A New Estate - Crimson Peak

Chapter Thirty Eight

Robert accompanied me on the remainder of my mind clearing walk, watching China bound around and holding my hand loosely for both my comfort and to use me as his anchor to this reality, as he would claim later on.

There was still a minor amount of tension between us, but I believed him when he said that I wasn't a game to him.

I couldn't say how long we had been walking, all I know was that it was long enough for the daylight to gradually darken and for it to be near pitch black when we returned to the manor.

Allerdale Hall was still quiet upon our return and it continued as few words were exchanged between us during Ben's brief call to a discussion of burial plans in the sitting room, even when we sat down to eat, though most plates remained hardly touched, we ate in relative silence until we decided to call it a day and head to bed.

That night I shared my bed with Robert.

We didn't sleep immediately, instead he held me as we led in the still dark and would occasionally whisper small comforts to me.

The morning was going to be hard and I didn't know if it was worth getting up early to make breakfast, as I was in the habit of doing, or if it would be best to simply leave the men to their own devices and allow them to grab things if and when they were hungry.

I did have other things to attend to.

There were letters that had to be written and the burial was to take place that afternoon after a morning of preparation.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time and all of it was life changing, even if it didn't affect me directly beyond being a witness it hurt to see these men trodden down repeatedly.

Sleep didn't find me as easily as it did Robert.

Perhaps being continuously possessed drained the energy of a person.

I wished to never learn.

As time passed in darkness, my urge to get out of bed and find Lucille's remains in the mines became overbearingly strong but I somehow managed to squander it, not wishing to be disrespectful by going about it before we had even laid Nathaniel to rest.

It may have been a ludicrous thought process, but it stopped me from leaving.

Thankfully, I also had Robert's grip around my waist as a firm factor to keep me in bed, as if that even in sleep, he knew what I was thinking and thought it a bad idea.

I accepted it as fate and instead basked in the comfort as I finally allowed myself to relax into the embrace.

We rarely had moments like this and it made my stomach flutter pleasantly to know that he felt comfortable enough to stay in bed with me through an unspoken agreement.

We needed to be on each other's side during a time like this and there was a sense of understanding to have him wordlessly show that he was there for me, whether we were in the best of places together or not.

Unless that was Sir Sharpe's influence, telling him to keep me close in order to keep hold of the manor.

No.

I refused to fall down that rabbit hole all over again.

From what I knew of him, Robert wouldn't play with my heart just for self-gain, even if I had my moments of doubt since learning the truth, he simply wouldn't.

Surely.

He wasn't the type to play with someone emotionally, at least that wasn't the impression I had ever gotten from him and I wouldn't say that I was a terrible judge of character, though there was still a high chance of my feelings for Robert to be clouding my judgement.