He was waiting in the corner of the pub as promised. I pointed him out to Elijah the moment we entered. He looked the same as always. Dashing and debonair with salt and pepper hair, barely there wrinkles, and a suit that was last season but in a way that only the truly rich would notice. He was a man living outside of his means, trying to appear to matter more than he truly did. So nothing had changed.
"Edward," I greeted as I sat, my tone sounding colder than I had meant for it to. He noticed and could not resist commenting on it.
"Is that any way to greet your uncle, Vicky?" he boomed, deep voice carrying across the room as it always did when he was drunk. I looked down at the contents of his glass to find it empty. I wondered how many this had made.
"Uncle?" Elijah asked in surprise.
"Yes," I told him. "My father's brother."
"This is your associate?" Elijah asked, clearly still confused.
"Associate, eh?" Edward queried with a smile and a shake of the head. "That's what I am to you now?"
"You don't wish for me to speak on what you are to me now, uncle," I told him and saw Elijah tense at the route this conversation was taking. I made a conscious effort to calm myself. I hadn't wanted Elijah to see this part of me but my uncle had forced himself back into my life, as always, and I always had trouble maintaining my composure where he was concerned. I needed to keep this conversation moving if I had any chance of ridding myself of the man by evening. "Why are you here?"
"I heard you were here."
"And you just follow me from place to place?"
"You weren't answering my letters."
"Your letters all contain the same concerns. Concerns that I addressed months ago if you'll remember."
"I had hoped you had had time to reconsider."
"No reconsideration necessary."
That deceitful smile faltered for the first time. He glanced quickly to Elijah as if gauging the man's importance, trying to determine how best to take advantage of him or how careful he needed to be in his speech around him.
"Victor, I am your uncle," he settled on after a moment, tone losing much of it's pleasantness in favor of being firm.
"The shared nature of our blood does not entitle you to an endless amount of mistakes, uncle," I spat, jaw clenched despite my best efforts to remain calm. Elijah looked caught between considering excusing himself from an obvious familial squabble and remaining as my assigned escort for the day. I pitied him but my pity was, at present, far outweighed by my anger.
"I don't think your father would have-"
"Did you go to her?"
For the first time, my uncle frowned.
"Victor-"
"When I left, did you go to her?" I asked again. He hesitated, glancing at Elijah again.
"I did."
"What did you tell her?"
"It didn't matter, Victor. You had gotten to her first, you know that. She would believe you over me any day."
"Rightfully so."
He sighed.
"I'm sorry, alright? Is that what you want to hear?" he asked, showing the first signs of desperation.
"We are far past apologies, uncle," I told him.
"So that's it, then? You won't forgive me? We're to pretend from now on that we are not family?"
"You stole from us, Edward."
My voice had raised in my anger. My uncle's gaze fell quickly to Elijah who cleared his throat and turned his own to the floor.
"I'm sorry, Victor, I am. I got in debt with the wrong people and I just needed- it won't happen again. I swear it," Edward tried.
"You think I don't know that it already has?" I asked and he seemed caught off guard by that, eyebrow raising in confusion. "You thought I didn't know about you stealing from my father for all of those years? You thought I didn't see how your visits coincided with our valuables disappearing, father missing money from his vault?"
"Perhaps I should-" Elijah began.
"No," I interrupted. "We are done here. We can be going now."
I stood then, turning away and heading for the door. Elijah followed silently after me.
"Well, I intend to stay," Edward said from behind me. My jaw clenched again and I balled my fists at my side as I turned to face him.
"What did you say?" I asked.
He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms.
"I hear there's a ball in a few days. Some kind old woman invited me just this morning. They say they're hosting some big shot Duke from the North. It sounded like fun."
So that was the game he intended to play. To shadow me, stalk me, make my life in this town unbearable until I gave in to whatever it was he wanted and I knew what that was. It was always the same thing with him. Money. He always wanted money. But I wouldn't give in. No matter what attempts he made to destroy what minimal reputation I had been able to build here, I would not pay him. So I simply kept my head held high and strolled from the bar with Elijah at my heels, muttering curses under my breath the whole way to the carriage.