Through My Eyes

Chapter Eighteen

I love you, Damon.

I send out the silent thought, my hands clasped together on my lap. I keep my gaze directed towards the floor, refusing to meet Lady Elizabeth or Roses' gazes. Emmanuel, Richard (Emmanuel's brother) and Master Phillip are in the coach in front of us, to my relief. I could not go through this journey with Emmanuel's beady gaze fixed on me, I could not bear having to pretend to be happy.

The carriage bounces over a pothole and I jolt. Lady Elizabeth glances at me disapprovingly and feeling embarrassment washing over me, I regain my posture.

My thoughts return to Damon.

How could he not come to say goodbye? I had ached to see him one last time before I went. I had stood in the doorway and looked back at my mother's house, running my eyes over each of the windows, hoping for one last glimpse of him. He never showed up - not even his shadow was visible. My heart sinking, I was prodded into the coach and forced to take my seat. I had willed the tears away until all was left was a burning in both my head and my heart. Even my brain feeds on Damon's presence.

"Eloise."

Lady Elizabeth's nasal voice breaks into my thoughts like a plate shattering against the cold ground, shards flying everywhere.

My hand snaps up, "Yes, Lady Elizabeth?"

"It is no longer Lady Elizabeth, Eloise. You now must refer to me as Mother-in-law."

"Yes, Mother-in-law." I reply, obediently, wishing that Damon's mother was still alive and that it was her sitting before me, not the mother of a beast.

"This journey will be long. Do you want to stop for anything before we approach the countryside?"

"No, thank you." I say, my stomach giving a pang in protest.

"No, thank you, what?" Lady Elizabeth raises an eyebrow.

"No, thank you, Mother-in-law." I say in a monotone, lowering my head again.

Lady Elizabeth huffs in triumph and turns away, a small smirk raising on her pinched mouth. I glance at Rose, who has already fallen asleep, her chin touching her chest uncomfortably. Then I turn my gaze back to the window and stare at the passing greenery, everything blurring until I feel my head fall backwards softly...

A sharp pinch on my thigh makes me jump, hitting my head on the top of the coach in the process. I rub the sore spot as Lady Elizabeth glowers.

"Do not embarrass me, Eloise. We are home. Get out of the coach." She snaps.

Aching to be away from her scrutinising gaze, I scrabble out of the coach and the driver lets me down to the ground. Emmanuel walks over to me, snatching my hand up and placing it in the crook of his arm. I fight the urge to snarl at him and let him lead me up the walkway to what I can only describe as a monstrosity of brick and glass.

The house is largely dominated by towers, jutting out of multiple corners. Their pointed roofs raise accusing fingers to the sky, attempting to defy the entity that allowed them to exist. Ivy crawls up the towers, trying to warn them of the terrible mistake they're about to make. Daisies in the ground point back towards the coach, as though trying to drive me away, reminding me of how this is the worst decision my mother has ever made for me. The grass rebels against it's taller friends in a bid to lure me into the family home, a home that will no longer house childhood memories but my cries of desperation and screams for help.

Before I know it, the doors are being opened into a parlour with a large marble staircase in the back, widening as the steps go up. Emmanuel drags me to the seating area arranged in the shape of a square with small ornament tables marking the corners. Workers bustle in, carrying trunks and lugging them up the stairs. I watch them go, my eyes focusing on their muscles bunching up in the midpoint of their shoulder blades. Trunk after trunk passes us.