Partners In Crime

Chapter 34

An air of anticipation seemed to hang in the room like a veil. The space, filled with the soft whispers of morning light and the comforting scent of fresh linens just a few moments prior, began to transform. As William and I positioned ourselves on opposite sides of the bed, our faces bore expressions of quiet intensity, eyes locked in a silent agreement that the forthcoming conversation was of paramount importance. The weight of our combined thoughts occupied an otherwise empty, minimalistic design of our chambers with only a handful of furniture, imbuing the room with a palpable sense of gravity.

William made himself comfortable on the far end of the bed, facing the ceiling-high window illuminating the space with his arm stretched behind to support his body that was reclined slightly backward for a convenient position, allowing him to avoid the ache of reduced movement for a lengthy period of time. 

I, too, situated myself in a pleasant position; leaning against the stuffed pillows separating my back from the headboard, while my arms confined my knees in a hug and were blanketed by regal silk for additional coverage. I found no time to waste in delaying the dialogue. Furthermore, my eagerness to hear the answer, which had the potential of eradicating the uneasy feeling I carried to bed with me last night, or, worsening the said feeling altogether, played a far more substantial portion of my hurry. 

The stillness was suffocating yet I chose to spend my last modest quantity of patience on William's foreplanning. During the lengthsome silence that he used to organize his words, I mumbled a quiet prayer for the upcoming confession to prove to be an overdramatic reason for worry with an anticlimactic outcome. At long last, his eyes met mine.

"The collaborative work of our family, conjoined by an arranged marriage... was never meant to happen." 

William's beginning statement pierced unexpected daggers into my heart. I could almost hear the painfully loud throb of it, nearly causing me to jump in my spot at the suddenness.

Like an opening for an incredible, breathtaking show or lecture, that shall leave you wet in tears before it even ends, he began his revelation with an equally strong opening. Hitting the spot of the topic that would most certainly cause me to relate, as well as, keep my focus on him, just like a hapless insect; succumbing to the meticulous craftsmanship of a spider's trap. I was ensnared by his words, clinging to each one he uttered. In the same vein, the method William chose to use was to maintain my meticulous engagement and keep me on my toes so that I would desire to hear more, as opposed to, be scared of it. Only the subject matter of his first statement had a bit of a sting to it...

Nevertheless, I remained serene. After all, a part of me was aware of that given fact, considering how bestowing one of my sisters in wedlock, to protect our work, had never been in our book of near-future agendas either.

Some say that truth hurts — it does.

But it's the lie that leaves scars. 

Hence, a part of me sensed an appearance of gratitude — among a handful of other emotions I experienced merely a few moments prior— creeping into a zone of my brain responsible for reactionary actions. In response to his heavy statement, I smiled. 

William had always been extraordinarily attentive to details, even as diminutive as a thimble, and did not proceed with his speech before I performed a nodding motion of my head, which left him all the more hesitant but he obeyed my request regardless. 

"Impromptu decisions have never been in my nature of living. Admittedly, before the very first supper, our families shared, and in the course of our carriage ride toward the GS estate, I had thoroughly planned out a proper rejection of the letter your sister had sent. However, having studied the records of your family, dating back to the years when your parents had not your oldest sister, I compared the paperwork to the newsprint reports of murders taking place in the nearby territory. The instances of your mother making deliberate appearances in places with large masses of people, where there would surely be enough to witness her presence, were perfectly correspondent to the presumed times of each murder executed by your father,"