If there is one part of a man that should never be tampered with, it is his ego. That solitary possession, when harmed, can turn even the kindest of souls into a deadly threat to one's existence. Lumière had no idea of the mistake he made that day when he severely wounded that delicate part of his newest enemy.
Jacques sat in the silent darkness of his room well into the next few days having sent his excuses to his host. To hell with Auguste, he would get his report in due time; with more important matters at hand, he could wait.
He laughed, appallingly humored. Important matters indeed, the last thing this woman should have been to him now was important, but he could only blame it on human instinct. The selfishness of the human soul causes a man to want everything he cannot have.
Hearing different laughter from outside his window, Jacques rose to pull back the curtain slightly, grimacing at the sight. Babette, along with the other servant girl, he could not remember her name, fussing over the prince's son. He remembered Arnaud mentioning that she had been caring for him; if only he had told him the reason why. She must have needed all the practice she could get.
He threw the curtain back into place, his angered strength nearly tearing them down as he did. Sitting down once more, he continued staring into the darkness.
Damn her…damn them both to hell. His jaw clenched at the mental image of that man's face on her unborn child. Jacques gripped a glass on the table next to him, clutching it tighter with every passing vision he had of her baby bearing that servant's features. The child should have been his…if it was, she would have been at his side today.
From across the room, he heard the door hinges creak, heralding an entrance. He was tempted to throw the glass at the poor soul who dared to enter, but chose not to make a scene that would bring the entire household to his room instead. Glancing over momentarily, his eyes boor into Arnaud's, clearly stating he did not wish to be bothered.
"Begging pardon, monsieur," the guard said quietly. "I see that you prefer to be alone…"
"Then follow that observation," came the harsh, sharp reply.
"But I feel as though I can redeem this interruption with…information." No answer this time. "Information that will prove useful, I'm certain."
"You claimed as much the last few times as well, and managed to leave out a rather important detail with each."
"In all fairness, no one knew she was expecting."
Jacques sighed in frustration and hesitated to ask, but at the same time, he knew there was nothing more to lose. "What is it?"
"Tomorrow, monsieur, is the first day of December."
"I am well aware of the date," Jacques growled, fast becoming impatient.
Arnaud knelt next to where he was seated, as there were no other chairs in the room. "According to what you have told me before, her mother passed on the first and she joined our household a few days later. Both a year before the spell and this last year, she went back to the cemetery to pay her respects. It is a growing tradition for her."
There was a slight pause before Jacques spoke. "Then she will be returning there tomorrow…"
"Indeed."
Jacques pondered the idea. The cemetery…his own grounds and hence the home advantage where he could have the distinct upper hand.
"Point taken," he muttered quietly. "Be ready tomorrow at dawn; we must be gentlemen enough to take her there ourselves, correct?"
Arnaud nodded. "Of course we must."
"Very well, for now you are dismissed." He rose quickly and silently, plotting details as he gathered all he would need for the temporary trip home.
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Babette ferociously ran a brush through her hair, a habitual reaction of nerves that revealed fear and anxiety to those few closest to her. From the bed, Lumière rested comfortably watching her at the vanity.
"What is it?" he asked, knowingly.
She placed the brush down and looked at him through her mirror. "I am not going tomorrow."
His brow furrowed in confusion. "When I took you last year, you said you wanted to go every year. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"I just…have a bad feeling," she said, gently placing one hand at her middle. But as if trying to convince herself, she added, "Besides…traveling would not be good for the baby, oui?"
Lumière rose and knelt at her side. With a comforting smile, he placed his hand over her own, draping the other around her shoulders. As he leaned to place a gentle kiss into her hair, he said decisively, "You are making excuses."
"I am not."
"Liar."
Babette glanced at his reflection, mockingly wounded at his words, but sighed defeated to admit he was correct. "I simply do not have a good feeling about going."
Lumière rubbed her shoulder affectionately. "I had every intention of going with you again, if that is any consolation."
Babette snuggled into his hold, nuzzling into his neck comfortably. "But of course, we have to tell her together; I would not have it any other way. Just…not now."
He drew her to her feet, gathering her close in his embrace protectively. "He will be here and not even know we are gone; it is safer that way."
She held him tightly, desperately wanting to believe him. "I wish I was as certain as you…but you do not know him. He is a deadly menace, willing to kill—for no reason—anyone that dares to step in his way, and now he knows about us and the baby…"
He led her to the bed, coaxing her to lie down, before she had time to think of anything else. "And I wondered why expectant women cried so much. You do nothing but worry about everything." When she only continued to look at him with fear in her eyes, he rested next to her, drawing first the blanket, then his arms around her gently. "You know me better than that, ma plumette; never when you were in a possible danger would I let anything happen to you. I may be a coward most times, but you and our child mean more to me than life itself."
Babette rested her head against his shoulder. "That is exactly what worries me."
Lumière smiled reassuringly before he reached to douse the flame of the bedside candle with his bare fingers, without so much as a burn. "Get some sleep; we leave early tomorrow."
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The clock in the grand front hall rang five o'clock sharp as Babette sat, dressed and ready to move on, while she waited. Moments later, a yawning Lumière and two other men tiredly made their way down the staircase quietly.
Babette groaned annoyed. "What are they doing here?"
The young men looked rather indignant at her question. The first was Crane, the elder as well as the shortest with a hint of a moustache; the second was La Plume, the youngest of the four put together, tall and skinny. Both bookkeepers, they were constantly at Vincent's side in times of business while using the rest of the time to inadvertently cause minor mayhem throughout the castle.
Crane pointed to Lumière. "He asked us to come!"
La Plume nodded, "Oui, so blame him if you must."
Her eyes demanded answers as Lumière responded casually and simply, "Just in case."
Babette sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on fast. "Just in case of what? Something goes terribly wrong, they can panic in our place?"
La Plume smiled, saluting tauntingly for the love of getting on her last nerve. Babette was a dear friend, but there was nothing more fun than irritating her to no end. "Indeed, we are very good at that!"
She turned, clearly aggravated, to Lumière, who him gave the death glare in her place. "I hate you for this."
Lumière nodded, "I know, but I could not do better at this hour. Should anything happen, however, we do have help. Now let's hurry, we have quite a ride ahead of us."
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At her request, the companion trio remained at the gates, allowing Babette to go inside the resting grounds of the cemetery first alone. This place had never been filled with such tension and fright before, not even in the previous years when Jacques was lurking about the manor nearby. Now, turning at every sound, she felt he could be anywhere, and as the view of the gate and Lumière faded out of sight, she constantly had to remind herself that he was far away at the Chateau Mountains.
It was not until she found the stone she was searching for that she felt somewhat at peace, and she dropped to her knees, reaching to hold it close. This was the only remaining presence of her mother, her solitary bit of family that, lost long ago, and she held fast to it in tears.
"Maman…" she whispered, "You must know by now. I can imagine that you have seen everything that has happened these past few years, and I could almost hear the tears in your voice. I know I should have waited; you always told me that I must, especially after knowing what you had gone through with me.
"But I've brought him here before, and if you have watched, you know that he is a good man. He is not my father; he wants to stay at my side, marry me not in obligation, but love. The eve of the coming year, both you and I can put our fears to rest. My child will have a father, I swear."
"Not if I have any say in that."
Babette spun around instantly, but fell back against the stone as Jacques advanced to keep her still, covering her mouth quickly to smother her screams.
"Do not make a sound that you will regret," he warned quietly. "I do not think you realized the other day how serious a situation you are in, my pet. While it may indeed be a cover, Auguste, uncle to your master, has ordered me to report everything that I have seen, what this new regime of his brings forth. He believes what most of us around here do, just as you yourself did many years ago. You show love, any hint of kindness to anyone…they will betray or abandon you. Look at what your own father did to you! Left your mother to fend for you both! How do you know this man of yours will not do the same?
"On the other hand, all personal accounts aside, I seemed to remember telling you that should you not keep me content, your master shall suffer for it. You may have defied me, Babette, but you do not realize that you have just assisted me as well. I am certain that Auguste would love to hear how this new belief in life calls for recreating it so freely. How your master rules with such a liberal hand that his own servants feel as though they can do as they please would be a most generous bit of news for me to bring him. If that is not the 'chaos' he fears, I do not know what is. But he will believe it should I tell him.
"You may be saving yourself with marriage, my pet…but you have ruined your master. Hope your lover knows another trade should Vincent be dethroned. One never knows," he said with a sickening grin. "You talents in love may be the only thing that can save you as you are so kind to offer it."
Babette fought her way free, glaring at him with such hatred even Jacques almost cringed. "I would not be so sure of yourself if I were you. Our master rules with the most noble heart I have ever known, and his trust in all of us runs deeper than that of anyone else. You do not realize that I have every advantage, people who will vouch willingly in my favor of how, in jealousy, you committed crimes against the royal family, attempting to overthrow them for your own selfish pleasure!"
"But that is a lie."
Babette smirked, twisting his own words against him. "Even if it was, he will believe it should I tell him…"
Jacques scowled at this woman, one that he had once loved, but now wished unto her nothing but revenge for scorning him. Roughly, he grappled her struggling frame before he could reach around to grip her in a dangerously choked hold. "You try my patience. Very well, your prince is safe…but we still have matters left to resolve. You seem to forget how you walked out on your rightful owners long ago."
Babette winced in pain, scarcely able to breathe her words. "I…was dismissed…"
"Adele did not dismiss you, and hence you deserted us. I do not dare attempt to give you the beating a rebel servant deserves; it would not be punishment enough!" His one arm drifted to her midsection and as he pulled up against it harshly, she shrieked in pain. "That would never hurt you as much as you should be, oh no; it would hurt you a lot more to destroy the one thing you care most for…"
He threw her to the ground, finding pathetic pleasure in seeing her writhe. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled a dagger and moved down for the kill. "I would venture to say that this will hurt me more than it does you, my pet, but I try to lie as little as possible…"
His first mistake was to raise his arm into the air, gathering power to bring down the dagger. Having done so made him vulnerable to the counter attack Lumière arrived in time to make.
"I thought I made myself perfectly clear never to touch her again."
Jacques turned on him then, obviously willing and prepared to do battle. "I take orders from no one of your sort!"
With Crane and La Plume at her side, Babette barely managed to open her eyes to watch what unfolded before them. This was anything but a scuffle, weapons drawn on both sides, both contenders willing to fight to the death. With every clash of a blade, whether in their favor of victory or not, she shrieked for them to stop.
It did not take long for Jacques, the experienced fighter he was, to disarm his opponent and literally pin him to a wall, the dagger blade close to the collar of Lumière's neck.
"You fool…" he laughed, pulling another dagger from his cloak. "Breaking a promise to her like this. She swore her child would have a father, and look at you, about to die!"
Lumière said nothing, only looking for any means out of this situation…finding one as he glanced at a torch close by. Fire, it never let him down in the past…
As Jacques had his back to them, La Plume and Crane returned the discreet nod their friend sent them. While La Plume stayed close to Babette's side, Crane quietly reached for a rock, launching a direct hit to Jacques' head. The enemy turned angrily, and stupidly, at him for one moment too long as Lumière reached for the torch, shoving in directly into Jacques' armed hand.
As he screamed in pain, dousing the flame caught at his sleeve with snow, Crane ran to pin him to the ground as Lumière knelt to shake his head disapprovingly at him. "Word of advice, monsieur; if you are going to kill someone, you should just do it. Gloating loses precious time as well as the fight itself."
As the doctor brought fortunate news that Babette and the baby would remain alive and well, Vincent turned threatening eyes on Jacques, bounded in chains, before him.
"If there is one thing I can not tolerate, it is hypocrisy. It is very interesting, monsieur, how meager days ago, you lectured me on how giving trust to those most dear to you was intolerable. You must have been planning to teach us this then, and only now be ready to strike!"
Jacques snarled, fighting against the guards that held him tight. "You will all pay for this in good time; your uncle will surely be displeased…"
"Displeased, indeed! When he hears how you nearly killed an innocent woman and her unborn child, in the name of envy!" Vincent turned to the guards. "He is not under my jurisdiction, nor does he deserve it! Inform my uncle completely of what this man has done, and that I leave the penalty in his hands." Looking once more into Jacques' eyes with utmost authority, he concluded, "Whatever he decides, I demand that he should never allow this man to set foot in my castle again, for he will regret it should he try. Now get him out of my sight."
And with that, all watched the dismissal with hopeful hearts that they would never hear from Jacques de Crochet again.
A/N: Yes everyone! I finished the story tonight. Rest assured, if you feel this wasn't a grand exit for our villian, he will be back, somewhere, some day, more menacing than ever before. I swear. Thank you all for enjoying the story and your kind reviews, but there is still an epilogue to be read! You've made it this far, so go enjoy the conclusion of Book II, and get ready for the upcoming Book III.