Roderick walked closer than he ought, and Claudia pretended not to notice. It was only animal instinct that had driven her this far out onto the garden path. She took up his hand and turned to face this man that she had hated since she was aware of his existence. 

"Roderick." She tasted his name. It felt slick, and she wanted it off as soon as she could find a cleansing word. 

"My little sister is getting married. I hardly think you've earned the match." 

"He is from a fine family. Better than ours, there is no merchant blood."  

"Watch your tone, girl. You've no right look down on us." 

"How should I look at you?" 

Roderick's hand clenched. "You should be grateful to those who helped you find a place. You should be grateful no one has told Victor what you really are." 

Claudia felt her body shiver inside its lace cage. She lifted a hand and rested it on her chest just above the line of her gown. She leaned her body closer until she could feel the heat of him. "And what is it you think I am?" 

Even knowing it would come, Claudia was surprised at the force of her back hitting the garden fence and the painful pressure of Roderick's hand on her shoulder. "I think you are no better than your whore of a mother. I think you will bring shame to this family." 

"Is this how you handle your disappointment of a wife, brother?" Claudia said her eyes traveling to his hand. "With such brutish force? Should I be afraid?" 

Roderick grabbed her other shoulder, and the force of his fingers was liable to leave marks. "Of course you should be afraid." 

"I'm not. You won't hurt me. I have your father's name." In spite of the pain of his hold on her, she set her hand gently on his chest and lifted her other hand to caress his cheek. "And who knows brother dear perhaps, when I have tired of my beautiful Victor, I shall look for a man whose strength is in his arms. Perhaps I shall desire a man who has a bit of a brute in him." 

The grip on her shoulders loosened and the expression on Roderick's face altered. She was more afraid of this look than the other. She spoke the words, but she knew this was not the brute she desired. One of his hands slipped slightly down her shoulder. Claudia knew where that hand was thinking of going. She knew what a man's desire looked like. 

"Soon, I will not have your father's name," she whispered. 

His hand went where it wanted, and it thrilled her not because she desired this man but because she had won. She had him. It was a weak hold, and she would not test it. She had him.  

"I wonder, will your wife look like me tonight?" Her hand slipped down his chest to his stomach which was showing signs of heavy drinking. "Father's garden tastes like autumn already." 

Roderick watched her with narrowed eyes. "You are a creature of hell." 

"If you will. I feel like a creature of flesh. The blood pounding in my veins is confirmation."  

A voice echoed out into the gardens. For the first time in the life she remembered, she was happy to hear her father's voice. Even happier that it was not calling her name. 

"Roderick, father is calling you." 

Watching her brother stalk away from her, Claudia knew there was only one place to turn. From the brute, she didn't want to the brute she did. As always, once she set her mind to something the rest slipped away. She lived inside the world and allowed her strings to be pulled. She danced as a puppet should but the part of her that thought and felt recognized only one drive.  

She had to find Bennett. 

Twice before, she had sought him out. Both times had ended in with her bare flesh against a tree and leaves in her hair. If she let her thoughts linger upon those nights, it brought shivers up her spine. Now for the first time, she was truly unsure of her reception. 

Claudia's brain became occupied with a strange new thing during her puppet dance. Thinking. In her mind, rusty from lack of use, she began to understand the gravity in her situation. Her brother's lust was the key. He wanted something, and he could not have it. So he intended to destroy it. Could Bennett be the same? 

Could she even blame him? He was her everything and having given herself to him entirely was she not now cheating him? 

On the day, her last piano lesson was to take place these thoughts were all she had. One week and she would be a married woman. She saw none of the carriage ride or indeed of anything until she was in front of the piano. 

The music that littered the room was a sure sign of who sat at the piano. Still, Claudia went forward to look. 

"He does not want you. Stay, while you have a name left to protect," Philomela said. 

"If anyone ever desired you then perhaps you could understand." Claudia looked at the other woman. There was something too hard in Philomela's eyes, it reminded her not of Louisa distant removal from feeling but of Lucius' active hatred. For a moment, Claudia feared her. "He is in the stables. I am going." 

Claudia ran from the room and out the back door.  

Outside the air was chill, and she fled across the grass. Claudia entered the stables on tentative feet.  

When she saw him standing next to his black stallion, she stood in silent thought. Who was Bennett? It had never troubled her before that she knew nothing of him. Her body responded to his presence knowing all it needed to. Did she? Thought was new and foreign to her. It singed her mind to be caught in its whirlwind. 

"I hear you are to be married next week," Bennett said. He did not turn to face her, and she wilted away from him. His voice did not hold the cruelty or anger of Roderick, but it was cold. "I think, little girl, that you mean to marry him." 

"Bennett," Claudia whispered. She walked into the stall across the hay-lined floor and pressed herself to his back. "I love you but..." 

There was no way to finish her statement. She understood her situation standing there. The world might only know of one promise, but she had made two. Could she stand to live knowing that Bennett was out there somewhere hating her? She had to. Surely, he wouldn't hate her, not really.  

Bennett turned, and a blow from his arm set her hurtling back into the stable wall. He glared at her without moving. "I think the only thing you love is you. I think you are exactly what I thought you were the first night you came to me. You are a little girl playing at being bad without ever thinking of the cost." 

Claudia shook her head. Her shoulder hurt where his arm had struck her. She couldn't find any words. She was lost in the cold depths of his eyes. 

"I offered you something I have never offered any other. Do you understand that? Did you doubt I would keep my word? Think that I would leave you shamed? Aren't you shamed enough now? You won't marry him, Claudia. You are a demon spawn, and you will rot in hell." 

"No!" This one word Claudia forced out. "Please, I can't exist when you look at me that way." 

Bennett took one menacing step forward. "How shall I look at you?" 

"One week is an eternity." Claudia stretched her arms out to him, her beautiful overlord. "The rest of the world is a weight around my neck. You are the only thing that matters. You are the only joy." 

Bennett chuckled and walked by her out of the stall. "If I came to you now, Claudia, I guarantee you would find no joy in our coupling."  

Claudia crumpled to the floor when he left lowering her head. Would those be the last words she ever heard from her Bennett? He will never forgive me, she thought and then wondered if she would ever forgive herself. 

She rubbed her shoulder absently relishing the pain. How could she denounce the pain as anything less than superb? It was probably the last time Bennett would touch her. Even this, even a blow given from the pain in his heart, was worth more to her than any touch Victor would ever provide.

* If you like the story, please go ahead and hit the fancy little star and let the world and me know you appreciate it :) Thank you all for reading. I'm getting a better response than I hoped! Constructive comments are always welcome or almost any other type of comment you wish to make. Your responses always make my day!