Page 53 of The Runaway
“Well, that’s a stupid policy if you ask me,” Philippe said. “Which I’m sure is one point where we’d actually agree with each other. I paid good money for this omega, and current circumstances notwithstanding, she’s been a hard worker and hasn’t caused any strife. She knows the estate and gets along well with the other omegas. The way I see it, fair punishment is two or three strikes of the whip across her back, and that’ll be the end of it.”
To anyone else, his promise of a moderate punishment might have been mollifying. But not to Gabriel. “So a young woman was terrified because you murdered another women in cold blood, and so she sought help from someone she thought might protect her, and now you’re going to make her bleed because she wanted to defend herself.”
“Gabriel,” Antoine said, in a tone that said he wanted Gabriel to be reasonable. As far as Gabriel was concerned, hewasbeing reasonable.
“No,” he said, keeping his eyes on Philippe. “I want to know if you seriously think that’s a fair and just way to deal with this.”
“Contrary to what Antoine might feel about the matter, I am fully aware that Iownmy omegas,” Philippe said. He hadn’t raised his voice, but his tone was a fraction sharper. “And they are expected to do as I tell them to do, and to display loyalty to my estate.”
“If a horse got spooked by a barn door slamming shut, would you whip it for shying? Or would you speak softly to it to try and calm it down?”
Philippe was silent for a moment. “An omega is not a horse,” he said eventually.
“And yet you value their lives the same.”
Ignoring Gabriel for the moment, Philippe turned back to Antoine. “I would like my omega back now, please. Thank you for looking after her, and I’ll try to ensure she doesn’t bother you again.”
To Gabriel’s disbelief, Antoine stood up and went to the door. “Carolyn?” he called, and the woman appeared almost immediately. She would have been on standby to see to any of their guest’s needs. “Fetch Avril from the kitchen, please? She’s to return home with Philippe.”
“Yes, sir,” Carolyn said, leaving quickly.
Gabriel gaped at Antoine. “So that’s it, then? You’re just going to hand her over? To a man who murdered another omega?”
“I own her,” Philippe said, calmly but firmly. “You have no reason to keep her.”
“Gabriel.” Antoine’s voice was far sharper this time, and Gabriel managed to get a grip on his anger only by virtue of long years of practice in the military. He sorely longed to break Philippe’s nose and knock out half his teeth, but Antoine’s warning was clear. He was the master of the house, the ruler of this estate, and as had been demonstrated numerous times in the past, heated discussions may be allowed to take place behind closed doors, but in front of outsiders, the estate presented a united front. There could be no other way.
“My apologies,” Gabriel said, though even he knew it sounded forced. “I overstepped.”
Philippe, to his credit, said nothing, and Gabriel felt a grudging respect for him for his decision to not stir the pot. He and Antoine might not see eye to eye, but they had to live next door to each other, and it was in both their interests to maintain the peace, fragile though it might be.
Avril arrived a moment later, and Philippe headed for the door. “Good day, Antoine. And thank you for your assistance.” The pair of them left, leaving the room in a heavy silence. Niles was still sitting on the sofa, showing no inclination to leave, but at the same time, not willing to attempt to break the tension. His self control, like Philippe’s, was admirable, and Gabriel felt abashed for a moment about his own outburst. Until he remembered that a young woman had been murdered today, and he and Avril seemed to be the only two people who cared.
“So that’s it?” Gabriel asked, free to speak his mind now that their audience was gone. “He murders an omega and you just send her back like nothing matters?”
“No, that’s not the end of it,” Antoine said. “But unravelling the rest of it isn’t going to be so easy. I told you before, I can’t just buy Avril, for a whole list of reasons. But I know Philippe, and yes, he’s harsh by our standards, but he’s also reasonable. I have no reason to believe he’ll harm Avril any further than he described.”
“So you’re just going to-”
“So what I am going to do,” Antoine interrupted him sharply, “is make a very clear statement that neither I, nor the rest of our neighbours will stand for this sort of behaviour. We had an agreement to buy ten bushels of wheat from the Martins this year, and to sell them three crates of apples. I’ll be cancelling both contracts and not renewing them until or unless I see evidence that Philippe has learned to respect his omegas a lot more than he does now.
“I’m also going to discuss this with the Lavigne and the Allard estates. They both have contracts to buy the Martins’ wheat, and I’m reasonably sure I can convince them to cancel them. And furthermore, I’m going to bring the entire issue to the attention of Baron Bardet. There’s little he can do from a legal perspective, but the Martins are one of the biggest wheat farms around, and it’s a fairly sure bet that the Baron will have a standing order to buy some of Philippe’s wheat as well. Getting half of his yearly sales cancelled should be a solid wake up call to Philippe that he can’t parade around doing whatever he likes and expect everyone else to turn a blind eye.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
It was late in the afternoon when Cirroc came rushing over to Gabriel. He was standing outside the stable, giving Crimson a thorough brush down, more because he needed to do something useful with his hands while his mind wandered than because the mare really needed the attention.
“Gabriel! Gabriel!” Cirroc called, as he dashed across the yard. “You haven’t seen Connor in the last hour or so, have you?”
Gabriel looked up in surprise. “No, not since late morning. Why do you ask?”
“It seems he’s gone missing. Carolyn thought he was in the stable with Dante, Dante thought he was in the kitchen with Adalene, and Adalene hasn’t seen him since Philippe left this morning. He’s taken a bit of a shine to you, so I thought maybe you might know?”
“No, I don’t… Wait, you haven’t seen him since Philippe… Does Connor know what happened with Avril?” Gabriel asked, a worrisome idea occurring to him.
“The whole estate knows,” Cirroc said, with a bland sort of resignation. “Avril was talking to Carolyn in the kitchen, and Max overheard, and he told Helen, and then… well, you know the way things go around here.”
“Fuck…” Gabriel muttered.