Hidden Perfections

The next day, Emma decided to tackle the rest of the castle, besides her bedchambers and the disgusting kitchen. She made a face just thinking about it.

She went into the kitchen to find the mop and bucket, and then wandered the halls searching for the filthiest area. She found it, it was a dimly lit corridor with dust covering every visible inch of space. She immediately set to work, scrubbing the floor so hard her lower back ached and she had to take a break and lean against the mop.

While mopping next to a heavy curtain that covered part of the wall, the mop hit something hard right behind the edge of the curtain. She pulled the curtain back and saw a painting.

It was of a very handsome man, but what stood out more than his beauty was the look on his face. Haunted, pained, angry. Around the mouth, he looked like Burke. A brother maybe? But what stood out the most about this painting was that someone had taken a dagger and stabbed it several times.

Emma, a girl who could appreciate art, was saddened by the destruction to this beautiful painting of this beautiful man. Why would someone do this?

Foot steps sounded behind her, and Burke was ripping the painting out of her hands before she could react.

"What. Are you doing?" He asked through clenched teeth, his fury just barely suppressed. Emma felt true fear seeing him like this. Would he hit her?

"I was just... This hallway... I'm supposed to clean... The curtain... " Emma couldn't get sensible sentence out.

Burke set the painting down, and held up his hand to silence her. He looked away, pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few deep breaths. "You shouldn't be in here." He said in an eerily calm voice.

"I was just cleaning..." Emma whispered, still scared.

Burke held his hand up again, indicating that she shouldn't speak. "Leave. Go anywhere in this castle but this corridor. If I ever catch you in here again, I swear to God..."

Emma turned and ran in the direction of her bedchamber. She didn't want him to see her cry, and he probably didn't want to see it either. Or maybe he did. Maybe women crying made him feel good.

She got to her chamber and shoved an oak table in front of the door so it couldn't be opened from the outside. Then she threw herself on her bed and cried all over the decadent sheets.

She missed her home. And her father. Oh how she missed her father. And her books! She hated it in that awful man's castle. It didn't feel like anyone's home, definitely not hers. Why was he so mean? What awful thing happened to him that caused him to completely disregard human decency?

Emma cried and cried, and when she was done, everything didn't seem quite so bad. Still awful, of course. But not worth crying over. She actually felt silly for crying.

She went to the wash basin on the table and washed the tears from her face. Then she heard a knock on her chamber door.

"Yes?"

"Emma I'm sorry."

What? Did he really just say that? There was probably an ulterior motive, she decided. "You just want me to cook your dinner."

"I've gone many a night with no dinner, one more won't matter. I am truly sorry. You did not deserve that. Just...don't go in that part of the castle. ...Please." She could tell it pained him to say the word 'please'. She figured it wasn't something he was used to saying.

His apology seemed genuine enough, so she decided to accept it.
She moved the table, and opened the door to find him leaning against the wall on the other side of the hall.

He saw that she came out and said "Well uh, make dinner now, okay?" She could tell he was trying to recover from showing emotion moments before, so she didn't mind so much, and she hustled off to the kitchen.