Chapter 38 - Engagement Dinner
Wherein Valentina comes face to face with her ‘destiny’.
The Midwinter Feast Gala was a marvel that went by in a blink, even though it lasted the entire night. Valentina was too busy chatting, dancing and lobbying for her father’s cause to miss Rose and Bosra.
She slept the day away, only to wake in time for afternoon tea, after which she hurried into the carriage sent for her. Inside she found a note reading: Look your absolute best. Do not disappoint your father.
Crumpling the note in her hand, Valentina slumped in the cushions. She stared out the window, wishing the night was over already.
When she arrived in her chambers to change, that sentiment doubled tenfold. Art and decorations had been liberated from her salon, leaving uncomfortable blank spaces. The maid that followed in her wake stayed suspiciously silent, though she must know who the raider was.
The absences in her sitting room did not prepare Valentina for the disaster that was her dressing room.
Many, many of her garments lay in tatters. The stench of mixed perfumes assailed her senses on top of that.
Going by Daisy’s shocked gasp, she had not known what lay ahead either.
"Milady, I am so sorry," she apologised. "I should’ve-"
"No. The fault is not yours." Valentina knew who was to blame; Venlica. She clamped her lips and turned to take in the full scope of the damage. Nothing had remained whole, no garment untarnished, no perfume bottle unbroken.
Yet the strongbox that held her jewellery was still locked. As soon as she pointed that out, Daisy procured the key from its hiding place. A visual check confirmed that none of the precious goods within were disturbed.
"Milady, let me run to your sister’s closet. I might obtain a fitting dress for you."
It would be an inch too short, but it would have to do. Valentina nodded her permission to Daisy. "Please, and offer her my thanks."
As Daisy hurried off, Valentina went through the wreckage in search of survivors.
She found a suitable dress that had seemingly escaped the slaughter, crammed into a corner. The crinkles could be ironed out and the little tear where a bow had been could be covered by a brooch.
Daisy returned soon after, with clean stockings and the basic make-up necessities.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t find a fitting dress. It seems your sister’s wardrobe has been updated recently, and none of the old items were kept."
Valentina knew that meant the old dresses had been sold to a shop.
She put a hand on her maid’s shoulder. "It’s alright, Daisy. None of this is your fault."
Tears welled up in those lovely green eyes. The slightly older woman bit her lip and nodded. If she had acted, she would have been ruined.
"And I found a dress that will work, but I might be five minutes late to the table."
"A lady is never late, milady." Daisy braved a smile and set to work.
Sometime later, Valentina sat in front of her vanity in an empty dressing room. While she had changed and prepared, an army of footmen under the guidance of a housekeeper had cleared away the mess. They had found two more dresses that could be salvaged with minimal effort. Those had been taken to the in-house seamstress for mending.
For the first time in her life, with all excesses stripped away, Valentina saw herself clearly. She reflected on her image in the quicksilvered glass.
She was beautiful, with long curls of thick butter-blonde hair, blue eyes the colour of the evening sky, thick dark lashes, perfect cheekbones and jaw, and lips that were a soft pink, even without any make-up. She had a very even complexion, though that had been aided by powder.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose softly, knowing she would show spots if she did.
It was a tiny act of rebellion.
It made her look more real.
A sigh helped release the tension she had been holding onto since she left home.
"You should go, milady," Daisy urged. "Your mother is asking after you."
"I will, in a moment." Valentina changed her earrings so they mismatched the rest of her jewellery. Another little rebellion.
She owed it to her father to make a go of this match, and she would not disgrace him by going further. Daisy was fretting enough as it was.
Elegantly Valentina rose. She touched Daisy’s arm in gratitude. "You are free to enjoy the rest of your evening. I will see myself home after dinner."
Walking to the small salon where her family would be waiting for her, she pondered her future.
Would Lord Elvendale wish for her to travel with him? Or would he leave her as steward of his newly gained estate? The latter would allow her some freedom, whilst the first would offer adventure.
She didn't think she was made out to be an adventurer. Not like Rose and certainly not like Bosra.
She didn't know what she was made out for.
Threads of the future had been hard to reach for as all her thoughts, her energy, had been consumed by getting through another day.
Recently, she had started thinking. Dreaming. Hoping.
Those dreams would have to fade to make room for the reality of what was to come.
Valentina was shocked by the apparent youth of the dark-haired man her father introduced as Lord Elvendale. He was barely taller than she was. Standing next to her father and sister, she wouldn’t have given him more than twenty-odd years.
It was the depth in his eyes, the cold collectedness that betrayed his true age.
"Young lady Effyne," he spoke, bowing over the hand she offered without kissing it.
"Lord Elvendale," she returned in greeting.
"You have finally chosen to grace us with your presence," Venlica interrupted before introductions could be properly finished. "Dinner is frizzling away whilst you took your time to dress."
Taking in a deep breath and debating whether or not a scene was worth the effort, Valentina decided to turn to her fiancé. "My apologies, Lord Elvendale. It was not my intention to keep you waiting."
"I was entertained," he replied, with a barely perceptible gesture he indicated to her sister.
All participants survived dinner. Valentina was amazed that Venlica’s snide remarks did not seem to touch Lord Elvendale and that he deftly managed replies that should have burned her on the spot, yet Venlica kept forging on with equine persistence.
Rhodum urged them to take a stroll through the palace together as soon as the main course had been cleared.
Valentina led the elvish ambassador through the portrait gallery – a depiction of her genealogy – to the one place Venlica absolutely despised, the greenhouse. They walked arm in arm, yet kept a distance between them. Both in body and in spirit. Conversation kept skimming the surface; touched upon topics like a flat stone skipping over water until it dropped.
They came to a halt at the edge of the fountain in the middle of the glass structure. Amusedly, she beheld the colourful creatures that rose to the surface in hopes of food.
"Do you want to marry?" Valentina could not refrain from asking any longer.
"It does not matter what I want," he replied curtly, his accent all prim and proper. A little too perfect. "It is my mission to cement alliances. Marriage is a very clear gesture of goodwill."
So it was purely politics.
"Marriage and children?" Valentina prodded gently.
"Yes," he replied rigidly.
"Do you not want to love your wife?"
He looked at her bluntly. "I do not need to love my wife to beget children with her. Even as a half-elf, your lifespan is like a well-cared for pet compared to mine. A pet can never take the place of a full-righted partner."
Valentina blinked. Repeatedly. Stunned into silence, she didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry at the implications held in those words.
"If women of my own race were not so slow to breed, there would be no need for this match between us," he continued, revealing a tip of the iceberg of reason for this diplomatic mission.
She stayed silent, trying to process all that was and wasn't being said.
"You should feel honoured. You shall be cherished and well-cared for. Your children shall have great destinies. Your sons shall be mated into the royal line, your daughters wed into elven nobility."
It sounded like a fairy tale. There were no Fae to be found. She looked around, hoping to spot one such a wily being in the foliage of a citrus tree, but no.
"You shall want for nothing."
"Really?" she asked flatly. Her tone went over his head completely. She would not have a loving husband. She would not have freedom. Freedom that earlier had seemed so close at hand.
"Absolutely."
He was buying her off; she recognised the tactic applied by her father to situations where a woman of his household was showing distress.
"What do you say?"
"To what?" Valentina asked, not liking the shrill quality of her own voice.
"This marriage proposal." He looked at her with those deep, unfeeling eyes that scored her soul and made her feel tiny.
"I thought it was a done deal," she countered, squaring her shoulders. Can’t fear the beast, or he’ll eat you, Bosra had said.
"On paper, yes. But I'd rather my bride avowed her willingness. Letters can be bent. Vows have to be kept."
"You're saying I can get out of this?" she asked, perplexed.
"No. I'm saying I shall know where we stand."
She let her head drop forward. Closed her eyes. Hands fisted in the pleats of her skirt.
Anything she wanted…
"Will you cast your oath upon my God and my Queen?"
"The Queen of the elves?" Valentina asked, just to be sure she knew what she swore on.
"That one."
She breathed in deeply and held her breath until her eardrums screamed in agony. If she could, she would have held her breath indefinitely. However, with a whoosh of exhaled breath, she said: "I do so swear."
The tears rolling down her face were of exertion; she failed to convince herself.
He dipped his hand into the pond, muttering words she did not understand, but all the same sounded as a devotion.
As they returned to the dinner table for dessert, she felt light. Giddy. She wondered if she was going mad.
~~
Bear With Me is Part Two of my shifter romance short story series, and is the counterpart to Leap Year Curse. It releases September 30th on Kindle/ KU.
Contact me if you'd love to read, but don't want to touch Amazon/Kindle, even with an eleven foot pole.
