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butternuggets-blog · 3 years

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I apologise for taking so long to write this! I’ve had to concentrate on work and my uni studies at the moment (┬┬﹏┬┬)

Matthew glanced up from his paperwork as his daughter slipped into the study. Becca smelt nervous and her pulse was slightly elevated, as if she was about to do something that frightened her.

‘Is everything alright petit ourson?’

Becca nodded, hesitated, then shook her head. She tucked a loose strand of hair self-conciously back behind her ear. Matthew put his papers down, walked around the desk and knelt down in front of Becca.

‘You can ask me anything chérie, you know that’

Becca took a deep breath.

‘I..I want to go hunting’

Matthew smiled proudly, even as his heart ached sadly. His children were growing up, and even though he had fought so hard to secure them the right to a future, a part of him wished they could stay young and innocent forever.

He gently tilted Becca’s face towards him, looking her in the eye.

‘You may go hunting’ he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, then placed a hand on her shoulder as Becca let out a sigh of relief.

‘But only if you’re sure’

‘I am’ Becca said, nodding, ‘I’ve been practising.’

Diana was in a long-running feud with an extended family of rats living in the bowels of the castle. She spent every spare second placing traps and putting down poison, but the tiny terrors had gotten wise to her tactics, and had also managed to run rings around Cookie, Les Revenants’ current pest controller.

Every third afternoon for the past few months Becca had been sneaking down into the basements and cellars, sniffing out her quarry and ripping them from their hiding places. She let them go. Mostly.

Still kneeling, Matthew gently squeezed her shoulder.

‘I’m sure you’ll do very well. I’ll chaperone, of course, just to make sure nothing goes wrong.’

He hesitated. ‘Would you like someone else to come as well? Mum? Or maybe-’

‘Could Uncle Baldwin come too?’ Becca asked in a rush. Matthew grinned; he really should have seen that answer coming. His brother and daughter were thick as thieves, always plotting and scheming together when they thought Matthew and Diana weren’t watching.

‘Of course’

_______________________________________________________________

It was a sign of just how seriously Baldwin was taking his responsibility as backseat co-hunting captain that he let Matthew plan every last detail. He was only there, as he put it, to give Becca a ‘blunt, gentle nudge’ if she needed it, over Matthew’s reserved, more fatherly approach.

The three of them made their way into the woods behind Les Revenants, climbing slowly up and over the hills until they were deep in the heart of the forest. Matthew wanted to make absolutely sure that no humans were going to accidently stumble across their path.

The clearing laid out before them was reminescent of something out of a fairytale. Mushrooms and thick clumps of clover were interpersed between moss-covered trees and a clear, flowing stream. A doe was grazing in the centre of it, her fawn nestled against her side.

‘Now remember Becca,’ Baldwin muttered, ‘That’s not Bambi, that’s lunch.’

She nodded grimly.

‘We’ll force the mother away, you concentrate on taking down the fawn’ whispered Matthew. Becca nodded again, and he gave her a thorough once-over while Baldwin kept watch, correcting her stance and giving her a few last minute pointers.

‘Ready? Alright, go!’

The doe took flight as Matthew and Baldwin burst from the underbrush, leaping over the stream and heading desperately towards freedom. The fawn tried to follow; Baldwin wriggled between the fawn and its mother, causing it to lose its footing and quickly fall behind.

Becca stared at it as she approached. She could hear its heart beating a storm in its chest, the stench of terror rolling off it in waves. It looked up at her with wild, frightened eyes, letting out a small scream and trying to skitter to the side.

‘Shh, shh, hi there!’ Becca approached cautiously, raising a hand. The fawn huffed and snorted, and bounced around ineffectively. She stroked its neck; the fawn trembled from head to toe, and let out another mournful cry.

‘...I’m sorry..’ Becca gripped it firmly, wrapping her arms around it, holding it in place.

Then she lowered her mouth to its throat.

#rebecca bishop clairmont #baldwin de clermont #baldwin montclair #matthew de clermont #matthew clairmont #adow spoilers #adow #a discovery of witches #all souls series #all souls trilogy

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