Magnus remained silent for many minutes, contemplating whether or not to tell him. Deciding it would be worth her wile and perhaps reveal something further, her lips parted and she answered. "Spring of 1886: that's when I stopped fighting back." She moved her hands under her body to push herself up further; she winced, but waved off Will's help when he moved to assist. "We were still at Oxford; James and John were graduating at the end of the semester. Nikola, Nigel and I still had another year to go. John and I had been… having problems. He was becoming controlling and well, you know me, couldn't have that."

Will stifled a laugh at that, he could see Magnus pushing John's buttons just to get a rise out of him only to have it reversed back on her in a violent rage. "What happened in 1886?"

"That was… that was the first time he ra—forced me. Nigel found me afterwards, crying on the terrace. He'd been most worried. Everything seemed to go pear shaped from then on."

"What was different about the way he treated you that time?" Will was leaning back in the chair, taking as many mental notes about the situation in his head as possible so he could write them down later.

"I was attached to a gentleman, Will. In those days and as a woman who did what I did it was rare and unexpected. It was expected of me to marry him as he was the only man who would consider marrying me."

"Love?"

"Oh yes, I loved John, very much. Still do and I am most positive the man loves me, to a fault. That made the opportunity even rarer. To marry for love, that was not often heard of, especially in my case."

"Magnus," he took a minute to ground her, settle her in before he repeated his question, "What was different?"

"He threatened to ruin everything, and I knew he could. Even James wouldn't be able to solve or fix what John could do to my reputation as a woman or my reputation as a doctor. James was much too close to the situation to notice anything would be wrong anyway. That's how John evaded Scotland Yard for so long. Nigel noted something was wrong first, he was always the kindest and sweetest."

"Did Nigel speak to you when he found out?"

"He waited to be sure his suspicions were correct. He spoke with me first in December of 1886, at the Christmas ball the school held every year. After he confronted John, later, I was very much told what would happen if anyone were to know what had happened and consequently what continued to happen."

Will looked her over a long time before speaking; this was the most he had ever gotten her to say in one sitting. Even though it wasn't about the actual abuse or repercussions of such, he was hesitant to stop her. "Magnus, you do understand that you were raped?"

Her eyes slid over his face and then beyond his head where she was staring transfixed. "It's John, Will. He's standing behind you."

Will glanced over his shoulder and saw no one standing there; he turned back to her, confident that this was another hallucination. "No one is standing behind me, Magnus. I want you to blink and look at him, squeeze my fingers until you don't see him anymore."

She did as she was told, blinking and grabbing his hands, practically cutting off the circulation. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Lifting her lids slowly she was looking directly at Will, her gaze unwavering until she saw the flash of steel. She fell out of the bed immediately and crawled to John's feet, her hands on his calves and she clawed at him, tears in her eyes. "Please don't, John. I'll do anything you want, anything." Her eyes were pleading, and she felt John's fingers in her hair soothing her frenzied brain.

Declan burst through the door when he heard the commotion and Magnus turned on him, a gun in her hand and she aimed the weapon up to his chest. "Please, don't harm him," there were tears in her eyes and her knees pinned to the ground her chest heaving with breath.

"Declan!" Will stood and shoved the chair back causing it to topple over behind him.

"Please don't harm him," she pleaded again at the same time Declan spoke.

"What the bloody 'ell is going on 'ere mate?" His voice booming as he leaned down to where Magnus was before him.

"Stop it!" She shouted loudly and Declan stepped back, his hands still outstretched before him as he was reaching for her figure. She was sobbing, "Stop it." She whispered before the gun fired.