A/N: Trudi, you know you're the most awesome proofreader and muse I have the honor of knowing. As with the other pain in the neck chapters, I bow down at your feet!
Chapter Nine
One meager little strand of hair refused to stay in place; insignificant as it may seem, Etienne wanted everything to be perfect for Lina. While she never demanded nor expected perfection, he would accept no less for her. After all, it was as Madame la Monge had been saying since he came home that night.
"This lady friend of yours must be worth all the trouble you go through for her. Starting work late and ending it early." By the end of that sentence, she muttered choice words under her breath that he never heard, for he had stopped listening.
Taking one last look in the glass, Etienne nodded, satisfied at last with the man looking back at him. Not one to brag, but in a wonderful mood as of late, he could not resist a tiny smirk, pleased with his admittedly handsome reflection. He looked good because he felt good. His growing feelings for Lina allowed him to escape the loneliness he faced for so long.
As he made his way to the doors cautiously, Etienne carefully went over his thoughts. The pair had spent every meeting since the dinner getting to know one another, becoming friends all over again. Tonight, the time was finally right; he would tell her how he truly felt. He would confess that no one in the world ever meant more to him than she did. Tonight, she would know he was in love with her.
For a moment, he stopped to think about her possible reaction to those words with a distant smile. As much as she had slowly matured into a more responsible young woman, Lina was still a flirtatious little girl at heart. During their recent visits, she subtly attempted, using her delightful mind games and twisting of words, to make him admit that his feelings were more than those of friendship. Tonight, she would finally claim a victory in her most persistent battle, and as he could sense Lina felt the same way about him, Etienne could not wait to tell her, let alone see her, as he raced to the door. Nothing could stop him in the pursuit of happiness.
That is, except what was to greet him on the other side.
The soles of his boots quietly screeched as Etienne stopped short looking up into the eyes of his master. Jacques was never one to share a genuine smile, but his usual scowl had multiplied in anger seemingly tenfold. As the rain began to downpour, signaling a storm, the young man literally gulped as the man's image sinisterly enhanced against a disturbing backdrop, reminding him of horror stories from his childhood.
"Well now," his voice growled. "Where would you be off to so late at night?"
Etienne tried to appear brave, but he felt himself instinctively cowering as he did when he was a boy. "N-nowhere, Monseigneur…"
Once Jacques had stepped completely inside the manor, he gave the heavy door a shove, causing it to loudly click shut. All the while, his eyes never left Etienne's as they fed off the fear he felt radiating from them. His lips curled into a grim smirk.
"Now, now, boy," he offered quietly. "You know how I feel about defiant liars, especially since you witnessed an execution of one many years ago. I would have thought you'd knew better."
"I am not lying," Etienne offered shakily, stepping backwards in time with Jacques' menacing advances.
The older man simply shook his head. "As usual, we must do things the hard way."
A snap of his fingers brought a few men down on Etienne as Arnaud stood at the leader's side. Only after a sufficient number of blows from their trained fists did Jacques order the men off of him.
"Enough!" he shouted. Kneeling to the boy's eye level where he had slumped to the floor weakly, he gave Etienne's face a rough lift by the chin to inspect the results. A smug grin covered his lips as he laughed mockingly.
"Poor thing," he simpered with the utmost sickening sweetness. "Your good looks must have been a rather important feature in attracting your lady."
Etienne swallowed, ignoring the throbbing pain that scorched his back and face as he looked at his master. He was used to it. "I…do not know…what you mean by 'my lady'."
"Another lie?" Jacques asked, raising an eyebrow as he stood. "Mon Dieu, I fear the men are losing their touch. According to what Monsieur Arnaud has told me, you have been sneaking off into the night to visit and gaze at a pretty face." He turned to the man beside him. "Isn't that so, mon ami?"
Arnaud nodded. "A very pretty face."
Jacques turned once more to Etienne. "So the saying goes, innocent until proven guilty. Now…are you ready to redeem yourself with the truth?" When Etienne lowered his eyes with no response, he laughed disgustingly amused. "Another saying on display…like father, like son. His silence speaks louder than his words ever will."
Etienne snarled painfully. "You do not know her. A mere bruise will not change her opinion of me, nor will it stop me from seeing her."
Jacques' puzzled expression dripped with sarcasm as did the words that followed. "Oh dear…I do believe you misunderstood me. You thought you would go along your love struck way with a few injuries? Oh no, my boy, you are quite wrong."
"What do you mean?"
The older man smiled grotesquely. "These fine gentlemen shall be your companions this evening. Monsieur Arnaud and I will most certainly offer your regrets when I pay the lady a visit in your place."
Etienne's eyes grew wide as his anger reached new heights. With a sudden urgency, he struggled with all the might he had left, cursing the man. "You…you son of a…!"
"Ah ah, watch your tongue!" Jacques admonished. "It is not gentlemanly to curse while speaking of your lady."
"You…you can't! You won't!" Etienne persisted as the men dragged him to a room. "You will not touch her! You wouldn't dare!"
Jacques laughed quietly under his breath, pausing in front of a mirror glass nearby before he and Arnaud made their way outside. "How little people know of me."
Lina paced the grounds of the glade as she waited. Etienne was never this late without a good reason, she repeated in her mind; she just had to keep telling herself that he was all right. Everything else had been since she had met him…again.
Trying to distract herself, she grinned at the thought of exactly how normal her days had felt since then. She was no longer at odds with her parents and friends anymore, a very good thing. Lina never enjoyed arguing with them or intentionally disobeying, but at the time, she would do what she must to have a life of her own. Ever since Etienne, she had "shown a stunning personality improvement", or so she thought Cogsworth had said. Something along those lines, she shrugged. Most importantly, her parents trusted her again, and that alone was a wonderful feeling.
They still took their turns in worrying, however; that was part of the Unwritten Law. Having no place to themselves in the servants' sitting room and Etienne insisting the tavern would not be an ideal choice to meet, trust or not, the pair had found a nice secluded but accessible place in the nearby woods to spend their time. An occasional visit from Lumière kept Lina at bay should temptation arise, but it never felt like a bombarding privacy invasion. He would laugh and talk with them for a minute, but then a simple hint on her part would have him gone moments later. It was a comfortable arrangement on all sides.
Now if only Etienne would arrive, it would be a perfect arrangement on that particular evening. Much as they helped, her distracting thoughts drifted to make way for worry, and she wished she had a watch to know exactly how much time to scold him for when he got there.
A rustle of branches startled her, causing her to drop a fan she brought for the humid summer nights, but Lina breathed a sigh of relief a second later.
"For a while, I thought I might as well go inside," she said, her back still turned to her companion as she bent to reach her fan. "You are late."
"My apologies, mademoiselle."
Lina startled again, bolting upright and turned, as the voice was not Etienne's. Instead, it belonged to an older man. "Déjà vu" must have favored her mind with its tricks lately; as when she'd first met Etienne, she could have sworn she knew him. But with Etienne, the meeting had been friendly, content; this man was different.
"Monsieur…what are you doing here?" she asked, putting some distance between them. "Who are you?"
His grin sent malevolent chills down her spine. "My dear child, I doubt you would remember me even if you knew my name."
"Nonetheless, it is customary for a gentleman to answer a lady's question."
He nodded, although he laughed inwardly as few considered him a gentleman. "My first name shall suffice. Jacques."
When he offered his gloved hand for hers, Lina eyed it hesitantly, oddly feeling the familiar sensation of her power. When she looked into his eyes inquisitively, he raised an eyebrow as if confused as to why she would deny him her own hand, and against her better judgment, she allowed him to accept it, prepared to defend herself if need be.
Jacques' grin widened as she did, kissing it as any aristocratic male was taught to do when greeting a lady. What bothered Lina more was how he held tightly to it afterwards.
"Where are my manners?" he asked, innocently. "I should have asked for the name of such a fair young woman before giving my own. Ladies first, after all."
Lina tried to subtly pull her hand away. "Chandellina. Lina will suffice, as you say."
"Interesting name," he smiled, releasing her hand but drawing close to keep her right where he wanted.
As he moved, allowing the moon to shine on her face through the branches, Jacques felt breathless at the sight. The girl was certainly not a child anymore, and the striking resemblance to her mother…! If not for her light hair and playful eyes, in contrast to Babette's dark locks and mysterious eyes, Lina was the exact replica of the woman he adored. In a moment of what he deemed weakness, he gently reached to touch her cheek.
"The likeness," he whispered distantly. "It is extraordinary…"
Lina pulled away, disturbed. "Monsieur, what on earth are you talking about?"
Jacques retracted his hand, clenching it into a fist as he tried to suppress the passion that had not burned inside of him in so long.
"I…am sorry, Mademoiselle…Lina," he offered, but when he took another look at her, he took another deep breath. He had come with the intent to kill his prey that he hunted, but his mind quickly formed another plan. One that would be his ultimate revenge…and satisfy him at the same time.
"No," he continued, "I must admit, I am not…"
Terrified at this stranger's growing insanity, Lina attempted an escape, but Jacques easily prevented her from doing so, grabbing her wrists where it was impossible for her to touch him. He was not a fool; there was no forgetting what her hands were capable of doing.
Drawing close to her ear, he whispered, "I have known you longer than you think, my pet; you have grown into a stunning woman. A mere boy does not deserve you; he can give you nothing. At my side, you can have anything—everything—you desire. You have but to ask, and it is yours. Your life, your entire family line, will be raised above the lowly status of a servant. You will have meaning…"
"You are mad!" Lina shrieked, at last freeing herself to make her escape into the woods. Looking around frantically, she saw Arnaud in the distance, and ran to him as fast as she could.
"Captain Arnaud!" she shouted breathless, reaching for the hand he offered to her. "Captain…please help! There is…a madman after me…I do not know where he came from! I just…barely got away…!"
"Lina, calm down," Arnaud ordered. "He will not harm you…much."
Her moment of relief vanished as quickly as it arrived. "What did you say?"
Arnaud smirked maliciously. "Do not fear him; he only wants to take you to meet your lover."
"Etienne? How would he have known…?" Lina's face paled in shock and realization. "You…you work for him! You are a traitor!"
"I would prefer to call it a change in loyalty."
Before Lina could break into another run, Arnaud made his attack, drawing her back against him in a strangling hold where he could cover her face with a cloth. Lina struggled with all her might, trying to mentally call upon her incantation…but her mind was drawing only blank results. She could not remember the words, and her breaths were coming shorter by the second. Aside from the captain's strong grip, she could smell a toxin of sorts on the rag that he held over her face. The very next minute, her body was unconsciously limp.
As Jacques approached, Arnaud carried the girl to him.
"You only used a bit of the drug?" Jacques asked, reaching for the pulse point on her throat. "Not too much?"
"Just enough to leave her senseless," Arnaud confirmed.
"Très bien," Jacques nodded. "Glove her hands and put her in the carriage. We must get her back to the manor before anyone realizes she is gone. The last thing I need is her imbecile father sending out a search party too soon. Besides," he smirked amused. "Poor thing is sure to have a wretched headache when she awakens; we should make her as comfortable as possible."
