wolves in the dark ~ Bane

Friday, August 4th 1922
10:39pm
Gravenmere Court

She wasn't sure Lev had bought her excuse of having to use the bathroom, his expression hadn't given anything away. Coolly composed and unreadable as ever. It didn't matter though — she had chosen her moment deliberately. Right the second before his most anticipated contact steered his way, hand halfway extended, a greeting forming on his tongue. Thrown straight in between, leaving him no choice but to let her go.

He wouldn't miss this opportunity, not even to make sure his betrothed wasn't running off to misbehave.

Well, tough luck, that's exactly what she was setting off to do.

Hopefully that conversation took a while, Liliya was sure Lev would set after her the moment he could and she didn't need him interrupting her a second time tonight. The worry and apprehension had been burning holes through her stomach all night.

She needed to know. She needed to know where Rosie was.

With swift grace Liliya weaved her way through the crowd, searching until she finally saw him.

At the buffet, of course.

Without stopping, she wrapped a hand around Benji's lower arm, discreetly and smoothly as she came up from behind, simply pulling him along. "Just follow," she muttered, keeping her eyes ahead. She steered him away, walking as swiftly as casual would allow, through the open doors, into the garden beyond, right into the shadow of a towering topiary.

As she stopped, she threw a glance over her shoulder, scanning the brightly lit windows but no one was following.

Her gaze swivelled to Benji and she huddled closer. "Tell me."

Well...it wasn't the best buffet spread he'd had at one of these events, but it would do. The pies were a little underdone and the roast beef a little too far down that line, but the potatoes had some good butter on them and whatever these little tartlets were...he'd have to have Fidele meet up with Ellen's elf to get the recipe.

Benji was a growing boy, a whole sixteen-years-old and nearly a man. He was athletic and enjoyed the physicality that came with strenuous workouts and Quidditch practices and that meant he was constantly needing to stuff himself. Of course as a pudgy eleven-year-old he'd done the same, but that was neither here nor there.

Food was the real love of Benji's life.

Ruth Elliot would just have to accept second-place and understand. It was who he was.

Mmm, these little cake things were pretty good. Rhubarb and chocolate or something or other and a little dash of crea -

"Just follow."

Huh? One cheek half-full of cake Benji blinked as he was being led away by the arm, Eira's voice reaching him in a low mutter as she tugged him away from the okay-ish feast that had been laid out before him. He didn't know what he'd done to incur such punishment, and even when they'd been at Hogwarts together it was rare for Eira to pull him away for anything.

Normally she was pushing him to keep his distance.

He grinned. How the tables had turned.

He went easily with her through the open doors and behind a topiary as she glanced back, ensuring they weren't followed.

"Ya know Eira," Benji quipped, raising an eyebrow as his signature smirk played on his lips. He swallowed the last of the cake in one gulp. "If you were sweet on me back then, you only needed to say so. Little tough now that I have a girlfriend." He was teasing, naturally. Benji knew he was close to the last person on Earth Eira wanted in that way, but he loved getting a rise out of her when the opportunity presented itself.

Maybe they'd descend into another slapping match. For old time's sake.

"Tell me."

He leaned in with her, eyes wide as he glanced around the garden. Apparently they were cohorts in something. He couldn't help as his smirk spread. "Tell you what?"

Incredulity rendered her speechless, all she could do was stare at him.

What did he fucking think she'd dragged him out here for? To hear the latest Hogwarts gossip? To hear how Rae had been doing? How could he possibly be confused about what she wanted to know, there only was one thing!

For a split second all she could do was wonder whether there was even one single thought going on behind those eyes.

Two, she concluded, at most. Food and how to be his most annoying self.

May God have mercy on the Laurences if that was their chosen heir.

Without a word she flicked her finger against his forehead — again.

"About Rosie, you absolute numbnuts!", she hissed, looking at him as though he was a bit stupid. "What did you thi— It's what I asked you earlier!" Maybe all that food really had stifled his ability to think. Well if anything, she was glad not much seemed to have changed those past two years. Benji certainly still was the same.

Some deeply buried part of her seemed to warm at that. She quickly slammed that down.

Dragging a slow breath in through her nose, Liliya stifled the growing impatience.

"What the hell happened?", she repeated, voice forcefully low as her eyes bored into his. "Where is she?" Despite her best efforts to stay calm, the mental timer ticked away at the back of her mind, keeping her tightly wound. She didn't have all night, there was only that much elbowroom to account for the oaf in Benji. He better get a move on.

The finger flick at his forehead caused him to blink rapidly, his hand automatically reaching up to soothe the sudden thump of pain that radiated outward. "What was that for?" he asked, his eyebrows scrunching over his eyes.

"About Rosie, you absolute numbnuts! What did you thi— It's what I asked you earlier!"

Oh. Right. She had asked about Rosie, but between the time she'd waltzed off with some bald guy and he'd found his pretty girlfriend again, Benji had all but forgotten the very brief conversation they had. Mostly what rang in his mind was how he wasn't supposed to call her 'Eira' anymore, but Liliya, as though he didn't know who she really was at her core.

She was like him. Maybe not in personality, but in experience and background. He was still 'Cuddrun' even if no one called him that. She was still 'Eira'.

"What the hell happened? Where is she?"

Benji glanced behind him again to ensure that his family wasn't listening, or worse, eavesdroppers that would run and snitch to them. The Laurences never appreciated family business being spread outside their own walls, but he figured they had lost that right to Rosalie.

"She ran away. A year ago, with Cassian. I guess they eloped and made it to France this time. I thought they were dead." His voice lowered further as he sighed and turned his hazel eyes back to Eira's icy blue. "They were alive the whole time, living under the radar but...her father found her at the beginning of summer."

His expression darkened as he remembered Cassian's father showing up to the castle, threatening James and everyone in the vicinity if they so much came near Cass or Rosie again. "Her dad and uncle went down there with one of her cousins and they caught them. Tortured them. I don't know all the details, I just know it was really bad and...our cousin ended up dead."

The sounds of the party amplified as someone else exited the doors, and he grabbed her quickly by the wrist, leading her further away and deeper into the gardens. When he felt they were properly out of sight and earshot, he continued. "She was pregnant. Lost the baby, and at some point she ended up at Mungo's because she wasn't handling it well and..." he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know Eira. I just know she hasn't been okay."

She had run away with Cassian. Again.

Already, Liliya's stomach twisted into a knot. Memories of the aftermath of their first attempt flashed to life and it turned her blood cold as dread. The gaunt look on Rosie's face, the numbness in her eyes. The way it had taken her weeks to find back to herself and still she had never spoken of what had happened.

And now she'd done it again.

Of course she had.

Every worst case scenario flashed like lightning through her mind, but Liliya forced her breaths even, eyes on Benji with apprehensive stillness, the beat of her heart like a drum — and then it stopped.

Tortured. It cracked through her sternum like an iron-tipped bolt.

She didn't register the rise and fall of the party's clamour, couldn't even be worried about being found here anymore. Not when the world rushed past in a blur, its axis shifted, tilting sideways. Panic stirred her guts, low, thrumming through her head, rushing in her ears. Everything fell away as the ache for her friend, the shattered hope to see her again, the gruesome reality of what had happened instead shredded her into a numb shell that wanted nothing more than to scream.

For one gut-wrenching split second the breath caught in her throat, ready to crumble her into a million pieces, but the touch of Benji's hand around her wrist restarted the beat of her heart, the sudden movements of his pull further into the garden rattling her out of her spiralling panic. The moment he used to make sure they were still out of earshot, she used to try and keep her head on her shoulders.

"She was pregnant. Lost the baby, and at some point she ended up at Mungo's because she wasn't handling it well and..."

Blow after fucking blow and all she could do was hold on. Fists curling into the delicate fabric of her skirts, the burn of tears at the back of her throat, the slow unfurling of anger inside her guts.

"I don't know Eira. I just know she hasn't been okay."

Liliya swallowed hard, gaze dropped away to his chest. "Is she—" Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, forcing the steadiness back in as she looked up. "Is she still at Mungo's?" The same place Liliya had been to every fucking week since July, treating a girl's uselessly broken mind while her best friend was right there, on another floor?

The reckless, emotional, and impulsive side of her wanted to disapparate right away. Steal Benji's wand if she needed to, anyone's for that matter. Find her friend, crawl into bed with her, arms wrapped around each other.

But she knew she couldn't. Not tonight. Not with her family waiting inside.

A different worry clenched around her chest.

"Benji." Her hand lifted before she knew it, clasping his arm and drawing him closer. Her eyes bored into his with urgency. "You need to help me see her. I don't know if they'll...let me. Please, I need to see her."

"No," he said quietly, with a light shake of his head. St. Mungo's was well-behind Rosalie, and from all he knew she was doing better, her stay having helped her gain weight back and have a clearer head. "She went back to Cassian's parents' and..." he trailed off with a slight shrug.

A part of him had thought maybe she'd come back to Arundel. Maybe settle in now that the people that had betrayed her were gone, but she hadn't.

Benji hadn't seen her, not yet anyway.

"Benji."

His eyes dropped to the hand at his arm, pulling him closer to the girl as the tension rose. He swallowed, his gaze raising to meet that of Eira's again, and something within him softened. He'd...never seen her like this before. In all the time he'd known the girl, he'd always known her to have a harder disposition, steadfast and strong, nearly impossible to break through. He'd tried before, in the times they'd laid out on the roof during summer camp, smoking and reminiscing about their former lives.

But nothing had softened her with him. Not until now.

It was Rosalie. He supposed it always had been. Those girls, as dismissive and snobby as he knew they could be had an affinity for one another that rivaled sisters. They loved one another, in ways he doubted they loved few others.

"You need to help me see her. I don't know if they'll...let me. Please, I need to see her."

He nodded quickly, understanding the urgency in her voice. "I don't know exactly what's going on with her right now but..." he glanced over his shoulder again. "Yeah. Yeah Eira, I promise. I'll figure it out."

Why wouldn't he, when she looked as desperate as she did right now? It certainly wasn't in Benji's capability to say no.

A soft breath of relief released through her nose, taking some of the tension from the grip of her hand. Muscles unclenching, she nodded, feeling shaky suddenly. The tension that had coiled inside her guts for hours had snapped loose with a jolt, then morphed into pain and anger, only to settle as urgency and desperation.

It all swirled through her blood in equal parts, eddying her brain, stealing her focus. She couldn't let them see her like this, she needed to get it the fuck together.

Taking a deep breath, she forced the swarm of emotions down into a neat little box, locking it all away before her gaze found back to Benji's. "Thank you," she said softly, feeling a rush of gratitude for this boy that had annoyed every ounce of her being since she'd met him.

And now he was the only one she had left.

Deep down she had always known though. That she could trust him, that he would help. She really hadn't doubted it a for even a second but still — her appreciation was genuine.

Her hand dropped to his, squeezing for a brief moment before letting go.

Another breath pulled her back into composure, gaze darting to the estate doors and the party beyond. "Okay, I need to get back, he's probably looking for me." Her eyes slid to Benji, tone steady as she dropped her voice lower. "We need to meet somewhere. Can you do next week? Thursday? Everyone's busy that day so I should have a few hours."

She'd still have to sneak her way out from under Ruslana's nose but she'd find a way. The woman didn't strike her as particularly bright nor did she seem to care for Liliya's presence all too much. She'd have more trouble looking our for the houseelves, nasty little snitches that they were.

A ghost of a smile appeared across his lips as she squeezed his hand, his own fingers tightening slightly around Eira's. He'd never thought bad of her, even when it seemed she couldn't stand to share the same air as him. Rather, he'd always admired her spunk and sass, never one to look down on it as anything but. Sure, she could be bitchy and snobby, but what Slytherin girl hadn't been?

In Eira, he saw a girl that mirrored his own story, his own trauma, his own desperation for family and acceptance, even if she'd never admit it herself. Kids like them didn't escape their childhoods unscathed and for that, he'd always given her grace where maybe he hadn't been so easy with others.

She was good at heart, even if she didn't believe it herself. Rosalie wouldn't love her otherwise.

"No need to thank me," he said with a slight shrug. They were friends. Benji had always done what he could to be there when his friends needed him.

"We need to meet somewhere. Can you do next week? Thursday? Everyone's busy that day so I should have a few hours."

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I'll have to see where she is, and if she's willing to come." Surely for Eira she would be. He didn't know yet if Rosie was open to him, but he was certain he could somehow convince her. Hopefully.

"Go," he said, his grin returning. "Before the bald guy thinks you're into me." It wouldn't be a reach. Benji had grown well into his looks after the past two years.