Marriage is Murder

Marcus laid her on the bed, and he felt Khaat's hold on him not giving.

"I don't think she's hurt," Marcus told Jess. "But James scared her rather badly. Give me the potion." He figured she might take it for him without even thinking about it.

"You can let go now," he said gently to Khaat. He paused, but she held fast. He got the message. This had scared her. The idea of James getting a hold of her, getting rid of her--or her baby. She wasn't letting go of Marcus for now. He sat down on the bed with her.

The fact was that James was a monster. And a damned big one. Far bigger than she was. She had a right to be scared. He wrapped her close, not even bothering to loosen her cloak.

"I think, later, it will seem more like it was worth it than it does right now," Marcus told Jess quietly. "I don't know how he finds her, but he does."

"Its his bloodlust for her," Edward said from the doorway. "He must have it bad if he can hone in on her like that. Call me back when she's able to talk to me. Maybe there's something that she knows that will help."

"I was there, you know," Marcus said.

"Yes, but you're not a seer. You aren't an energy worker. She'll see things you don't. As I said. Call me."

As a long time professional bodyguard who was used to dealing with high profile clients, Marcus was not at all comfortable with the woman's coming to the estate. They had done no backgrounds check and knew absolutely nothing about her. He wasn't sure why Jack and Steven simply hadn't brought Brant back themselves. Marcus was suspicious. He thought that perhaps they were allowing her to come simply because Brant appeared to be taking a liking to her.

His job wasn't to worry about strangers in their midst--unless they came near Khaat. And he wasn't about to let that happen. He accio'd a bottle of brandy from the bathroom where it was stored for things such as this. He poured her one shot of it and fed it to her slowly, reassuring her.

He didn't like the new damage to her neck that James had done. The tissues on the left side of her neck were so damaged and disfigured from the attack that nearly killed her that it didn't take anything to cause more damage, and James had snatched her by her neck in yet another desperate attempt to get the stone. And she had been terrified that something would happen to her baby.

He could see her neck was swelling and bruising. He scribbled a note to the house elves, sending for an ice pack for her neck. With everyone concerned about Brant, he knew he was on his own to tend to her.

After the brandy, she soon started to doze. He loosened the winter scarf and the cloak from around her neck and removed her boots and covered her with a blanket, deciding to let her rest.

"Thank you," Marcus said quietly, not wanting to wake her. "I appreciate the clothes, Cassidy, but I don't know if I feel like I can leave her. She's been having nightmares, and I don't want her to wake and find she's alone, even if its for a few minutes."

He glanced out the window, just feeling a need to check. "He wants the stone," he said. "Even if she could take it off, its not something we want to fall into his hands. Not sure how he'd use it, but he must have some idea if he wants it that badly.

"And now he knows she's pregnant, and that seems to just drive him to want to target her more," he sighed. "I don't want her to have to live in a box until we stop him, but we can't let her continue to be victimized by him over and over."

"Those are exactly what I wanted. Thank you," Marcus said. "I probably will simply stay with her while she sleeps. I don't want her to wake up and find she's alone."

Angus and Michael got back, loaded with more bags and packages than they could carry--and those were all shrunken. They both knew that, full sized, it was going to take awhile to put them away.

"We will help!" Dottie and Suki hurried to them. "We will put them away. Go get warm. The little one...the female child....she was asking for her grandmother's cocoa? Does the grandmother make the cocoa?"

"Kate makes marvelous cocoa," Angus said. "I try to duplicate her recipe, but there's just something different when she makes it. Its just not the same."

"They say there is a special magic that comes from a grandparent," Suki nodded. "Perhaps she will make some for the female child?"

"If we ask. Which child?"

"The little blond. The one who was playing with her grandmother's jewelry a moment ago."

"Her jewelry? Where was her grandfather?"

"Oh, he gave her the jewelry box to play with. The child is sitting at his feet on the floor in front of the fire. She was trying to tell her grandfather a story, I believe."

"Well, I'm sure Kate is going to love that," Angus frowned.

Kate was busy painting. Her hand was moving quickly across the canvas. It was a snowscape of the property, the woods, and the scene showed the start of the December snow, as it started to cover the grass, the snow making a stark contrast as it fell across her blue gray sky. She was acutely aware of the snow, and it had given her inspiration. She was trying to capture the view.

Marcus saw Cassidy's tray come up and he set it on the dresser. He hadn't thought he was hungry, but when he smelled the soup, he realized he was very hungry. While Khaat dozed, he decided to eat his soup, freeing him to help her when she woke. He didn't believe she'd sleep more than a few minutes, but he wanted to let her sleep for that time.

Kate looked up. When he mentioned James, she sighed. She was so tired of him ripping up her family that she really did want him dead. She took a moment to really take in a good memory of the snow and her inspiration for her painting. She drew the memory thread out and put it into a test tube, corked it, and tinted the glass a light blue and magically marked it with a little snowflake. She put it on a test tube rack in one of the cabinets. Then she commanded the paints, the palate and the brushes to clean themselves.

"Very well," she said. "I've been sensing some distress since before you all left. I presumed it was her, but it has deepened. Either she's been almost out of her mind with distress since before you all left, or there's someone else who is having some sort of troubles. I can feel it. I'll check on it when I get back. Let's go back, then."

In the kitchen, while Angus was helping the house elves, Michael was busy making a new type of cocoa for them to try. Well, it wasn't new, but it was certainly new for this house. He had a large soup pot out, and had added milk and cocoa and sugar and had a number of spices out on the counter that he was preparing and mixing with all the gentle meticulousness of one of Robert's trickier potions.