As You Wish

Work

"My MOTHER?"

You stood up when you said it, and the table moved up with you, as the strength of your body caused it to lift of the ground a few inches. Ciel's eyes widened a bit at your reaction, and it took you several moments before you realised the teacup that had been set before him had spilled over onto his lap, and little droplets of liquid quietly splashed onto the floor.

Once you had calmed down, he spoke, but you only heard his voice as though it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. He seemed very far away.

"You are strong."

You thought back to your father, the time spent with your family. You looked like him. People said you looked like him! He wasn't your father! He wasn't your damn father. You weren't a mercenary! You were bastard princess! You were of a higher station than the Phantomhives, than your family, than anyone here! How could your father boss you around like he'd done your whole life? What right did he have? Why didn't he tell you?

You wanted to run away and find him. You wanted to make him confess, to make him tell you why he'd done what he did, why he sheltered you, why he treated you like you were weak and a child when you were royalty.

Then it made sense. All at once, realisation came crashing down upon you and you understood everything. He wasn't sheltering you. He was protecting you. He didn't want to see you get hurt for someone else's mistakes. He knew you were strong and he wanted to save you from yourself. One day, you'd have to have found out, and he must've known that. He wasn't an overprotective father. He was a hero. He risked his family's namesake to protect an innocent woman, and he raised her daughter like his own. He was your saviour. You felt a tear slide down your cheek and you raised your head to look Ciel in the eye.

"Explain to me what happened. How did you find out about me? Did I make some type of mistake? Did you find out because I messed up?"

"Sebastian. Clean this up, and fetch me a robe. I don't want to leave this conversation so make it quick." Sebastian did as he was told, and it was no more than a minute later and he was back with a cloak which he draped around his master's shoulders, concealing his shirtsleeves as the tea had spilled all over his overcoat. You began to apologise but he held up a hand to stop you.

"Let me explain." He began. "And no interruptions this time."

You nodded and sat back down. Sebastian did the same.

"You were followed."

Anger rose up inside you again but you forced yourself not to let it show. You knew it! You knew someone had to have tried that! There was no way this was chanced. You were smarter than that. Ciel continued without hesitation.

"I had Sebastian follow you."

Your eyes darted to look at Sebastian for only a moment before you looked back at Ciel. You were furious. What right did he have to spy on you? You ignored the small flicker of a grin you saw cross his lips before devoting your attention again to Ciel.

"We suspected you were the one we needed to find the moment we got hold of the photograph. We figured there was a reason your father defended Her Majesty's grandson, and it was evident why the second we saw him with her. It took no time at all to cross-reference it with information we collected from the Viscount. He's not a secretive man."