The dining hall sat cold.
Dusk came quick and soon it was already time to assemble at the table for dinner. Thus was the future.
Subtle clanking of wine glasses, steel against ceramics, every minute detail could be heard at every far corner of the hall while the air stood still.
Jeremy relaxed, sat up and ate quietly before coming to an end and leaving like everyone else.
'Knock-Knock'
Jeremy stood and opened the door to see William walk in with a bottle of wine and a bright smile.
"Mind if I spend a while?"
Jeremy chuckled, nodded and shut the door.
William quickly set up the wine amidst two glass cups on the small coffee table, two small chairs at both ends before slouching into one seat with an easing sigh.
"I had the maids clean your room everyday" William smiled, his head tilted back over the headrest of the chair, arms and legs spread as he slouched.
Jeremy stood, his hands into his pockets watching his brother smile softly, shaking his head.
"I missed you"
William opened his eyes and turned to gaze at Jeremy. That quiet, warmth but there was something more. His eyes had sunken even more, his fingers sat frail on his thighs clearly prone to angst while his breath wavered in distant longing.
"I'm well" Jeremy said softly
"Did you" William sat up, his brows furrowing in frustration "Did you not miss me?"
Jeremy waited "I was doing fine"
"Jeremy!" he raised his voice in shaky breathes, thighs and fingers before recollecting his words "I just… I just -want to know if I, if I was important"
"William"
As Jeremy's call echoed, William swallowed down
"I'm your brother"
His voice sat at the back of his mind. William chuckled "I always wondered how you fared" he calmed
"Wondered what you did after finding your line banned and accounts frozen"
Jeremy took a seat. His legs crossed.
"Have you had a bath?"
William nodded, watching him pop open the wine bottle and pouring them both a glass half full. Jeremy smiled before holding up his glass.
"To the ledger"
"To the ledger"
With clanking glasses, they gulped down on their wine.
"Did..." William began "Did you meet someone?"
"No"
The silence grew before Jeremy rose to lay in his bed, William followed suit.
As the morning came,
Jeremy tidied himself before walking out into the corridor. Down the hall, he walked into his brother, Harry's room and shut the door behind him.
Harry laid pale in bed. His lively dirt blonde waves now sat stifled in mild sweat. The beeping and humming of machines connected to his body echoed through the silence of the room.
Jeremy took a seat in the armchair at his bedside and in the space of what seemed like an hour, Harry's chest rose before his limbs began twisting with unsteady and vivid vibrations.
Quickly, Jeremy pressed the call button and soon nurses rushed in, as well as some family members and a certain presence.
"Jeremy Lutman" the baritone voice of Reece Lutman echoed, arousing anxiety.
Jeremy stood to his feet, hands at his back as he faced his father. Reece turned to the nurses.
"The problem?"
"A likely reaction to something", "Could be a fault on our path, we apologize sincerely Sir. Reece Lutman"
"Tidy up quickly and fetch our doctor" Reece turned to Jeremy "We must find the source of the poison"
The room grew cold.
"To my office, Jeremy" he said last and walked out of the room.
Jeremy inhaled lightly before starting on his tracks.
The office of Reece Lutman was situated outside the house. Down the cobblestoned path in the fields was a green house. All flowers and plants desired by Reece was assembled and structured to taste. In the midst of the large greenhouse was a room. The office.
Stepping into the greenhouse, a familiar scent wafted into Jeremy's nostrils sending him down a memory lane, one yet to be pinpointed and cleared.
One, two, three. He stepped on a path in the rows of flowers and he remembered. Down the end of the path, a man hunched over a wooden table in a white lab coat. What was he working on? who was he? The man seemed to acknowledge his presence and slowly, while turning, a sharp pain grew in the corner of his skull. Jeremy shut his eyes and all he remembered was to forget.
Into the room, Jeremy walked over to the desk with Reece already at his chair behind the table.
"Sit"
Jeremy sat.
In the silence, he watched Reece attend to documents before putting down his pen and leaning back on his chair. With light taps, the tip of his index smacked against the small of the surface of the table in deep thought.
'TAP'
"Why couldn't you just be patient?"
'TAP'
"This family wasn't enough for you"
'TAP'. Reece shook his head in disapproval.
"Father" Jeremy called, drawing Reece's gaze.
"I want you to know" he paused, his eyes darting off on the table and with a soft tone "I will shatter your efforts and ensure that you stay alive to watch"
Jeremy's gaze turned to Reece as his pupils dilated. This was a threat laid bare.
'I will make you watch me kill the Lutman name'.
The thought chocked Reece. No one had made him feel this much terror, except his mother and he knew to feel that way because he had seen Jeremy's soul and trained him unlike his other children.
The next was Henry Lutman-Harris, a virgin soul yet to be harnessed. A soul familiar to the likeness of them, the selected few.
Reece scoffed lightly with a small smile amidst his exhausted face
"You Son of Satan"
No matter the threat, Reece knew who he was and what he had done to get where he sat. He trained them, this war was no greater than him.
Jeremy sat up in a chuckle "I'll take my leave, yes?"
After a long minute, he stood and left the hall in a cold echo of his footsteps.