The Twins secret

Ch 3 - Stumbled upon

 *bang*

Having heard her name Lily had tried to scuttle away, startled and knowing whatever was being said, whatever the twins were discussing was not something she wanted to be privy to. If she did not know, it couldn’t change anything, right? Lily was not a very common name but there must be others, they were talking about another Lily, maybe a maid or Lady from the country, near their summer home. They must be.

In her haste to stand from her crouched position by the ajar door Lily had stood on the lace of her ballgown and stumbled forward, colliding with the door with a solid bang, which would surely leave a bruise.

The door had swung open with the force of her impact and Lily had tumbled in, landing in a heap of lace and silk.

Ariadne closed her eyes and took a deep breath in resignation. She knew who was behind her, who had just stumbled into her office. The scent Lily wore was unmistakable, Ariadne had given it to her two years prior at Lily’s twenty-fifth birthday celebration. It had been made especially for her, from a rare variety of jungle Lily they had discovered on an expedition and Belladonna, Ariadne’s favourite plant, not that Lily knew that. It had been Ariadne’s way of insuring Lily’s presence in her life. No matter how hard she looked, how much money she spent, how many contacts her father asked no one except Ariadne could supply her with the perfume she adored.

Taking a gulp of her whiskey to steel her nerves, Ariadne put the glass down on the edge of her mahogany desk and turned around to face her beautiful intruder.

There before her was a sight she had longed to see in a very different setting.

Lily, Beautiful, innocent, golden haired Lily with her cornflower blue eyes and dark lashes, her pale as cream, butter soft skin and her perfectly rose pink coloured lips that were sin incarnate laying on her floor looking dishevelled for all the wrong reasons. Her chest heaving and her breasts rising and falling temptingly above the edge of her bodice.

A shudder went through Ariadne, how tempting it was, to rush over to Lily and claim those lips with her own. How tempting it was, to r****h this delicate, innocent flower and give her a different reason to be breathless.

Lily’s eyes stared back at her with such intensity Ariadne felt exposed down to her very soul, laid bare for her judgment. She was frozen in place, unable to move or utter a single word. I need to help her up, I need to do something, say something. Convince her that nothing was going on. How much did she hear? How much does she know? All these things went through her mind while she stood there, frozen in place.

Then Lily blinked and the spell was broken. Ariadne’s body felt her own again.

Briskly walking towards Lily, her hand extended to offer her assistance, she noted Lily’s eyes darting over to the far end of the room that housed the filing cabinets and map drawers. Why was she so interested in that corner of the room?

Lily grasped the pro-offered hand and let Ariadne pull her clumsily to her feet. There was no one hiding in the corner, no Orion standing there. In the one place Lily had no view of from the hallway. Where was he? How had he disappeared in the mere moments it took her to tumble inside and gain her bearings? A deep blush overcame her features as she realized her situation. She had spied on Lady Ariadne and been caught.  Ariadne had not immediately started yelling at her so there was hope she guessed. Racking her mind Lily could not recall a single time she had witnessed Lady Ariadne raise her voice in anger though. Nor recall any gossip about such an event.

She could recall however, Ariadne being furious. She had once seen her take a whip from a man by kicking his legs out from under him and beat him with it for daring to raise it to a young stable hand in her family’s employee. She had displayed a cold, quite anger. Only her actions belaying her mood.

Was that what this was? That thought terrified Lily.

Once Lily was on her feet Ariadne jerked her hand back as if it had been burnt, staring at her offending hand as if she had never seen it before it took her nearly a minute to notice Lily furtive darting glances around the room. Is there something wrong with my filing cabinets? Ariadne thought to herself. Lily seemed very preoccupied with them.

“did you want to see the maps again Lily?” She asked out loud

“huh, what? No, no I’m fine, why do you ask?”

“Well you do keep shooting the map cabinet looks, I thought maybe you snuck back here to ask me to show you the pirate treasure maps again, or maybe the maps from our last expedition”

Lily was a terrible liar; she knew if she looked at Ariadne, any lie she could come up with, would be seen right though. Racking her brain for a believable lie her eyes alighted on the glass display cabinet to the right. It was filled with jewellery from the twin’s expeditions.

 For some reason, the expensive pieces that most people would keep for themselves as trophies or to sell were always donated or loaned to the museum, but Lady Ariadne always kept jewellery from each adventure in that case. Each one had a story. Lily had heard a few, others she had been told were not worth telling. Yet those were the pieces that got the most care. Polished often and kept on beautifully crafted busts or velvet cushions. Those were the ones she had caught Ariadne holding on previous visits, with a soft look in her eyes, almost as if she were on the verge of tears.

That was perfect, that was what she could ask about. The reason she could give for coming back there.

“I thought maybe tonight, with the wine and celebration, you might be persuaded to finally tell me the story of one of your jewellery pieces”

Responding with a soft smile Ariadne’s hand came up to her chest and curled around a small golden key on a long chain of the same.

Turning to see what Ariadne was doing.

“W….Wh…..Where is your” waving her hand in agitation “ballgown” Lily exclaimed her tongue tripping over the words as her eyes took in Lady Ariadne’s state of undress for the first time. How had she not noticed? How was she that oblivious? No wonder she could not find the male speaker, Lord Orion. She could not even notice something so blatant as Ariadne’s missing ballgown.

Wait, “And your smalls” covering her eyes and blushing hotly Lily squeaked.

A chuckle filled the room followed by a deep full-hearted laugh.

“Lily? Lily look at me, it is not as if I am naked. My robe covers nearly as much as that gown did. You have 3 sisters; I am sure you have seen other women before less than fully attired”

That was not the point. What reason could there be to remove gown AND smalls during a gala if not for an illicit affair? But it was Lord Orion that Lily heard. Had he interrupted the affair before her arrival? Then, where was he? How had he disappeared?

“Lily please look at me” taking Lily’s wrist with her right-hand Ariadne slowly pulled it away from her face. Ducking slightly to make eye contact she used her other hand to lift Lily’s chin.

“Hey hey hey what is it Lil?”

“I heard you.  Ariadne. I heard you talking. No, arguing with a man. It sounded like it was your brother but when I came in, you were alone. Alone in a room with no other way out. Wearing a flimsy silk robe and no undergarments. Explain that to me?”

“I can’t Lil, I can’t”

“you can’t or you won’t”

With a sigh Ariadne looked heavenwards and murmured “Little bit of both, you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you the truth Lil”

Stomping her foot in anger Lily turned away from her and threw her hands up in frustration “why does everyone treat me like I am to simple minded to understand anything? I might not be a man, I might not have gone anywhere and done anything of import but you of all people I would expect not belittle my intelligence. You have always told me I’m intelligent and you pushed me to apply for university, to ignore my family’s expectations. Now,” shaking her head, her blonde curls flying. Her piecing blue eyes welling with tears “Now you treat me as if that was all a lie.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling sharply Ariadne gave in “fine.” Nodding towards the seating area to one side of the room she closed the ajar door and jammed a chair against it. She would not let anyone else sneak up on her again.

Walking over to the leather couch she sat down facing Lily and took her hands in hers. “I want you to listen to everything I have to say and not interrupt me till I am finished okay?” receiving a nod in response she began the tale of that fateful day four years earlier.