Her Butler: Sinful

:: Chapter Four ::

~Sebastian's POV~

My young mistress slept soundly in my arms as I carried her back to the city estate. She'd had a trying evening. I reflected upon what I'd witnessed, a crack in her icy exterior, a slip in her stoic mask. In that cage, she was just a frightened young girl. She stirred in my arms as we reached her bed chamber.

"Sebastian?" She was still half asleep.

"Yes, my lady?"

She attempted to glare at me, and I couldn't help but chuckle at her efforts. "Get me out of this death trap." She grumbled as she tugged at the dress.

I helped my young mistress to her feet and unlaced the beautiful Victorian gown. After setting the dress aside I turned my focus back to the delicate girl before me in admiration. Everything about her was fragile and childlike, save for her eyes. They were the eyes of someone who'd endured a lifetime of torment, eyes that revealed the true state of her tortured soul.

"What are you staring at?" She demanded folding her arms in front of her uncomfortably.

"Nothing, young master." I captured her pale cheek, caressing it in my hand as I gently traced my thumb over the bruise Vanel had left on her porcelain skin.

An adorable blush flooded her pallid cheeks and she slapped my hand away with a glare. "Stop it!"

"Is it bothering you?"

"It's fine." She sighed indignantly, "Now, please get me out of this contraption." She spun on her heel, turning her back to me.

I reached out and tantalizingly grazed my fingers down her spine to the lacings and smirked as she shivered involuntarily. Her heart beat sped up and her breathing became shallow. Her sweet intoxicating scent coiled around me as I took a step closer and gathered the lacings in my hands. It nearly sent me reeling.

"Sebastian." She growled in annoyance as I took my time unlacing the corset.

I held back a chuckle and finished my task. She shivered as I removed the corset and left her standing in nothing but a flimsy slip. I reached out to capture one of her delicate wrists and was surprised when she suddenly wrenched away from me.

"This is fine. Goodnight, Sebastian." Her voice wavered as she crawled into bed and buried herself beneath the blankets.

"Young master?"

"Goodnight!" She snapped.

I smiled to myself and slipped out of the room my defiant young mistress was slipping.

__________________________________________

I started in on the cleaning as my young mistress slept restlessly in her bedchamber. As I was pruning some dark crimson roses from the garden, I heard my young mistress scream from within the city estate. What now? I bolted inside and threw open her bedroom door. Ciel was curled into a ball with her hands pressed against her temples.

"Young Mistress?" I called tentatively as I approached the bed.

She didn't respond.

"Young Mistress?" I leaned over her and reached out to gently rouse her from her dark slumber.

One of her small hands lashed out and grabbed hold of my wrist in a vice grip. I saw a glint of metal as she swiped at me with a knife she'd kept concealed between the mattress and the headboard in the event of an intruder. I caught her second wrist with my free hand and sighed.