Internment

Chapter 7

I finally got around to finishing this chapter that's been sitting in my drafts for a week or two! I hope you guys like it! I can't wait to write more with Reyna and Phillip! Let me know what you think!

"How are you this evening," Phillip asked, pouring himself a glass of Scotch before sitting down behind his desk.

"Good," She replied, shaking her head when he offered to pour her something as well. Picking up her book from the chair she'd left it in the night before, she sat down.

"Good," He nodded, sitting back down behind his desk.

She watched as he went back to work. The stack of papers he was reading through looked considerably smaller than the previous night's. She wondered if they would sit in silence like this every night. Would he expect to talk with her once his work was done? What would they talk about? What if he grew bored of her? Would he stop requesting her if she didn't meet his expectations? Visions of Lieutenant Muller's hands around her throat flashed through her mind. Inhaling sharply, she reached up to her neck, her fingertips tracing over the place his hands had been. She shook the thoughts away. She couldn't go back to him.

"Sturm-," She paused, catching herself. "Phillip."

He looked up from his desk, his blue eyes falling on her. She swallowed, trying to find the words to continue.

"Why did you ask me here every night except Saturday?"

"Saturday is your sabbath, is it not?" He replied matter-of-factly. She blinked in confusion. That hadn't been the response she'd expected.

"It is," She nodded.

"A lot of the men and women here say their prayers on Saturday evenings after work," He explained. "I didn't want to keep you from that."

"Oh..." She trailed off. An SS officer taking her religious practices into consideration? Even the thought of it seemed odd ... But he was. She held no disillusions that Lieutenant Muller would do the same though. "I would rather spend it here," She blurted out. "...If that's okay."

"It's perfectly okay," He nodded, raising an eyebrow at her request. "If you don't mind me asking though, why would you rather be here?"

"You've made your intentions quite clear..." She trailed off, trying to find the right words. Her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

He nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"Other officers have asked for me," She swallowed, cutting to the chase. "Officers whose intentions aren't as ... kind," She trailed off again, letting her words hang in the air.

"I understand," He nodded slowly as the realization of what she was saying hit him. "As long as you're here-,"

"I can't be anywhere else," She finished for him, still not wanting to come right out and explicitly say what they both knew she meant. It was a risk, talking this freely to him. He could just as easily throw her out, leaving her to the mercy of Lieutenant Muller. It was a gamble she had to take though, when faced with the alternative.

"I'll send word to Ms. Krause letting her know you'll be here on Saturdays from now on," He said after he'd contemplated the idea for a moment.

"Thank you."

Phillip nodded, returning to work. She exhaled a quiet sigh of relief, returning to her book, though she couldn't focus on the words on the page. Liza's words played through her head, "So long as you keep the Sturmbannfuhrer's favor you won't have to worry about men like Lieutenant Muller."

She'd make sure of it if it was the last thing she ever did. She felt safe with Phillip ... As safe as she could feel in a place like this. As little as she knew about him, he'd been courteous and kind, which was more than she could say for any of the other guards.

The room had grown silent again, the occasional scratch of Phillip's pen on paper the only sound. She stole a glance at him. He looked deep in concentration, his elbows propped against the desk top, pen in one hand, his other resting against his temple. She looked back down at her book. She'd flipped page after page aimlessly, but hadn't bothered to read a single word. Deciding to start over entirely, she turned back to the beginning and began to read.

"How many times have you read that book?" Phillip asked after she'd made it halfway through the first chapter. She looked up, locking eyes with him.

"I don't know," She shrugged. "Maybe a dozen?"

"Twelve times?" His eyebrows rose in surprise.

"It's the only thing I had to read when we..." She trailed off, unsure if she should bring up the fact she and her family had gone into illegal hiding.

"I see," He nodded in understanding. His eyes left her's, traveling down to the book in her hands. "It's quite a tragic story."

"It's a tragic world," She said matter-of-factly, following his gaze. "If Henry and Catherine were able to escape it, even just for a moment, then I suppose they did what they set out to do."

"I suppose so," He shrugged. "But at what cost?"

"That's the point though, isn't it?" She asked, closing the book. "Love, no matter how real, is only ever temporary."

"That's quite the insight for someone your age," He raised an eyebrow, but his eyes held a far off look of something she couldn't quite place.

"War tends to give you insight you never thought you'd have," She replied, a pang shooting through her chest. She swallowed down the feeling, bringing her gaze back up to meet his.

"That it does," He nodded, the look in his eyes deepening briefly, before disappearing entirely. "I think I have the perfect book, if you're interested in a change of pace," He said, changing the subject. Standing up, he strode towards the wall of bookshelves to her left, skimming over the books' spines with his finger until he found the one he was looking for. Pulling it from the shelf, he walked back to her, and held it out for her to take.

"Pride and Prejudice?" She furrowed her brow as she read the cursive title scrolled across the cover.

"Have you ever read it?" He asked, propping himself against the edge of his desk.

"Just excerpts in grade school," She shook her head, running a hand over the weathered cover.

"Well I think you'd enjoy it," He nodded.

"How does it end?" She asked, flipping through the first few pages.

"If I told you there wouldn't be much point in reading it, now would there?" He smirked.

"Not necessarily," She retorted. "I think you can glean a lot from a book if you know the ending before you begin."

"Well," He began, grasping her hands, the book thudding closed before she could flip to the end. "You'll just have to reread it to do that."

She looked at the hands that rested on top of her own, her heart skipping a beat. But his touch withdrew as quickly as it'd come, leaving a strange feeling in its wake. She swallowed, her gaze traveling up to his blue eyes.

"Well," She cleared her throat, "I suppose I'll have the time."

"Yes," Phillip smiled. "I suppose you will."

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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! <3