The Main Hall, The Duchene Residence, Leighton, England (1762)....
True to form, Alain found himself dressed up and awaiting the arrival of his dreaded cousin Cornelius Eyston, a charming and deviously handsome lad with long dark locks often in curls and a swashbuckler's beard, he was said to arrive along with his visiting younger brother Reginald Eyston, whom had been just as handsome and given to having a kind heart and a humble demeanor despite his youth, and lacky best friend Reman Jasper, whom had been a tall slender young man with mostly unkempt red hair and despairing brown eyes. As far as personalities went, Cornelius was always a trite little monster in Alain's humble opinion, as he terrorized him from the moment they met. From the tender age of five on up, Cornelius had made it his business to insult, tease, and assault young Alain whenever no one was looking. The boy was an absolute terror to the staff when he came around and as a result had them all walking on eggshells until he was safely on board a train or carriage far away from the Duchene estate and home to torment his own servants.
Cornelius always seemed to look up to Casimir despite the older of the two not wanting much to do with him. Cas had come of age a lot sooner than everyone else and had better things to do than play with snot nosed children. He had only seemed to make an exception for Alain whom had not behaved like a spoiled child at all. Where Casimir was protective of his younger brother to the degree that no one dared trifle with him, Cornelius tormented young Reginald night and day enraged that he'd even had the audacity to have been born into his family.
Alain caught the rather nasty lad beating his baby brother in the garden and stepped in causing Cornelius to turn his ire upon him. Reginald had been grateful and insisted that Alain had been his favorite cousin and would gladly spend time with him however long he could. Both boys of the Eyston line were a product of Alana Duchene's extended family following her elder brother's marriage to his first wife whom had died in childbirth following a third child, a little girl, whom had perished along with her.
Alana's brother remarried of course and had more sons in which to carry on their father's name but he lacked the will to ensure the first born children were seen to properly aside from his habit of spoiling them and sending them off to tutors and to visit with relatives due to the fact that they never got along with the younger children from his second marriage.
Despite being seventeen years of age, Cornelius had not seemed to change much as he arrived draped in violet velvet with black lace trimming and leather boots and gloves. He wore an odd looking hat made from fine leather also black in color and sported a violet tie as he moved about the room. His trademark brown locks curly as ever and always at his shoulders. He was as flashy in his dress as Alain had remembered him being. Reginald was rather modest with a reasonable suit and trousers with a matching jacket. He never once smiled while he was anywhere near his brother and their guest, but his eyes lit up when he approached Alain.
Casimir was the first to greet them both following after his mother whom had received a kiss on the cheek from each of them. Cornelius' eyes flickered with admiration as he approached Casimir whom he idolized, but never could quite impress. They exchanged pleasantries for a few moments before Cas found himself in need of more impressive company. Reginald was amused that Casimir had not changed in the least since the last time they had seen him. Reman was largely ignored unless instructed by Cornelius to introduce himself. He seemed quite out of place with his less than impressive attire most likely from the wardrobe of a common man than a noble and his skittish demeanor didn't do him any favors either.
Alain had heard a rumor that Jasper's family had been in the company of gypsies and that they had taken to putting curses on those whom had wronged them. He dismissed it as rubbish at the time but having a look at the strange lad gave him pause.
"Well...well...cousin." said Cornelius at last turning his attention to Alain.
"Welcome Cornelius." said Alain dutifully so as not to disappoint his mother despite the knowledge that he truly loathed his elder cousin and would more than likely toss him out than welcome him inside the estate.
A flicker of malice flashed across the eyes of the pompous twit as he seemed to be sizing up his potential prey. Alain had gotten a lot taller over the last few years due to a growth spurt and no longer was he at the mercy of his cousin in that regard. He had even taken to his lessons via the blade from both his father, Sir Alfred Remington and Casimir whom had been a prodigy with the sword as a child.
Cornelius glared at Alain for a few moments before forcing a fake smile across his face if only to appease his lingering Aunt. The two of them had a good deal of unfinished business from the last visit as it were and it was more or less a thing that he intended to get to as soon as no one was around. Being of age, he had something of a reputation to uphold and one damaging word from his so called cousin would no doubt stain that sense of honor and admiration he had managed to fake his way to gaining over the years.
"I shall like a word with you cousin...it has been a while since I saw you last." said Cornelius in a rather sickeningly pleasant tone.
Alain resisted the urge to call him out and simply nodded politely. He hated when Cornelius spoke to him with direct sweetness in his tone, it was even more unnerving than his venomous dialogue when they were seconds from coming to blows via fisticuffs.
"As you say." replied Alain taking his leave of his annoying cousin.
Reginald followed behind him not wishing to have anything to do with his elder brother if he could help it.
"Are you still painting cousin?" he asked with his boyish inquisition being at least amusing to his older cousin.
"Indeed I am." replied Alain. "As a matter of fact, I believe I've moved on to portraits."
This seemed to get Reginald's undivided attention.
"Well you've got to let me have a look at one, and if your as good as Aunt Alana you've got riches ahead for you." said Reginald excited about the prospect of being related to yet another world renown artist.
Reginald had only been fourteen but he was as energetic as a six year old and as intellectually sound as a man of thirty more often than not. He was easy to get along with and even more so of an amazing bloke to have around. Alain often wondered how he and his elder brother could have been born so different but then he'd reflect on how vastly different he and Casimir turned out to be.
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The Garden region Of The Estate, The Duchene Residence, Leighton, England (1762)....
As promised, Alain ventured toward the gardens where he had agreed rather reluctantly to meet with Cornelius for their discussion. The rain from the previous days had let up but the wetness still lingered. He was pleased to find a bit of good news so long as he had to endure his unwanted cousin's company. He had no fear of him this time around as he'd been much bigger and quite strong in his own right when in comparison to his older cousin. He knew all too well what the chat would be about as he'd been one of the only members of the family aside from Reginald that knew about Cornelius' strange proclivities when it came to his sadistic nature and rampant sexual pursuits.
Sadly, Alain had the misfortunate experience of bearing witness to such appalling behavior some odd few years ago when he'd taken to moving about the estate in search of inspiration for his next painting. His cousins were visiting then and as always he had dreaded and despised the company of Cornelius Eyston, whenever he was subjected to enduring it. Not to be deterred from his vision of getting a painting done before the holiday, Alain happened to stumble upon the site of a fifteen year old Cornelius slumped over an arm chair in one of the servant rooms with his trousers down to his ankles and a green around the gills tray walker with short blond locks pumping his cock into his exposed arse for all he was worth.
The look on the poor lad's face was sheer terror as he feared being fired and labeled a poof for the rest of his life due to having to comply to the demands of Cornelius whom had taken it upon himself to indulge his depraved nature at the expense of the young servant. Alain was at a loss for words as he backed out of the room unsure of what he had just witnessed his Uncle's golden boy doing and the fear on the face of the stricken servant as to what was to be done with him when word got out.
Cornelius whom had been much bigger and stronger than Alain was back then cornered him when the act was at an end and pulled him into a darkened corridor where he proceeded to beat the younger Alain into the ground and threatened to kill him should he ever open his mouth and speak of what he just witnessed him doing. For good measure and as a means of keeping his younger cousin's mouth shut, Cornelius had even gone the extra mile of parting the lad's trousers and putting his younger cousin's newly exposed cock into his mouth in a bid to blackmail him into further silence.
Alain was quite upset with the memory and violently slammed Cornelius into a nearby stone wall as a result of his rediscovered animosity. His hatred of the foul young man whom had been little more than a blight to his own family increased as his hazel eyes turned red and he looked upon the trembling smaller young man.
"Alright cousin..." said Cornelius helpless in the grasp of his younger cousin's fury. "I didn't come here to fight....I simply wish to know if you have any intentions on revealing my less than savory past to anyone not already privy to it."
Alain rolled his eyes and let him fall to the cold hard ground.
"You are fortunate that I didn't say anything to Cas about what you truly are." he growled.
Cornelius sighed and got to his feet making a show of dusting off his attire.
"I say we let bygones be bygones after all, I was just a lad struggling with the pressures of sexual identity and you were always a constant pain in my arse." continued the vile charming lad. "Or at least I wanted you to be...suffice if to say...I am and have always been attracted to gorgeous male specimens...you being who you are naturally I hated you."
"The feeling is mutual." replied Alain with a flicker of malice behind his eyes.
He folded his arms across his chest and glared at the annoying bastard before him. Cousin or no cousin, he'd kill him a thousand times over if he'd been anyone else.
"Oh don't be that way....what I meant was...I was attracted to you even then and I didn't understand at the time that it was because you were so damn gorgeous that I wanted to fuck you...us being cousins put something of a damper on things, but nonetheless the feeling remained." explained Cornelius. "Even now...I can't help but feeling the attraction...your cock was...exquisite by the way and I'll just bet it's as grown as you are right now."
"This conversation is over." said Alain attempting to head toward the main house.
"You know you'll always be my favorite cousin Al." said Cornelius in a condescending tone. "My favorite kissing cousin."
Alain took off toward the house almost sorry he couldn't venture toward the grove with night fall and the wetness lingering from the rain. He made up his mind that he'd seek out Naureen when this was all over and at least attempt to let her know how he felt about her. At the very least he had the trip with his father to the new world to look forward to. Still he had no illusions about this being a long night with Cornelius about the place.