Chapter 9

It was a dark and stormy night. Outside, lightning struck with the brutal fiery anger that so rarely occurred in real life and the thunder crashed like the hoof beats of some enormous divine horse. The trees shook and the even the castle itself seemed to tremble. Belle stared out the window; she had been sitting vigil by her father's bed for hours, waiting for him to wake up from the sleeping draught he had been given. The atmosphere matched her inner mood far too well and she shivered slightly, wondering if anyone could possibly be at peace now. A five minute walk down the halls, however, would have answered that question in the affirmative.

Lizzie tucked her legs in closer, held tight in the arms of her… fiancé. The word felt so strange; though she and Joshua had pretended to be engaged for the past two months. It was true now. She was going to marry him. She was grateful for his protection, both socially and physically. She was still vulnerable, the scars on her soul were far from healed and had barely even scabbed over. One wrong step and they would all open up again.

Joshua's hand slid low on her hips as he shifted in his sleep. Her stomach tensed and, after taking a deep breath to reassure herself that he would never hurt her, she gently repositioned her arm so that it was once again around her waist.

'Why am I so frightened?' she thought to herself as she slowly traced circles on the top of his hand. 'He was kissing me but a moment ago.' But that was different. She had wanted that kiss for so long, it hadn't even occurred to her to associate it with Andrew's… actions. She laid her head on his chest. Her trust in her rescuer was absolute, but there were some lines that not even he could cross and, right now, anything beyond a hug or a kiss would send her into terrible flashbacks.

'Why me?' she couldn't help but ask herself. Lizzie knew it was a ridiculous question, for no one could ever answer it. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder why she had to suffer.

"It doesn't matter," she told herself fiercely, shutting her eyes and turning her head so that her face was pressed against her fiancé's shoulder. He sighed contentedly in his sleep as she tried to tell herself that it was all over now, that it was in the past and could be forgotten. But, as she knew too well, the worst part of telling yourself something was that a person always knew when he or she was lying.

',.-.,'

Joshua opened his eyes, feeling as if he had been asleep for at least a week. He reached up to stretch, but a sharp elbow to his ribs soon put a stop to that. "Ow!" he yelped, wondering where in heaven's name that had come from. It took him a moment before he remembered what had happened and he wanted to leap into the air and thank all the gods in heaven for that which they had given him.

"Don't try to move again," Lizzie grumbled. "I was comfortable!"

"I wasn't," Joshua answered, pushing her off so that he could stretch his legs. Lizzie fell to the side and, with a mischievous grin that she succeeded in hiding from him, rolled a little too far and off the bed. She knew the steps leading to the enormous canopy bed would serve to break her fall. Joshua immediately lunged for her, worry and fear replacing amusement in the blink of an eye. She laughed softly as he looked down and saw that she had not, in fact, fallen.

"You little minx!" he exclaimed, making her laugh. She got to her feet and stretched. Joshua pretended he wasn't staring. "What time is it?"

"Around three in the morning," Lizzie answered, trying to untangle her hair with her fingers.

"Three?" Joshua repeated, not quite believing her.

"Yes," was her reply. Joshua sighed, feeling far too refreshed to go back to sleep, and got out of bed.

"Here," he said, taking one of the combs sitting on top of one of the dressers. "Allow me." He began to slowly comb out her hair, enjoying himself tremendously as the soft silken strands ran through his fingers.

"Ow," Lizzie cried out as he worked slowly at a particularly nasty knot.

"It's your fault," he answered, brutally unsympathetic. She pouted.

Joshua finally finished before putting the comb down and kissing her neck where it wasn't covered by her hair. She jerked away, spinning around to face him. "Don't do that," she said, gulping deep breaths of air and refusing to look at him.

"What happened?" Joshua asked, genuinely confused and not just a little worried.

"Nothing," Lizzie answered, remembering another man's mouth there, sharp teeth that broke her skin and claimed her without loving her.

Joshua, knowing the gist of what was haunting her, drew her back into his arms. "I didn't mean to remind you of him," he whispered, those words rending his heart for he feared to get close to her if all his touch could do was plunge her into a waking nightmare.

"You don't," she answered forcefully. Joshua raised an eyebrow in reply. "It's just… it could be anyone. If they touch me in certain places or-"

"I sincerely hope it can't be anyone," Joshua rejoined, kissing her nose. "I don't intend to let anyone touch you."

"Other than you, of course."

"Of course." They smiled at one another, the happiness at their newly confessed love overriding any residual fears. "Now, am I allowed to kiss you?" He was fairly sure the answer would be yes, but…

Lizzie smiled, knowing that the feeling of his lips on hers was one sensation that could never remind her of Andrew. "Why don't you find out," she said coquettishly. He did.

',.-.,'

Maurice stirred, his brain slowly returning to consciousness. The first thing he registered was a throbbing pain in his back. He groaned softly, wondering through a sleep fogged daze how it had come to be there.

"Papa!" Belle cried, unable to contain her excitement as she ran to his side. She took his hand and held it gently. "You're alright! We were so worried…" She trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence. Maurice held his daughter's hand reassuringly as the memories of the chase came back.

"How did I get here?" he asked her as he tried to remember past that fierce pain in his back, but there was nothing to recall between then and now.

"You just appeared in the main hall," Belle answered. "You had been stabbed in the back, but we didn't know how or why…"

"An old enemy," Maurice replied, though he wasn't really answering her so much as speaking to himself. "I thought he was dead. Apparently, he's not. But how is he back? And why?"

"Why do you think?" said a quiet voice from the door. Belle and Maurice looked up to see Joshua standing in the doorway, one arm around Lizzie who was clad in a long dressing gown. He was still wearing his riding leathers.

"When did you return?" Belle asked in surprise. "I didn't hear you enter."

"We arrived last night," Joshua answered, "And I have my own reasons for my secrecy." Lizzie tried not to roll her eyes—he always adopted that belligerent tone with Maurice and it always led to some sort of altercation.

"Why?" Maurice asked. "Clandestine meetings with your old master?" It wasn't all that difficult for Lizzie to divine who he was referring to and looked up at him, worried about how her fiancé would react to such a terrible accusation.

"Actually," said Joshua, his voice the calm before the storm, "Yes. We had something to discuss." Maurice stared at him, undisguised hatred in his eyes. "I called him to task for kidnapping Rose and throwing a knife into your back."

"You what?" Maurice yelled, nearly sitting bolt upright. Belle pushed him down before he could.

"Did you think I would let him get away with taking my niece?" Joshua demanded. "The attack on you was slightly more understandable, but even still, I could have left you there to die, Maurice. Perhaps I should have. Yes, I challenged him and, more to the point, I won."

"No one can beat him," Maurice objected. "There are no wizards with the powers he has."

"That's true." Joshua admitted. "So I had to cheat a little. You know the saying about midgets standing on the heads of giants?" Lizzie and Belle shared a confused glance, but Maurice nodded, then stared at Joshua in shock.

"You didn't!"

"What choice did I have?" Joshua replied hotly. "He would have killed me otherwise; he would have killed Lizzie!"

Maurice chuckled grimly. "I was wondering if it would be women to make you admit who you truly are."

"Shut up," Joshua snarled.

"Temper, temper."

"I just saved your life, a little gratitude wouldn't be amiss, would it, Father?" They glared at one another, saying nothing.

"Joshua, darling," Lizzie said in a voice that meant just the opposite. "Care to clarify for the rest of us?"

"I told you that Andrew and I had a rather unfortunate history?" She nodded. "It goes back a long way. He was my tutor when I was very young—I had potential to be a great wizard, according to him, so he took me under his wing and taught me magic. I was very good, not as good as him, but close. When I was old enough, I began to take parts in his serious spells. They were complicated and, as I found out later, evil. I ignored the cruelty as long as I could, but about seven years ago, I was embroiled in a magic that I hated. I drew out in the middle, ruining the spell and killing him, or so I had thought. But I wasn't powerful enough to kill him; I just…disabled him for a while. He's back now and he wants revenge. On me, on Maurice and on Diana."

Maurice looked at me with haunted eyes. "Diana?" he whispered, his voice shaking.

"Don't get your hopes up, she's still dead," Joshua said, his eyes narrowed. Maurice whimpered.

"Who's Diana?" Belle asked.

"Our mother; a very powerful enchantress."

Belle's jaw dropped. "That's where your magic's from," she breathed, staring at her younger brother in awe. Lizzie couldn't help but smile at Joshua as he stood there uncomfortably.

"You never told me your mother was a powerful enchantress," she rebuked him.

"It never came up in conversation," he answered with a shrug.

"I wonder why not," she drawled. He squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

"So, my story hasn't shocked you yet?"

Maurice glared at him sourly. "Wait until he finishes it."

"What else is there to say?" Joshua asked, his voice dangerously soft. Father and son stared at one another, waiting to see who would cave in first.

"You tell them," Maurice growled. "Or-"

"Or what?" Joshua asked.

"I'll take off your mask."

Joshua stared at him, stunned. "You wouldn't dare."

"Then admit the truth."

"Alright," Joshua said softly, practically leaning on Lizzie for support. She put her arm around his waist and, as gently as she could, guided him to a chair in the corner of the room. He sank gratefully into it and moved to pull her down next to him, but she resisted and just sat on an ottoman at his feet. He kept his hand on her shoulder, more for reassurance than any other reason. Lizzie was very curious about this half explained exchange, but she would wait to ask her fiancé about it, since he seemed terrified of losing this mask. But she couldn't help but wonder.

"Joshua?" Belle asked softly. "What is it?"

"When I said that Andrew and I go way back," he began, his voice sounding dull and wooden, "I meant it. But it begins long before I was born, with two young boys, sons of a semi-prosperous merchant family. One had potential to become a wizard, the greatest wizard the world has ever known. The other had no magic, so he devoted himself to a different sort of magic, inventing. Perhaps it was to prove that he could create just as well as his brother; he was always jealous of his younger brother." He turned to Maurice, "Weren't you?"

"Joshua," said Maurice, his voice low and angry.

"You asked me to tell the story, didn't you?" Joshua replied sedately. "Yes, Andrew is Maurice's younger brother, but he's more than my uncle. Somehow or other, a powerful young enchantress named Diana married the older brother. They had two children before she disappeared on a magical assignment. The older was a boy named Jonathan and the younger was a girl named Belle." Joshua sighed and leaned back. "When she returned from the assignment, she was not feeling well and was often sick. This lasted for three months, at which point her astute husband realized that she was not ill so much as pregnant…with another man's child." Joshua smiled. "I was named Joshua on the assumption that God would save me since no one else seemed all that inclined to. Diana survived childbirth, but never fully recovered. She eventually died from consumption, as did her eldest son. Her heartbroken husband and his daughter moved to a small cottage in a rural village. Diana, however, had a few plans for her daughter and cast a spell- but that's neither here nor there." He smiled, letting everyone else wonder what he was referring to. Lizzie stared at him, two puzzle pieces beginning to fit together. But it couldn't be… could it?

"Anyway, I did not accompany them… or you, since this façade is getting ridiculous. Andrew offered to teach me magecraft and, sick of being called the bastard, I agreed. That's why Andrew hates me so much."

"Because you were his nephew and betrayed him?" Belle asked softly.

"No," Lizzie corrected, drawing the obvious conclusion since Joshua seemed so reticent to admit it himself. "Because Joshua is his son." There was absolute silence as the words sunk in.

"Illegitimate brat," Maurice snarled.

"And whose fault is that?" Lizzie shot back. "Andrew's? Diana's? Or perhaps the man who Diana simply couldn't love well enough to stay faithful to?"

Maurice stared at her, openmouthed. "How dare you," he breathed.

"Let's leave," said Lizzie, feeling oddly elated. "This room has become far too oppressive."

"You didn't have to do that," Joshua said as soon as they were outside the sickroom.

"Even though I wanted to?" Lizzie replied, reaching up towards him. He held her tight.

"You know," Joshua whispered, "I was afraid you'd hate the sight of me once you knew who I was."

She kissed him fiercely. "You're his son, not Andrew himself!"

He stared past her, gazing at the moon as it set slowly. "I'm Andrew Gilld's son," he said, his eyes dark and his voice bitter as if tasting the words for the first time.

"Josh-"

He shook his head and turned back to her. "Thank you." He kissed her tenderly.

"You're welcome," she replied. "In honor of sticking up for you, would you answer a few questions I have?"

"Under one condition." Lizzie looked at him questioningly. "That all conversation occurs over an early breakfast."

She laughed and took the arm he offered so that they could venture down to the kitchen and find something to eat.

TBC

A/N – Well, I hope I surprised someone this chapter. I rather like Lizzie when she's defending Joshua. And, if you can't tell, I don't like Maurice much. I never have. More about the mysterious Gilld past later, but don't worry. All will be explained, even the stuff I didn't get to here (midget analogy, for one. Not to mention Diana). Update soon, but not at least for another week since I'm going away to England for a week and being a tourist. But enough about my life; please review since it's had such wonderfrous (word coined by my philosophy professor) results so far!

Levana (Damian)