Wondrous Master | boyxboy | (alternate happy ending)

VI - Secret Affections, Secret Retaliation

Broderick had ordered Romani to keep an eye on Neville while he adjusted to the duties of a horse keeper. The Young Master would have watched over the boy himself, but with the return of Otis on this day, he'd wanted to get a quick report of the man's findings against Sir Anthony Davidson. Broderick met Otis in his father's office and shut the door behind him. Just from the slight change in the butler's usual passive expression, Broderick could tell what he had to say wouldn't be very amusing. "Young Broderick," Otis said, "Are you certain you wish to know of the true nature of this man?"

Rubbing at his knuckles with impatience, the Young Master nodded, "Tell me what you discovered."

At the command, Otis recollected, speaking of the truths he'd been able to surface about Sir Davidson. He was a wealthy man who lived alone, no family to call his own after inheriting all of his riches from his grandfather who'd passed not long ago. There was merely one thing he spent most of his coin on, though, and at first Otis hadn't been sure if what he'd witnessed was real. Stalking the golden haired man, the butler hid himself away as he watched another man make a delivery to the residence. This man had stood just outside the secluded home with three boys, all of them just fourteen years old while Sir Davidson inspected each of them. After choosing which he wanted, the man who delivered the boy left him there.

Otis had been confused at first, thinking perhaps Sir Davidson had adopted a boy to call his son, but after spying into the man's home, he realized that was not the intent of the young boy's delivery. He'd wanted to break into the man's home after witnessing just a few seconds of the devious brutality, but did not want to act outside of the demands given to him by Broderick. His orders had been to watch Sir Davidson, not to interact in any manner, but he knew that if the Young Master had given command to stop the acts once suspicions had been verified, Otis would not have left that house with clean hands.

"That man..." the butler stood before the desk, "...he does not deserve to live for what he is doing to that boy trapped in his home."

Broderick was struck by the horrid idea that Sir Davidson was putting yet another defenseless boy in harm's way, the same exact way he'd done to Neville not long ago. And the boy imprisoned in that house now, with the understanding of him being just fourteen, while Neville was now fifteen, did that mean he'd been in Sir Davidson's malicious claws for an entire year? The Young Master felt the blood within his veins boil, the division between his brow dotted with sweat as heated anger filled him. How could someone do this to another human being? Was there anything he could do to stop this from happening again? Could he free Sir Davidson's captive from those foul clutches? But most of all, was there any way to possibly stop Sir Davidson once and for all, so he could never in his life do such things to a third or fourth? Or maybe Neville hadn't been his first.

Trembling with irrepressible fury, Broderick stood from behind the desk, palms leaving a thin print of his hands against the wooden surface. "He cannot be allowed to continue with his torture. Someone has to step in to stop him. To end him."

"Young Broderick..." Otis' feelings were just the same although he didn't show much emotion. "...I would follow if your order involved a bit more of a permanent damaging outcome."

Seeing the fear in Neville's eyes in front of him, Broderick couldn't imagine what it must have been like, of the irrelevance the boy must have felt during his entire time ensnared by Sir Davidson. For hell's sake, during the boy's first stay inside these walls, he'd performed simple tasks like an animal, as if he'd been so demoralized that he no longer saw himself as a person! Neville...he'd become the Young Master's friend, at least, he would like to refer to them as friends even if the boy's background was not of regency. Broderick cared for Neville in a way that reminded him of his compassion for Jamie...even just a little different from the consideration he showed his brother on a regular basis, something that could be classified as an affection a step above the manner one treated their beloved family. Broderick didn't know what to call it, but whatever it was, it'd surely come with a protectiveness and a drive to rid of every danger that has come to Neville's life. So, yes, Broderick would take actions into his very own hands, because no one else would, and this was something that needed to be done.