Chapter 32: The Rooms at Castle Brogan

The door swung closed on Isaac and Lavinia with a click. They had been ushered into a warmly decorated room. In the center was an enormous four-poster bed. Over it was a thick duvet with intricate red embroidery. Beside it was a loveseat and two plump ottomans.

Lavinia sank into the loveseat, letting out a breath. Isaac stayed frozen just inside the doorway.

“Oh, sit down.” Said Lavinia. “I’d think you’d be good at this.”

“Excuse me?”

Lavinia sighed. “Clearly Mr. Brogan thinks we were invited to the ritual or wedding or whatever they’re forcing Arabella into.”

“We should not be wasting time sitting here and-”

“Isaac, it will be much easier to get her out of here if we are welcome guests. For the time being, we just need to accept their hospitality and wait. When the time comes we will get her and run. ”

He looked at her incredulously. “How did you come up with that so quickly?”

“When you work under constant scrutiny you get good at reading people. Mr. Brogan does not seem suspicious of us and based on the size of his canines, I’d like to keep him on outside for as long as possible.”

Isaac sat down beside her. He turned to look at Lavinia, leaning close to her. He rested his hand on her thigh. “You’re brilliant, you know that.”

“I do my best,” she did not return his look, keeping her eyes flat forward. Isaac furrowed his eyebrows.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, no everything is fine.” She still would not turn. “It’s just… I want you. So badly. But I cannot completely separate you from- from what happened.”

Isaac did not know what to say. He stared down at his own hands. “What would make you more comfortable?”

“I- nothing, Isaac. It’s really nothing. I’m sure after a while this will go away.”

“I do not want to wait for it to go away. I want you to feel safe with me.”

Lavinia sat forward. “Can I try something?”

“Anything.”

She swung one leg over him, straddling his waist. He raised his hands to her sides. Lavinia grabbed his wrists.

“Don’t. Let me.” She pulled his hands back down, pressing them into the cushion. She leaned forward and kissed Isaac gently. She trailed her mouth down to his jaw, raising her left hand to run her nails behind his ear. Isaac shivered.

“What are you doing?”

Lavinia kept her mouth against him and whispered: “Let me have control. I- I need to feel like you’re under my power. Not your mother’s, not your company’s. Mine.”

He looked up at her, his eyes uncharacteristically wide. “Gladly.”

Lavinia kissed him again, hard. She slid her teeth across his lower lip, feeling him tip his head back. Moving her hands to the collar of his shirt, she untied his cravat. She pulled it off, dropping it onto the seat beside them. With the tie removed Isaac’s collar fell open. She could see faint bruising on his collarbone. Lavinia paused, hovering her fingertips over his pale chest.

“It’s ok,” he said. “I can’t feel any of it anymore.”

“What happened?”

“I would much rather think about you right now. Not anything painful.” He tried to sit up to kiss her, but she pushed him back. Her hands moved down his line of buttons, undoing them. At his waist, she untucked his shirt. She traced the lines of muscle on his stomach.

Ducking her head, she kissed his collarbone. It jutted out sharply from his body which was much skinnier than the last time they had been together. A product, no doubt, of not feeding. As she felt Isaac start to relax, she bit down lightly, dragging her teeth down his torso leaving two red lines. Isaac gasped and instinctively lifted his hands to tangle his fingers into Lavinia’s hair. She seized his wrists again.

“I am in control, Isaac.”

He looked at her, smiling slightly. “Do you want me to just let you? Or do you like a little fight?”

“I think you know the answer to that.”

She pulled his wrists together in front of him, holding them with one of her hands. Reaching out, she grabbed his discarded cravat. Isaac raised his eyebrows as Lavinia wrapped the tie around his wrists, securing it tightly.

“I did not know this was an option.” He said, smirking.

“Are you opposed?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Lavinia pushed his arms up so they fell over the back of the loveseat. She adjusted her position so that she had one of her knees in between Isaac’s legs. He shifted forward against her. Lavinia gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him up sharply. She kissed him as he flipped his arms down, encircling her. This time, she let him. Lavinia moved her mouth back to Isaac’s throat, feeling his inhumanly slow pulse under his pale skin.