He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Twenty Four - Two Brides for Two Brothers

Miss Amelia was as she was described.  She was pretty, in a muted sort of way, for none of her features particularly stood out.  She was quite small and slightly overwhelmed by her large dress, but did not fidget and remained demure.  She gave polite and quiet responses when questioned and kept any true thoughts she might have had to herself.  Not that Cornelius believed she did, she seemed too sheltered, as she was, if one considered her many protective older brothers, who also attended the party.  They glared constantly at Amadeus as if willing him to upset their little sister that they might rescue her from his 'clutches' and renounce the marriage their father had arranged.  Amadeus took no heed.

The cousin, Miss Rebecca, did not have their protection and frankly neither needed nor wanted it from the way she threw herself onto Cornelius arm.  The young woman was a spinster at the age of 24 as in truth only a man willing to look passed her appearance might attempt to speak with her, only to make excuses to leave once they knew her a little.  Her eyes were small and nose was large and she was more than a little round of figure, worse her golden dress effectively made her look like a walking church bell.  She laughed with a high-pitched squeal, that put any slaughtered pig to shame, at sentences he would never imagine as funny.  Her piercing eyes perceived him in a way that was more than a little desperate and the thought that he might have to wake up next to her in bed had him break out in a cold sweat.  Never mind sleeping in the same bed, touching her was simply out of the question.

When he simply could not take her company anymore, he made his excuses, he hadn't yet given his siblings the gifts he had for them and fled to his room.  She even tried to follow him to this private space, but fortunately, she was admonished by her cousin for her brazenness.  Cornelius shut the door of the workshop and pressed his back against it.  His breath was halting, too quick and too shallow; he felt as if he was suffocating.  He no longer cared about the gifts he had put so much effort and care into creating.  His father was selling him off to that woman, just so his favourite son and heir be married to Miss Amelia and secures whatever business proposition he had come up with.  And what of Matthew?

This should have been a question he never thought to ask himself, but as Matthew's presence in his life became more prominent, so did his visage within his dreams, until he seemed to merge or even replace the man who haunted his sleep.  Now it was Matthew's laughter he heard in the background and Matthew, whom he walked with through a foreign landscape and Matthew, who shadowed his body as he filled him with pleasure.  He loved him in a way he shouldn't.  How could he possibly accept a wife, be she the unpleasant Miss Rebecca or even a girl as quietly sweet as Miss Amelia, now? 

Just as his vision began to blacken, deprived of oxygen and filled with sorrow, there came a knock upon his door.  "Cornelius, are you well?  Your brother hinted that you were quite distressed.." He opened the door with shaking hands to see the one man he truly needed to see and he finally felt as if he could breath.

"Matthew..." he said, clinging to the door as he allowed the other man into his workshop.  "Matthew..."

Eyes filled with concern, Matthew instinctively reached forward to place his palm on Cornelius' cheek, surprised when the man leaned into his touch.  Smothering the deep satisfaction that this caused him, he asked in slightly raspy voice; "What has happened?"

"My father has made plans for Amadeus and I to wed," Cornelius explained.  Matthew instantly tensed, a cold anger filling him, though it's grip lessened as Cornelius continued; "But I can't, I really can't marry that girl.  I don't want to marry any girl!"  Even the slow Cornelius could not help but catch the sharp, desperate and hopeful look within Matthew's warm eyes as he looked over Cornelius' face as if seeking something, though it passed soon enough.

"Then don't," Matthew told him.

"But my father..."

"What do you owe that man?" Matthew asked, angrily. "You tried to be a good son and yet he still over looked you to make your brother his heir.  He lessened your value, denied your talents then used you to help a business you cannot inherit."  Arranged marriages for the sake of alliances and business were normal, he knew that, but Cornelius was his, there was no way he would allow anyone to take him away from him, even if that person was a parent.  He was blessed that his own parents had allowed their children opinions on their potential spouses and he honestly believed that while the marriages were not for love, his siblings were at least happy.

"What do I do?" Cornelius whispered, his hand covering Matthew's still placed against his cheek.

"Come with me to the city," he said.

Cornelius' looked surprised.  "What?"

"I have a townhouse in the city," Matthew explained.  "I was planning to move there someday and so I ask you, will you move to the city with me?"  There was a small note of pleading in his voice, which caused Cornelius to nod in agreement, without further thought to the consequences.