Chapter 127

Ava was smiling all the way of the carriage ride as she was holding hands with Marsh right now. She did not know when this developed but after that kiss that they shared, she knew that she was being courted by this lord.
Is this what it felt like to being courted to marry? Ava smiled as she felt the hand that was squeezing hers. She turned to look at Marsh before he smiled upon her.
“I see that you are quite content with yourself, darling,” he said as he used the endearment that was only reserved for someone that was dear to them. And right now, Marsh was using that on her. Her heart was beating fast before she blushed and smiled shyly as Marsh was pulling her closer.
This is heaven, Ava mused before she was looking at the mansion that was standing still in front of her. She gave the direction to get to her house but she did not classify which one was hers.
She just hoped that Marsh did not want to come and greet her parents. She was not ready for that.
“So, which one is your house, darling?” Marsh asked her before she was taking her hand from his hold and tapped the roof for the coachman to stop. The carriage stopped before Marsh was looking at her, confusion was all over his face.
“Well, this is the stop for my house. You don’t have to send me to the front door, I can take it from here,” Ava said as she was looking at Marsh. He arched his eyebrow before he was nodding at her.
“Be careful,” he said before Ava was putting her hands on his cheeks, caressing it with her thumbs. Then, she kissed his lips. It was soft and tender like how he would treat her whenever she was around him.
Marsh was surprised at first but he kissed her back. It was magnificent before and it was glorious now. Ava has never been kissed before and this was the best kiss that she ever had. Not that she would have anyone to compare to but it was good to know that everything was perfect for her.
“I see you again?” Marsh asked against her lips as their hot breaths mingled when they broke the kiss. Ava smiled before she turned to look at him.
“I see you around,” she teased before Marsh was smirking at her.
“Well, I think I have brought forth the temptress that was hiding underneath all the frills now,” he said before Ava was biting his lower lips that made Marsh groaned in delight.
“Would you like to know?” she said before the footman was opening the door of the carriage. He has been riding her horse and right now, Ava will be taken over it. But she thought better than just ride the horse. She will be walking home now since the mansion was not far away.
“Good night, darling,” Marsh said as the footman was closing the door and stood behind the carriage. Ava was stroking her horse’s nose before she was waving at him. She smiled as she was watching the carriage rode away into the distance until she lost it. And then she walked home.
Only that she was unaware of the eyes that were watching this interaction from afar as the plot was in the making of her future.
*****
Lady Randolph was looking at her daughter that just got home when she was retreating from a fancy carriage that brought her home. She was trying to figure out who was the owner of the carriage before Lord Randolph was entering the study room with an envelope in his hand.
“Look what the young queen sent me,” Lord Randolph said before Lady Randolph was turning to look at him. She smiled at her husband before she moved to look at the letter that was sent by the young queen to her husband.
“What is it saying?” she asked before she was looking over her husband’s shoulder. Lord Randolph tore the envelope before he was reading the content. His eyebrows shot up before he gave it to his wife to confirm what he just read.
Lady Randolph took it and read it. She was blinking her eyes before she turned to look at her husband. Her heart was beating so fast that she could hear it in her ears.
“Is it what I think it was?” she asked her husband before he nodded. Lady Randolph smiled as she was looking at the dinner invitation to the Baron of Fell’s fortress that was a few miles away from their mansion.
“Perhaps the queen just wanted to see you, my love? There is nothing to be afraid of,” she said as she was watching her husband sighed before he was pinching his nose bridge.
“I know how the young queen works. This is a play for her to match our daughter with one of the Higher Court lords,” her husband said as she was soothing him, running her hand over his spine.
“If anything, Ava deserved to matchmake. I think she was dallying with someone. We have to save her before it got worse,” she said before her husband turned to look at her beautiful face. Lady Randolph was one to behold.
Her blonde mane.
Her vivid green eyes.
Her straight nose and high cheekbones.
Her daughter inherited the straight nose and high cheekbones from her but her hair and eyes were her father. It was a shame that she looked like a plain Jane with that brunette hair and brown eyes. But never her husband. With those features, he looked like a warrior that was ready to protect his family as that hawkish eyes were examining her right now. He narrowed his eyes on her.
“What do you mean?” he asked her before Lady Randolph told him everything that she saw when Ava was getting off from the unknown carriage without a crest or sigil.
“Then, we shall go to this dinner, and perhaps the young queen’s matchmaking idea was not bad at all. Not bad at all,” Lord Randolph said before his wife was smiling inwardly.
Do you think you can find your own husband without my help, daughter? She thought as she was looking at the daughter that returned the horse to the stables.
I guess you will never know what hits you, Lady Randolph said before she was soothing her husband and convinced him it was for the best.
And Baron of Fell was thee true match for her daughter.
*****
After that date and the carriage ride and the kiss, Ava was making her way to the stables where she gave the horse for a rest and the stable boy has been helping it to rest. She made her way to the servants’ quarters as she did not want to catch her parents that she was lurking around.
She breathed out when she saw that no one was there before she slipped in. But it was too easy when someone was clearing their throat behind her.
“Where have you been, daughter? I thought you were going book shopping?” her mother asked before Ava was closing her eyes as she was stiff.
Of all people, why her mother was the one that discovered her?
She opened her eyes before Ava turned to look at her mother. She smiled before she was regarding her with a masked face, not showing the real emotion on her face.
“Well, I can see that you were not in your father’s study room,” Ava said before her mother was rolling her eyes at her.
Talking out being in polite company and all, her mother was the one that taught her to roll her eyes whenever she was annoyed.
“I just came from there and I think that it was you that I need to worry about. What are you doing, sneaking around in the servants’ quarters?” her mother asked before Ava was smiling at her.
“Nothing, I was just doing something that I wanted to get from the kitchen,” Ava babbled before her mother was narrowing her eyes on her. Then, she dismissed it with the wave of her hand.
“Whatever, I don’t care what do you did but I have news for you,” her mother said before she was turning to look at her sharply. Her mother was clearing her throat before she regarded Ava with her green eyes.
“We will be attending a dinner tomorrow night at Baron of Fell’s fortress. I want you to be on your best behavior and I don’t want you to be doing something…out of the ordinary when you were in his company,” she said before Ava was frowning at her.
“Since when did I was not behaving accordingly in any given situation, mother?” she asked before Lady Randolph arched her eyebrow.
Again, one point of her mother taught her to do that in polite company. Ava thought her tutors would roll in their sleep if they knew that she was not doing the best in etiquette when she studied hard for it.
“When I saw you and that carriage outside earlier. I think I saw a man inside the carriage and you were smiling with all the teeth that you can bear to him. Don’t think that I did not say it because I did. And tomorrow you will be smooching with the baron for your father wanted to match make you with him. So, I will be expecting the best behavior of your etiquette tomorrow, Lady Ava Randolph,” her mother said before Ava was looking at her retreating figure. She bit her lips as she was sighing.
So much for a private relationship when she has to waltz with the devil of the Higher Court now. What will she tell Marsh that she cannot pursue what he intended with her? Ava was torn and when she did, she would love to immerse herself in a bathtub filled with foams and that’s what she will be doing now.
To hell with the dinner and to hell with the Baron of Fell. If only Ava knows who the real person Marsh really was.