I stepped out of the front door to see a butler helping my sisters into the carriage while the coachman was adjusting the reins on the horses. Beside our carriage was another one. My heart almost dropped when I saw Ethan talking to the coachman for his carriage. The sun was going down and the golden light better emphasized his features. I almost forgot what was going on as I watched him talk. He rubbed the stubble along his chin and it made me want to rub my fingers along his cheek down to his jawline. And wow those lips. My fingers made their way to my own lips as I thought about how his would feel. At this moment I felt like there was no need for Ruth to put blush on my cheeks because I felt them heat as I stared at the way his dark blue vest hugged his chest. Please, great goddess, let this man be my husband. His eyes met mine for a quick second which brought me back to reality. Did he catch me staring? My thoughts were interrupted by the butler who stepped into my view.
"Lady Louisette, may I?" He bowed and held out his hand to help me into the carriage.
I nodded. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hold us up."
He responded in a low voice that sounded almost irritated, "I'm afraid you already did."
I didn't know what to say so I just said "Oh." before stepping into the carriage. Mother shook her head and groaned. "The flowers, Louisette? They are inappropriate for a formal meeting. Who was your maid for the evening? It's that new lady, right?" She continued when I didn't answer, "I'll have a word with her later."
I shook my head in protest, "Oh no, Mother. It was my fault. I was in the library for longer than permitted. She was looking for me and did the best she could with the time she had."
Mother lifted her chin up and looked down at me, "She didn't help much."
I inhaled deeply. Taking the shot at my appearance with dignity. The ache in my chest that comes with Mother's little comments has grown smaller with each time she says something. But no matter how many times she pokes at me, the pain I feel is still there. For some reason deep down I still expect her to treat me with the same love as she does her other children.
For the entire ride I tried my best to ignore my family and ignore the weird fact that Father wasn't accompanying us. It's seen as weird for the women of a noble family to travel without being accompanied by the man of the house. I guess that's why the Mason sons came. So that they can escort us back to their residence.
The ride would be a few hours and I couldn't help but to feel restless waiting for us to get to our destination. I wanted to be invisible. Even though no one was talking to me, I couldn't help but feel their unapproving stares here and there. Their burning gazes made me shift uncomfortably back and forth in my seat. No sitting position could save me from their hate.
Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I peered out the curtain and looked up at the moon. It was beautiful and full. It was a white void in a pitch black sea of unknown wonders. There were no stars, so she was the lead lady of the show. Its light casted
! down over the passing trees, providing barely enough light for me to see the path we were on. I stared at it and the sound of Lana, Lydia, and Lindsey's voices started to fade out. Father once told us about a culture from across the sea that believed in a moon goddess. He said it is believed that the moon goddess blesses the women across the land with fertility, wealth, and good fortune. I read about the religion and though I didn't know whether or not this moon goddess was real, I closed my eyes and silently prayed for a good marriage to Ethan.
"And may our children love themselves no matter what they look like." I smirked as I finished off my prayer. My moment of tranquility came to a quick and sudden end as the carriage halted to a stop. My eyes fluttered open and I turned to meet Lydia's hard gaze. I could tell her face had more layers of powder on it than usual, but it couldn't hide the dark circles underneath her eyes. The moonlight on her usually lively skin made it instead look pale. The shadows casted on her face looked almost ghostly. Confusion seeped through me as emotion flickered in her eyes. Pity? Wait no, relief? A mix of both? I didn't know, but it surely was a look that I've never seen her give me before.
"Finally!" Lana exclaimed which snapped me and Lydia out of our staring contest. She leaned over to me and whispered, "Try not to mess this up for once in your life." She giggled before hopping out of the carriage. Lindsey and Lydia followed soon after, Lydia doing so after sparing me one more glance.
Mother grabbed my wrist before I could step out. Her thin fingers dug into my flesh and a cry escaped my lips. She yanked me down to her and we were closer than we ever were before. Her eyes bore into mine as she gave me a warning, "Stay about yourself tonight. Remember that you are lucky that any family would take you in and you are blessed to be accepted into such an amazing family. No matter in which shape or form."
Her words burned into my mind the entire way into the manor. The way Ethan slid his jacket off didn't even catch my attention. "No matter in which shape or form." What did this mean? What possible form could I be accepted into the Masons family?
I never cease to be amazed by the Duke's manor. We visited once before, years ago, but I was pretty sure that I was more in awe now than I was when I was thirteen. Our house was big, but to say that their house was just "big" was an understatement. The ceilings were too high to touch even with a ladder. Unfinished ceilings showed the wooden beams supporting the roof. Their white marble floors were so clean, they showed my reflection. The decorations on the wall were unique, least to say.
The Duke is known to study different forms of dark arts from around the world. He doesn't particularly participate in the arts himself, but he does like to document them. When he was younger, he took note of different forms of sorcery and voodoo. The walls were proof of his journey. There were scriptures framed on the walls with languages I didn't understand and paintings of being I've never seen before. Lined along the wall were short pillars with abnormal objects encased in glass set upon them.
I walked slowly, to study each object. I passed by a piece of cloth wrapped in yarn with what looked like dried blood on it. Next I passed a small broken glass doll with a matching wooden one beside it. Afterwards I passed several glass encasings that had strange books in them. I flinched when the next glass encasing came into view. It was bigger than the other ones because of the large artifact inside of it. It looked like a rams skull, but instead of the normal yellowy white color a skull would be expected to be, it was a deep blood red. There was a bright red ruby ingrained into the middle of the forehead. The skull was so smooth I was sure it was carved out of marble. I had the urge to trace over the horns with my fingers. I cocked my head to the side in wonder. Something about it…enticed me.
I flinched once more when I heard someone speak behind me. "Ah, yes. The ram's skull. A wonderful thing, is it not?"
I was sure my heart stopped once I realized who the voice belonged to. Ethan. "Um yes. It's beautiful." I let out a breathless giggle that probably sounded extremely unattractive.
"Well, I'm sure Father will tell you about it, but this is from his journey to the Vetiti lands." I felt his warmth as he came closer behind me.
"The…Vetiti lands?" I had read about the Vetiti lands a while ago. I guess Ethan took me inquiring about his father's journeys as me not knowing about what the Vetiti lands were, so he went on explaining the history of it.
"About three hundred years ago, the Great King of Khanaria had a best friend. This friend betrayed him. He tried to kill our beloved king when he was just a prince. When the prince of Khanaria is of age, anyone in the royal family can challenge the crown. The prince's friend had found out that he was technically of kin to the royal family and wanted to take the crown for himself. It's terrible how people change when power is presented to them. I couldn't imagine my best friend betraying me." He shook his head once in disappointment. I laughed in my head. Imagine your whole family hating you for your whole life.
Ethan now stood beside me. I knew the entire story, but I made my eyes doe-like just like how mother taught me. "Feed his pride. Make him feel stronger, smarter, more superior. Then he'll be yours." This was the most Ethan has ever spoken to me, so I wasn't going to stop him now.
"His friend, now his foe in this point of the story, had rallied an army." He shrugged, "Convinced a bunch of dunces that he was the rightful heir to the throne. After a long and hard battle, the young, rightful, prince defeated his best friend and banished him to the Vetiti lands. The Vetiti land is a land that is not considered to be part of Khanaria anymore. Its soils are infertile and its skies are always gray." His eyes met mine and his hair fell forward, brushing his brow. "People that go in, they seem not to come out. Father says it smells of death and it took him weeks to be able to remove the stench from his nose."
We stood, staring into each other's eyes for a while. I almost forgot why we were standing here talking. I stammered, trying to bring the focus back on the ram's skull, "So! Did he find this on his journey there?" I got closer to the glass to have a better look at the artifact.
Ethan finally gave me the gift of his smile before responding, "I'm sure my father will tell you more about that, but we should get to the dining hall. I'm sure everyone is already set at the table." He held his arm out for me to hold. My heart started racing as I hesitantly wrapped my hands around his bicep. I slowed my steps so that it would take longer for us to reach the dining hall. I wanted to enjoy the feeling of having him this close.
He stopped right before we reached the entrance of the dining hall and spoke while still looking forward, "I want to apologize. Forgive me, Lady Louisette, for any hesitancy I've had towards speaking to you. Especially lately." He looked conflicted as he turned his head towards me just a bit, as though he wanted to look at me, but he instead kept his eyes on the ground before continuing, "You have to understand that I was taken aback by the news, but I shouldn't take it out on you. You didn't have much of a choice, but you have to understand my disfavor towards this situation." I blinked a couple of times, confused.
"Anyhow, we might as well start getting along. You're a part of the family now I guess." He forced a tight lipped smile as we rounded the corner and walked into the dining room. I felt a familiar ache in my chest when he said this. Was this confirmation that I'd be married to him? Did this mean that he wasn't happy about the union? Was it not his choice? Questions swam through my mind like hundreds of koi fish in a pond way too small for them.