On the night of great mistake, a very slight slip had happened.
Maggie had been left alone that rainy night.
In her room. Unaided. Unguided.
For Eden to never be able return to her chamber that night was the great mistake.
For them all, to forget that no beast could possess a passion for revenge as man could was the great mistake.
To not be prepared for the worst was great mistake.
To have such blind faith in him and even inconsideration was the great mistake.
But principally, to leave Maggie alone was the real great mistake that led to the all-encompassing catastrophe.
If you were to blame it upon someone, you could have blamed the entire universe and it would not have been enough. You could have blamed Eden, Lord Stephen, Clarke and Devin, Mrs. Hopkins and Carol, the night and the moonlessness, the rain, the damp roads and the dingy lodges, the whole human civilization and the primordials and contentment would still have been far.
Because when it comes to the destiny, there are forces that operate from beyond universe. There are manipulations that are mastered from afar a million skies and a thousand universes.
This missile was fired from an unanticipated quarter.
“My intensions were as clear as daylight, that night_ when you two returned from the tavern.” The man stated softly. “To see you, Eden, it was. To ensure you were well. But after all that you did, I had to go for a retaliation.”
Eden flinched in revolt when he said her name like that.
“Do not say my name, I beg you.”
“Why not, Eden?” The man tilted his head. “I desire you. It’s not a secret.”
“Oh, you disgust me.” She spat out. “You disgust me.”
“Do I?” He posed gently, drawing one small step nearer. “You did, too. You too disgusted me, Eden. That night, when I learnt what you were up to. But once I had settled the scores, it was easier. I could love you all again in the morning, and no less than earlier.”
“You are a paranoid.” She breathed into his face. “You are deranged.”
“Maybe.” He whispered, his eyes roaming all over her face, pausing at her lips. “I have felt akin that since the moment I saw you first.”
She staggered back from him when she saw him lifting his hand as if to touch her. When he saw her revulsion, he withdrew his hand back to his side.
“So you were the father of Margaret’s child.”
The corner of his lips lifted a little, in a smile perhaps. His blue eyes flickered unsteadily. “I was, though I had no sentiments for her or the sprout she was budding in her womb.”
“To think that I admired you once!”
“Matters not, love.” He smiled sorrowfully. “I still admire you. Will always. That would be enough for us both.”
Eden pressed her dry eyes together as harshly as she could. She felt a darkness eclipse all her belief and convictions. Her faith. Her credence.
“But I assure you,” He continued blatantly. “It was never supposed to end up the way it did. Not that I regret it, Eden, I care not had she lived than I heed that she died. I care only for you. And now, that I know your relation with that man, that I won’t have you ever, I am rather glad she is extinct. At least you will remember what you did to me. You betrayed me.”
“I betrayed no one.”
When she said that, her voice oozed with cold contempt. A dejection to oneself. A failure of empathy. And tears that could not be shed.
“You never told me you were his.” He criticized.
“We were to separate. I was supposed to inform no one.”
“Well,” He sauntered still close to her, until he loomed over her like an intimidating phantom. An impending thunderstorm. “I am not a no one Eden.”
“You are not the man I have known.” She hissed hard in his face.
“Do not try to defend my fallen fate, Eden.” He sighed; a sort of mourning filled his eyes. “This is me, or you have never known me at all.”
“You did this to Maggie, Mr. Edwin?”
So this was the ‘Andreas Edwin’ whom she had adored, pitied and respected every day from the day she had met him?
This is what a man can be?
This is how deep he can fall?
“Had Maggie once told me, I_”
“Oh no.” The man cut in. “She had been appropriately warned for that. She would never have wanted to lose your regards for herself.” She believed she had betrayed you.”
Eden was hyperventilating by now.
“Eden, I_” He touched her shoulder in fragility and began when he was cut sharp by her wrenching away from his touch. His finger froze in the mid-air.
“Dare not, you fiend!” Eden backed off from him and went past the sofa to where a very bewildered Lord Adelwood stood, astounded out of word, feelings or action.
His Lordship had been too frozen so far to find his friend, his childhood friend turned into a man such as this; this man who stood unabashed infront of him, right now.
Anger was not there in Lord Adelwood. Nor was resentment. He was not offended enough. He was not furious enough.
Just sadness.
Or... not even that.
Emptiness.
He was at loss. He felt too defeated to be defined.
What more could man lose than a true friend?
More than his life, Caesar had lost his friend. His faith. His Brutus.
“Why?” She asked, overlooking the hills from the window. “Why, Mr. Edwin? For whose sake…”
“I came to your room that night, Eden, after I was informed that you all were back here, safely.” He spoke soothingly, as if it was a tale of valor he was reciting. And yet Eden could clearly make out the vicious undertone of that voice.
“When I entered the room, I found only Magpie. I asked her of your whereabouts but she was seemingly annoyed regarding something, her answer was unclear. What I deciphered, throughout, was that she was offended by something Stephen had told her. I didn’t ask. I needed to see you Eden.”
“Do not say my name.” Eden growled lowly, but he seemed indifferent.
“I walked out to the stable; I was in my nightshirt but I gave not two damns. It was cold, raining that night, if you remember. I made for the stable but in the barn, I stopped short.” There, Edwin pulled in a deep breath. His silver blue eye looked up, at Eden, and she felt her own dread matching his.
In those eyes, she saw true meanness.
“You were there, Eden and he_” His sharp, blade like eyes landed on the mute, lean figure of Lord Adelwood in the corner. “_He was there too. It was beating rain out there, I could hear nothing. But I saw, Eden. I saw everything. I saw how he held you, how you placed your head on his heart, how close you two were, as if… well. I saw much and enough. After you two left the barn, I left too.”
Eden’s fist clenched and unclenched on her side. “With all intent of revenge, I suppose.”
“Alas, no! You were untarnished to me even then. I blamed Stephen for this interface and not you. My very heart was unsuspecting to idea that my Eden could harbor any sort of affections for him.” He smiled then, boyishly. “I was a shallow fool. I went upstairs, to my room and ordered a footman to deliver the best wine into your room. It was a simple goodwill, Eden, I was certain that after being in rain for hours, you two would need something cordial for drink.”
Emotion floated into his eyes when, this time, he gazed at Eden.
“And an hour later, nearly ten in the night, I visited your chamber again. To find what? Maggie again and Maggie alone. I asked her firmly this time, of your situation. The girl had some earnest trust in me, didn’t she Eden? She gave away your secret to me. That you have been summoned by Lord Stephen. There, Eden, there_ the intent of revenge you talk of, here it comes. I was furious. That while I evidently and ardently loved you and devoted myself to you, you were doing what? Whore the night out with your master?”
Eden flinched at the term he used.
At her side Lord Adelwood stirred subtly, but Eden stopped him short by holding his hand.
Penfield sighed depletedly and hunched down on the sofa, holding his head.
“Three brimming glasses of white wine.” Edwin gazed despicably into Eden’s eyes. “That was all your Magpie could stand. Halfway the third flute, she was already high I recall. And the windows being open, she was cold. Poor girl. She thought I was Penfield when I collected her in my arms. She even complimented me for being warm and comfortable. I did what I could do best Eden. What a smoldering man can do best to a thoughtless woman. I heated her up. Elated her up. Took from her what you, Eden, were giving away to him.”
“God!” Eden breathed cringing away into the corner.
“But unlike you, I remained truth to you. Every stroke of passion over her was dedicated to you, love. Ever caress, every fondle, the patting and the teasing touches were all committed to you. She was merely the body. I imagined you _”
A sudden fist connecting his gut threw Andreas Edwin off his consign as he thrashed into the wallpapered wall behind.
“Know where to stop, Edwin.” Stephen grudgingly grabbed him by his collar. “You have devastated things enough. Do not test my patience. Dare not disrespect my wife.”
“Y-Your wife?” Edwin wheezed scathingly. “Ah yes! Why, I tend to forget it. Not long ago, the evening before I departed_ She had prized me such a fond kiss. She is quite a vibrant woman, isn’t she? I wonder how many more men are _”
Rest of his word ended in rasp as Stephen had now seized him by his neck.
“Maybe.” Stephen tilted his head with a shrug. “But that was then, Edwin. A month ago. Things can change. You are the best example.”
He let go of his throat and backed away from that man as if disgusted.
“Just know it Eden.” Edwin addressed her from past Stephen. “In case he ever rejects you, a proud man that he is_ I know he will; I am always there for you.”
“If he ever rejects me,” Eden sauntered across the room, stopping by Stephen. “I would rather slave myself as a servant than to be at your side.”
“I wish I could kill you, Edwin.” Stephen whispered. “I truly wish I had such frigidness in my blood to be able to slit your throat. But the mere thought of your son…”
“I cannot even stand the sight of it.” Edwin grumbled. “I wish it had never been there. I am thinking over leaving him at some Church gate.”
Stephen closed his eyes shut in pure hatred and sighed. Turning around, he walked away from Edwin to where Penfield sat, offering the broken man a few heartfelt words of compassion that, unfortunately, could not minimize his pain.
To think how cruelly Magpie had been used in the grand scheme of Edwin’s revenge was distressing.
“Will you do me a favor, Mr. Edwin?”
Eden’s question took Edwin by surprise but his face suddenly brightened at the prospect of being of any use to her.
“Anything, my dear.”
“Tell me where your son is?” She deadpanned.
He frowned at her but answered anyway. “With my sister. She is a widow, why?”
“Let him be with your sister.” She entreated softly. “Let him…grow away from you. You won’t be able to love that child if you cannot even bear the thought of him. Never, just never let your darkness eclipse his future.”
“So you care for him, eh?” Edwin smiled at her, as if pleased by the mere anticipation. “Come away with me then. You must care for me too.”
“Care for you?” Eden let out a bitter, vacant laughter. “Oh no. You might even just kill yourself and I won’t give a damn. You do not know how much I hate you.”
With that, Eden left the room having nothing more to say.
Outside the door, Mrs. Hopkins stood weeping, her handkerchief pressed to her lips for she had heard it all.
Eden gave her a look of sorrow and went past her to her own room.
That night, two things happened.
Eden developed a fever.
And in a cheap lodge somewhere down the way to London, in a dingy room with oil lamp like smell and rotting upholstery on the furniture, Edwin shot himself dead in the head.
____
We are much near to the END.