I did as she silently ordered, the odor of croissants and pains aux chocolats making my stomach rumble across the room.
“Thank you.” I smiled coyly as she served me some homemade orange juice.
I thought she’d take a seat alongside me, but she remained like stone. “You don’t want to sit?”
She shook her head.
“Will Radcliff join me?”Please, say no.
She shook her head again.
“Did you prepare all that for me?”
She nodded and gestured for me to eat, probably tired of my questions. I took a bite of the hot croissant, then another, under the observing stare of Mrs. Walton. I honestly ate like a hungry ogre; it wasn’t polite nor classy, but it seemed to please Mrs. Walton as she delivered me a warm smile—unless I was amusing her.
Unfortunately, the stern and cold Radcliff passed behind my back at this exact moment. He left an icy shiver creeping through my spine, and a piece of croissant got stuck in my throat. I coughed and struggled to swallow, cleaning my hands gracefully on the napkin.
Radcliff eyed me just for a slight second before ignoring me with disdain. He was reading a book, the kind that had gilding and a vintage hardcover.
“Good morning,” I said in an attempt to have a discussion with at least one human being in this manor.
His gaze slithered over me, up and down, and I felt like the strangest creature he had laid eyes upon. The way he stood regally with a lethal calm was enough to make me lose my composure.
“Lily.” My name rolling off his lips sounded like poison.
His scar was menacing, but each of his words was deadly.
When Radcliff was about to leave, I acted on impulse and got up from my chair to stalk toward him. “Are you going to tell me what perfume you want me to create or not? I need a fragrance brief.”
His expression was unreadable; it was clear no one would have the ascendancy over a man like him. The least I could do was to defend my position and lift my chin up for what was left of my self-confidence.
“If not, I have nothing else to do here.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line as cruel amusement flickered in his eyes. I had awakened something in him, a wicked interest. Even the thorns of his scar seemed to burrow deeper under his skin.
He loomed over me, inching forward with an imposing step that would shake all the stones of the manor. “I’ll tell you what to do.”
A dull pain arrived in my chest, and I saw him take a threatening form. As he maintained that illusion, I felt small, crushed by his large and imposing shadow. The room was imbued with his presence.
“You’ll clean up the fucking mess you’ve made inside my greenhouse. I want it spotless. Mr. Walton will give you everything you need.” He said it in a diabolical way, as if we were playing a game, in which he was certain to come out the winner. “It should occupy you all day. After all, witches are familiar with brooms.”
Irritation should have grown inside me under the coldness of his words. Anger should have thrummed through my veins under the task ordered. But the only emotion that simmered inside me was joy. Radcliff thought he was giving me a punishment, but he gave me a safe haven.
A smile highlighted my face. Returning back to the greenhouse was the only thing I wanted. It brightened my day and dissolved my loneliness.
“I’ll clean everything.”
His brows slanted inward, betraying it wasn’t the answer he was expecting.
“And I’m sorry. For the mess,” I added.
His throat bobbed, his obsidian eyes firmly set on mine for an instant. They had a shade of purple, just like a black tulip blooming in the dead of the night.
Radcliff disappeared through the dim hallway. He and the obscure nestled like old friends, his departure allowing the light to shine brighter.
It was only when I entered the greenhouse with Mr. Walton that I realized the mess I had made. My heart shattered upon facing the disaster. My fear of being trapped in the dark had brought chaos to what I cherished the most. I was guilty.
“It’s all my fault,” I whispered, out of breath.
