The Clan of Outcasts [Season 3]

Part 23: "All's Fair"

Seven Years Ago, in a Far-Off Land...

The moments ticked by on the grandfather clock as they sipped in silence--but etiquette demanded that she never initiate the conversation. She would rather have scraped her arms till they bled, but she could not excuse herself until he'd said his piece.

He sipped slowly, eyes gleaming as he ogled her over the rim of his teacup. At last, he wiped his mouth and set his saucer aside.

"Tessa..." He said, and she fought to suppress a shudder. This was the moment she dreaded. She kept her hands firmly clasped in her lap. Perhaps if she didn't give him any quarter, she could avoid it.

"Tessa, look at me."

She stared at his chiseled, gleaming face, his eyes that haunted her, his lips that twitched more into a smirk than a smile.

"You have everything to gain if you consent to a life with me, and nothing to lose," he said. "Your father supports the match--and I've been as forthcoming as possible with my feelings."

Her father only saw that he was rich and well-connected. He didn't see the wandering hands, the seething stares, or the slurred words murmured in private and denied in public.

"Well?" he pressed her, shifting closer. "Say something, Beautiful!"

She shifted away. "Please understand," she begged, "I realize how my father feels about having a son of the Archduke's cousin taking an interest in my family--but it pains me to hear you speak of harboring such feelings for me when I cannot in good faith reciprocate!"

"Why do you shun me so?" He reached for her, so she disguised her avoidance with the activity of picking up the tea things. He kept talking. "Ever since I first saw you, all other maidens seem hideously ugly--I want no other. You are beyond beautiful, and your delicate nature gets you noticed--it's just that I need that sort of attraction in my life. We are a perfect fit, even if you refuse to see it. You may even grow to like me!"

Tessa stood up with the tea service, heading for the dumbwaiter door on the wall of the parlor. He followed her for those few spaces.

"Tessa! Say something--" She made the mistake of backing away after closing the dumbwaiter, right into his waiting arms. His grasping fingers folded around her elbow. "Don't just ignore me, girl!"

Tessa twisted to get away, stumbling over her skirts to get out of his grasp, but he held on. "Let go of me!" she cried.

He did not move. His eyes darkened. "Not till you say you'll accept my proposal."

Tessa's eyes flamed right back, and this time, she didn't shrink from meeting his gaze. "I will accept nothing from you!" She ducked under his arm, darting behind him and forcing him to release her. She didn't stop, but gathered her skirts and continued right out the door and into the hallway.

"Tessa, come back!" His voice followed her, but she dared not turn around. She ducked into the next wing and threw herself behind the first open door she could find.

The floorboards creaked under his weight. "I'm going to find you, little bird--and then I'll prove to you that you really do want me!"

Her heart beat wildly, and as he neared the door into the room where she hid, Tessa slipped out a second door and into the next room.

On and on it went, all through the house, as Tessa ran in terror, while the mad suitor stalked behind her, growing more insistent and more malicious with his threats.

"Scurry, scurry, little mouse!" His dark voice echoed from the next room as she darted into the solarium. "You can't avoid me forever, you know! You're mine! I am your destiny!"