The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 28: The fun in disembowelment

Eliza looked around the BBT manor's entrance hall with wide eyes, almost colliding with a member of the organisation had Lucius not grabbed her in time.

"It looks so much bigger when it's not full of people," she remarked. "And this is just the entrance."

"Well, you did mostly see the kitchen basement," Lucius added. "Not much of a view."

"Depends on who you ask." Eliza waggled her eyebrows, and Lucius smiled, exaggerating an eye roll.

Then his eyes fell on Anthony.

"You look troubled." He tried to say it casually, as if troubled wasn't Anthony's go-to expression.

"I'm concerned Damien will disapprove of the two of you coming here." Anthony made no attempt at looking less concerned, and Lucius scoffed.

"I work here nowadays, and we're both here to see Catherine."

"That's what he'll disapprove of."

"He'll disapprove of anything." Lucius dismissed the worry with a wave. "He can't stop me from seeing her, and Eliza's here to apply for a job. He can't stop her from doing that."

Anthony still grimaced, certain Damien could stop most people while in his domain, but said no more.

"It's fine," Lucius tried, voice a little softer, and he reached for Anthony's hand, but the latter quickly retracted it.

A crestfallen frown formed on Lucius' forehead and he tried to seek eye contact again, but to no avail.

So he turned to Eliza with the same concerned frown, and she gave him a similarly confused, sympathetic shake of her head, proceeding to lightly punch her palm and point at Anthony with raised eyebrows.

Lucius formed a silent 'no' with his mouth, shaking his head at the suggestion.

"Perhaps it would be better if he didn't know," Anthony then said, still not quite facing the two. "I could distract him while you talk to Catherine. Her room is in another part of the building."

"Are you sure?" Lucius was still disheartened, but refused to let it reach his voice. "You know her better than we do."

Anthony smiled weakly.

"No one knows Catherine. Doesn't matter how long you've been around her."

"But..." Lucius searched for words, but the energy to argue had been drained from him by the hand-holding rejection, so all he could do was sigh. "... Fine. You go distract him then. Just... Tell us where to go, I guess."

"It's just up the stairs but instead of turning right, you go left and follow the corridor until it turns left again." Anthony's speech was quicker than Lucius would have liked. "Her door is the first one on the right."

"... Right..." Lucius pouted, but if that's how Anthony wanted to act, he'd play along. "... Sounds like we're good to go then."

"What's wrong?" Eliza grabbed Lucius' arm as Anthony headed upstairs. "Why is he acting like that?"

"Dunno," Lucius muttered, mood significantly lower than before. "But he's always acting strange around Damien, so it's probably nothing."

It was something, of course. Why did Anthony have to act strange around Damien in the first place? They clearly didn't get along, but why was he so passive about it?

As if summoned by the mention of two Hargreaveses, a sudden cloud of smoke in Lucius' face alerted him that a third one had just arrived. This, however, was not registered by his reflexes.