A Time for Honour

Chapter 29

When Cassie had entered the library, she felt a flood of relief when she recognised the man fighting with Ellington. All the hatred, she had tried to feel for him after Delaney's visit earlier that day, vanished at that moment. She realised that she did not hate him, it was, in fact, the opposite; she loved him. And she knew that, whatever the future held for her, she would always have a place in her heart for him. 'Damien,' she had said, almost in a whisper, 'you have come for me.'

As soon as she entered the library, he turned around to look at her. 'Cassie,' he replied just as quietly, 'Cassie, my love.'

Ellington, who must have sensed his chance to get the upper hand in the fight when Cassie entered the room, pulled back his fist to hit Damien. Cassie cried out to warn him, but was too late, as Ellington's fist connected with a thud to Damien's jaw. Damien then reeled backwards and fell heavily to the floor, knocking over a table as he went down.

Ellington winced and cradled the knuckles of his right hand, that were bruised and bloodied from the fight, with his left. He looked over at Cassie and smiled. 'Thank you, my dear, for distracting Silverton,' he said smoothly, 'that fight was becoming a little tedious. Your entrance was indeed timely.'

Ellington started to walk over to her, but he soon stopped dead in his tracks, when he noticed what she was holding in her hand. Since the fight had finished, and Damien had been knocked to the ground, she had lifted her right arm and had carefully aimed the pistol at him. 'Do not come any closer,' she said firmly, her arm shaking a little with the weight of the gun.

He laughed gently, as though he was highly amused at the situation he had found himself in and put his right palm up to signal that he was not going to come any closer to her. 'And what,' he said, motioning with his other hand towards the pistol, 'do you intend to do with that? I hope you are not thinking about using it on me. That, my dear, would not be wise.'

'I will use it,' Cassie said, after taking a deep breath and steadying her arm. 'If you come any closer, I will shoot.'

'I doubt that very much,' Ellington said condescendingly, as he took a step closer, 'I do not think that you have it in you, to shoot me in cold blood.'

Cassie, using the thumbs of both her hands, pulled back the cock of the pistol until it clicked. Once she knew it was locked in place, she carefully placed her index finger of her right hand on the trigger. 'Is that a risk you are willing to take?' she said, looking at him directly in the eye and lifting the pistol a little higher, aiming it at his chest.

He laughed again. 'If I seriously thought you were going to shoot me, I would be quaking in my boots,' he said dramatically. 'But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will never have the courage to pull that trigger. Come, my dear Cass, and let us stop all this foolishness. We can be friends once more.'

'Do not come any closer,' she said, her face expressionless. 'I am not your dear Cass. You had proved to me, even this afternoon when you tied me up, that you have little, or even no regard for me.'

'That is not fair,' Ellington said, his brow furrowed, 'I only tied you up for your own safety. I did not want you to hurt yourself. You must understand, my dear, I still love and care for you.'

'Love,' Cassie spat out, 'you do not know the meaning of the word. Love does not punish and humiliate. Love does not inspire fear. You never loved me, and you never had any intention of loving me. You took my innocent romantic notions and my girlhood dreams, and you twisted and manipulated them into something debase and shameful. I told you earlier that I no longer fear you. In fact, standing here looking at you, with your life in my hands, I feel nothing.'