My Rogue Lord

Chapter seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Your Cook seems very nice." Katherine said as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear, looking anywhere but at him. She felt on edge, not wholly herself.

"Aye, she is." Jonathan answered as he observed her from where he lay against her linens.

"She seems very fond of you, your steward as well." Her hands trembled slightly as they sat atop her lap.

"Aye, they are." His voice was quiet as he searched for what she so desperately tried to hide, what she herself did not know of.

"Why are you watching me in such a manner?" Katherine's voice cracked with the question.

"Because, Kitten. You want to cry, and I don't understand why." Jonathan said softly as he sat up, leaning slightly towards her.

"You're absurd, my lord, I do not want to cry. I have no reason to." Katherine replied with a braveness which she did not feel nor believe in. She felt a sense of hiraeth wash over her.

"Tis alright to cry, Kitten." Jonathan said gently as he took one of her hands and began to play with her fingers.

Katherine laughed bitterly. "Crying does little good, my lord. Tears change nothing."

"Perhaps that is true, but they make your heart feel lighter." Their interlocked hands rested in his lap as he continued to mindlessly inspect them.

"Nay, my lord. Tis not true. They don't make one feel lighter, they simply teach the person how to be numb."

"That person shall break."

"Some things are meant to be broken."

"Things, not humans." Jonathan wished those words were true, but he knew all too well the lie he had spoken. The human kind had no regard for each other. They cared not for the feeling of others, they were selfish creatures looking down their noses as if everyone was the rubbish beneath their shoes, everyone but themselves.

"I may not know much, my lord, but I do know that your words carry no weight." Katherine said as she willed her tears back. They betrayed her, cascading down her cheeks before she could stop them, but his finger caught one.

"Why are you crying?" The plea in his voice made her body tremble with emotions she thought she did not possess. Why was she crying?

"Why does it concern you?" Katherine tried to snatch her hand away only for him to tighten his grip.

"I do not like seeing you upset." Jonathan answered honestly, surprising even himself. But it was true. He had come to care for the chit and he did not like seeing her in such a state.

She glanced at him sharply then, her enormous green eyes filled with tears. He loved the color of her eyes, as well as the sprinkle of freckles across her nose and cheeks.

"You should leave, my lord."

"I will once I know what has you so upset."

Katherine shook her head. "Do you not see? I, myself do not know. I just... When I saw the way you, Lord Dracmore, and Lady Davidson were behaving, especially the way you were behaving with your staff... I... I didn't understand the feelings which erupted inside of me. I...I...don't know why I'm crying but..." Katherine sobbed as Jonathan pulled her onto his lap, hugging her fiercely. He rocked her back and forth for a few minutes before Katherine remembered herself and tried to move away.