We started to fall into one another, but there was something more chilled about Philippa’s reception. She was kissing me very little and rushing through just about everything. It was starting to piss me off, something that was bleeding into the foreplay as I started to get a little more forceful. It turned into much more of a battle though, with Philippa fighting back, going tit for tat with me in everything I did. Before I knew it, we were both throwing our wait around more than we were doing anything even remotely pleasurable. She tried to flip me to my back, but instead, I climbed clear off the bed.
“Philippa,” I demanded. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Why did you stop?”
“Because I’m not gonna make love to you when you’re clearly angry or something. Did something happen back at the house?”
“Nothing happened, I’m fine,” she said.
“Youdorealize that I know you better than anyone in the entire world, right? I know when you’re lying to me, mainly because youneverlie to me,” I said. “Did my father do something to you?” I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Did something happen with Lucia?”
At that question, Philippa stood up out of the bed taking the blanket with her. “No Lucia is fine.”
“I feel like that’s not true,” I responded. “Is she not happy in her room or something? You know, she loves flowers. If you bring flowers to where she’s staying, I’m sure she’d feel more at home. She hates spicy foods too, but I know Romeo loves them. If he’s making her eat everything he’s eating, she’s probably too afraid to tell him that she doesn’t like those foods. You have to tell the staff to bring her different stuff. She’s very kind and really easy to please.”
Philippa turned and looked at me straight in the eyes. “Anything else,Signore?”
I recoiled some at the harsh phrasing. She hadn’t called me that since I was still at the Cavettis estate. “N-no. If you do that then I’m sure she’ll be much happier.”
“Yes,Signore.” She looked at the bed. “Do you want me to get back in bed?”
I cocked my head to the side. “I don’t think I understand the question.” She simply continued to stare at me, unmoving and permeating with rage. “No. I guess. I don’t. Not with you like this.”
“Yes,Signore.”
She silently walked around the room, collecting all the articles of her clothes, then she dropped the blanket on the bed and walked downstairs. The downstairs bathroom opened and closed and then I heard the shower run. I continued to sit on the edge of the bed in stunned, naked silence, waiting for her to come back up, but she never did. Even long after the bathroom door opened again, she never came back upstairs and eventually, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and walked downstairs to find Philippa curled into a ball and asleep on the couch.
Why wouldn’t she come to bed?
Unsure of what I’d done to upset her so badly, I just pulled a blanket over her body and sat on the floor next to her. Eventually, my head fell back against the cushion of the couch and I watched her until my eyelids were too heavy to keep open and I relinquished myself to sleep.
I woke up the next morning to the quiet sounds of shuffling. The blanket that I’d placed on Philippa was draped over me now, and Philippa was no longer on the couch. I rubbed my eyes and groaned at the soreness in my back from the uncomfortable position I’d slept in. Philippa was sitting at the dining room table, in a chair facing the doorway. Even when I shifted to get up, she didn’t look at me, and it wasn’t until I walked around to face her that I noticed she was crying.
“Hey.” I crouched in front of her. “What’s going on. If something’s hurting you, tell me.”
She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“That’s obviously not true.” I grabbed her hands. “Is it the Bonifacios? What’s going on with them?”
She shrugged. “The boys and twins are being kept in the dungeons in the basement. They’re not being cleaned, and they’re being starved. I heard a rumor that one of the Bonifacios may have died, but I don’t know if that’s true or not.”
“And Lucia?” I asked.
Philippa winced when I asked it and gave me an icy look. “She has it way better. She’s being fed and is in a guest room. You don’t have to worry. Your true love is being well taken care of.”
“My… what?” I stood up and looked down at Philippa, but she stayed staring straight ahead. “Where did you hear something like that?” I lovedher. Wasn’t that obvious? I thought it was understood. “Philippa?”
“I wonder. Do you know my favorite flowers or any foods that I don’t like?” she grumbled out as tears streamed down her face. “You sure seem to care a lot for Lucia.”
“Well… I do care for her,” I said. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Do you care for her more or less than me?” Philippa asked.
My eyes widened. “What?”
She whipped her head in my direction, and at the same time, there was a knock at the door. My father’s men had arrived. “Do you care for Lucia more or less than me?”
The question shocked me so much that I didn’t quite know how to answer. Lucia was the woman that I loved as a boy. Even well into my adult years, I was convinced that she was the woman I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.
