Chapter 19: Planting the Seed
As much as Renard enjoyed having Vivian's company at night, he just couldn't get Kyrie out of his mind.
Renard had bided his time for so long, spending almost a year acting like he'd forgotten about his interest in Kyrie when in all actuality his desire for her burned all the stronger. It was the whole anticipation of the thing: after waiting for so long he had drummed her up to be perhaps more interesting than she actually was, but at this point he just had to know. It helped that after multiple years of living in the manor she was more willing to actually respond to him nowadays. When Renard sent the occasional question her way at dinner he wasn't met with the crippling shyness and Vivian and Isaac didn't answer for her as much anymore. It was true that she was still soft spoken, but she wasn't nearly as wary of him as she used to be.
The only thing about his desire that he regretted slightly was not being very candid with Vivian about it. On one hand, it was better to be open about these things so that it didn't feel like he was breaking her expectations. On the other hand though, if he told Vivian that he had every intention of sleeping with her friend, that would drive a real wedge between her and Kyrie; Kyrie and Vivian were just as good of friends as he and Isaac and Renard didn't want to be the one who split the two of them up.
Perhaps it would be better if he didn't bother with Kyrie, but every time he thought that, he saw her in his mind again. The more he tried not to want something, the more he just couldn't live without it. In the end, he'd determined that just once would be fine. Isaac and Vivian wouldn't know—Kyrie would be much too shy to rat him out to anyone if he actually did convince her to sleep with him—and he'd get to finally see what Kyrie was like in bed. He imagined it would be radically different from Dessi and Vivian considering the differences in their personalities, and he longed to know just how different it would be. She would have a completely different beauty to her as he pleasured her body, and heyearned to see what only Isaac had seen.
So here he was, quietly watching from among the greenery as Kyrie pumped water to take inside. Isaac was in the stables, Vivian was with Raine, and Dessi was inside cooking. Kyrie was actually in his domain while he was also in the same area, and he felt it would be a crime not to try and take advantage of this.
Quietly moving up behind her, he let a hand rest on Kyrie's waist. Not forceful enough to pull her in, but with enough impact so that she'd know it was there.
"Kyrie! Out of your usual domain, I see."
At the touch Kyrie had at first leaned into it a bit, a smile rising to her features. The intimacy of it made her believe that it was Isaac who caught her, but when she heard the voice she quickly turned and her heart just about stopped to see Renard standing there. The shock was visible on her features, and while a part of Renard deflated to see that, he was also determined to try and get into her good graces. Before she could stammer out something to say, Renard gently put his hands on the pump on top of Kyrie's.
"Let me help you with that. I know it can be a bit of a chore getting all the water you need from this thing."
He let out a soft laugh, and Kyrie felt mortified that she couldn't gather up the courage to pull her hands out or push him away. So instead he stood around her, their bodies moving together as they quickly filled up the bucket now that there was double the force. It was things like this that Isaac had warned her about! He had said that Renard was likely to get a bit touchy in the future, but Kyrie had only really half believed it; he'd never done it to her before, so why would he start now? Could she even have prevented this from happening though? She hadn't even seen him coming! How long had he been watching her before he'd crept up behind her anyway?
A blush made its way up to her cheeks as the thought of that made Kyrie think of her own spying that she did of Renard occasionally. That was taking advantage of him too, wasn't it? She was little better than Renard was in this situation! Though... To be fair, Kyrie had never even dreamed of approaching him while he thought he was alone.
Thankfully, the bucket was filled up fairly quickly, and Kyrie mumbled a thanks before disentangling herself from Renard and lifting up the bucket.
Ah. She was trying to escape. It was remarkable just how much more titillating she was for that.
Not wanting to just let her go, Renard moved up besides her and snatched the bucket from her with a bit of playfulness. He was rewarded with a sound of protest and as much of a scowl as the timid Kyrie could muster, and he gave her one of his trademark mischievous smiles.
"What's the rush, Kyrie? We so rarely get any quality time together. Surely you can spare five minutes to sit with me?"
As much as interacting with Renard made her nervous, it wasn't that she hated the man. He teased the other members of the house all the time, but it was never anything malicious. While Kyrie didn't really have that good of a sense of who he was, she at least had a better sense than some people might considering she'd seen him in some of the hours when he thought he was alone. A part of her wanted to give him his five minutes, because she would like to see more of what she'd stolen looks at before but at the same time, she doubted she'd really get to see much of it. Looking between the house and Renard with a conflicted expression, Kyrie let out a soft sigh.
"Just five minutes?"
Victory was his. He beamed at Kyrie's question, and set the bucket down next to a bench nearby before patting the empty seat beside him.
"Unless you want to stay for longer."
Suddenly Kyrie felt as if she was being caught in some trap. Giving one last longing look in the direction of the stables (which sadly wasn't visible from the water pump), she sat down on the bench next to Renard. He wasn't going to be able to do anything awful in five minutes, right? Surely just talking to him out in the garden wasn't anything bad? Despite these rationalizations, she still couldn't help but feel like she was breaking some kind of rule, especially because she was pretty sure Isaac wouldn't really like her spending alone time with the infamous flirt Renard. Neither would Vivian, for that matter...
Fidgeting with the folds of her skirt, Kyrie didn't want Renard to direct the conversation since she didn't know where it would go with him. She'd never been a good conversationalist though, so her mind settled on the first thing it could think of and blurted it out.
"Those flowers there, what are they?"
A little taken aback by the sudden interjection on Kyrie's part, Renard turned his eyes towards where she was pointing. Immediately his features smoothed into a grin to see what flower she was directing his attention to. Oh she was making this too easy.
"Orchids, my dear Kyrie. Any idea what they commonly symbolize?"
"Erm..."
Kyrie trailed off as she watched his expectant face, and she wondered if perhaps asking about the flowers had been a mistake on her part.
"Beauty... Perhaps?"
"Ah a shot in the dark, but a good one! A decent number of flowers symbolize beauty and orchids are sometimes among them, but more commonly they're used to symbolize fertility."
Kyrie paled at this. Oh she really had made a horrible mistake.
"I know it's been years since the lady had Raine but I just couldn't resist leaving some orchids out here. Who knows, perhaps someone besides Lady Dandridge will be having a child in this household."
He looked pointedly at Kyrie with that statement, and she looked down at her lap now, quite flustered. She and Isaac had talked before about Raine, and how adorable she was, but neither of them felt like they particularly needed a child of their own. Someday, maybe, but not now. Especially not with the fact that Kyrie and Vivian still had a lot to do to take care of Raine. No sense leaving the lady wanting for help while she struggled with a pregnancy.
"I-I doubt it."
"No? Then where is it Isaac goes every night I wonder?"
A bright blush lit up Kyrie's face then, and she went to jolt up but Renard let out a laugh and grabbed her arm, pulling her back down.
"I'm just teasing, Kyrie! No need to get embarrassed, nothing wrong with sex. We all do it, even Lady Dandridge, apparently."
This just made Kyrie blush more. Still, she didn't try to get up again, but she did pull her arm out of Renard's grip to put it in her own lap. She really had walked right into a trap. How she wished that Isaac or Vivian were here; they'd be able to get her out of this. Instead she was just going to sink deeper until these five minutes were up.
"Had you ever had sex with anyone before Isaac?"
Kyrie kept her mouth firmly shut as she pointedly looked away from him, though considering that the blush was still burning a hole through her cheeks Renard just assumed that the answer was no.
"Well that's just a crying shame! You have no idea what kind of variety there is out there."
"I don't need variety! I'm happy with Isaac!"
"But how would you know if you've never had anything else?"
She puffed up with indignation at that, but she didn't really have a very good rebuttal. It was true that she didn't know whether she could be more happy, but why go experimenting and threatening the happiness that she already had?
"I know that I'm happy right now and I don't see any reason to try and find something that could be potentially greater than great."
Turning her head away from Renard to show her displeasure, she soon flinched when Renard put a hand on hers in her lap. His fingers brushed just slightly but rather sensuously against her inner thigh, and an involuntary shiver coursed through her.
Snapping her head back to stare at him with a mixture of horror and disbelief, Renard simply smiled.
"But what if greater than great is right next to you? I'm always available if you're ever curious what else is out there."
Renard lifted her hand up to his lips now and Kyrie sucked in a breath as Renard's lips touched her skin. She was quick to take back her hand though, and this time when she went to stand up Renard didn't stop her. Her five minutes were up, and she didn't want to stay for any longer.
Kyrie picked up the bucket hard enough to spill it a little before just running off without a glance backwards. Renard could still see the blush painting her cheeks; the question was though, was that a blush from embarrassment or slight arousal? He was inclined to think it was the latter with how she'd reacted to his physical contact. Smirking to himself, he stood up from his spot on the bench with a bit of a stretch.
The seed had been planted. Surely that would count for something down the line? She was bound to get curious one day, and when she finally did, then Renard would ravish her to her body's delight. Kyrie had run away from him today, but Renard had no doubt in his mind that she would run towards him in the future. Today had undoubtably been a victory for his ambitions. Perhaps that was a bit overconfident on his part, but nevertheless, that was what Renard believed.
Whistling to himself, Renard retreated back to the gardens.
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