Disclaimer: All characters from the TV series obviously belong to Toby Whithouse and the BBC
Author's note:Thanks for the reviews and feedback. It's really helpful to hear what you think about things so far and what's to come, so please keep them coming!
Apologies for any mistakes.
Another very long chapter that had to be split in two... Hope you enjoy!
Hal's face fell, the anger replaced by shock and something that could have been fear. Emilia flinched, pressing her eyes shut in anticipation of what she thought was the inevitable blow. It never came. She opened her eyes again and for a fleeting moment she caught a glimpse of a Hal she hadn't seen for such a long time, the lost little boy. It was unsettling and somehow thrilling to her witness him looking so vulnerable. The mask returned to his features as quickly as it had fallen, though it no longer seemed to fit properly.
His mind was racing with so many questions that he wasn't sure which one would escape his lips first. To his frustration any coherent thought was consumed by the blind panic and for what seemed like an age he just stood there slack jawed and mute. 'Is she okay?' he finally blurted out.
'She's scared and refusing any food we give her, but she seems to be made of sturdy stuff.' She gave him a nervous smile hoping he wouldn't smack it from her face.
He released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. 'And who knows about her?'
'Just Lewis and I. No one else knows a thing I swear.'
He nodded, taking it in. 'Why the fuck is she in London?' The anger had returned.
'Complete chance. Lewis was trying to find you a new dog for the fights, your friend managed to get herself captured.'
His face was blank, utterly unreadable. That always worried her. 'We didn't know what to do…'
'Did telling me not cross your mind as a good idea?' he snapped back.
'With Wyndham being here we didn't think you needed the distraction.'
'And since when was that your decision to make?'
'Since we were looking out for you.'
'So breaking the news so gently when I'm holding a feast in his honour is a good time to tell me then? Well thank god I've got you to look after me. I don't know what I'd do without you.' His voice oozed with sarcasm
'I shouldn't have told you like that.'
'You're right, you should have told me as soon as you worked out who the fuck she was. You say only you and Lewis know who she is?'
Emilia nodded.
'What about the men you bought her off?'
'She never mentioned your name to us so I doubt she would have mentioned it to the men who caught her. She's heard people talk about a Yorke numerous times and hasn't shown the slightest sign of recognition.'
'She wouldn't, I didn't use that name when I was with her.' He fell silent again. 'I'm going back to London.'
'Don't you think you should wait until morning, when you've had some rest and you're not so blood drunk…'
The blow was expected but that didn't make it hurt any less. She staggered back from him wiping the blood from her mouth. 'You still care about her, even if you don't want to. It'd take a fool not to see that. Do you really want her to see you like this?'
'I can't stay here. I can't play the perfect host to Wyndham knowing that she's in that city.' He said in a strangled voice. 'Now you clean yourself up, you go back inside and you tell Wyndham that I've just received word from London and that there are matters that require my urgent attention. Apologise profusely. Tell him he may treat the house and its inhabitants as his own for as long as it entertains him.'
'I'm coming back with you.'
He shot her an irritated look but didn't bother to argue. 'If you're not at the stables within the hour I won't wait for you.'
Before she knew what she was doing she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. 'It's going to be Okay. Everything will be ok.'
She could have been mistaken. It was dark after all and his face was cast in shadows, but she thought he almost looked grateful.
He was used to people thinking him a brute. Particularly in the South. He was fairly certain that these people honestly believed that anywhere above Warwick was a lawless wilderness.
He would begrudgingly admit that Yorke had put on a good party, not to his taste particularly though. He would take a rough and ready tavern over a high society gathering any day of the week, something he suspected he and Yorke might have in common. At first he couldn't see past the other man's pretty clothes and exemplary manners. Now he could, he still didn't like what he saw, didn't trust him in the slightest.
It hadn't escaped his attention that Yorke had kept him away from Wyndham all night, neither had the fact that Yorke had seated him with complete idiots. To add insult to injury Wyndham had returned from a trip down to the cellars to tell him that Yorke had handed over the infamous Edmund Wickens as a gift. He was good at playing the game, he'd give him that.
He watch as Emilia Hart burst through the doors leading in from the garden and attempted to hurry past him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him.
'Trouble in paradise my lady?' he trailed his fingers along her bruised jaw.
'Please Mr Fraser, if you'd let me get on my way?' she was avoiding his eyes.
'I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour the other day my Lady. I spoke out of turn. I just want to help, it seems to be rather a dangerous relationship that you've found yourself in.'
That pissed her off, 'You say that you despise Hal's pretty manners,' she spat, 'but you use those same manners when you refer to me as my Lady rather than the whore that you have made it so clear you believe me to be. I think that you're jealous because you see so much of yourself in him and he's doing things that you never could. Why ever would I trust a word that comes from your lips?' She wrenched her arm from his grip. 'Where's Lord Wyndham? I need to speak with him.'
'You're too late I'm afraid, he's retired to his quarters, enjoying the company of some pretty girls courtesy of Mr Yorke. I wouldn't recommend disturbing him.'
'It's very important.' She persisted.
'For your own well-being I would advise you leave him be. He doesn't like to be interrupted when he's enjoying himself. I'll pass on a message on to him for you.'
That displeased her, 'Will you please tell him that Hal has received word from London, there are urgent matters that require his attention so he is returning to the city this evening.'
'Is he now?' The cogs were turning. 'Anything I can be of assistance with?'
'No. It's nothing that Lord Wyndham need worry about. His Lordship should treat this house and the people in it as is for as long as he wishes. Please pass on our sincerest apologies.'
He watched as she disappeared back into the crowd. He would pass on the message, there would be questions for him to answer if he didn't. He would rather Wyndham wasn't given any reason to suspect that he had his own agenda. But he wouldn't let Yorke get away with his little excursion that easily.
He scanned the room looking for his squire and gestured for the boy to come over. 'Mr Yorke's heading back to London this evening. I want you to follow him. Stay out of his sight.'
The brisk night air was refreshing as they galloped back toward London but it had done nothing to ease the whirlwind of thoughts spinning through his mind. He didn't know how to deal with this, didn't want to deal with this. It wasn't part of the plan.
She wasn't part of the plan.
He wished he could just shut his eyes to it…Maybe Lewis and Emilia had a point after all.
That thought was quickly dismissed. The world didn't work like that. Things didn't just disappear because you were in denial about them. He could make her vanish, he had killed so many of her kind. Literally wiped them from the face of the earth. But she wasn't any other werewolf. She was Sarah and the thought of killing her made him feel sick. Maybe one day he could do it, but not yet. Definitely not yet. He silently cursed, he thought that he had left that part of himself behind when he had left her.
That small voice had returned, niggling at the back of his mind. Leave with her. Run. Never look back. Much as that voice was undeniably a part of him, he despised it, despised the weakness it represented. It hadn't left him since he had gone back to London. It had grown quieter in recent weeks as if it was drowning in the blood that he had consumed. But it was still there, still just audible and with Sarah having returned, now it was screaming.
The man he was now wasn't her friend, that man had gone. He was Lord fucking Harry god damn it!
Keep telling yourself that.
Christ, if only it were that simple. If only he could draw a thick and definite line. Good Hal and Bad Hal. Nice and separate. Clean. Safe. If only life was that fucking easy.
Why did the real world have to be such a fucking mess?
He glanced across at Emilia, face as pale as the moon against the night sky. She hadn't met his eyes or said a word to him throughout this entire journey. He didn't understand why she had insisted on coming back with him. What was she hoping to achieve? Stop him doing something stupid perhaps? She'd never succeeded in stopping him doing anything before, why the fuck did she think she could this time? He would never understand her. Pinning all her hopes on futile dreams and ideas, on him.
Could he still trust her? If she had kept this from him then what else was there? She had told him that Fraser had approached her though…when had he become so fucking paranoid?
Lewis liked to think he had good instincts. It was something he often boasted about. It was due to those fabulous instincts that he hadn't got a wink of sleep that night. He had fallen into a seemingly endless cycle of watching the clock face as it ticked towards morning so slowly that at times he could have sworn it had stopped moving all together. He would close his eyes again and pray for sleep, after what he hoped was hours he would reopen them to find that the blasted clock hands had barely moved. Over and over again.
Something was wrong and he could feel it in every fibre of his being.
Frustrated he found himself heading down to the cellar for a midnight snack, on his way he passed by the werewolf's door. He pressed his ear to the door but the only noise was her breathing. 'What are we going to do with you?' he asked under his breath.
The late night snack didn't help. Something was about to happen, he could feel it.
He went back to bed, burying his face in the pillows to block out any source of light and the taunting noise of the ticking clock. Finally in the quiet blackness he found sleep. A restless, tossing sleep, but sleep nonetheless.
He was awoken just before dawn by a relentless hammering at the door. He lay in bed for a moment waiting for one of the servants to open it before he remembered that he had sent all his staff away whilst he was looking after his unwanted guest, the less people that knew he was playing host to that dog the better. He waited for a few moments to see if the knocking would stop, but it continued getting ever louder and more aggressive. Begrudgingly he pushed himself out of bed, put on his dressing gown and began to make his way down stairs.
He opened the front door to a furious Hal. Emilia stood sheepishly a few inches behind him. The look on her face told her all he needed to know. By the look of them neither had slept that night.
'You've been keeping things from me Lewis.' Hal pushed past him, 'Something you wanted to tell me?' His tone was so harsh it was positively acidic.
'I was going to tell you.'
'When the time was right? Yes, I've already heard that one.'
'I can explain.'
'Don't bother. Tell me, why should I believe a word you say? If you've been keeping this, what else?'
'Not everyone is out to get you Hal.'
'That bastard Fraser is, and if I can't trust you as a friend then you can be sure I will treat you as an enemy.'
'What the hell has got into you? I was trying to protect you from Fraser! If you didn't know she was here it was one less thing for you to lie about wasn't it?' Lewis took his friend by the shoulders and shook him aggressively, 'For god's sake, pull yourself together.'
Hal pushed his friend away. 'Where is she?'
'Upstairs, I've been keeping her in one of the servant's rooms. No one knows that she's there Hal.'
'She shouldn't be here at all.' There was no disputing that.
'I want to see her. Now.'