Leaving

Rhea's mood quickly turned sour as her thinking raged on, and her upset became visible on her face.

Sensing the sudden change, the women hurried to dress the ravenette in the soft peach-coloured nightgown they had chosen, its delicate lace trim brushing against her ankles.

"Lord Lonan was going to kill me, wasn't he?" Rhea voiced, distantly, as the women moved away from her, damp towels in hand.

A beat of silence passed before she received a response.

"It seemed like it. Yes." Said one of the maids with a sad nod.

"I worried in the beginning that we were overstepping our boundaries but now I'm glad we didn't hesitate to call the Grand Duke for help. Who knows what could have if...."

Rhea's head snapped to the woman, her eyes wide in alarm.

"You called the Grand Duke for help?!"

"And thank the gods they did, when they did," announced the man as he reentered the bedroom.

Lonan followed behind him with quiet, stiff steps.

His eyes were to the ground, an angry blush on his cheeks, and the way his shoulders drooped and his hands were clenched at his sides led her to believe Augustus had either scolded or threatened him.

A bruise to his pride that he would have soothed by lashing out at Rhea if Augustus was not in the room to hold him back by the scruff of his neck.

"I apologise for the disturbance, My Lord. It was under control...."

Augustus held his palm up to silence her, a deep frown on his face, and a look in his eyes similar to what one would give an escaped asylum patient dancing naked in the streets.

"Every person, man, woman or child, within the Duchy of Ravenholm is my charge. What kind of man would I be if I remained comfortable seated while my house burned to ashes, around me?"

He turned to speak to Lonan, and Rhea was filled with shame when her first reaction was discontent that his eyes were no longer on her.

"I can not pretend to know anything about your marriage or the difficulties that have plagued it, Lord Montgomery. Neither will I get in the way of the actions either of you take to address those difficulties. But I will not stand idly by and watch you hurt a woman you had once vowed to protect, in the name of whatever bullsh*t authority you think you possess over her simply because she is your wife."

The profanity seemed to echo to the shocked spectators, including Lonan whose head snapped up to look at the Grand Duke.

"My Lord, you...."

"Yes?" Augustus pressed, with a challenging lift of his brow that caused the blond man to immediately back down.

"I heard a lot about you before my visit," the dark-haired man divulged with a small tilt of his head as he studied the smaller Lord. "Things that led me to believe you are a noble man worthy of your station and your people. It is a shame how little it took for you to prove those praises untrue."

Lonan's face fell, and his eyes grew glassy but not a single drop spilled.

He was a proud man, Rhea knew that intimately, and being told what equals to him being unworthy of his Lordship, by a man so well respected by all, like Augustus, must have felt like a bullet to the chest.

"I...."

"Do not bother with petty excuses," Augustus interrupted, sharply, turning back to Rhea. "Leave and attend to your distressed mistress while I take care of Lady Montgomery."

"That... It is not proper for you to be alone with my..." Lonan hesitated, glancing over to Rhea, as the word rested heavily on his tongue.

".....Wife," Lonan finally forced out, his face scrunched up as if it hurt him to say it out loud.

Augustus did not even spare him a glance, the annoyed curl of his lips, seen only by Rhea and her frozen attendants.

"Neither is waterboarding your wife as punishment, yet here we are."

Lonan looked like he wanted to fight the command and let Augustus know he had no business commanding him in his own home, Grand Duke or not. Some part of Rhea, the part that still loved and longed for him, hoped he would fight for her and leave Alice to be in her distress, but it was not to be.

"I will return to see you when I find the time, Rhea," he said in parting then tacked on, awkwardly. "Recover quickly." And then exited the room, the door closing behind him with a soft 'click'

"Ladies," Augustus sang with a smile, something charming that lit up his handsome face and caused red to bloom on the maids' cheeks. "I would like to speak to your fair Lady, alone. Do you mind giving us some space?"

"Not at all, My Lord," the eldest of the four squeaked with a quick bow then hurried the others out of the room, without a single glance at Rhea for permission to leave.

The door closed behind the small group a few seconds later and Rhea and Augustus were finally alone.

The silence lingered as they stared at each other, calm greys staring into anxious blues.

Rhea's throat throbbed, painfully when she tried to speak. However, she was not the kind of woman to let a little pain rob her of her social graces so she preserved until words finally escaped

"Congratulations, Lord Holloway, you have my serving ladies wrapped around your finger," she joked, her voice raspy and face squeezing as pain followed after.

Augustus cracked a smile, one that was much softer than what he had given the other women, with a hint of mischief.

"I could say the same about you, My Lady," He purred as he made his way over to the bed and took a seat, close enough that she could smell the subtle intensity of his cologne.

"And I believe I granted you the privilege of calling me by my name," he whispered, low and deep like it was some secret for only their ears.

"Augustus," Rhea whispered. "Thank you."

For saving her from Lonan. For sending him away before Rhea had to listen to apologies and promises of change that always came after Lonan had calmed down. For staying with her despite the scandal it would cause if word ever got out.

Rhea was unsure which, but the responding squeeze he gave to her hand, let her know it did not matter.

"You're welcome."

"Why is it so easy with you?" She wondered, out loud, the words escaping before she could think them through.

"Easy?" He repeated, leaning a little closer, but still maintaining a respectable distance.

"My head feels lighter when I...." A sharp pain in her throat interrupted her and her hands instinctively went to her throat.

Raw, purpling skin burned under her hands and she yanked them away with a soft hiss.

"Calling a doctor should have been my second move," Augustus mumbled as he rose from his seat and made to walk away and do just that.

"Wait!" Rhea squeaked, surging forward to stop him by wrapping her arms around Augustus, her cheek resting on his muscular back.

Augustus turned, slightly, careful not to jostle her and hurt her bruised neck, then stared down at her wide, panicked eyes.

He raised a brow in question.

"We hate to bring outsiders into our private lives. So doctors are only called in extreme situations when the servants are unable to handle it."

Augustus' calm expression took a sudden turn, something deadly that caused his eyes to darken and she immediately let go of his waist and shuffled away, weakly.

His face softened when he noticed her reaction, and he took a seat beside her and placed his hand on the small of her back to show his anger was not aimed at her.

"Forgive me, My Lady. It is difficult to stay calm when 'we' sounds so much like 'Lonan'."

Ashamed, Rhea looked away from him and gave a small nod in agreement. "It is mostly Lonan. But there is also a part of me that prefers things to stay secret. Not speaking out makes it seem like I like it, doesn't it?"

He hummed.

"Is it a kink for you?"

He asked so casually it took a second for Rhea's brain to process his words.

"W-what?!" She croaked, her eyes wide and cheeks Rose-red when her head snapped to him.

There was no mocking or perversion on his face. Rather, he looked calm, like the mature adult Rhea was supposed to be.

"There is no need to be ashamed of whatever you enjoy in your sexual life," he assured with a soft stroke of her back. "It is perfectly normal to want some adventure in your mundane life."

All hope that she had somehow misunderstood him went out the window, and her eyes grew so wide it seemed like they would pop out of her skull.

"I have seen more kinks than you can imagine during my travels in and beyond Eldoria, which is why I can confidently say that there are much more comfortable and pleasurable ways to explore your inclination for pain...."

"Which I most definitely do not have!" She rushed out, her voice breaking at almost every word.

"Oh," he voiced, looking flustered for the first time since he made the suggestion. "Then what is holding you back from calling a doctor?"

Rhea pursed her lips, thoughtfully, a few seconds passing before she answered.

"Shame. I have always tried to be perfect. Inhumanely perfect. And people finding out my husband, their Count, uses me as a stress relief punching bag destroys that image I worked so hard to build."

"And doctors talk, no matter what oaths they swear to," he realised with a frown.

"Exactly." Rhea sighed, tugging at a strand of hair that fell into her face.

"But you can not live like this forever. Today shows how far he is willing to go and tomorrow, when I am long gone, he might take it even farther. So far, no one will be here in time to save you, certainly not those... " He waved his hand angrily in the air, searching for the word, "...voyeurs, you call members of your household."

Every word after 'I am long gone' floated in and out of Rhea's ears, as a thousand emotions -fear, sadness, desperation- raged inside her.

"You are leaving tomorrow?"