Kyrie eagerly approached Isaac, but she was avoiding Renard like the plague.
It had been almost a month and a half since they had sex in the garden, and every instance where Renard had caught sight of Kyrie alone, she'd caught sight of him first and immediately bolted. In some instances she'd even left a chore unfinished: presumably she returned to it later in the day, but Renard had never sat around and waited long enough to see it. He had expected this, honestly, after how aggressive he'd been when he caught her. Though, even if he had been a little gentler that night, she still would be avoiding him like this. The fact of the matter was that she felt guilty for sleeping with him, and Renard had known that would be the case going into it. It was why he had kept her up for a good part of the night with their lovemaking.
Still, he had half hoped that things would be different.
When he'd been pushing into her that night in the garden, her body had eagerly accepted him. She hadn't even really tried to struggle; sure there was the token resistance put up, but nothing at all beyond that. Renard refused to believe that a healthy part of her didn't want him to push her down and ravish her body. Each time that he watched her run away from him, he knew she was doing it because she was afraid of their attraction not because she was necessarily afraid of him.
It just made Renard want her all the more.
The slight sampling he'd gotten from her wasn't enough to satisfy him, he wasn't even sure he could be satisfied now that he'd found a woman he could connect with on more levels than one. Not only had she seen and effectively accepted his more volatile nature, but she also could engage with him more deeply about one of his major passions. She hadn't returned to the garden after that night though, and for good reason considering how much Renard still ached for her. He wanted to press her up against a mirror while he made love to her so that she could catch glimpses of her hazed expression; only in such an instance of pure pleasure would she not be aware of herself enough to be able to capture her own image in charcoal. He wanted to help her fulfill that artistic first, and it would feel all the better to know that he'd be the one who would enable her in that way.
He pulled a long draw on his cigar, letting out a slight shudder as he breathed out the smoke. His mind was imagining her entangled in the branches of his work, inspiring new shapes and colors. How would it feel to push her hands into the soil, his hands meshing with hers as the two of them worked on the dirt together. She knew nothing of botany, certainly, but Renard was positive that she knew plenty about the sensuality behind creating something beautiful.
… She had made such wonderful sounds in this garden.
That couldn't be the only time. He wasn't going to let it be the only time. Still, his more subtle attempts so far had been met with nothing but coldness. At dinner when she passed him something he would let his hand linger on hers briefly, but she always yanked her hand away much quicker. He'd tried aiming more comments in her direction, but Kyrie clammed up even more than before to his inquiries, defaulting to letting Isaac or Vivian answer for her. It was noticeable enough for even Vivian to take note of it, but Vivian didn't seem to question it that much. She was just happy to reinforce the idea that Renard was still hers and hers alone.
On multiple occasions, Renard felt like he'd been so close to just shoving Kyrie up against a wall and fucking her to vent all this frustration that she gave him. Instead of doing that though, he had turned to Vivian, giving her a bit of a rough time which she didn't protest in the least. In fact, she'd seemed to relish the ferocity with which he shook her body, believing it to be desire for her... if only she knew. Vivian could satisfy the itch, but she did not feed the longing he had for her friend.
Renard's feet slowly drifted him around the garden until he found himself standing right in the area where Kyrie and he had spent all their intimate time. His eyes almost lazily perused the scene as images of what happened here ran through his head.
Isaac and Vivian be damned, he would have that girl again.
He had to catch her off guard, find her in a vulnerable moment of her own or she just wasn't going to let him in. His chance might be coming sooner rather than later though; word around the manor was that Mae and Raine would be heading off soon to go and visit Jiera in the Dominion. On the surface the reason for this visit was to expose Raine to the culture of the Dominion, but who knew what the real reason was. Whatever the case, that meant that both Isaac and Vivian would be gone. Kyrie would be left all alone; it'd be the perfect time to strike. He was counting down the days until they all left, but in the meantime, he had to satisfy this craving somehow.
Putting out his cigar, he stalked off towards the manor to go find Vivian.