Red Snares

“Anna Smith.”

Her hands that’d been hovering over the handle jump away as she starts. Heart beating wild and rapid like a cornered deer as she takes a frightened step back, followed by another.

Her mind is spinning, stomach churning.

How did he know her name? How did he know she was here? What was he doing here?

“Anna, I’m going to open this door.” His voice is muffled through the wood, but regardless, she understands every word, heart lurching with each one. “And if it’s locked,” he warns, dark and quiet,”well, you’re going to wish otherwise.”

She watches in horror as the ornate brass handle turns, taking yet another step back.

The door opens painfully slow, Robert Hall’s tall form filling the entrance - her only means of escape. With a soft click, the door closes and her fate sealed. For what, she isn’t certain.

It’s probably rather comical, both of them just standing and watching each other in the dark room, nothing but the moon through the large windows to light their surroundings.

“Good girl, Anna.” The gentle caress of his praise fused toxically with his sharp and dangerous stare, Her blood goes cold even as sweat beads on her forehead.

She releases a trembling breath, swallowing hard before finding the courage to speak. “What are you doing here, sir?” If she weren’t terrified out of her mind she’d admonish herself for sounding so weak, voice coming out breathless and ****.

He cocks his head, moonlight shining on his blonde hair, and giving his already pale skin an almost ethereal quality. He had the markings of an angel, but his dark gaze spoke of something else entirely.

“I could ask the same of you, Anna Smith?”

She frowns, head shaking. “How do you know my name?”

He sighs, almost as if disappointed. “I thought governesses were supposed to be smarter than that.” With a calm step forward, he says, “So your stupid as well as unattractive then?”

A pained gasp releases quietly from her, not expecting the cruel words.

“Think, Anna,” he hisses. “Maids talk. It was all too easy to find out the name of the brainless governess rolling around in the grass.”

She supposes she should’ve thought of that, it is, after all, how she learned his name. Though it didn’t explain why he uses hers with such familiarity.

With a hard swallow she realizes he’s been slowly advancing on her, only a few feet away now. She takes a shaky step back, bumping into a small table, a glass spilling its amber contents all over it, making her jump.

“Well, now you’ve gone and made a mess, silly girl.” His brows raise, as if struck by a new idea. “Perhaps I should make you clean it up?”

She shakes her head wordlessly, no longer understanding what’s happening here. What does he want? Just to demean her? To see her cry?

“I think that’s a good idea, Anna. Always clean up after yourself. That is something you teach your charges, yes?”

And with an almost preternatural sense she dodges him as he lunges for her, hip crashing painfully on the edge of Marriott’s desk when she stumbles over a chair. Crying out, she pushes forward, but he’s too fast, the weight of his body holding her back onto the desk as he snares her wrist in one hand, and twists his fingers into her hair with the other.

With another cry, a sort of feral-ness takes over her, and she snaps her head to the side, teeth seeking skin as they sink into his wrist. He hollers loud in her ear, the hand in her hair releasing, allowing her to fly past him.

But the grasp he has of her wrist is strong yet, and he yanks her back, joint in her shoulder pulling hard before she falls back with ****. Stumbling as she tries to keep away, she ends up against the cupboards of Master Marriott’s trinkets and papers, some floating to the floor. Before she has a chance to even think about moving he’s on her again, pushing into her with his weight, the edge of the cupboard digging into her back.

With the capture of both wrists held above her head, and his body pressing hard against her, he has her completely immobilized. Their breaths come out in forceful pants, stirring the air hot around them, and causing loose tendrils of her hair to tickle at her face. She smells the whiskey on his breath, spicy and heady as it swirls around her.

His heavy pants turn into a breathless laugh as his expression lights up. “Well, Anna I am surprised.” His eyes travel down to her lips, in their depths, a greediness that both makes her skin crawl and body ache in a way she doesn’t understand. He licks his own lips, and out of some sort of twisted reflex she mimics him, a sharp metallic taste dancing on her tongue.

His blood.

The image of her biting him flashes in her mind, her body suddenly running hot from it. It’s then she’s finally able to take stock of herself, hair disheveled and loose, lashes sticking together with her tears, and cheeks wet with them, while her lips and chin were painted with his blood.

“I’m very impressed,” he says, as if that was what she’d wanted all along. The ridiculousness of it has her struggling in his grasp. But he holds fast, pushing the length of him deeper against her as his knee begins to slide between her legs. A litany of shh’s and Anna’s fall from his lips sounding almost kind and caring, and her bruised, exhausted body and mind reaches out for it.

Sobs begin to wrack through her, a rather pathetic sound, like a child. Eyes closed and tears falling liberally, her head dips forward in defeat, and she leans into the soft caress of his lips against her temple, seeking comfort in her attacker of all things.

“Please,” she begs with a whisper. “Please, sir let me go. I won’t tell anyone, I swear. Please.”

“Now Anna. Sweet, simple Anna. Why would I do that when we have so much to discuss.”

Her head drops back with a cry, cupboard shuddering beneath them.

“Hush now,” he orders softly, adjusting his body against her, allowing her to feel every hard plane of him pressed tightly against the soft slopes of her. “Hush, Anna. It’s not all bad, yes? I’m the one bleeding after all.” He smiles, his face lit up with amusement, and for the briefest of moments he looks so much like John it hurts, blonde hair and blue eyes alight like a silly boy whose played a prank on you.

“Now,” he begins, serious but still with a softness at the edges, “I need something from you.”

Her heart seizes in her chest, bladder loosening with an animalistic fear. Eyes wide, she twists against him frantically, mind lost to images of what he plans to do with her. “No sir, please! No, no, no, no, no!”

“Anna,” he warns, sounding like stern father. “Anna, stop.” Yet still so calm as he eases her back down from her peaking anxiety. “Stop.”

It’s quiet for a moment, the only sound in the room, their rapid breathing. “Now look at me.” She keeps her head down. So tired. “Look at me,” he commands with more ****, cupboard shaking beneath them again as he tries to gain her attention.

Finally, she obeys, all thoughts erased from her. “Good girl. Are you listening, Anna?” She nods robotically, his voice coming out small and far away. “From now on, you keep the children away. You keep them far away from me. Do you understand?”

She frowns, not understanding at all. That’s what this has all been about. His annoyance with the children?

“Anna, do you understand?” She nods despite the fact that she’s more confused than ever before. “I don’t want to see her bastards again,” he says through gritted teeth.

He sighs, as if he too is tired. “Now, as for the next thing.” His hold on strengthens, hard thigh sliding further between her legs when he begins to feel the tell-tale signs of her panic. “Anna,” he warns with amusement, “calm yourself, or this will end much worse for you.” She can feel the muscles of his thigh tighten, even through the layers of fabric that separates them. It confuses her, the pure disgust she has at the feel of his touch, yet there, where his thigh presses firm, is a delicious throb she almost wants to chase.

“For the rest of my stay here, I need you to do exactly as I say. Without question, without refusal. You do what I say, when I say.”

Bravery begins to peek its head within her, brows crashing together with hate. “I am not your maid, sir.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he growls.

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need too. You need only obey.”

“Why,” she asks with disgust. “Why would I ever obey a monster like you.”

He smiles, all sharp and mean and frightening. “Because I am a monster, Anna. You’re right about that.” He leans his face in close, hot whiskey laden breath washing over her as he bumps his nose playfully against her own. “And because, I believe your reputation is important to you, Anna. It is, yes?”

Her eyes search his desperately for an answer to his madness. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it would be unfortunate if Master Marriott and others were to find out about our little... coitus in his office.”

Her breath catches in shock before trembling with fear. “But we haven’t! We didn’t-”

“Perhaps not,” he agrees, “but they don’t know that,” gesturing through the wall to the music room.

She shakes her head, determined in her belief. “No, they wouldn’t believe you.”

He grins as if she’s telling a joke. “You’ve not spent much time around nobs have you? They believe whatever makes their lives more interesting. Further more, when it comes to the word of a gentleman versus a lowly governess... well, I know exactly who they’re going to believe.”

And just like that, her determination vanishes. He must sense it, her defeat, his devil’s intuition celebrating a victory as he disappears from her, his hands, his body, and his breath, suddenly gone as he steps back, watching with dark enjoyment as she nearly collapses without him there to hold her up.

They’re both silent for a long moment, time stretching out impossibly between them before he lifts a hand towards the door. “After you,” he says with a sly smile.

She walks almost like a drunkard towards the door, legs wobbly and unsure, the whole time fearing that he’ll change his mind and snatch her up again.

“Anna,” he calls after her gently, making her jump before going still. “You might want to make yourself more presentable before returning.” She feels the warmth of him seep into her as he stands just behind her. “What would they think if they saw you in such a state?”