Those Unfavorable Answers

Mercy!

The man had to be mad was the only thought running through Erin's racing thoughts. 

She watched in horror as he continually stripped off articles of clothing with menacing speed. 

"Now-now-now, wait just a second here!" she sputtered, fumbling back a step from him as if he were infectious. "What is wrong with you?! Are you disturbed? Do not become indecent!"

"I have not stolen anything, nor did I intend to. There is nothing in my pockets. There is nothing in my trousers. And there is nothing between my shirt. I am not a thief, and I am not hiding anything. You may verify this information yourself."

"Verify?" Her cheeks were warming as he was already down the last button of his shirt. "Why—how---you---I will not do such a thing!"

"No?" He tilted his head, sliding one arm from his shirt sleeve, exposing more skin than she wished to see.

"Yes!" she shouted, eyes bulging. "I have no need to see you---." She paused, inhaling sharply, her eyes leaping from his chest to his face. "--bare in any way!" 

"Are you certain?" He eased his other hand out of his shirt. "Because you said you will not take my word." 

He had a challenging look as he slowly let the fabric inch down his arm.

She looked up him and down and then put a hand over her forehead. "Hah." She heaved a bout of air.

She knew she had to concede. 

"Fine." She regained her composure, carefully scrutinizing him. "Fine, fine. Perhaps um...uh?" She stopped to clear her throat, the words hard to make out. "Perhaps I was…um, mistaken," she said, finishing with a press of her lips, refusing the words she had just spoken.

"Mistaken?" He tugged his shirt back on. "You were?" He fixed his shirt back into place, unfazed by the start of her glacial glare.

His tone immediately struck annoyance into her. 

"What is that tone?" She glowered.

"What tone?" He batted his eyes as he fixed his clothes. 

"You don't seem to realize that you're are in my home and you are speaking an heiress of the Sutherton house." 

"Hm, I did not know." He straightened his shirt collar, eyes never leaving hers. 

Was he being snarky with her? Surely, she thought, he would be mad to do such a thing after she so clearly expressed her dislike for him. Surely.

Her glare intensified as she peered at him. "What is your name?" She had made it her mission to forget it. 

"My name?" He nearly laughed. He knew her question was only asked to spite him. "It's Edward." 

"That is not your name," she barked. 

"And how do you know?" There was a rebellious look in his eyes again. 

She gripped her fists, speaking bitter and cold. "Fine. It doesn't matter. I will call you dullard. You know what a dullard is, lowborn?"

"I do."

"Then Dullard, listen closely to what I am about to say. I think that if you don't steal tonight, who's not to say not tomorrow that you don't conveniently end up in another room? What happens then?"

"I would never steal, cheat, or lie. If you do not believe this, then I'm happy to show you at any time."

Her glare sharpened. She found everything was wrong with his tone. 

"Maybe I ought to word this a little differently," she said. "When I say who's to say? I mean me. And when I ask what happens? I mean, I will say a lot. Whether or not you came in here by accident, I will still tell them that you are a fraud, a liar, and a thief. There will be nothing you can do about it. No undressing. No batting your eyes. No smiling and slithering your tongue. Nothing!" Her eyes burned with the same intensity of hellfire, her voice pulsating with unbridled hate.

He scanned her. Flaming eyes. Sharp features. Dainty in figure. Delicate in structure. A perfected snarl and a guttural growl. To him, she was as deadly a garden snake. 

"There will be nothing I could do about it?" He questioned with a blank stare. 

"Nothing." 

Instinctively, he turned his head to side, squinting his eyes and scrunching his face. She could hiss like a snake yet shouted like a child with an awful temper. 

He sighed, rubbing his right ear in a circular motion. 

"Hmm," he dryly buzzed, looking up and then down into thought. "Hm." He shrugged, and pushed past her to head to the doors. 

Shock took Erin again, but anger drove her to move, propelling to action. She swam in front of him, blocking the door before he could leave. "Where do you think you are going?" 

"My apologies. May I be dismissed?" 

She watched him with the glare of a predator on prey. "You listen to me." She demandingly pointed her finger. "I dislike you, and I do not know what game you are playing, but you will stop this immediately. I do not want you here, and if you think you can push your luck because of a little favor with my parents then think again."

He took in her words slowly and smiled. "With all due respect, my lady. I'd like to request my departure."

"No. I am not done speaking and you will not go until I," she emphasized, smacking a hand over chest, "have dismissed you!"

"But it might be in your interest to, I don't wish for you to get into trouble."

"Trouble? How am I the one to be at the hand for trouble when it is you who was stealing?"

"My lady." He inclined his head towards her. "If Lord Sutherton were to happen upon to his study, shall he not find it odd that you are rejecting my leave after you've coerced me to undress? Certainly, you must consider I don't wish for you to get into any misfortune for some misunderstanding."

Her eyes ballooned. "What an imagination you have!" She couldn't resist the laughter. "First, you have the gall to speak with your twisted mouth and now you have the gall to talk fantasies! Where exactly do you hail from? You clearly flatter yourself. No one considers you as anything more than a lowborn with no—-."

"—And what do they consider you?" He cut her off. 

She paused, her sneer fading. She cemented her smoldering sight to him. Her tongue was made dumb as she couldn't pull together a single word or syllable.

For once, she had nothing she wanted to say.

"That is to say," Ezra said, continuing in her silence. "You are Lady Erina Sutherton, and being that you are held in such a high regard. I wouldn't want anything on your name. Untrue or not." 

She was reluctant to move, but she also knew which way the pendulum went. She would have accused him of an array of unruly things in a heartbeat, but considering how infatuated with the man her parents were, she would need more evidence than words. 

"Fine." She clenched her teeth. "You may dismiss yourself." She shuffled away from the door, allowing him to reach for the doorknobs.

"Thank you, and please excuse me, your parents await me for dinner in the main dining hall." He exited into the corridors. 

She trailed behind him and watched. For a long, endless moment, she was still, processing their entire encounter until something struck her. 

"Stop!" She called to him while he wasn't too far. 

He turned around. "Yes?"

She approached him with a pompous strut. "Back in the study, when you caught me, you said something under your breath. Something along the lines of 'It seems you're clumsy even without help.' What did that mean?" Her eyes flared aggressively. 

He puckered his lips, knotting his brows. "I didn't say anything under my breath."

"You clearly said something. I know what I heard." 

"No. I think you hear and see a lot of things, my lady. After all, what fool would test your temper? They would have to be mad, and I mean that both ways." 

He spoke and stared a little too deviously and so her realization came far too quickly. 

"You pulled the chair out on me." Her jaw dropped. "You really did it. I knew you did it!" 

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You are implying you pulled the chair out on me aren't you?"

"I don't think I follow. I haven't implied such a thing."

"Do not insult my intelligence!" 

"Lady Erina, I haven't admitted to anything and frankly, I would never do such a thing to you. You are so important and the thought of you being hurt gives me indescribable pain. Oh, I could almost cry again thinking about it." He sniffed, dabbing at dry eyes. 

He turned her tongue numb again. 

She didn't know what to do except stare. 

"You." She was sizzling. 

"Me," he replied, pulling out his pocket watch to check the time. "Speaking of me, I cannot keep your parents waiting. Please excuse me, I must catch dinner." He smiled and started walking away. 

Who did he think he was? Who? She questioned with clenching fists. She was cooking the longer she thought about it. 

She knew something had to be done. Now.

"Wait!" she growled, loudly, raising her voice over their distance. 

He stopped again, turning slowly. He gave her a stare as he tilted his head with a questioning 'what is it' attitude. 

"Don't you need to know which way to the main dining hall?" She scanned him. "There is more than one, and as you said, this place is a maze." 

For a moment he quietly shared her gaze before he spoke. "Oh? Am I going the wrong way?" He glanced around, appearing confused. Appearing. 

She folded her arms over her chest. "No, on the contrary, you are going the right way."