Exams Exams Exams Exams… I MISS WRITING D: Unfortunately, exams are not yet over but I WILL NOT BE DISSUADED. I. WILL. WRITE. Annnnddd study Chemistry… Later… :D Sooooo… in the last one everyone pretty much lost their tempers and Syd was being all angry butcher and Cat was playing Nursie to Frank, SO… let's see what's happened with everyone… By everyone… I mean Benjamin and Rachel :D
My heart leapt into my mouth at the sight of him. Benjamin was in a bad way, beaten and bruised, and he lay fast asleep on the bed in one of the guest chambers of Grosvenor Square. Rachel had been disturbingly silent since our return, and she hadn't left her brother's side until he'd woken up. I sat opposite her, her eyes flickering up to meet mine across the sleeping figure of her younger brother, the young lad who had been brave enough to come after me.
"I bet you hate me." I said quietly. Her gaze did not waver away as I spoke, instead held strong. I thought I saw something there, perhaps accusation, but no, it was something else.
"Not at all." She said softly. "I worry for you, Lady Catherine. I really do." She said.
"There's no need to worry my lady, I've been on the streets all my life. I've learned to cope." I said. She shook her head sadly.
"No one learns to cope with such hardship, Catherine. Deep down, I know you wish things were different. I know you wish you didn't have to take every step looking over your shoulder, waiting for your enemy to strike. I know what it's like to be scared." She said softly. I broke away from her gaze, unwilling to let her see my tear-filled eyes. "Catherine, I've been there." She said. I did not look up, but that did not deter her. She got to her feet and walked over to me, taking a seat beside me on Lord Benjamin's bed, holding my cold hand in hers.
"Please, Catherine. Whatever you are going to do; let me help you. I don't want you to end up like my sister did." She said. I didn't want to speak, but my curiousity was aroused, reader. What did she mean when she spoke of this sister?
"What happened to your sister?" I asked. She sighed.
"I was like you, Catherine. An orphan, abandoned on the steps of a house in the middle of nowhere. The family took me in, cared for me as their own, even though they already had a child to care for." She paused, her mind wandering back to the days of her youth. "Her name was Rosaline. She was everything I was not. She was intelligent, and beautiful, but she was a street child, always running around with the boys, getting involved in gangfights and causing a lot of trouble with herself with the rival gangs." She looked pointedly at me. I bit back a smile. "You remind me of her, Catherine. In so many ways you are so similar, but there is this one characteristic that you both share." I looked up.
"You both absolutely refuse to ask for help when you need it. You're both too stubborn for your own good." She said. I felt my cheeks turn scarlet. She barely knew me, and yet she'd read me like an open book.
"So what happened to her? Did she run away?" I asked. Rachel shook her head sadly.
"No, Catherine, she was killed. She got herself into a lot of trouble. Eventually, she was a thorn in someone's side that needed to be pulled out. A stone in someone's shoe that had to be removed. The leader of the rival gang killed her, and when my mother tried to stop him, he killed her also, and when my father intervened…." She trailed off, her eyes glistening with tears at the painful memory. "I- I dared not interfere lest I be killed also. So I ran. I ran until I reached the doorstep of a Lord and begged for work as a scullery maid or a stable hand. Instead, I was adopted as a daughter." She looked at me. "Fortune smiled upon me that night, Catherine, as I'm sure she has smiled upon you many a time when you've gotten yourself into bother. But do not test her, Catherine. One day, your luck will run out." She said sadly. I smiled.
"It's alright milady, cat's have nine lives after all." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"With all the trouble you seem to be getting in, and that you seem to have gotten into before, I think you've run through them rather fast." Benjamin's weak voice startled us, and Lady Rachel smiled broadly as she saw his eyes open and his mouth curve into a weak smile.
"Good Morning, Lord Benjamin. How do you feel?" I asked. He broke into a grin.
"Horrible. How long have I been asleep?" he asked. Rachel frowned.
"All night. That's terrible Benjamin. I told you, sleeping at night is for weaklings. Strong leaders need no sleep." She said completely seriously. There was silence for a moment before the three of us burst out laughing, Benjamin pushing himself into a seating position.
"So, what were you two ladies chatting about? Made quite a racket." He said.
"Yes, we must have if you heard us through all that snoring." Rachel said to him. He stuck his tongue out at her.
"You're hilarious sis. But really, what were you talking about? If it's about that moron William Shepherd, can I just say that he is one of the most repulsive, arrogant, pompous, irritating people that I have ever had the displeasure of meeting." He said with a slight frown. I chuckled.
"Don't I know it? He's been hounding me since we were children." I said. Benjamin's frown deepened.
"Well whatever he wants from you, Catherine, don't give it to him." He said. I shook my head.
"I have to, Benjamin. I need to get Syd's gem back, and I do owe J-F a huge favour, though I already advised him not to do business with Shepherd so it's his own damn fault that one of his people is dead, but a debt is a debt." I said with a sigh. Benjamin shook his head.
"Debt or no debt, this has bad news written all over it. You were kidnapped when I had the pleasure of first going there. Who on EARTH would voluntarily return to his center of operations? I mean, don't misunderstand, it's a lovely place, but the occupant is… not." He finished simply. I smiled.
"I know exactly what you mean, Benjamin. But I've discussed it with Syd and he and Nick will be going with me, with the rest of the Butcher's Boys for backup." I said. Benjamin sat up straighter.
"I'd like to be among those ranks of backup." He said. I shook my head.
"I doubt your sister would approve you joining a gang, though you are male, so you do qualify." I said with a grin. Rachel looked thoughtful.
"My brother in a gang. Well. He's not to join if I can't join with him." She said determinedly. I shook my head.
"Syd won't even let ME join, and I've been begging for years. I've threatened and yelled and kicked and screamed and negotiated and proven myself more than once, and he still refuses to acknowledge me as part of his gang." I glared at the carpet on the ground. "He's so stubborn. I'm telling you Lady Rachel, his mind cannot be changed by a woman." I said. Rachel simply grinned. In her eyes, I could see mischief; I could see the wheels turning in her mind. I suddenly had no doubt that Syd would comply to her every wish.
"His mind cannot be changed by a woman, you say? Well, let's see what he thinks when he's had a taste of THIS woman." She got to her feet, smiled at us, and sauntered out of the room. Benjamin shook his head.
"Describe this Syd to me." He said.
"Tall as a giant, built like a boxer, temper of a bull." I said. Benjamin shook his head, grinning maniacally. "What?" I asked. He just laughed.
"This is Rachel we're talking about. Five foot five, body of a dancer, stubborn as a mule." He paused. "She's going to tear him to pieces."
