ED -- In Darkness Chained, update
Picks up right where the last part left off. There's a little bit of angst in here, and it's headed for some more angst, too, because eventually we're going to discover another big secret of Skyler's past and why he's buringing with hate for the Dowager Countess.
Standard spoiler warnings.
"My turn, then," Mr. Taylor said. "You want to know what lead to all that pent up anger that I loosed on Sara."
"Yes."
"My father. My father was a very cruel man. Only in his case, the cruelty was bound up in his love for me, I think. It's very complex. I'm only now starting to sort it all out." Mr. Taylor drew a deep breath and studied his hands for several moments, and Fletcher shifted uneasily in his seat, it wasn't right, seeing a Seeker so unsure and unsettled. He thought about excusing himself.
"I could never be quite sure what set my father off," Mr. Taylor said. "I looked for it, tried to find some warning sign. But I could never figure out what it was that set him off. Sometimes, it would be a wrongdoing on my part, but it also happened on several occasions when Sara and I had spent a fun day in the park, and many times I was reading quietly in my room or in the parlor when my father would come in, put his hand on my shoulder, and it would end with me being bound and beaten."
"I take it this was more than his hand or a taste of the cane?" A certain calculating light had entered Skyler's eyes. Fletcher could almost see the wheels turning in his mind.
"That makes two questions. And unlike you, I am not generous." Fletcher could hear the smirk in Mr. Taylor's voice.
Skyler rolled his eyes and pfft! at him. "Ask."
"How did your father come back into your life?"
"Ah, " Skyler sat up cross legged in bed, steepling his hands, "That would be the Lady Julot Faraday.
"See, the Earl was getting into his mature years, and his father reminded him that the heir to the dukedom needed to marry and produce a legitimate heir. He encouraged the Earl to find a nice young lady of the right class.
"Somehow, he and Julot crossed paths and caught each other's eye. She, barely 20, in the full bloom of youth with dark brown hair and merry brown eyes, not yet jaded and cynical like most everybody he knew. She had all these ideals. And I think he genuinely liked that in her, at least for a time.
"She, for her part, was taken with the idea of reforming so notorious a rake and starting a happy family with him.
"After a bare minimum of courtship, just enough to get married, really, they wed, both of them madly in love with the idea of their romance, passionately committed to their notions of who the other was.
"Shortly after, Julot discovered my existence and decided that she must rescue her husband's poor abandoned little lamb from his life of genteel poverty, that he should finally know his father's love, and have an education and introduction into those areas of society befitting his station.
He chortled bitterly. "When she discovered I had left school at 14 and was working full time in my mother's house? Oh sweet blood, the horror!" he simpered. "So, you see, it was her earnestly meant, but utterly impractical ideals of kindness, generosity, and family that ultimately did me such a damn bad turn."
"Did she have you put in Mr. Taylor's school?" Fletcher cut in.
"Yes. She thought that a private tutor would do me more harm than good. How would I meet and make my connections amongst the Barons of Business and the Counts of Capital unless knew them from my school days? You see, I was never going to be fully accepted amongst the nobility, me being a bastard and all, and I was going to probably have to work for a living because nobody should live off of their father's largesse forever, you see.
"Julot, having never spent much time amongst the business classes, save for those sons and daughters whose minds, motives, and ideals were as pure as hers, never fully conceived of the extent to which their class is just as exclusionary and closed. I knew nothing of industry or finance or of the military.
"I didn't fit with them any more than I fit with the peerage."
"It must have been very hard on you," Mr. Taylor said in gentle voice, "being taken from a place where you belonged, had friends and family, only to find yourself thrust into place where you knew no-one and all the rules were different."
Skyler gave a thin smile. "When I told you you were beautiful, Elsdon, I wasn't just talking about your face."
"You … you loved me," Mr. Taylor whispered, stricken.
"Yes. Yes, I think I did." Pause. "Don't worry. I know when a ship has sailed."
Standard spoiler warnings.
"My turn, then," Mr. Taylor said. "You want to know what lead to all that pent up anger that I loosed on Sara."
"Yes."
"My father. My father was a very cruel man. Only in his case, the cruelty was bound up in his love for me, I think. It's very complex. I'm only now starting to sort it all out." Mr. Taylor drew a deep breath and studied his hands for several moments, and Fletcher shifted uneasily in his seat, it wasn't right, seeing a Seeker so unsure and unsettled. He thought about excusing himself.
"I could never be quite sure what set my father off," Mr. Taylor said. "I looked for it, tried to find some warning sign. But I could never figure out what it was that set him off. Sometimes, it would be a wrongdoing on my part, but it also happened on several occasions when Sara and I had spent a fun day in the park, and many times I was reading quietly in my room or in the parlor when my father would come in, put his hand on my shoulder, and it would end with me being bound and beaten."
"I take it this was more than his hand or a taste of the cane?" A certain calculating light had entered Skyler's eyes. Fletcher could almost see the wheels turning in his mind.
"That makes two questions. And unlike you, I am not generous." Fletcher could hear the smirk in Mr. Taylor's voice.
Skyler rolled his eyes and pfft! at him. "Ask."
"How did your father come back into your life?"
"Ah, " Skyler sat up cross legged in bed, steepling his hands, "That would be the Lady Julot Faraday.
"See, the Earl was getting into his mature years, and his father reminded him that the heir to the dukedom needed to marry and produce a legitimate heir. He encouraged the Earl to find a nice young lady of the right class.
"Somehow, he and Julot crossed paths and caught each other's eye. She, barely 20, in the full bloom of youth with dark brown hair and merry brown eyes, not yet jaded and cynical like most everybody he knew. She had all these ideals. And I think he genuinely liked that in her, at least for a time.
"She, for her part, was taken with the idea of reforming so notorious a rake and starting a happy family with him.
"After a bare minimum of courtship, just enough to get married, really, they wed, both of them madly in love with the idea of their romance, passionately committed to their notions of who the other was.
"Shortly after, Julot discovered my existence and decided that she must rescue her husband's poor abandoned little lamb from his life of genteel poverty, that he should finally know his father's love, and have an education and introduction into those areas of society befitting his station.
He chortled bitterly. "When she discovered I had left school at 14 and was working full time in my mother's house? Oh sweet blood, the horror!" he simpered. "So, you see, it was her earnestly meant, but utterly impractical ideals of kindness, generosity, and family that ultimately did me such a damn bad turn."
"Did she have you put in Mr. Taylor's school?" Fletcher cut in.
"Yes. She thought that a private tutor would do me more harm than good. How would I meet and make my connections amongst the Barons of Business and the Counts of Capital unless knew them from my school days? You see, I was never going to be fully accepted amongst the nobility, me being a bastard and all, and I was going to probably have to work for a living because nobody should live off of their father's largesse forever, you see.
"Julot, having never spent much time amongst the business classes, save for those sons and daughters whose minds, motives, and ideals were as pure as hers, never fully conceived of the extent to which their class is just as exclusionary and closed. I knew nothing of industry or finance or of the military.
"I didn't fit with them any more than I fit with the peerage."
"It must have been very hard on you," Mr. Taylor said in gentle voice, "being taken from a place where you belonged, had friends and family, only to find yourself thrust into place where you knew no-one and all the rules were different."
Skyler gave a thin smile. "When I told you you were beautiful, Elsdon, I wasn't just talking about your face."
"You … you loved me," Mr. Taylor whispered, stricken.
"Yes. Yes, I think I did." Pause. "Don't worry. I know when a ship has sailed."