Chapter 128

Marsh was looking at himself in the mirror that was standing from head to toe. He sighed as he was tying the cravat onto his neck. This is not what I have in mind when I was coming back here, hosting a dinner party for the queen and her seneschal, Marsh thought before a knock disturbed him.
“Come in,” he said before the old butler was coming into the bedchamber. He was smiling at him before the butler bowed at him.
“The guests are here, my lord,” the old man said as Marsh was nodding at him. He was looking at himself for the last time before he was taking the cravat and put it inside his waistcoat.
“Are the seneschal and his family here as well?” he asked the butler before the old man nodded.
“Aye, my lord. And the daughter is a pretty one. I think the young queen has chosen well,” the butler said as Marsh frowned at him. If the butler did not know about this matter, Marsh would certainly make some other arrangement as well.
He only wanted Ava and she will be his wife, that’s the end of the story.
“We have to go now. It is rude to make the guests waiting,” Marsh said before he was walking out of the chamber without his cravat perfectly in place. Maybe he just needs someone to tie it for him.
And that someone was in the library room as he was making his way toward her.
*****
Ava was nervous when she was walking out of her bedchamber. If she did not already guess, this dinner invitation was for the match make that her mother has been playing behind her back. I should have run with Marsh when I have the time, she mused before Ava was looking at her parents who were at the bottom of the stairs.
Ava took a deep breath before she sighed. Then, her parents turned to look at her. She smiled before she was descending the stairs. It was all that she could do not to turn away and maybe suck it up in her room for the rest of the night.
“My dear, you look wonderful. Your husband will be lucky to have you then,” her mother said as Ava was easing up at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled before she was tucking her hair to make sure that it was not out of the place.
“Thank you, mother. Not that I have to accept your help in requiring a husband but here we are,” she said as her mother grimaced at her. Ava ignored her when her father was taking her hands into his.
“Oh, I think I will cry if someone did take you away from me, dear,” Lord Randolph who was the most dramatic person that Ava knows her entire life, was smiling weakly at her before the horses neighed.
“Oh, our carriage’s here. We have to go now,” her father said before Ava was moving along but she stopped short when her mother was putting her hands on her arm.
“Listen, Ava. I know you think tonight was my plan for you to get stuck with a husband but I can assure you, it is indeed from the queen. I am not a part of this invitation,” her mother said before Ava was considering her mother.
In the last few years after her coming of age, she did not have a chance to look closely at her mother since she was busy escaping whatever matchmaking plan that her mother would plot for her. Ava managed to get out of it so far, but if her mother was using the young queen’s influence to get what she wanted…
It will be another story altogether.
She smiled at her mother before she tucked her under her arms and made their merry way to the carriage as her father was waiting patiently for his wife and his only daughter.
“I appreciate that you told me this. I know that you are not involved in this matter, mother. Heck, even father was surprised to see that we were to dine with her and her husband as well as the elusive Baron of Fell,” Ava said as she was smiling at her mother. Lady Randolph was looking at her daughter before she nodded.
“Indeed, I got the rumors that his lordship was out of town. So, I am wondering why he suddenly home and the queen was here as well. This doesn’t add up,” her mother said before they were settling onto the couch as the footman closed the door and the coachman was whipping the horse before the carriage moved forward. Her father grunted at the conversation that they were having.
“If anything that I heard was true, then Baron of Fell was the personal assassin and spy of the young queen. His cousin, count of Stonelockteco, was not the one that was dangerous and everyone respects him. The baron, however…” her father stopped before he was shaking his head. Then he smiled at both of the Ladies.
“Enough with the rumors, we will be meeting him in person tonight and it is our honor to be dining with him. We can see for ourselves if the rumors are true after all,” her father said as Ava was arching her eyebrow at him.
“And that rumor would be?”
“Why would you like to know? It was said that the baron was an angry man and ugly. That is why the people that he killed will not be haunting the island. He was that scary,” her father said as Ava was looking outside the carriage before she was noting the fortress that was lighting up with gas lamps and candles.
“Well, here we go,” she said quietly as her parents were overjoyed that the queen was already here and they cannot wait for the royal couple. Ava could care less about her and her husband but seeing her parents flustered for such an occasion was very entertaining.
Maybe we should make this a common thing, nothing’s better than looking at one’s mother flustered if her hair was properly pomaded or not, Ava mused before the carriage stopped and the footman of the baron’s household was opening the door for them.
Her father got out first then her mother. Lastly, it was Ava and it took every strength in her not to run away as she was climbing down the carriage before she was standing in front of the fortress that stood elegantly under the night sky. She took a deep breath before they went in, trying to face the plan that has been laid out perfectly by none the wiser, even if they could crack who was the real matchmaker.
Their own young queen and her prince consort.
*****
Marsh can hear the laughter and the conversation that was going on inside the room as he was staring at the door that was closing him off from them. Deep breaths, Marshall, you got this, he thought before he opened the door and strode in.
4 pairs of eyes were looking at him and 2 of them belonged to the queen and her husband. The other two were new to him before he went to greet them.
“Evening, my queen, my prince. It is nice to see you again,” Marsh said as he was kissing the knuckles of Her Majesty before he turned to look at the rumored seneschal and his wife. They were average looking and nothing too fancy but the fact that the butler said that their daughter was with them, took Marsh a second to realize there was someone by the window, inside the secluded area of the shadows.
“May I introduce you to Lord and Lady Randolph, the seneschal of my court and their daughter,” the young queen said as she was looking at Marsh before he saw the twinkling lights in her eyes. Not good, this is not good at all, Marsh thought before he was shaking hands with the handsome lord.
“Lord Randolph, I heard so much about you,” Marsh said before his wife was complimenting his handsome look. He laughed before some shuffling was heard in the dark and a quiet gasp. Being a Vampyre, Marsh can hear the tiniest sound in the room and this time, he turned to look at the thing that was making the sound.
He blinked his eyes as he was shocked to see her here. How come Ava was here? And why was she here?!
Lord Randolph seems to follow his gaze before it settled on the Lady that has been spending the last two days with Marsh. First at the beach and yesterday was in town. They shared a kiss and many more when Marsh escorted her home.
She insisted to ride home but Marsh convinced her otherwise, especially after that kiss that they shared, and it was obvious that Ava did not disclose where she lived. The only reasonable excuse that Marsh can come up with was that she was a daughter of a very influential man and her existence was a risk.
She seemed close off when they first met but then, Ava resolved her guard a little. Maybe not entirely but a bit that Marsh can get a glimpse of why she was acting the way she was. And here the reason why.
She has been kidnapped when she was younger and she wanted to be careful around strangers. That was when she met him on the beach the other day. But now…
Marsh did not think they would be strangers anymore but he doubted they would move forward either.
Because the look on Ava’s face told him all that he will be expecting after this dinner later on.