In the dining hall, Levi funneled cake into his mouth to save himself from having to speak to his brother or his wife. The cake on Malachi’s plate, much like the meal he had been presented with before, remained mostly untouched.

He was utterly repulsed by the taste of sugar, and Miriam had made sure that the cake was made extra sweet.

Drawn in closer by Arthur’s apparent turmoil, Miriam let her eyes wander from the marks on his neck up to his face.

“They will be leaving shortly,” she decided. Her other hand raised to trail her cold fingers down the doctor’s cheek, and then fell back to her side. She grabbed Arthur’s hand and brought it to her waist.

“The other one is not a problem. He will not speak of it,” she said. “Shall I have a servant show you to my room?”

Arthur leaned into Miriam’s cold touch, a shiver running down his spine.  He was grateful when her touch left, only to find his hand against her, now.  At least it wasn’t against her skin - just the high quality material of her corset.  He didn’t mind so much touching that, at least, and let his thumb run back and forth against it.

“Yes,” he breathed, “please.  That will work.”

Where better to put her to a permanent sleep than in her own room, in her own bed?

His hand trailed up one of the bones of the elegant corset, his touch light enough to just barely be felt through the fabric.

“I meant what I said earlier; you look stunning,” he said, looking into Miriam’s blue eyes.  They were as cold as her hands.  “But I think you’re a bit over dressed too.  Shall we have one more glass of wine, and then excuse ourselves?”

He needed a moment away from her.  Even if it was at the table, away from everyone else, he needed - distance.  And he needed Malachi.  Just to see him would be enough, anything to cleanse his pallet of this.

There was truly no telling what Miriam would have done had the doctor refused.

Finally, one side of her mouth upturned in a pleased little half-smile. She knew that she looked stunning – she would not have been so bold had she ever believed otherwise. Still it pleased her greatly to hear it.

“That would be the polite thing to do, wouldn’t it.”

Miriam watched him for another moment from up close. Considered the way that he regarded her so politely, and did not ask her to speak kindlier about his friend the way that Levi had before. Then, leaning closer, her tongue licked a slow stripe up the doctor’s cheek.

She stepped back afterwards, pivoting to open the door and walk back into the dining hall.

The air was tense. Nearly quiet, save the sounds of Levi’s fork occasionally tapping his plate and Mara’s wine glass being set down. All three at the table turned their heads once more.

“My sincerest apologies,” said Miriam, returning to her seat. “I had need of the doctor’s advice.”

“Are you feeling alright, mother?” Levi set his fork down, turning in his chair to face her.

“Yes, dear, no need to worry. It is nothing serious.”

Sitting uncomfortably straight and feeling awfully out of place at the table by himself, Malachi’s gaze traveled beyond Miriam to Arthur instead, when he reappeared. He chewed at the inside of his cheek, hands occupied with twisting his napkin where it rested over his lap.

He said nothing. It would have incurred Miriam's rage, he was sure. But he wanted to know.

“More wine?” Miriam gestured to the manservant. He moved quickly to meet her request, topping off each wine glass.

Oh.

How.  Lovely.

For the first time that evening, Arthur could not keep the smile on his face while Miriam leaned in and licked him.  His face, right up his cheek - how lovely.

The doctors lips pressed together tightly.  He might not have been smiling, but he refused to let Miriam see him grimace.  Just this reaction was more than she deserved.

Somehow, now. the idea of seeing Malachi made him sick.  Arthur took a deep breath and then another before following Miriam into the dining hall.  The mask and character back on his face in full, the only indication something wrong being the gleam of residual spit.

Arthur took his place back next to Malachi, not looking at him yet.  He feared his lover would read him like a book.

Still, his hand found it’s way to his thigh.  This time, it was more for himself than Malachi.

With his free hand, Arthur picked up his still full glass of wine and took a large sip.  It did not taste any better than it had the first time.  What Arthur wanted, needed in order to calm his nerves, was some goddamn opium.  Three at least.

He needed Miriam dead.  Sooner rather than later.

But before all of that, Levi and Mara had to leave first.

“This cake is delicious, I find,” Arthur said with a glance to Levi.  His plate was empty save for crumbs.  “Did you enjoy it very much, Levi?  It looks like you did - I must have the recipe for it so I can make it for myself back home.”

Arthur hadn’t even looked at him. That, more than him having been gone at all, made the freezing room feel colder still.

What had his mother said to him? Had she told him something about him, something that gave him pause or – upset him somehow? She had always been so good at twisting men around her fingers. His lover might not have had true interest in her, but that did not mean that she could not steer him away from him.

The hand on his thigh earned a subtle glance downward. Malachi reached for his glass and took a generous sip of wine to busy his mouth.

“Oh, indeed,” Levi agreed wholeheartedly, smashing the prongs of his fork against the crumbs to pick them up. “This was my favorite, growing up. Mother used to have the servants make it every Sunday for me.”

Between all of the other sweets they made for him during the rest of the week, that was.

“The closest I have found to it elsewhere was at this delightful little restaurant in the East End – in fact, it was run by people like you, Mal – but I find that nothing quite beats this one.”

“Do you bake, Doctor Adams?” asked his wife. Her own cake was half-finished, and her wine was diminishing.

Compared to Miriam, Malachi’a hands were burning.

Arthur had never been so happy to touch fire.  It was refreshing, comforting, cleansing.  For just a moment, his fingers tightened against Malachi’s leg.  I’m okay, he wanted to say.  We’re okay.

“Bake is - a generous word, for what I do,” he answered sheepishly.  “I’ve been trying to learn my whole life, but I always seem to beg something wrong, even if I follow the recipe exactly.  Same with cooking -ah, I’m hopeless in the kitchen.”

Truly, he couldn’t give less of a shit about the food he ate if he tried.  Food was fuel, and he wasn’t picky about it, as long as it kept him going.

Malachi said he could cook, and Arthur wondered how proficient he was at it.  Regardless of his skill, Arthur would devour anything he made, and… perhaps he’d make an effort in any food he made for Malachi, too.

When Arthur glanced at the man’s plate, he had barely touched his dessert.  The main dinner dish had been much the same.  Again, he worried about his diet.

Just a little higher up and a little further back was Malachi himself.  Looking at him like this, Arthur could see the elegant shape of his nose and the flutter of his eyelashes.  His soft lips, bitten and bruised.  As always, he was gorgeous.

“Something as delicious as this cake, though, I think it would break my heart not to bake it to perfection.  Really, I must get the recipe from someone before I go.  Whitby cannot live without this cake!”

Was that the truth? In the midst of everything else, it was difficult for even Malachi to decipher what of Arthur’s stories were lies meant to win his family over, and what was the honest truth seeping through.

If he was as terrible in the kitchen as he claimed, Malachi would have no issue cooking for him. Baking for him, if that was what he wanted. He had cooked for Nettie and several other children for years, some of them regularly. Cooking for an adult couldn’t be any harder than that.

This time, he did not turn to meet Arthur’s gaze, even once he felt it finally settle over him.

There was still something that irked him about the avoidant way he’d entered the room.

“Anyone can learn with enough practice,” said Miriam, smiling pleasantly as she ignored her cake and focused on her wine. “Or so I’ve heard. I have only set foot in kitchens to ensure that the cooks are doing as they are told.”

“I don’t believe I have ever attempted anything in a kitchen either…” Levi hummed. Bringing his fork to his mouth, he finished off the last remaining crumbs and then pushed his tray aside. His mother continued to sip leisurely at her wine, never taking her eyes off of the man seated across the table.

“I will have one of them write it down and bring the recipe by your room, doctor. I would not want for Whitby to suffer such a grievous loss.”

Malachi doubted that she could even place Whitby on a map. He watched her for a long moment and then downed the rest of his wine, while Levi looked on quietly in a blend of surprise and horror.

“Levi, dear,” Miriam touched his shoulder lightly. “Speaking of loss, are you still having trouble with that thieving servant? The one that broke the lock on your gate?”

“Ah… the servant has been taken care of, of course. The gate is yet to be fixed, however, and now that you mention it… Mara,” he noted her empty glass.

“We should not stay too late. I apologize for such a short visit, Doctor Adams, but I am sure you understand. Have you found the help in Whitby to be of any better skill?”

Arthur did not seem to mind that his attention was not returned. If he sensed that anything was wrong with Malachi, it did not show on his face as he turned back to the people across the table. Hearing that neither Levi nor Miriam had ever done a thing in the kitchen was not in the least surprising to him, but he nodded in agreement as they spoke.

“I would greatly appreciate that,” he said to Miriam, putting more emphasis on his words than necessary.

Was Malachi drinking more than usual? Arthur couldn’t tell. He’d only seen him drink once before, at the masquerade. And even then, he’d been influenced by more than just wine.

“The help in Whitby is - well, I suppose it should matter more about the character of the persons hired rather than where they’re from. Good people and bad people are everywhere, though it’s not my place to judge.”

He waved his hand lightly, smiling at Levi and his wife. The cake he had praised so much still took up more of his plate than it left empty.

There was a short but purposeful glance to Miriam, though Arthur’s thoughts were far from her. Instead, he thought about Malachi, the firsts they would be sharing together tonight. The first they would share over the course of the test go their lives together.

The ring, still in his back pocket.

The effect it gave was a subtle one, only obvious to those who were paying close attention to Arthur. A red blush coming across his cheeks from just a glance at the woman opposite him.

“It is getting late, isn’t it? I had lost track of time. I should retire soon.” Again, he pressed his fingers into Malachi’s leg.

Something had definitely happened between his mother and Arthur, but Malachi had half a mind to never even ask about it for his own sake. Arthur wasn’t into women, for one, or at least he had implied as much before… unless he had been referring specifically to young ones.

Even if that was true, he was his. He had promised him anything and everything; life and death. There was no way of leaving Malachi behind when he carried his name in his skin.

An awkward breakfast and an even worse dinner with Miriam would not change that.

Still, Malachi’s grip tightened on the stem of his glass when he caught a glimpse of Arthur’s reddened cheeks. If he had not spent years cultivating a deathly calm façade, he would have slapped the hand on his thigh for daring to touch him while he looked at someone else.

His eyes darted across to Miriam. She met the doctor’s gaze with a satisfied twinkle in her eye.

“Yes, I do not wish to keep you too late after your big conference today,” she offered, and turned her head to smile at her son and his wife. “Nor do I wish to endanger your home for the sake of another glass of wine. Please, do not linger for my sake.”

What she meant was, get the fuck out.

Malachi was warm, slightly flushed across the high points of his cheeks. It had not been his intention to drink as much as he did, but neither had he wanted to let his mother speak with Arthur in private – so he had anxiously downed another glass in the short time they were away. He was not drunk, of course, but he was… warm.

His brother did not need the hint. Levi finished off his glass with one small sip, and then made to stand.

“Thank you, mother,” he said first, as if she had done anything but tell the servants to make more food than usual. A friendly smile curved his lips as he addressed Arthur and Malachi next.

“And Doctor Adams, what a pleasure it has been to make your acquaintance. Please, do stop by the next time you are in London, and perhaps we can catch up over cake in the East End.”

Arthur stood a moment after Levi did, nodding to him and his wife in turn.  “I will make sure to do so next I am around,” he lied pleasantly, watching the couple take their leave.  After they were gone, he glanced to Miriam - nervously, some might say - and touched Malachi’s shoulder.

“Would you show me to my room again?  I get so lost in these halls, Malachi, and weariness is affecting my memory.”

He needed to talk to Malachi before Miriam got him alone again.  Or, perhaps he didn’t need to talk to Malachi, he did need to touch him.  Hold him closer.  Have his fire clean Arthur off completely before he dirtied himself again.

What being alone with Miriam again would entail before his and Malachi’s plans, Arthur did not want to think about.  Refused to think about even, just as he refused to think about the lingering sensation of the woman’s tongue on his cheek.  Hands, elsewhere and everywhere.

Only waiting another moment for Malachi to rise, Arthur made his way towards the dining halls exit, where nothing had happened in the hallway at all.

See?  He was such a good liar, he could fool himself, even, if he thought the words often enough.