Prick the Wound

CHAPTER EIGHT

Prick the Wound

The contract signing between her, Lady Elizabeth, and Chris Duvier were gloomy. The rain outside poured heavily like the environment, inside the castle library. Agnes wore again her black frock and her pair of glasses. She felt relaxed now that she manages to have an agreement with Chris.

     They signed the contract without hesitation. She smiled. She felt vindicated of the mistake she made eight years ago. She can smile again for her sister and Chris. She just hopes that they will love the castle as well as the people inside it.

     A sigh of relief escaped from Lady Elizabeth. “This call for celebration.” Smith suddenly appears pushing a trolley with the champagne, wine glass, and a dainty cake.

     “Duvier, my niece especially made this cake for you. She said special people need a special cake.” The lady smiled at her niece proudly. At first, she was surprised at her niece’s action. She was so adamant not to marry him. In her usual self, she was an unpredictable woman.

     Agnes blushed when Chris looked at her with amusement. “I hope you did not put poison on this pretty cake.”

     “Try it and you’ll see.” Their eyes meet. For a second, some current was on the air. She pulls herself to look away and meet David Bern’s, looking at her intently. She blushed and looked down at her old shoes.

     Chris stood up and stand beside her. He put his arm on his shoulder. Surprised, she tried to dislodge his arm on her shoulder but his fingers pressed on her shoulder, “David, what do you think of my fiancée?”

     The man speechlessly looked at his friend. “Ahh—Beautiful. I mean-,” His face was turning red. “You’re a lucky man Chris.”

     A devilish smile graces his face. Looking down on his future wife, he whispered, “David had a smart and pretty girlfriend. I don’t like things I own to look at other men. Understand?”

     Things? Agnes’ face contorted with anger. Her blue-green eyes spark with spat. Angrily, she pulled his face towards her. He was surprised at her aggressive attack on him. He watches his witch’s angry face staring at him in fury and whispered back, “I’m not a thing, Duvier.” The use of his last name tells him a lot about her temper. “You don’t own me. Let’s be clear about it. I don’t want you curtailing my freedom just because I will marry you.”

     “Don’t forget, you just sign a contract. I bought you.”

     “Wrong. Aunt Liz bought you. We are the ones paying you. You are just lucky that my aunt selected you. So don’t stand there as if you have any right to own me.”

     Chris’s eyes glittered. “You think I want this dismal place? Do you think you’re worth my name and status? Agnes, wake up. I don’t value you. I can have any woman; I desire if I wished it.”

     “Really Duvier? How about Lea? Can you have her without my help?”

     The hate on his face while looking at her, almost floored her. She gasped at the venom on his face. “Don’t talk about her in front of me. Ever.”

     The tension between them was palpable. Everyone in the room can sense the friction between the two. Chris picked the whole champagne bottle and drink it all. Put the bottle down on the table in front of Lady Elizabeth with a bang a smiled coldly.

     “My Lady, we already overstayed our welcome.” He nodded at David to follow him. He left the room in steam while his friend ran behind him.

     “What did you do Agnes?” Her aunt hissed at her. Weakly she sat down in one of the deep chairs and sighed. Somewhere in her chest, she was hurting. She took a deep breath trying to analyze what just happened.

     “I think, I just stated the truth.”

     “What truth?” Lady Elizabeth had a foreboding feeling about what her niece was talking about.

     Tears silently ran on her face. She looked at her aunt painfully, “The truth is that no matter what we will do, he is still in love with Lea. He was doing all this for one reason only ---to have her back.”

     “That’s nonsense!” The old lady tried to ignore the guilty feeling she felt inside her. A silent voice was mocking her. “Agnes, do not think of Lea or any other woman. Use your charm to make him fall for you. This is your chance.”

     She laughed, “What charm? Auntie, the only people who were under my spell was you and Walden’s people. Outside from this wall, I’m nothing. Can’t you see the difference? You’re asking me to charm the man who hated the Walden’s more than anybody.”

     Lady Elizabeth sighed, “Yes Agnes, you have to for your people, I and our heritage will perish. Do everything in your power to win his heart or there is nothing you can protect anymore.”

     Gloomily, she stared at her aunt silently. Felt the burden of Walden’s name on her shoulder. Her eyes looked out on the window. She realized the rain had stopped. How strange. She felt she was facing a storm but the weather outside was getting brighter.

***

     The rock tumbled at the cliff as Chris hurled stones to the edge. Angrily he shouted Agnes’ name in anger and it echoed back. This made him mad and he throws more stones at the cliff. David watched him helplessly. He had never seen him like this before. He was a furious man.

     When he settled down, he sat at the big stone at the edge and watched the castle from afar. Cautiously, David approached his friend and sat down beside him.

     “That woman knows how to twist my heart.” He said quietly. “She dared to provoke me… she doesn’t know what she was getting into.”

     David offered a smoke at him. He took it. Chris was thinking deeply while he was smoking. Flicking the ash watching the embers slowly consume the tobacco.

     “I want the Walden’s to burn.” He smiled mercilessly. “I’m looking forward to seeing that proud woman tumble from grace David. I want her to beg for mercy like what they did to Lea.”

     “Are you sure about this Chris? Agnes seems different from what people said about her. I mean—she has spirit but the servants love her. I can see how much they adore her. It’s not like the other people painted about her being a witch.”

     Chris stubbed the cigarette at his hand and looked at him mockingly. “You too?”

     “What do you mean?” Confusedly he asked.

     “You also blinded by her charm David. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you look at her?” He laughed sarcastically. “We are in the same boat. For the first time, we like one woman. It just showed how good she is in charming us mere mortal.”

     David avoided his gaze, “It’s not like that.” He heard Chris laugh and it echoed on the mountains, “I just think she was innocent.”

     “Innocence. Pure, perfect, clean, white as snow.” Chris hammered the words one by one in mockery. “She should be a candidate to sainthood. C’mon David, let’s go. I made up my mind.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “I will show you the true face of a bitch dress in white.” Chris throws the keys at him. “You drive.” Then, he turns as if forgetting something. “Do you have a lighter?”

     David throws the lighter at him. He then pulled from his back pocket a piece of paper. It was scented and have pink ink. He clicked the lighter and burnt the paper. A cruel smile was pasted on his friend’s face as he watched it burn to ashes. Then, he blows it away.

     “What was that?” David asked curiously.

     “A secret contract,” Chris said coldly. “Between me and Agnes.” He entered the passenger seat and sat down silently. David pulled the seatbelt of his friend and fasten it. It’s not like Chris to forget this essential especially when it comes to safety. Worriedly, he glances at his friend.

     Surprisingly, Chris Duvier was smiling happily and started to whistle.