Bound by Love or Chains?

Chapter 5

Annalise feels her steps falter a bit as she enters the bedchamber. She has never visited this area of the manor before. She has had no reason to. Now, finding herself in unfamiliar territory with two men she isn't sure she trusts, or even if she wants to, her heartbeat races, betraying her fear.

Why would she be brought here? Surely there is no reason for her to be brought to her Master's bedchamber?

But there are reasons a woman might be brought to her future husband's bedchamber.

But that is NOT the deal they had made. She whirled around to face Elliot, ready to protest that this is definitely not what they had agreed upon. She had been under the impression she would have more time, that perhaps they could reach a point together where she didn't feel they were still enemies before she had to face this part of her decision.

Once facing him, however, she is met with the sight of him leaning against the wall just inside the door, one arm folded over his chest, and one hand being used to cover his mouth, obscuring the smile gracing his lips.

The bastard! He had seen her reaction, discerned the cause of it, and thought it was funny!

Not that it should be difficult to see the conclusion she would come to, but it still angers her, being laughed at.

He must see that anger flare in her eyes because he pushes himself up off of the wall and approaches her slowly, seeming careful not to inflame her further.

"I apologize if this comes as a surprise to you. I had assumed all of this was what you and Jacob were discussing when I found you." 

All of this? All of what? Doing her best to hide her confusion over the situation, she attacks instead, hopefully throwing both of them off their guard. "You mean he didn't follow your orders? Because, I regret to inform you, we spoke of no such thing. You sent him with a job to do, and he didn't follow through." 

It's a bit cruel of her to point it out to his master. Still, Annalise is not to blame for being at a loss here and she is going to make damn sure he knows it.

Their master, his lover, she corrects herself in her head. Logically, she thinks she would normally feel a bit bad about how their interactions keep going. But at this point, she is still rather upset about the whole thing, as she has yet to regain her footing after the moment they shared just before Elliot had found them.

"No, not that at all." Brenton still looks amused, peeking back at the other man, even as he listens to Annalise trying to get his servant/lover in trouble with all the maturity of a spoiled school girl. "In fact, Jacob sought you out on his own. I gave no order for him to find you."

Behind Elliot, Jacob stares resolutely at the floor, unwilling to meet anyone's gaze. Elliot looks practically giddy, barely able to hide his smile when he turns back to face Annalise. He does catch the tail end of her scowl, which gives him pause and makes him look between the two in confusion for a moment.

"Well, I can see that, whatever passed between you, there was no mention of your new room." He gestures around them, eyes flicking up to the ceiling. "I am uncertain of your family's circumstances before you came to live here, but I am sure this must at least be comparable, if not better. At the very least, it is a great improvement over the quarters you have been residing in since you came to live with us."

And this is not even close to what Annalise had been expecting. She looks around, eyes glossing over everything in the room in pure shock. This new information is too much for her to truly process.

Looking around again, she tries to gather her thoughts. "Surely you can't mean to give me such a nice room. Master." She tacks the title to the end of her statement purely on automatic. She has long since perfected the balance of respect to disobedience. 

Disagreeing, provided it is done respectfully, may be permissible, while disrespect, even when agreeing, is a worse punishment when caught by those in charge of the slaves. "Allowing a slave, or even a normal servant-"

Her light protests are cut off. "Jacob and I had a conversation after our meeting last night. Several, in fact." Brenton looks to Jacob as if for permission to continue. When Jacob nods, the movement is curt, like he expects whatever explanation that follows to go poorly. "He shared his concerns that certain things had not been made clear."

"This," he turns in a circle, arms out to encompass the room, "is a gesture of good faith." He says, studying her face and interpreting the wide eyed shock he finds there correctly. "An assurance that all of what was promised to you, I intend to follow through with. This is where you will stay until we are married."

Ah, she thinks. This is the beginning of disguising her position here in the manor. They intend to make her seem more respectable before announcing their impending nuptials. It hadn't been discussed the day before, but she supposes it makes the most sense for this to be the first step.

Inviting Jacob further into the room with a simple wave of his hand, he continues. "We both want you to be comfortable with this arrangement. We are aware of how much of a sacrifice this is for you, even though, to any outside perspective, it appears to be only to your benefit."

Jacob cuts Brenton off, sensing something in the conversation path that Annalise hadn't picked up on. "What he means is, we don't want you to think your sacrifice is lost on us. From the surface, it appears you are getting the better end of the deal. Between the three of us, we understand that things aren't quite as they appear."

"We want you to be comfortable with us, but that means you must trust us. We were hoping this might be a step towards that."

Brenton had rolled his eyes when Jacob had taken over speaking for them, but by the end he was looking at the man with such love it made Annalise's heart ache a little.

What it must be like to be loved in such a way. And to be able to love someone in return.

"Yes, I hope you accept this as a step forward in our relationship. And please, when we're alone," he gestures around the spacious room, devoid of any other witnesses, voice brightening as he eases from the more sensitive tone he and Jacob had taken on for the more intimate conversation, "you are not bound by such strict social rules. You may call me Brenton. I've never been the kind to stand on propriety. Particularly on matters between a man and his wife." There is a glint in his eyes as he says it, like some sort of joke.

She supposes that's just what it is.

Annalise allows her gaze to flit over to Jacob. Elliot- Brenton, she corrects- sees the motion and follows, turning to his lover, looking him up and down in a way that makes Annalise feel like an intruder, but snapping out of the moment quickly enough she isn't sure she didn't imagine it. 

"Ah. Jacob doesn't count." He says, winking at the man as he straightens to focus on Annalise again. "I can assure you, he has no plans to run and tattle on you for a lack of respect."

"Yes, I suppose that would be counterproductive to your… cause." In truth, Annalise hadn't even thought about that. She had been more concerned with how Jacob would feel about her encroaching on his territory. 

Not that she would be admitting that any time soon.

A sly look appears in Elliot's eyes. Brenton's eyes. His eyes. Annalise watches it take over the rest of his features as well.

Keeping his eyes on Jacob, he says in a strange voice, "He seems to be rather fond of you, actually. It likely wouldn't be helpful for his cause either."

Jacob appears to be turning a very subtle shade of pink. 

Teasing, Annalise realizes. The strange tone was teasing. Brenton had been teasing Jacob.

About being fond of Annalise.

"She seemed to be the best candidate. From what little I knew of her." His voice sounds defensive, in the instinctive way that one has no control over.

Of course. Jacob had been the one to pick Annalise, Brenton had said so yesterday. It makes sense that picking the woman his lover is to marry would be an easy way to poke fun at him. 

Or maybe it has more to do with the fact he knew enough about Annalise to understand that she would be amenable to their plans, despite her being a slave. Picking on him for associating low enough for him to recognize her as a good candidate the way he had.

She finds herself wanting to say something in his defense. She is thankful to be given this opportunity, much as she dreads the whole thing. If Brenton keeps his word, she will be regaining some autonomy over her own life.

And she is beginning to think he might be a man of his word.

Then again, should she be thankful to the man for unlocking chains he and his family had placed on her in the first place?

She is saved from having to decide whether or not she should say something by Brenton (using his given name was going to take some getting used to) speaking to Jacob. 

"Well, would you be so kind as to fetch her trunk from her quarters for her? Bring her things up so she can start to settle in a bit?" Sensing Annalise's stare, wide eyed with surprise, he checks. "If that's alright with you, of course?"

She's being asked for approval? On something as trivial as whether she was alright with Jacob bringing up her one small trunk and single bag of belongings so she can settle into her new room.

She has a new room. 

Her own room.

Nodding her head dumbly, she forces herself to find her voice again. "Yes. That would be fine."

Brenton nods to Jacob, who in turn tips his head to Annalise and heads for the door. He's almost through when Annalise jolts to her senses.

"Jacob." He freezes, foot raised to step through the threshold. He pauses a second before turning back, holding the door frame with one hand as he looks over his shoulder. She waits until he locks eyes with her to speak.

"Thank you." She hopes he sees the rest of the words she can't quite bring herself to say to him, the truce she's proposing after their… encounter earlier.

He smiles softly, just the one corner of his mouth ticking up. He nods again, and she knows he understands. She gives him a small smile back and he exits the room to collect her things.

Maybe they are right. Maybe they can take steps towards having a decent relationship. Despite what has apparently been her best attempts at stopping exactly that from happening.

Elliot clears his throat behind her. She startles; he is much closer than she remembers him being when she turned to speak to Jacob at the door.

She is alone with him, she realizes. And she has no idea what to expect.