*****
The following day, Anita was still pondering what she should do as she ran to the castle for her first Mind lesson. She arrived and almost ran headlong into Austin and Amber descending the steps, and was instantly on guard.
‘What are you doing here?’ Austin sniped, shooting a questioning sideways glance at Amber, while Amber ignored him and stared intently at Anita. Anita stood her ground, wondering again if the cylinder in her head was hostile and had been put there by her.
‘I’m here to see Marcus,’ she replied cheerily, pretending she hadn’t noticed their hostility.
‘I see. What for?’ he fired back in crisp rounds, not happy about the prospect of Anita spending more time with his precious son.
Luckily, as Anita was contemplating her answer, Marcus came striding out of the entrance towards them. ‘Anita, hi,’ he called openly.
‘Hi,’ she said, visibly relieved, the tension going out of her.
As Marcus reached her, he put an arm around her shoulders in a plutonic, brotherly way and shepherded her into the castle. ‘See you later dad,’ he called calmly over his shoulder. Marcus didn’t say a thing until they were safely up the stairs and in his suite. He closed the door firmly behind them and took a deep breath. ‘That was almost very interesting,’ he said frivolously. He took a cavalier step towards her, and she casually moved away. The energy changed, charged at the realisation they were now alone in Marcus’ suite, no prying eyes, and Marcus changed too, his movements becoming calculated, reminding Anita of a big cat stalking its prey. ‘Nothing like a dangerous encounter to liven up a morning,’ he purred, his predator’s eyes fixed on her.
‘Something like that,’ she countered defensively, moving cautiously away from him, over to one of the enormous light grey sofas, and sitting down informally, legs tucked underneath her. She pulled a large, patterned, cushion protectively in front of her, trying to ignore the delicious reaction she was having to Marcus’ honed form stalking her every move. ‘So, tell me, what am I learning today?’ she said, as strongly as she could, averting her gaze. She wanted to keep him focused on the matter in hand, something it was difficult enough to keep her own mind on, let alone his.
Marcus smiled as he sat lithely down next to her, a knowing, victorious smile, casting aside her weak attempts to divert him. She felt his energy lift as he leaned in towards her, and despite herself, felt hers respond, her skin prickling as the heady smell of vanilla invaded her lungs, eroding her resolve. Impulsively, she moved towards him, meeting his lips with hers. They kissed with urgency, Anita feeling tingles shoot all over her body as Marcus put his hands on her waist and pulled her astride him. She grabbed handfuls of his hair and kissed him more deeply while his fingers explored her, finding the chink between the back of her running tights and her vest, pushing their way under to caress her back. But Anita stiffened as he did it, pulled her lips away, placed her hands either side of his face and rested her forehead on his, closing her eyes. Marcus removed his hands, alarmed, pushing her backwards so he could see her face. She dropped her hands from him and in one supple movement removed herself from his lap, curling herself up against the arm of the sofa.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, reaching for her hand, a look of concern on his face, but she didn’t let him take it.
She briefly met his worried eyes. ‘Marcus,’ she paused, trying to work out what to say next. ‘Why did you invite me to the ball?’
He looked confused, his eyes wide as he considered the question. ‘I was intrigued by you. You’re different. I find you exciting.’
‘And so far this has all been a game,’ she said cryptically.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said, although Anita could tell in his eyes he knew what she meant.
‘Yes you do. I didn’t react to you like the other girls normally would, so your instincts were aroused and you chased me. And because I knew that, I pushed you away, which made you chase me more. But now we’re here, in your bedroom, and we’re in too dangerous a position to play games.’
‘I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,’ he said sceptically.
‘It’s the only way to look at it,’ she snapped. ‘You know Austin doesn’t approve of me and we live in an increasingly dangerous world. I need to know you’re not playing a game now.’
‘Anita, I’m not. I like you. I genuinely like you; you’re confident and clever, and ballsy and you don’t cower at the sight of my father, and you’re reckless and sexy, and most importantly, I can talk to you. I’ve never spoken about my mother to anyone, but with you it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.’ His voice had taken on a pleading edge, worried he was about to lose her.
Anita tempered, her defences falling away. She wasn’t totally sure he was telling the truth, but she found herself wanting to believe him. She took his hand and kissed it gently, signalling that she believed him, at least for the moment, before saying softly, ‘what am I learning today?’
He smiled, leaned forward, and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, before leading her by the hand into his bedroom. ‘Today you’re going to learn the arts of suggestion and persuasion,’ he said brightly as they went.
‘You mean manipulation,’ she said bluntly.
‘Call them what you will, they’re very powerful skills.’
They spent the next two hours playing chess, with Marcus teaching Anita about the nuances of suggestion and idea planting to influence the thoughts and actions of others. The idea was that she would distract him with the chess, then casually plant an idea into the conversation that he was supposed to pick up and think was his, but by the end, she hadn’t got very far. Marcus assured her the main problem was that he knew what she was trying to do, so he told her she should practice on other people. He explained that it was best to start with people who trusted her implicitly, or who were naturally inclined to believe her, and after a brief internal moral debate, she decided Bas was the best person for the job. She just had to work out what she wanted to plant.
Anita left the castle frustrated. She didn’t like it when she couldn’t do things, and she was cross about Marcus’ comment before he had kissed her goodbye; ‘be careful with Alexander’. She would do what she damn well wanted, and judging by what everyone kept telling her, it wasn’t Alexander she needed to be careful with.