Château d'Mauvoisin

[caspai]

I watch the internal battle being waged on the face of this girl, and see in her a strength that I don't think she yet realizes she has. I can see that she does not know who to trust. In truth, I don't yet know that myself. So much is at stake here. I was able to bring Leonce around once, but there was no telling whether I would ever be able to do it again.

Her struggle come to an end once more, she looks down, and tells me she wishes nothing else at this time. I nod my head and turn to leave. I hate the act I am forced into as I lock the door. It goes against every instinct of nature and training to treat this girl as a prisoner. I have done as much as I could, however. More, truthfully, than I really should. Leonce was so irratic now, if he discovered what I had done, I do not know how he will react. If that happens, I will do what I must, however. I had learned at a young age that life is not easy, or pretty, and one must do what is necessary to survive.

With a deep sigh, I turn to walk down the hall, and see a shadow lurking at the end.

"I have done as you asked me to, Leonce, although it is a sad thing. I have known you these long years, have seen many sides of you. What is this madness that seems to have such a hold on you now?"

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

I took a few steps out of shadow into light and back into shadows as I closed on Andrea, my head shrouded in darkness. "Sweet Andrea," I whisper, my breath hot on her ear, wayward hand gently lifting her chin, "can you not see that you have just put a Fey under lock and key in ny house?" My words hang in the air, charging it with anxious energy.

Stepping past her, brushing against her breasts as I pass, my eyes hard fixed upon the door behind her, "I have spent my life chasing fairies, Andrea. Now, at last, I am truly alive. The laughter of those fools will no longer ring in my ears," I say pounding a fist joyfully into the wall, disloging a dying candle from its sconce. I pay it no heed as it extinguishes crashing to the floor. I whirl around and stare deep into Andrea's eyes, "Success!" I hiss. Grabbing her hard around the hips and dragging her lips to my lips in a victorious, vicious kiss. My still nude, wax coated form pressing tightly against her black and white draped body, my excitement evident.

Breaking our embrace sharply I spin to the door once more. "Key," I whisper extending a hand behind me abtuptly, expectantly.

 

[caspai]

I look into his eyes, and see that the mania still has hold of him.

"Leonce, how am I to do my job if you have my keys? That makes no sense. You have the master set of keys. Her room will need cleaning, the linens changed. How am I to have that done if the door is locked to me as well?"

I hope that the logic is clear to him, but he seems unconvinced. I truly do not want to release this key to him. That poor child in there needs some respite, and if he has my key, I have no way to try to ease her plight. He just continues to hold his hand toward me, expecting me to hand the key over.

"Leonce, please, after all these years, and everything we have been through together, you can't mean to tell me that you don't trust me."

 

[Swashbuckler]

Andrea's words tapped away at my mood like stones from a small catapult against the stoney embankment of the bastion of my resolve; with futility. "Enough, woman," I snapped wheeling around and siezing her wrist, twisting her arm around her back and twirling her before me. I press her to the banister of the hall. She is bent at the waist over the banister. Andrea's signature cornet falls out with a jerk. Her hair erupts around her head obscuring her face, as her restraints fell to the tiles far below, clattering and scattering. A she gasped looking down after them. Her momentum lifting her feet off the ground, banister creaking.

I stop her from following her cornet. Pressing a still bloodied hand to the small of Andrea's back, forcing her back down. Stepping fast between her flailing legs I press against her black skirt fully, "Hmmm, after everything we have been through," I snarl in the still hall. I slide my hand from the small of her back slowly down across her ass, dipping between her legs, lifting the hem of her dress. Slowly at first, then violently jerking it up over her cheeks.

I bring my hand down sharply on her left cheek, leaving a redden print on milky flesh with a crash. The shriek barely registers to my brain as it echoes in the quiet halls. That shriek is followed by another crash and shriek to the right. The oaken banister groans and pops. My fingers quickly finding the pearl of her hidden silk purse, as I roll it cruelly. Andrea moans as I pull her sesitive jewel, milking her honey from her comb. The back of my hand slickening with her flow, I feel her quivver against the moaning banister.

Gripping her hip in a swift movement I press towards her glided lock with my key. Her words unintelligeable in the empty air. Plunging forth to dig her treasures I glide in hard and deep. Banging her agaisnt the creaking timbers on the precipice. Suddenly, I hear her moanng and gasping, clenching around me. I withdraw immiediately. Dropping her arm and hip. I stumble away from her and down the hall to Adrienne's door where I bang my head and fist in unison upon it. I slide down the polished oak to my knees, I turn around and sit with my back to the door, face in my hands, banging my head on her door, slowly sobbing.

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

I found that when I stilled my breathing that rasped loudly in the still air of the room, a harsh conversation outside of the tightly locked and barred wooden door could almost be heard. Leonce’s commanding tone set against Andrea’s shrill feminine babble, I strained to make out the individual words of the argument. Sighing, I pulled the embroidered white robe around my rain-chilled shoulders, idly disentangling stray pine needles and flower petals that had taken residence in my thick locks. The gritty traces of rain water abraded my soft skin, that which was used to nothing but English lavender soap and the finest silks.

The chaos beyond my confining walls grew to an uproar, punctuated by the indignant cries of the housekeeper that strongly echoed the sentiments in my own screams just moments before.

Then all went quiet. Eerily and utterly so.

Pressing the robe tight around me, I arose from my reclining position, and went to press my ear to the crack of the door. Masculine heavy breathing could be heard and then a slow, steady banging against the very boards that imprisoned me. Kneeling and looking through the keyhole, I could barely make out what were human forms among the shifting shadows. Calling softly, my resolve abandoned and my womanly nature taking over at these piteous sob, I wondered what had driven Leonce into such hysteria.

“Leonce, what is it that causes pain in such a heart?”

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

My head banged unfelt against the barrier of my reallity. I saw Andrea's disheveled and abused form down the hall in the flickering gloom. I heard the blood rushing through my veins, echoing in my ears. I barely felt the the trickle of blood running from my hand down wrist and staining my face amidst my tears. Wax cracked and chipped off my frozen skin. A torn, stray leaf fluttered from my hair to the polished oak of the hall, unnoticed. My Andrea streaked cock sat up between my bent legs, throbbing for fruition.

Softly, suddenly as my mind was swirling in transgression with my supportive Andrea. The only worthy thing of my past. Always at my side and always out of reach... And behind me a physical barrier only, to the realm of spirts, waiting for me, ...mine! I could not believe what madness could have allowed me to hurt my sweet, adorable Andrea. Then again, suddenly, softly, I was focused and alive once more. My pet, my heart, my fey, my...Adrienne. It was her calling to me through the keyhole. A tiny, dark hole between two worlds, sucking me from material to spirit. Instantly, I spring around like a cat after a ball of forbidden yarn, "Adrienne, my pet," I whisper through the key hole. My hot breath billowing through. My lips so close as to kiss the lock, as if it were Venus petals. My lips pressed tight to wood and brass, tongue flicking across cold empty hole of my barrier to my desire.

Denied her touch, her warmth, I slam a fist and a forehead hard on the door and lock. Sharp edged brass, splitting my forehead open to crimson flow. I scream like a caged animal against the solid wood, that holds back my body from my success of devotion.

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

Leonce's voice echoed back through the key hole, a desperate cry dripping with even present lust. This man was truly insatiable. Jumping back in alarm at his sudden out burst, I turned my head aside in fright, his warm breath catching me on my flushed cheek. Curling into a fetal position on the floor I listened to his tormented cries, echoing the dulled metallic sounds of lock against bone with my own shrieks. Where was Andrea and why did she not impart her cool-headed logic and calming voice upon him when I needed her most?

Briefly, I thought of the key that she had shown me. But my strength was failing me, and the cold nipped ferociously at my bones. The bed was half way across the room, I severely doubted my own willpower to make it that far without fainting. Shivering and sliding back from the door, almost as if it had grown a set of fangs and threatened to devour me just as soon as lock me away as a coveted treasure, I clawed at the floor. Clutching the robe until my knuckles turned white, I wondered how much long I would have to be subjected to his unearthly howls.

 

[caspai]

Andrea

The shock of the attack on my person was beginning to fade. I looked down the hall at Leonce, pounding his naked body to the door separating him from the poor, frightened child within. My strength and resolve returning, I approached Leonce once more. With the key to Adrienne's room safely tucked in my pocket, I hold my hand out to Leonce.

"Leonce, please, come with me. You have hurt yourself, and I can clean the wound and put a salve on it to keep it from scarring your handsome face."

I smile at him in the same way I had when he had been just a boy. I was not much older than he, but at that young age, he had believed me to be a great holder of hidden wisdom. I hoped that he would respond now in the same way he had then.

"Please, Leonce, I know that things are very confused right now, but all can straighten itself out. Your treasure is safe, and she will not go anywhere in the time it takes to clean and care for your wound. It will give the maids a chance to take care of her physical needs as well. Please, Leonce, please let me take care of you for the time being."

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

Confused, ha! I thought at Andrea's words. Knowing that I did have everything, just not exactly where I wanted it. I rose up and whirled around. Without a word, I waved a dismissal violently at Andrea as I stormed back to my chamber and slammed the door forcefully.

Once inside I poured myself an overflowing goblet of Abisinthe. Swallowing it quickly and letting its power rejuvenate me, I went to my nightstand and ripped the top drawer out. I rummaged through my treasures; bits of roots that had caught my eye, insects I had skewered with needles, and other items that had once held meaning to me. At last I pulled out the large iron ring that held all the keys to the great house that I was master to. I helpd it up and roared with laughter letting the keysjingle a bit as I help them high. One after the other I tossed them round, enjoying the playful clink they all made upon striking thier brothers. When I reached the one that should open my pet's door, I seized it nad held it tight to my lips.

I flung myself upon the bed and reached for the bottle once more...

 

[caspai]

As all of this was going on, I could hear the frightened scurrying of the maids as they prepared the bath for the Mlle. Never knowing from one second to the next what would set Leonce off, I had to follow his orders as they were given. I had been set to the task of making the Mlle comfortable, and that is what I must do. Going to the locked door, I put my hand to my hair, realizing for the first time that it is in disarray. There is nothing I can do about that now. Tucking strands of it behind my ears, I unlock the door.

I find the poor frightened creature on the floor, halfway across the room. Quietly going to her, I wrap my arms around her and lead her to the armoire. Taking out a soft robe, I wrap it around her shaking shoulders and speak to her in what I hope is a soothing voice.

"I am truly sorry that you have entered into our nightmare. Please understand that he was not always as he is now. There was a time when he was so charming, so full of life and joy..."

Shaking myself, I smile down at her. Then I stand back, resuming my proper role within the household.

"The maids will have finished preparing your bath by now. If you will come with me, I will show you the way."

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

Finally having gotten Leonce under control with her soothing voice, the softly featured woman returned to me. Having caught the tail end of her heated conversation with the master of the household, I learned this kind soul’s earthly name was Andrea. I used this instead of the generic terms reserved for housekeepers and the likes, addressing her as an equal to me, appreciating the warmth of another in my dark perils.

“It’s not you who I blame, Andrea. But still, anguish fills me at the mere sight of Leonce. He seems so..”

I paused, searching for the right words to convey my feelings about his tempestuous nature.

“..fragile. But shattered with rage.”

Wrapping her arms around my frail shoulders, Andrea felt as light as the shimmering fabric of a weightless scarf, but much more protective. Following her healthy gait with the stumbling strides of my weary prance, she led me to a steam-clouded room dominated by a large wooden bath.

Lowering my eyes, I murmured softly, almost embarrassed at the overwhelming gratitude I felt towards her.

“Thank you, Andrea.”

 

[caspai]

Presently we enter the room that holds the large wooden tub. Steam swirled, creating an almost mystic quality within the room. The maids were still within the room, and I could see the curious looks on thier faces. One quelling look from me was enough to cause them to go about their business as they should.

I walked over to check the placement of the linens. Satisfied that all was as it should be, I lifted and re-folded the long cotton night shift. Going to a cabinet, I take out a pot of cream soap, and a bottle of softly scented oil for the bath. Pouring a measure of the oil into the hot water, the room is quickly filled with the fresh scent of lemon blossoms. Putting the pot of cream soap and a soft cloth next to the bath tub, I then hold my hands out to receive the robe Mlle is wearing. I also give the maids a sharp glance, reminding them of my earlier warning. As she removes the robe in preparation for entering the bath, I hear a soft gasp from one of the maids. Looking up, I see her stricken eyes on me, her face going several shades more pale in fear. It is well she feel fear. Were Leonce to have his attention drawn to her, her fate would be a sad one.

The Mlle sinks into the bath, and I hear her soft sigh. Putting the robe she had been wearing aside, I take up a container and begin pouring warmed rain water over her hair, dampening it, and then begin to work some of the cream soap through it. I find twigs, leaves, and bits of wax within, and without comment, dispose of them. I can feel her beginning to relax under my ministrations.

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

Teetering halfway between consciousness and utter, sensory deprived exhaustion, I let Andrea’s caressing hands keep me in the happy medium between the two. The wax, softened by the hot water that swirled lazily over my unclad torso, peeled off slowly and floated to the surface. The removal of its biting presence left a patchwork of reddened, raw skin beneath.

Sighing to show my appreciation and contentment, I sank lower, tilting my head back over the edge, my breasts breaking the surface with a slight ripple. In a pose reminiscent of how Leonce’s rough hands had contorted me, I felt vulnerable yet relaxed under this woman’s cleansing touch.

There was a restless shifting among the maids as I turned my eyes to them. Scattering like timid mice, they squeaked amongst themselves about me, a stately indoor cat bravely roaming the wilds of their wooded home.

Drifting on the edge of sleep, the bleak darkness clouding the corners of my vision, I admired her hands. Delicate with the bones of a fish, papery skin an almost translucent white. Similar to the parchment-like layers of an aromatic garlic clove, her flesh was pulled over a perfectly woven skeleton, now immersed in the lemony water. So beautiful...

 

[caspai]

Andrea

Finishing with her hair, now clean and tangle-free, I move to take up the soft cloth. Looking at her questioningly, I see that she is hovering on the edge of exhaustion. Poor thing, quite understandable. She will sleep much better for being clean, though.

I softly plunge the cloth into the water, taking a small amount of the cream soap in my other hand, and lather the cloth. Gently taking one of her arms by the elbow, I begin to run the cloth over her arm. I see her turn her head and look at me, but all I do is smile gently, and continue with my work. Moving around to the other side of the tub, I begin to work on her other arm, gently running the soaped cloth over her arm, and then rinsing the soap from her. As I bend, a lock of my now-loosened hair falls forward into the water. As I am about to throw it over my shoulder, I see her lift a hand to it, feeling it. I don't wish to make any abrupt movements that may frighten her, so I continue with what I am doing, moving the cloth to her shoulders and neck.

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

I fought against the soft sensations of Andrea’s massaging hands, blinking my eyes to clear away the steam that clouded my vision as well as my thoughts. With these few moments of quiet relaxation to think, I strengthened my resolve. The manner I was being treated in was civil enough, but I knew I was a prisoner and there was the constant foreboding and threatening air the house exuded. Remembering my staunch upbringing and the words that had been repeated to me since young, I slowly regained the stubbornness that perhaps my family was renowned for.

Leonce had been given ample time to cool his flaring rage and perhaps hearing me out me again would be able to make him lucid enough to see through his own ludicrous facade. Sighing softly as Andrea ran a terrycloth towel over my hair and dabbing gently at my face, I dug my fingernails into my palms, the pain reviving my consciousness to a point.

“Please. I wish to have a word with Leonce.”

 

[caspai]

Andrea

“Please. I wish to have a word with Leonce.”

At the sound of her voice, I turn and look into her eyes questioningly. I could see the look of determination that marked not only her face, but also the way she now held her body. There is a certain strength to the way she now held her head that had not been there before, not within my limited experience. I did not know if she truly had the strength within her to face Leonce, but I knew that I could not even let a whisper of doubt enter my features lest she crumble again. Whether she was successful in her quest of the moment or not, she had to fight this fight. To stop her now would condemn her to the loss of her very soul. I could not be a party to that.

Turning with resolution to the two maids, I say crisply to them:
"You two, continue to assist the Madmoiselle with her bath. If I hear one word of complaint for any of your actions, the price you will pay will be a great one." Then I turn and walk out into the hall, looking for Leonce.

Stopping, I listen carefully, and hear him just down the hall. His maniacal laughter was chilling. I must do what I can to calm this man. I reach into my pocket and find a small bit of pencil, and quickly twisting my hair at the back of my head and securing it with the pencil, I square my shoulders, and walk down the hall with resolution.

Upon reaching the door in question, I find that it is slightly open. Looking in, I see that he is still unclothed. He is grasping an old ring of keys in his hands, and his head is thrown back in glee as he continues to laugh uncontrollably. Speaking softly to him, I say:

"Leonce, the lady faire awaits your presence. Do you not think, perhaps, that you should attire yourself as befits her? Perhaps that new suit of clothing that has just arrived from Paris? It is truly fine, and you have yet to attire yourself in it. It would be fitting to honor the lady thusly, do you not think?"

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

Andrea, suggested I dress in my new suit. The suggestion wove its way through the fog of my mind. "Of course," I said leaping off the bed. The abissynth caressing my mind, rapt in the bliss of the potent fluid. "My suit!" I snapp, swallowing from the goblet, emptying its low contents. I set the glass down carfully and hold my arms out to be dressed.

Andrea, quietly and eficiently tends to my wardrobe. My mind clears barely, whist she fusses. Trying to comb through my hair I wave her away, "Enough, my pet," I say as I stride for the door. Turnign and flashing Andrea a wild smile, "Bring Adrienne, the fey, bring her to the solarium. I shall dine with her there." Turning and striding out into the darkened hall I wind my way through the endless halls to my favorite chamber. "The dawn is always so beautiful after a storm," I yelled tothe echoing halls on my way. Laughing a bit at the boom of my own voice, filled with power over the spirit realm.

 

[caspai]

Andrea

"Bring Adrienne, the fey, bring her to the solarium. I shall dine with her there."

I watch him stride away, and turn to walk to Adrienne's room. She will be there by now. I must now go and see to her toilette. Hopefully, the maids have been efficient.

Walking to her door, I hear the sounds of dressing going on, and smile. Fear can be a great motivator, and they do indeed fear Leonce. Opening the door, I walk through, and say:

"My lady, Leonce wishes for you to join him in the Solarium when you are finished here."

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

"My lady, Leonce wishes for you to join him in the Solarium when you are finished here."

Putting the last touches on my dressing and following Andrea, I stepped tentatively out into the hall. The floorboards were cold and slippery beneath my bare feet for my shoes had been left behind somewhere in the mud of the so-called garden. My skirts rustled in the silence of the house, that occasionally shifted with the weight of the rain on the slate roof as I kept close to Andrea's quick pace through another maze of corridors. The sheer size amazed me, and despite the fact that from the outside the house dominated the sprawling countryside near and far, it was vastly larger on the inside.

Reaching the solarium, I found Leonce standing, adorned in a sharp suit the likes of which had graced my sight at the numerous dull functions I had been forced to endure of behalf of my father’s diplomatic presence. He looked a bit uncomfortable in it, his limbs didn’t hold their graceful fluidity and his lilting step was cut short, but it accomplished the task of making him appear half-sane.

Entering the glass-encased porch, I squeezed Andrea’s hand in a wordless thanks as Leonce dismissed her, his voice echoing in the lofty spaces above, clinging to the dark corners as surely as the cobwebs and their nocturnal inhabitants. Offering him no more than a half-curtsy, I tugged self-consciously at my starched off-white bodice, drawing myself up to my nymph-sized frame’s full height.

“Leonce, I demand explanation and if I shall be denied that as well, then I will impart upon you again my wish to leave.”

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

Oh how she glistened with beauty as she tripped into the room. Her grace devine. Inspecting Adrienne, my treasure by eye. Dismissing sweet Andrea with a annoying wave. Adrienne's lips were moving, I saw before I heard. I took her chin into my hand and almost had a kiss from her lips, before I realized her voice. I smiled, reckless and cold into her eyes.

Stepping back adn admiring the veiw through the glassed celing, "Do you really mean to fly away so fickle, my luv?" I asked with an arrogant laugh. "You gave yourself to me, upon my altar to you and all fey. You have sacrifced yourself, to me," I laughed haugtilly. Whirling around and with blazing eyes, "You may not leave, Adrienne!" I informed her cruelly, taking her delicate chin into my hand again, much more roughly, but not too roughly as yet. "You tenure here, my dear Adrienne, maybe as wonderful or as horrible as you choose to make it. But I warn you, my treasure blossum, I wil have you stay never-the-less," I hissed into her fear streaked eyes.

My mind fluttered and raced about. Could she be so niave? Nay, this must be a ruse of the fey to have me relinquish her. Having summoned into material existence the embodiment of beauty, of nature's garden of pleasures herself. how could I after a life's work fulfilled be duped into letting her fly away. "Never," I spake audible above a whisper, a response to my own thoughts.

Realizing that I had spoke my thought aloud I flashed a glance into her eyes, peering into her soul, "I will have you, stay," I whispered to her flushed face with a rolling hiss as I propelled my tongue against her lips and drew her tight to me with an arm of iron grip flashing about her waist.

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

The unbearable heat was all I could think about as Leonce spoke in that demonic tone. The cut of my dress was tight and crushing me as I tried to breath despite the stifling air. It seemed in every room there was a roaring fire and it distracted me fully from my original intent. I felt my heart drop as he denied my request again, wondering if I was a fool to be provoking him in this manner.

Leonce's tongue found my mouth as surely as an arrow from an expert marksman finds its target. I was unsure what to do as I flashed back to the scenes of his dominance in the garden and the floor of his sitting room. My body ached from his aggressiveness, although it was to my chagrin that I could not tell if it was from the physical pain he had induced or my rapture with having him take me again in ways I had never experienced. I whimpered at the look in his eyes, as he prodded at my inner reaches of my throat with his dagger-like tongue.

I was almost glad he forced me not to speak, for if I had, it would have been a stumbling vocalization, forever contradicting myself, so unsure about my true feelings was I. If he had been a noble and kindly prince or even one of the stable boys that had initiated so many romps in the hay, perhaps I would have felt more grounded and less hesitant for his touch. But knowing his extreme moods and fiery temper, and the written-in-stone fact that I was his captive, made me tense up under his grasping hands, contemplating what he would do to me if I were to bite his tongue off.

My eyes drifted towards the fire poker of heavy wrought iron, but I quickly dropped my gaze, hoping he hadn’t noticed my lack of attention.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Leonce

I broke our sweet kiss, holding her chin in my fingers I looked deep into her eyes. There was a sadness there, a realization, perhaps...? "Adrienne, my sweet," I whispered into her eyes. "Adrienne," I started again as I dropped her chin and took a step past her body, brushing agianst the fullness of her skirts, unawares, "I think that you need some rejuvenation, yes, yes..." My voice triled off into the stillness of the solarium, my mind racing, crashing...crashing....

"That's It!" I shouted with a jump, driving a fist into a palm with a loud slap. Whirling around and gripping her shoulders, jerking her to face me. "Adrienne, we must at once, take you to the sea. The waters of the surf will make you whole again, yes...." I stopped my mind rushing.

Letting go of her and turning to pace, muttering tangeled thoughts into the emptiness of the room for a moment as I paced to and fro. Suddenly, I whirled to face my sweet fey, "Adrienne!" I yelled, grasping her hands into mine. "Oh my pet, we shall go to the sea at dawn. Go now to your room with Andrea, she can get the thigns you need whilst you sleep," I ended my statement abruptly with a powerful kiss upon her sweet lips.

Breaking our kiss and releasing her I called to the door, "Andrea, take care of Adrienne. See that she gets some sleep. Pack her some apropriate things for a holiday on the coast. She needs rejuvenating....," I rasped. "Pack somethings for yourself as well, Andrea. Adrienne will need some attending to, I beleive," I said with a flashing glance across Adrienne's weary visage.

With that I turned and crashed through door on my way to the stable house to see about a carrige, laughing with delight at my plan...

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

I hardly knew what happened when Leonce’s insatiable lust melted away into the frantic calculations of planning a holiday. His talk of the ocean and our stay there was relayed in almost unintelligible bits, but I supposed I was becoming accustomed to his erratic – and usually senseless – speech patterns, and managed to piece together the general gist of his words.

He clapped his hands in glee, making me start at the loud noise echoing off the glass walls. I most definitely did not like the emphasis he placed on rejuvenating, but let my heart still it’s rapid beatings as I found Andrea would be accompanying us as well. He would not dare try anything less than gentlemanly with me whilst she was about.

I shivered, perhaps in premonition, at this thought, and quickly brushed it away as I stepped into the unlit hall, peering into the blackness for the tell-tale flicker of candlelight.

 

[caspai]

Andrea

From the position I had taken at a chair, just down the hall from the solarium, I hear Leonce call out to me.

"Andrea, take care of Adrienne. See that she gets some sleep. Pack her some apropriate things for a holiday on the coast. She needs rejuvenating....,"

"Pack somethings for yourself as well, Andrea. Adrienne will need some attending to, I beleive,"

Long years of service come to my aid, and as I move forward to meed Adrienne, I begin to make mental lists of all the things that would be necessary for our journey, things not only for myself and Adrienne, but for Leonce as well. I knew from experience that what he would bring for himself would not be much more than a sure supply of Absinthe, the genie in the bottle that had so changed Leonce from the man he had once been.

As I approach Adrienne, I see the dazed look in her eyes, and my heart goes out to her.

"Come with me, Mlle. One thing he spoke true of. You do need your rest."

Leading her back to her room, I, with regret, lock her door after helping her into her night clothes and tucking her into bed. When I try to fluff her pillows, she stops me, commenting on how tired she is. As I lock the door, I think of what may come of this trip to the coast, and wonder...

 

[Mistress Jorja]

Adrienne

The harrowing events of the past night were starting to catch up with me as I collapsed on the feather-soft bed. Through the east window, I could see the horizon tinged with the apricot and plum shades of the impeding sunrise, a flock of birds rising from the far fields just visible as specks of dancing darkness. Listening to the calming sounds of Andrea’s retreating footsteps down the hall, I laid back on the pillow, embroidered with thousands of tiny violets.

Shifting my position, the corner of my journal pressed into the nape of my neck and I slid it beneath my shawl that was folded neatly into a perfect square of crimson cloth on a chair adjacent to the four-posted bed. Knowing that it would be packed and brought along without anyone’s knowledge was a great comfort, for some of my darkest thoughts and emotions were caught between those thin pages.

Exhausted, I fell into a sleep that was without movement or dreams, finally escaping the twisted world I had so recently found myself trapped in.