand. I’m wondering why he isn’t following us. Why he’s not coming to my aid, like I came to his. Instead, he gives me a wave.
What the hell?
“Lucas, let me go now.” He releases me and I feel a sense of triumph for the second time, only to have it demolished as he turns to me.
“It’s Master Lucas. We are here now.”
When he releases me from his stare, I look up at the house feeling confused.
I follow him in with a sense of trepidation in every step I take. I try to look back at the gardens but can’t see them from this angle. I’m not sure what just happened. Why Alex isn’t trying to fight in my corner. Maybe he is gone to get help.
Mark, who had brought me into the house, greets me with a nod as Lucas marches me into a library. I glance around me, but its short lived as Lucas clears his throat. The moment our eyes meet, he speaks.
“I want her tested again.”
Mark’s head snaps up to mine, confusion marring his face. I’m as confused as he is. I want to ask what he means, but his glare has me rooted to the spot.
“Tested? Master Lucas.”
Lucas releases a breath. “Yes Mark. Tested. I found her in the gardens with Alex. So I would like her tested again.”
Mortification burns me. “I did nothing.” My bravery is born from the shame of this moment.
Lucas takes a step towards me, towering above me. “If you did nothing, then you won’t mind being tested.”
The test was horrible and uncomfortable. My stomach twists painfully. If it will stop this charade.
“Fine,” I bark too loudly.
“You keep speaking out of turn. So I will be present, to make sure it’s done.”
My knees wobble. I keep my mouth closed. He is punishing me for speaking. If I answered again, how much further would he go? Anger burns my skin and I can feel the heat travel across my chest and along my neck. When I don’t say anything, Lucas smiles.
“You are learning.” He steps out of the room and my eyes meet Mark’s, but he isn’t going to help me. No one is.
CHAPTER SIX
LUCAS
I glance at Ella in the rear-view mirror. She’s staring out the window, her cheeks still red. She has quite the temper. I refocus on the road as I drive us to the clinic.
I glance at Ella again, this time our eyes clash. Emerald green eyes reflect her anger, they’re wide and focused. She doesn’t look away from me, her chin held high in defiance. I clench the steering wheel in my hands and look back to the road. No one has ever defied me so much. I want to put out that fire that burns too brightly inside her. She is young and naïve and doesn’t seem to know her place.