The Master Finale | manxman | (Book Four: The Master Collection)

XXI - Roses

Jasper went directly home after leaving Cecil McMillan's, and it seemed only now that he was certain Broderick would be brought back to him, the sound of the hard pound of his heart could clearly be heard in his ears. More anger than ever had enclosed around him the whole day, and now that he was finally returning home, he could feel absolutely every fiery pore of his skin burn with so much ire. The anger he felt for the world, for Broderick, and even for himself controlled the heat of the flame trapped inside his body, but now it was at last beginning to extinguish.

Once the coach came to a stop at the head of the pavement before the manor, the Master got down from inside and climbed the solid steps to the large, front doorway. Wade opened them for him, but he did not enter. "You go in," Jasper said instead. "I will await his return."

Wade looked out at the vastness of the land that expanded the northern scenery. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, and the puffy clouds from the days before were more spread out now, less gray than they'd been prior to the rain. It would be a little while until Broderick was taken from the jailhouse, but if Jasper wanted to wait, then Wade would not interfere with his decision.

After all, he was home now.

Once Wade disappeared inside, Jasper sat down at the top of the steps, hugging his arms around the bend of his knees, and he rested his chin atop them as well. He didn't know what the first thing was that he'd do when Broderick stood before him. Would he kiss the other man, embrace him, or slap him for being so ready to die? Jasper was glad Lucian was able to return to Simon, and he could say he was happy now that Cecil was going to make certain Broderick Thorne no longer had to serve his execution. But the absolute fear that had taken over his mind still dwelled inside him.

And such a feeling had been something Jasper never wanted to feel again. To think that the person you loved was going to die, it was not a pleasant thought in the least, and it disrupted the Master's heart that such a sensation had entered his life for a second time.

Now he could only wait, and the minutes that drifted into slow, antagonizing hours was on the verge of spiraling Jasper into insanity. He could not take waiting, it was something he had done for ten years: waited for the heartache he'd felt for Elijah to fade, waited until that promise of 'for now' was fulfilled, and now he was damned to wait yet again, but this time for something he knew was on its way in an arranged fashion.

Enable for Broderick's execution to be suspended and for him to be freed, Cecil McMillan had to go back into the courthouse and display yet another case, and while the city would more than likely view him as foolish for setting a known killer free, the process could be handed down by the judge's own decision.

As Jasper sat beneath the rays of the sun, he wondered what was going through Broderick's mind. Would Cecil tell him why he was being given another stand in court? The longer the Master waited, the more anxious he got. All he wanted was to see a horse-drawn transport being pulled up his path.

Merely watching the shadows grow longer as the sun made its descent, Jasper did not move from his spot, only looked behind him when he heard the door come open. Darcy and Juliette exited the manor, both dressed pretty in their respectable gowns, hair done up, and in their arms, they each held an alert little baby. Darcy took a seat beside her husband, their son cradled in her motherly arms as Eloise was comforted in Juliette's. The two women said nothing for a moment, just let the clouds pass overhead as they, too, watched the light of the day fade into the evening.

"He's coming back," Jasper said then, breaking the silence, yet his voice sounded awfully stoic as he spoke. "As I sat in on his trial, I recognized the judge as being one living upon the land I offered him years back. I told him I would put him and his family out on the streets if he did not free Broderick. Does that make me a horrible person?"