The Monster's Love

*Chapter 15: Memories

Chapter 15:

Memories

            More weeks passed by as Evangeline lived in Payne manor. Most days she was confined to their room with only Lisette and Will as company as Bertrand had a coven to run and orders from the council coming in nonstop. It wasn't long before they became close, to Eva's surprise. Lisette would help her dress for the evening and after they would sit together talking about everything from Lisette's reputation in the manor to Eva's dreams. Or what she thought her dreams were at least.

            "I think...I want to help people," Eva said one evening they were together, lounging on the sofa in Bertrand's room. "I don't know how, but when I think of people being in pain I just have this desire to reach out. It probably sounds really strange when I don't even know anything about myself."

            Lisette smiled. "I don't think it strange," she said. "You're a kind person and I have a feeling you were just as kind before your mind was tampered with." She placed a cold, yet comforting, hand over Eva's who in turn placed an appreciative hand over Lisette's.

            Then there was Will. When it was only the two of them Eva found herself watching his every move. It was like being in the presence of a coiled rattle snake. Any moment it could strike and sink it's venomous fangs into you. Will tried to assure her many times she was safe with him, that the two had an agreement with one another before she was brought to Payne manor. Still, she was cautious around him and it was a fact that, to Will's surprise, was slowly beginning to weigh on his nerves. 

            When she wasn't trapped in her and Bertrand's room she was firmly fixed to the elder's side as he worked in his office. He'd sit at his desk working away on things she was never made privy to while she sat at the easel he bought her. She would paint until he was finished and they would retire to their room where a servant, or sometimes Lisette, would bring her dinner. There were a few occasions where he would take her out to a restaurant to eat but those were few and far between. He was still wary whether Eva had fully accepted the false memories he'd planted within her mind and would not risk her escaping him again.

            Everything was peaceful for the most part but she did not allow herself to grow too comfortable. Her memories still felt wrong and a large part of her mind despised when he would begin kissing her or attempted at anything...more. He was always patient, never pushing her and stopping when she asked but she knew his patience would soon run out. A man like Bertrand could only be put off for so long. But each time their lips met her mind would go into a frenzy, stirring up images of someone else. Someone with green eyes and a midnight black mohawk...

            "So no memory recovery yet sweetling?" Will asked as he laid across the leather sofa in Bertrand's room.

            Eva was caught off guard by the question. Lisette nor Will ever brought up the topic of her warped memories. Each time she attempted to broach the subject they would shush or change the subject, saying it was not the time to talk about it. That she needed to be patient. The fact Will was bringing it up now, after nearly a month since she'd woken, made her approach the topic with caution.

"Why do you ask?"

Will sighed in irritation, sitting up from where he laid on the sofa. Ever since Eva's incarceration at the manor Jasper had been on his backside constantly. The necromancer was constantly asking about the healer. Was she safe? What was Bertrand doing to her? Had she recovered her memories yet? It was beginning to get on his last nerve. The plan was to wait till Eva's memories returned on their own but now that they had a plan together Will thought it was time to give Eva a nudge.