Love song for a beast {M/M}

Chapter Seven: Save me from myself

He walked around the hall pointlessly. The weather was terribly stormy. Since early morning thunder and lightning were shaking the sky. Hughes disappeared somewhere. All the maids were resting in the kitchen, since most of them had a day off today, in addition to the master of the house not being there. Gabriel looked at the paintings, at sculptures, at carpets and other rich decorations. They were all beautiful, but something about them made him feel like the one who chose them was full of despair. That thought did not leave him alone, so he continued exploring wondering what made him think so.

*Must be the colours.* he thought. *All the colours are dark and gloomy. If it's a painting, it is raining or storming, if it's a carpet then it is every shade of dark colour, even the statues of the children seem like they are crying.*

Gabriel sighed and leaned on the wall next to a tall porcelain vase. *If I didn't know better, I would have thought that the heart of the Master of this house is full of sorrow.*

He shook his head. *I do not know anything about him, except that he can take a form of a gigantic beast. Who he is or where he comes from, why he can turn into that animal – I don't know any of that.*

*Two days after the doctor's visit, when Hughes was treating my wounds, he said something that I did not pay attention to. He said "Please, do not hate Master Victor."*

"It is hard not to." Gabriel said out loud. "But for some reason I don't."

He brought his knees closer to his chest and rested his chin on them. *Ever since father committed suicide, nobody wanted to have anything to do with me. Everyone pushed me away...I did not know that my father was hated so much by the working class. Ever since then...he was the first one who wanted to have me around. Then why...why would he do all those things to me?!*

Gabriel closed his eyes feeling sad. Another wave of thunder shook the sky and rain became stronger. *Father...why were you so cruel?*

"Young Lord," Hughes spoke emotionlessly as always. "Is anything the matter?"

Gabriel looked up. His eyes were red and teary, but he did not cry. He shook his head and stood up. "Everything is fine."

"Would you like anything?"

Gabriel thought for a moment.

"Please bring me some tea into the library."

"As you wish."

***

Gabriel sat at the table reading one of the books that Victor brought recently. The tea was steaming beside him and three different cakes were resting on a large plate. Gabriel did not like sweets, so Mary learned to make cakes with minimum amount of sugar: carrot cake, chocolate cake with dark chocolate, tangerine cake, simple tarts with fruits that Gabriel preferred. Gabriel took a bite from the lemon tart and smiled, the cake was not sweet at all, it had a strong taste of citrus as well as homemade cheese. In his mind he promised to thank Mary greatly when he will go downstairs. Gabriel slowly enjoyed the cake while he carefully examined the library. Since the day Hughes showed him the way, Gabriel spent there at least two hours per day. The warm and pleasant feeling that this room gave him was comforting.

Very rarely Victor would join him in the library. He would sit there and watch Gabriel read, but the master never stayed for longer than half an hour.

"Even though he personally takes care of this room...why won't he spend time in here?" Gabriel asked out loud.

Gabriel's gaze fell upon a row of books on the top shelves. They were so high up that without a ladder Gabriel would not be able to reach them. All the volumes were black and did not have a name on them. Curiosity nudged him and without any further hesitations, Gabriel leaned the ladder on the book stalls and climbed up. He reached for the tallest book and grabbed it, but the book would not come out. He furrowed his eyebrows and pulled again but once again nothing happened. Gabriel pouted like a child and pulled as hard as he could. The book finally moved, as if falling backwards, but it did not fall.