Dedicated to the Queen Of Strife, Eris

Sick of doing nothing, I sit up, throwing my pillow across the room.

It hits my wardrobe and I am hit with a thought.

I don't have to stay here, alone. Mother can't make me.

A sadistic grin painting my face, I go over to the wardrobe and wrench the doors open. I begin hurling dresses out of the wardrobe, throwing them on the floor. At the back of the wardrobe, my hideous engagement dress stares at me. I knew this ridiculous gown would eventually come to some use.

After a moment of hesitation, I take it out and tie the top half to the bed post. I tie the rest of my dresses to the skirts of each other until they're in a long line of knotted dresses. I throw the make-shift rope out of the window and hauling my dress up to my waist, I hop onto the window ledge and using the dresses as a support, I scale down the side of my house as though I'm some sort of superhero.

To tell the truth, at this moment, I do not feel far from one.

Once I have landed safely on the ground, I hitch my dress up once more and run through the garden until I get to the stables.

Slamming the door open and almost bumping into Chastity, I yell, "Damon? Damon?"

He pops up in one of the furthest stalls. Peter is behind him and they both seem to be sorting hay bales for the horses.

"Eloise?" Damon walks forward, brushing stray hay from his clothes and hair, "What are you doing here? It's not safe here!"

"Damon..." I rush over and hug him. Damon tightens his arms around me, scooping my body against his like a warm blanket. "What's going to happen?" I ask him.

"I don't know, but it's not going to be good." Damon mumbles into my hair.

"Don't go. Don't leave me."

"I promise you, I will try my best." Damon swears, kissing my head and holding me even closer.

Peter coughs awkwardly and we both pull apart.

"I'll just leave." He says, his cheeks a bright crimson.

I raise an eyebrow at Damon, who chuckles, "Such an innocent soul."

"Hey, leave my brother alone!" I slap his chest.

"Sorry." Damon grins, "You know I'm always gonna love you, right? No matter what happens?"

"No." I say to him, "Don't you start saying goodbye. You're not going anywhere, you're not leaving me. You're going to stay and you're going to marry me and we're going to have lots of babies and we're going to call the girl Esther and the boy Emerson..."

"Woah!" Damon steps back, "I didn't say anything... about the name Esther. Urgh! What kind of a name is that?"

"Damon!" I chide him, "Esther is a beautiful name. Why would you say something like that? That's horrible!"

"No, the name Esther is horrible! My daughter will not be called Esther. No matter what happens, I will not allow you to do that!" Damon says, his eyes wide, "The poor child will be tormented all her life."

"Fine, Esther's cancelled. Well, what about Mary-Anne?"

"Sounds like an old woman." Damon shakes his head in disgust.

"Okay. Ella?"

A slow smile creeps along Damon's face, "Ella. I like it."

I smile in response.

"It feels good to talk about all of this with you," says Damon, "but we both know it's never going to happen."

"What?" My breath topples out of my mouth.

"It's never going to be possible. Your mother, she..."

"My mother will have no say in it!" I insist, "This is about you and me and our lives. We have to live with each other, right? She isn't in a position to make a decision about us."

"Don't do anything senseless in your haste." Damon cups my face in his hands.

I stare up at him, "I just don't agree with any of this. You're in the stables, trapped like an animal while my mother's in there with four strangers deciding our fate. We don't get to say a word in our defence."

"That's just the way it's meant to be." Damon says, his eyes staring right down into my soul, "It's this way for a reason, Eloise. We've got to respect that."

"And when do they have to respect you?" I ask, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. Damon brushes them away and bends to press his lips against my forehead. I put my hands over his and squeeze.

"Eloise!" A horrified voice calls.

Damon and I jump apart. I turn around and Mother is standing in the stables, flanked by Lady Elizabeth, Master Phillip (Emmanuel's father), Roger, Rose, Emmanuel and four masked men.

I stare at her as she walks forward. Right there, right then, in front of everyone, she slaps me across my face. So hard, I stumble back into Damon's arms. He holds me up, his eyes wide with horror. I can sense his longing to comfort me.

Mother beckons the men and they stride forward, two of them pulling Damon away from me. I start after him but the remaining two masked men hold me back. I thrash wildly, "No! Please don't, please! Don't hurt him! Mother, please!"

"Eloise!" Mother says, her voice shrill, "How dare you? How dare you go against my wishes? My orders?"

"Mother!" I say, courage rising in me like a tidal wave, "I have not done anything wrong. I told you right from the start, I did not wish to be married to that man. You knew it, you knew it all along that Damon and I... there was something more than friendship between us. We hadn't realised it, but it was there. Something strong and unbreakable. You knew it all along, but you ignored it!"

"Duchess Adeline, what is the meaning of this?" Lady Elizabeth's husband asks. I stare at the four of them; the parents, their eldest son and his wife trying to protect their baby boy and my own mother desperately attempting to cover up her daughter's supposedly heinous acts. Emmanuel stares at me with a cold hatred that I have not seen even for Damon.

"We shall battle through this, Phillip. I assure you, I will bring my daughter to her senses. She will stop this childish rebellion." Mother glares at me, her chest heaving with the exertion of her furious breathing.

"It is not childish and it is not a rebellion. I'm in love with him, Mother. I love Damon and I wish to be married to him." I stand as tall as I can, despite the men still holding me back.

Emmanuel walks over to me and stands in front of me. The men pull my arms back so my back is arched and my eyes meet Emmanuel's eyes. "You love him? You love him?! You don't love him, you leech! You love his attention."

"No!" I spit, "I love Damon, not the attention he gives me. I don't love you, I do not want to be your wife!"

Emmanuel is the second person to slap me. There is no reaction from anybody; not his mother, not his father, not his brother or sister-in-law and certainly not from my mother. Perhaps that hurt more than the slap. When my head slumps on my shoulder and I glare at him, he pulls my head up by pulling on my hair. I wince and tears roll down my cheeks.

Enraged, I hear Damon shout, "Let her go! Don't you touch her! Don't you dare! I'll kill you, you hear me? I'll kill you!"

I dare to look his way and almost choke on my breath. He is writhing, a futile attempt to be free and the men are holding him back, their eyes cold and expressionless. Damon's face is streaked by pain and anger.

My breathing accelerates as I watch him struggle. Damon does not meet my gaze. Emmanuel grabs my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him.

"You will love me and you will marry me." He says firmly.

"I will never love you." I reply, my eyes blazing like a deep pit of anger. Emmanuel slaps me again with the back of his hand. I almost fall to the ground, but the two men hold me up, ready and available for another lashing.

I look at Mother, "Why are you letting this happen? He is raising his hand upon me and you are standing there like a statue! You're supposed to be my mother."

Mother stares at me coldly, "He is your fiancée. He has more right over you than anyone in this room. I could not do anything, even if I wanted to."

I turn back to Emmanuel, who grins sadistically. I glare at him, "You make me sick. I hate you so much, my head spins. I hate you. Even if you force me to marry you, I will never be your wife. Not in the true sense of the word."

"Then I will kill the man who keeps you away from me." Emmanuel reaches behind me and then pulls a small rifle from the pocket of one of the men. He turns, raises the rifle and points it at Damon.

Damon stares into Emmanuel's eyes, "Do it. I'd rather die here, in front of her, knowing she loved me than later, when I know she's yours."

Emmanuel cocks the gun and overcome by panic, I turn and push the two men away with brute force. I dash over to Damon and stand in front of him, burying my face in his chest and wrapping my arms around his torso protectively.

"No!" I shake my head, "You can't kill him, Emmanuel! You'll have to kill me first!"

Damon attempts to put his arms around me, "What are you doing? What if he shoots?"

I look up at him, "Then I die with you, Damon. I won't let you go."

"You can't do that!" Emmanuel yells, stamping his foot like an impatient child losing a playground game. "Get her away from him!" He points at the masked men. They start striding forward, attempting to prise my arms from around Damon.

I hold on, squeezing my eyes shut with the intense effort of not letting these tightly muscled men take me away from Damon. Damon's arms tighten around me and he says, "Hey! Don't, stop hurting her! You're hurting her, get off!"

Infuriated, Emmanuel walks over and rips me away from Damon himself. I cry out in pain and all four masked men struggle with Damon. He lashes out wildly, "You wretched parasite! Get away from her now. Get your filthy paws off her!"

Emmanuel pushes me away from him and I collapse to the ground. I scrape my elbow as I go down and I can feel blood leaking from it already. Damon sees it and something inside him snaps. He pushes all four men back and charges at Emmanuel, pushing him to the floor. The gun falls out of his hand, bouncing away into the shadows. Damon and Emmanuel throw punches at each other, rolling around to get the upper hand.

Damon throws Emmanuel off of him and stands up, bent in a defensive crouch. They both circle each other like wary animals, like cats about to pounce. I can only watch on in horror as Emmanuel grips Damon, kneeing him in his stomach and punching him in his face.

One blow catches his temple and Damon falls to the floor, knocked out cold. I stare at him, tears streaming openly down my face. "Damon!" I choke out.

Emmanuel turns to me, wiping his bloody nose and grinning, "He won't be waking up for a while now."

"What have you done?!" I scream, "Have you killed him?!"

"No, unfortunately, not yet." Emmanuel replies, "But he will be dead soon."

I back away from him slowly and then a glint catches the corner of my eye. I look on the floor and spot the gun. I race to it and pick it up with trembling hands, pointing it straight at Emmanuel.

"My son!" Lady Elizabeth cries out.

Really?! Now I get a reaction?!

Emmanuel walks towards me steadily and I shout out, "I will shoot you! Stay back, stay there! Don't move, I will pull the trigger!"

"Will you?" Emmanuel raises an eyebrow.

"I... I... I will." My hands tremble as I aim the barrel at Emmanuel...