The Red Wing Mansion

Chapter Sixteen

Fontaine follows my escape from the BDSM club, so I can't get far. I don't feel comfortable in the mansion, with eyes and ears behind every wall for the 'wedding' tomorrow which no one would know was now subsequently cancelled. In a bid to not get halted by him inside where there will be more witnesses, I exit into the garden and run to the rotunda surrounded by the rose garden. It was one of the items that burnt down in the reality where Claudius died, but now it's fully intact.

It seemed like a private space. I didn't mean to come here and stumble upon what had been set up this afternoon for tomorrow morning. White ribbon decorates the rotunda pillars and flowers in beautiful big bouquets are littered around for the ceremony. It's all set. Lanterns hang and swing in the light wind, letting off a dull amber light.

I stand in the middle of the rotunda and I realise too late that this is where I was meant to be getting married tomorrow.

Awkwardly, I kneel on one of the wooden benches and look out over the rose garden, while Claudius coughs forcible to make his presence known, as he reaches the rotunda just after me.

I casually glance over my shoulder, and he is just in the entrance, holding back.

"I liked you better when you were dead," I say, "A ghost... that I could escape," Claudius listens intently to what I have to say right now, and his eyes wane a bit, the anger slightly subsiding from the humiliation I caused him in the club room, "Now you're impossible to leave..."

"...no one knows we're demons who live off touch... not Isela, nor Pearly... not my cousins, Greg and Wally... no one knows but you and I..." Claudius reminds me of this, "We're bound together for eternity."

"Marriage compliments that arrangement, doesn't it?" I admit, frowning.

"I did not wish to be this harsh on you, but I'm afraid the time has come," Fontaine changes his tone. He steps into the middle of the rotunda and clasps his hands behind his back as he formally faces me, while I remain seated and clenching the seat, "This is your new reality. You are not free, you are bound to me. You are not alive, you are dead. You're not a woman, you're a succubus. A demon, just like me. But above all that, behaviour, manners and reputation are everything to aristocrats. And frankly... you do not satisfy any of the requirements for being a lady of this time."

"How do I not satisfy anything?" I ask, and Claudius happily explains.

"You are lazy in your feminine habits, ill-mannered, even your words fly off a harsh tongue, and for the love of God... the bottoms of your feet are always black, because you run around barefoot... like your nails, always brown – your hair, usually unbrushed..."

"You just followed me out here to say all that to me?" I ask, aghast.

"I came out here to convince you of the reasons you should obey me..." Fontaine professionally gets to the point, but more gently this time, "I can teach you to be mannered, and everything a lady needs to be, as long as you listen. This isn't a question of you don't want to anymore. This timeline gives you no choice. It's listen to your Lord. Or be cast aside."

"Cast aside?"

"Let's try something. Close your lips and smile for me, fake it," Claudius instructs me. I play along. I smile with my lips smacked together, "Good, now make it look more believable, sour puss," Fontaine's eyes pierce mine, he is totally serious about this task. I try my best to relax my facial features, "...better..." Claudius still disapproves, however, "...getting there..." I try relaxing my shoulders and looking off into the forest, no longer smiling but disconnecting from his stupid game, "...there you go... naturally feminine – your wiles, Alix, are your natural beauty and grace, when really you want to scream."