A growl came from low in his throat and his nostrils flared, "Assez." He pushed himself way from the door frame and covered the distance between them in quick, powerful strides. He slipped one arm beneath her neck and with the other scooped her legs and cradled her to his chest. His jaw clenched at how little she weighed, and the angry sounds in his throat grew louder. He carried her through the ruined building to his car where he laid her gently in the back seat. Shrugging out of his coat, he wrapped it around her and shut the door to slip into the driver's seat and take her away.
Night by night for the next few weeks he cared for her. He fed her from his own vein and this she did not vomit, but grew stronger and the blush of life and fullness returned to her skin.
The heavy scent of steam and roses and the soft notes of a piano filled the air. Miranda reclined with her eyes close, head resting on something soft folded beneath her neck. Her body floated in exquisitely warm water. She was too afraid to open her eyes, so long had she lived in a nightmare that this comfort must be a lie, an illusion to be shattered if she faced it head on.
"R veillez-vous, mon petit oiseau." Gentle hands smoothed the water over her body and she felt a strand of hair being moved away from her face.
Miranda took a deep breath of the scented air, languished a moment more and opened her eyes. The splendor laid out before her was breathtaking. She lay in a large porcelain clawed tub that sat in the center of a sprawling ivory tiled bathroom. The light from the chandelier's crystals created dazzling sparkles along the gilt that edged everything in the room. Her senses were overcome by the meticulous beauty, and for a moment she could do nothing but stare helplessly at the man who knelt beside her bath.
Recognition led to memory and memory led to panic but outwardly all she could do was smile at P re as he lifted her hand and kissed her palm. "Vous tes la mienne," he whispered. Miranda inclined her head and ran the hand he held over his cheek to his neck and buried it in his hair. The triumphant gleam that entered his eyes was nearly feral and made her scream in fury inside her head.
He rose gracefully, his movements feline in their impeccably gorgeous strength. He reached down lifting her as one would a doll and placed her on a round, plush cream rug next to the tub. P re stepped away and returned a moment later with a robe that he draped around her body, his hands lingering to rub her shoulders while he leaned down to breath in the scent of her hair.
A moment later she felt his hand at her back, gently urging her forward. "This way, I have something to show you. I remember how you loved your dresses and the closets I filled to bursting for you."
She complied, but as she walked her own voice railed at her, screamed that this wasn't right, this wasn't her home or where she belonged. Time warped around her as the night wore on, sometimes she was here and now and desperate to escape and sometimes she was back 60 years ago when she had been his young, submissive childe.
She allowed him to dress her in an antique white gown that left her shoulders bare and pooled like a fountain around her legs. He draped pearls around her neck, lingering to softly press his lips to her collarbone before he stepped back and turned her to face a tall mirror that sat on swiveled feet. She saw herself as he did, the yellow-white dressed matched perfectly to her pale skin and made starkly contrasted by the long falls of sable hair that fell down her back to her waist. A doll, a witless doll. She imagined lunging forward and shattering the mirror with her small fists but instead she turned and placed the hand on his chest, smiling up and him and murmuring words of thanks.
He led her to the large open foyer where the music of the piano originated, placed his hand on her waist and bowed slightly before beginning the steps of a dance what was old half a century ago when they first danced it.
((Mood music: YouTube - Tool - Sober [hq - fullscreen]))
"You were always what I wanted, petit oiseau. Only you." I am just a worthless liar, came the echo in her mind.
They twirled together on the floor, she small and fragile and light; he dark and powerful.
"I've done what I could to make you safe and happy." I am just an imbecile.
Step, step, twirl.
"Stay with me always." I will only complicate you.
Dip, step, smile.
"I will keep you safe." Trust in me and fall as well.
Around and around they move.
"It will be like it always was, I will provide all that you need; your art supplies, your darkroom, all of it. Only stay." I will find a center in you, I will chew it up and leave.
Trust me.
Trust me.
He leaned down and crushed her body to his, lowering his mouth and covering her hers, his kiss full of possessive desire. Something stirred in her, a memory that threatened to drown to her completely; another kiss in another time with another man. A black hole opened in her chest. She had come so far with that other and to be back here, now, with this man was too much for her to bear. Waves of sorrow drowned out all else in her mind and for a long time she was just what he wanted, a mindless marionette.