After a few weeks Eric and i were allowed to start going around by ourselves. They started laying off the drugging, but not completely. I did notice that someone was always following us when we weren't in our rooms. It was really annoying. Obviously Lord Cornwallis is anticipating one or both of us trying to escape. It would have most likely been me. This place was starting to have an effect on me, and not a good one. The thing that was adding to it the most was that Eric and everyone around me seemed to know something that I didn't. They all knew why we were brought here, and why Cornwallis won't let us go. I wanted and needed more than anything to find out what. It was late in the evening when I poked my head out my door and found the hallway deserted. I could see light shining under Lord Cornwallis' door, and heard the dull roar of voices in the room. i crept down the hall and pressed my ear to the door.
"...been snooping around," I heard Colonel Tavington saying,"I know her brother knows, but she doesn't. Do you want her to find out?"
"She wouldn't be able to handle the truth," Cornwallis replied," She doesn't seem to take much well. You saw how she reacted under a drug. The shock of it would probably frighten her into trying to run away."
"It's not her fault she didn't know. Her bitch of a mother kept it from her all these years."
"Look at me, Colonel," Cornwallis said," Do you seriously believe that she would believe that someone as old as I could be related to her?"
I felt my insides go numb. Related to me? How?
"There are plenty of men as old as you with children as old as Eric and Noel," Tavington said,"You are her-"
A hand wrapped around my waist and another covered my mouth as I was pulled backward. I struggled and kicked, but whoever had hold of me was much too strong for me. It wasn't until he shut the door and turned on a light that I realized it was only Eric. He pushed me so that I fell back into a chair.
"What are you doing," he asked. The anger was apparent in his tone.
"I heard them talking and was listening."
"Obviously. Didn't I tell you not to go snooping around? Didn't I?"
"I'm sorry Eric. I just really want to know-"
"I told you I couldn't tell you! Why don't you understand that?"
"i don't want to understand that! I want to know what everyone is hiding from me!"
The anger was welling up inside me. I'm not a child and i had a right to know what everyone was hiding from me. Eric knew he could not keep up his pretences any longer. He paced around for a moment and then crouched down in front of me. For a moment he said nothing.
"Look," he said,"Our father is...well..."
"Is?" I urged him.
"He is not our biological father."
He gave me a moment to let that sink in. I feared I knew what he was going to say next...that he was going to finish the sentence that Cornwallis was in the middle of when Eric pulled me away. Sure enough.
"Lord Cornwallis is our father."
There was a ringing in my ears. Somehow I expected that, but it was still hard to process. Before I could stop myself; before I even knew I was doing it, I lost it. I was up screaming and throwing things and yelling at Eric for lying to me..for letting mother lie to me. He tried to calm me, and apologize, and i wanted to forgive him, but something in my head had cracked and I couldn't stop. I think i was going crazy.
"That bitch!" I cursed my mother," Whore! Slut!"
"Noel!" Eric tried to yell over me to calm me. He tried to get me to sit down.
I couldn't stop. Maybe Cornwallis was right..the shock was too much.
"He is not our father!! We aren't even british! He isn't he isn't he isn't!!"
The door burst open and Cornwallis and Tavington came in. On seeing my condition, Cornwallis hurried forward and grabbed me. I kicked and screamed and struggled.
"Let go of me! Let GO!"
Amazingly enough I was able to get loose from his grip and I bolted out the door. I was starting to scare myself because I wanted to stop, but i couldn't. I was having a mental break down or something, and I had no control over my mind or body.
"Noel please" Eric yelled. I looked behind me, and suddenly i was falling. Sharp pains were coursing through me like millions of knives were stabbing me and several blunt items bashing into me. I landed at the bottom of the stairs. My body felt tangled, and I couldn't move. I think i had broken a leg and an arm. I laid there and sobbed. I watched out the corner of my eyes as my brother tore down the stairs and threw himself down next to me, tears in his beautiful brown eyes. Cornwallis and Tavington were not far behind him.
"Noel," my brother sobbed," I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. "
All I could do was gasp lightly and cry as I stared at him. He wiped the corner of my mouth, which was bleeding from the fall. Servants were coming from all sides to find out what all the commotion was. Cornwallis' face loomed over mine. It was a little white. Tavington stood off to the side and stared at me.
"I didn't mean to," Eric said to me," i would never keep anything from you. Mother knew you would react this way."
I stared at him and shook my head. Cornwallis seemed as if he didn't know what to do.
"Get help," he yelled at the Colonel.
Tavington walked quickly out the door. Cornwallis continued to look over me.
"What happened?" he asked Eric.
He went through the whole thing, starting from when he came out of his room and saw me listening through Cornwallis' door, down to the last moment when he revealed the truth to me of our relations to Cornwallis.
"I knew she would react this way," Cornwallis said. He looked back at me.
"Don't touch me," I gasped," Leave me."
"I'll not leave you bleeding at the bottom of my stairs. I'm sorry that you had to find out under the circumstances, but you and Eric are my children, whether you believe it or not."
Tavington returned with another man. This man dropped down beside me and began checking over me. Both my right arm and leg had broken. My left ankle was twisted, but other than that, I was lucky enough to not break anything else.
"It would probably be best if she had her leg and arm wrapped here. She will feel less pain when you take her back upstairs."
"No," Cornwallis said,"Put her completely out."
"What?" Eric asked.
"She needs to be put out for the night," he said," After what I just witnessed I think it's best for her own safety."
"No," I said," No!"
"I'll handle it," the medic said," I just need someone to...restrain her."
Cornwallis asked Eric to do it, but he refused to take part in anything that had to do with forcing a drug into my system. In the end, Colonel Tavington got down on his knees and carefully held me in place. I began to struggle when I saw a syringe full of a white liquid making its way towards my mouth.
"Noel don't fight," Eric begged me," Please."
"Come on now, child," the medic said somewhere above me.
Tavington had a very good grip on me. I felt stupid struggling with him, but I still had no control of my body. I cried and struggled, but the syringe found its way into the back of my mouth, and I felt the liquid squirt down my throat. I choked on it and continued to kick and struggle.
"Keep holding her," The voices around me began to echo," Good girl."
I felt a hand stroking my head. I think it was either Eric or Cornwallis. My body was slowly calming down. I felt myself becoming sleepy, and eventually I blacked out.
