CW - anger issues and other junk, sexual themes, sexism

Magnus sat in the dining room and murmured to Tilly, his eyes blazing with anger, "I need you to gather the rest of my daughter's belongings so we can make room for Miss Ruth, and I need you to bring it here and put it in her old room. If she wants it, she must come here. Heads will roll if she disturbs Miss Ruth. That girl needs to face her family after her disgraceful behavior. Now go." Tilly backed away and gave a curtsy before taking herself away. The chit had the nerve to look over her shoulder and sneer at him after he let her be. She was lucky he didn't fire her for not letting him fuck her.

He then snapped at the butler and barked out, "Serve the food. Fuck being polite anymore. I am tired of waiting for my stupid wife and ingrates for children. Let them eat cold food." And the man scurried away. He was in a foul mood and taking it out on everyone.

He had just received a report about his grandchildren being legally somebody else's, but then, the mother had been in the brothel so she could have gotten pregnant by anybody.

As food appeared on the table, he had them move all but one set of plates to the other side of the table from him. Ruth had her place next to him. He started to think about fucking her again and his mood brightened a little, his trousers getting tight in the crotch all of a sudden. Anne was lucky he was civilized enough not to sweep the plates off of the table to do the deed. She was going to be angry. The thought of her ire only made him want to do it anyway. He was daydreaming about it as he thoughtfully cut into his chicken.

[CW: alcoholism]

Look, the day had been a wonderful dream for the most part. At the end of their shopping spree, Ruth owned more clothes than she had ever owned in her life. Her fake jewellery had been replaced by earrings, necklaces and bracelets with real diamonds and real gemstones. Magnus had been a perfect gentleman and under his adoring gaze and praising language and swiftness to pay up, she had almost forgotten that he was old and ugly.

He had shown her the cottage, promising that his daughter’s things would be removed that very night and her own things moved over in the morning. That was a relief. Despite the luxury and worship with which he showered her, Ruth was beginning to long for a moment alone. As the day drew to a close, the dream turned into an increasingly severe headache. She began to feel rather anxious whenever he spoke up, convinced that he would tell her he had changed his mind and he didn’t want her after all. Even his hungry looks, which declared the opposite, began to frighten her. The occasional jostling of the carriage caused her to break out in sweat. She folded her hands tightly in her lap to suppress the tremor. She was in dire need of a drink.

The idea of having to last an entire night with him without a single drink nearly squeezed the breath out of her. She didn’t think she’d be able to do it. When she went up to change – because rich people apparently needed a different set of clothing to eat dinner – she begged and pleaded with Tilly to find her a drink. There was no alcohol left in the house was the brutal answer. The master had ordered every last bottle to be poured away. Ruth raged at the maid. All kindness of that morning and the night before was forgotten.

She took her time coming down, struggling to compose herself. She whispered every curse in the English language at Magnus and his stupid sober face. Finally, she realized she could no longer delay. She went downstairs, dressed in her new lilac evening dress with a low cut, cream gloves and a diamond necklace. She tried to look happy.

Her rage melted away when she saw him, not because the sight was pleasant, but because she realized that his rage was bigger. Was he angry with her for making him wait? He had already begun and was cutting his chicken rather severely, his mind elsewhere. Was he thinking of what else he could cut? Ruth was used to fawning. She approached him quietly but stopped just out of reach. “Magnus, my love. How do I look?” she said in her sweetest voice.

He softened immediately at the sight of her. He set his food down and wiped his hands clean. Then he stood and pulled her chair out for her, "Ah, how lovely you look, my dear." He said, his voice genuine. "I had forgotten about my more civilized company in my anger, forgive me? Tilly is off to clean the cottage of Mrs. Blacke's things." Stupid little chit, he mused, he had a mind to have her things given to somebody needy. Then he softened again a little when he remembered that Pearl would do it without batting an eyelash.

He waited until she had the chance to situatw herself before moving to sit down himself and said, "I hope you don't mind the lack of servants when dining, I find it annoying to have to wait for them to serve my food." He never would get used to it.

Then he had that moment of guilt hit when he realized he missed Pearl for her kindness and maybe he was being way too harsh toward her. She never complained about the lack of servants, she never called him awful names nor pouted like a petulant child like her oldest sister.

The truth was, he had every idea as to why she left and could not blame her. Perhaps he was angry she didn't trust him, but how could she if the whole world already had a bad opinion about her? She deserved so much better.

He looked over at the young woman who was now his mistress, a woman who had known hardship if she had to work at that god awful brothel his son had owned. She deserved better than that place and he decided that he would do better with her at least.

He glanced over to her and was about to ask when one of his sons came loping in casually. The young man (the one who bonked Pearl), took a look over toward the woman sitting where his Mother used to sit. "Father, please tell me this isn't a family member," he purred as his eyes raked over her.

"Not for you, son," Magnus replied. "You will treat her with the respect due to a lady or face my wraith. I can smell the wine from here and you look like shit, perhaps you should worry less about drink and more about finding a wife who you can harass."

His son actually looked surprised and then cut his eyes toward her. Oh... His mother was not going to like this.

She felt a tantalizing relief when his features softened on her. His rage was directed at other people. Ruth had already realized that he was a mean and angry man. But what did she care if he was rude to the butler or boorish around the maids? What did she care if he was cruel to his wife? It only made his special treatment of her more hypnotic.

He even held out a fucking chair for her. It had been years since a man had treated her with such gallantry. Ruth gave him a genuine smile and sat down. When he was seated, he even apologised for behaving angrily towards others. Apologised! To her! Ruth tried not to look too smug. She put her hand on his and was about to tell him that if the servants had angered him, they must be really incompetent and she was glad they weren’t there, when the smell of wine pulled her gaze and longing to the other end of the room.

Fuck.

So this was the younger version? By habit, she responded to his hungry gaze with a coy smile. Then she realized her mistake and dropped the smile. Her hand wrapped more tightly around Magnus’s in compensation – or maybe as a plea. She dared not look directly at his face to gauge whether he had noticed her short lapse.

But seriously, fuck.

The younger Carrington looked like he was trying to destroy his liver faster than her mum, but even so he looked a billion times better than the fossil next to her. More importantly, he drank, like normal people. Fuck Tilly for telling her there was no booze in the house. And Magnus could go to hell.

It was probably lucky that his voice pulled her out of her confused thoughts. Magnus was the one with the power and the money. Mr. Carrington Jr. was the one with the looks and the booze. It was a tough call, but if she could get through this night, she could drink herself to oblivion tomorrow when she was alone. With that promise to pull her through, she looked back at Magnus and tilted her head. She knew what she was paid to do and there was some pleasure to be had in the outrageousness of it all. She lifted his hand in hers and kissed it affectionately. “Your son, my dear? I didn’t know he was home from school.”