Basilisk (Dark Ominis Gaunt x OC gothic romance)

Chapter 91: Planning Ahead

~~Marie~~

Marie glanced over at Damien as he fiddled with something, sitting in the servant room next to hers. He'd taken that room instead of one of the upper ones like Sebastian had, mostly because he was worried about her with someone out for Ominis. She wished they could just get rid of the three servants, but... if they did there was risk that either they would just outright attack them, or worse the Gaunts would question why they hadn't fired Sebastian or Damien. With Damien being suspected of being a werewolf, there was no telling what would happen if attention was suddenly brought to them. It was such a tangled mess...

She was in the laundry room across from Damien's room, unable to help but see him working on something with intense concentration before muttering softly in French. She smiled a bit, finding it quite endearing when he did that. Like he was frustrated enough he forgot English.

She finished folding the last of the shirts and sighed at the pile of clothes she'd finished, feeling rather accomplished she'd gotten this done so early in the week. She was trying to get some of the bigger chores done early so she could take a day off.

The thought made her glance back to Damien again, who was now wrapping something. What on earth was he doing? He was facing away from her so it was impossible to tell, other than the motion of his arms. Whatever he was doing he must be wrapping it tight, given the way the muscles of his shoulders and back were flexing. She indulged and watched for a moment, giving a soft little sound at how strong he was. It was interesting that he was so strong, yet also controlled enough to not snap the string of whatever he was wrapping.

She should probably ask him... she'd been working hard to try and keep the house together for a day so they could go out... but she hated to interrupt him like this.

"J'espère qu'elle aime ça..." Damien muttered softly, back to concentrating silently again.

She sighed, and knew it couldn't be helped now, she'd have to interrupt whatever he was doing.

Marie left the linens in the laundry room for now, and walked carefully over to the doorway of his room. She was curious that he hadn't noticed her yet, especially since his senses were so much better than a man's usually were.

She gently knocked on the doorframe, flinching a bit when he let out a yell of surprise.

"je ne l'ai pas fait!" He yelled, turning around with wide eyes and letting out a relieved breath at the sight of her. "Oh, Marie."

His eyes widened and he shifted something he was holding downwards so it was out of her view. She narrowed her eyes curiously, wondering what it was that he was trying to hide from her. Well... curiosity was her weakness, after all.

"Hello, Damien." She smiled sweetly, moving into his room a bit.

"Hello, Marie." He answered back, and looked oddly nervous. She couldn't help a bit of a bemused smile at how strange he was acting. It reminded her of a child trying to hide something from a parent.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice me in the doorway." She said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "You usually always know where I am."

"Well, Ronan is sleeping, and I was concentrating." Damien said, glancing back at something.

"Sleeping?" She focused on that, surprised that he would need to sleep when they weren't both asleep. Wasn't that enough?

"Yeah, with the new moon coming he gets much more tired, his words start to slur when it gets close, too." Damien smiled a bit. "Normally before it was a bit of a reprieve, but now it feels a bit too quiet."

"Hmm." Marie said thoughtfully, "does that mean he won't be able to come out as often?"

"No, he won't. Unless you're fine with him acting drunk and sleeping." Damien chuckled.