Beastly

Hand prints

Breakfast was as it always was lonely ,he was always occupied with one thing or the other during the morning times and especially during the afternoon times as well but it didn't matter to her , she couldn't wait to go to the library and she did just that but she couldn't find a time alone for herself for some reason Rose had decided to plant herself by her side and refused to leave saying that it was his Majesty's order,he might have a faint suspicion on her little walk to the gates yesterday,but again ,it didn't matter to her ,she would do what she has to do when the time came for it but for the meantime she stared at the blank parchment on the table,she had a quill in her hand and she would occasionally dip it in ink and write.

Dear father and mother.

And she would stop,her quill hanging just above the written words , it wasn't that there wasn't anything to be said but there was nothing that would reduce their worry, and she didn't know if she was ready to write to them until she found hope in something or somehow in herself.

The ink dripped on the parchment smudging it and again another parchment was destroyed, maybe later she would write one, she looked up from the parchment to meet Rose's stare but she lowered it instantly,she must be thinking why she was using so much paper and ink but getting nothing of importance done.

"I have a certain dislike for letter writing,"she went ahead to explain."it's a really hard task,it doesn't come to me like it does to my sisters."she said hoping that she would at least say a word,she was dying for like company but she didn't.

"Do you have a family,Rose"Thrianna asked.

She hesitated a little before she answered.

"I did."

"Did?" Thrianna urged on.

"They were killed in a massacre."Rose said flexing her fingers,it wasn't an easy thing to say and wasn't an easy thought to remember as well.

"I'm sorry."Thrianna said with the right amount of sympathy,she didn't want it to look like she pitied her, people didn't like to be pitied.

"Milady,there is really no need to be,it happened when I was little and so I have learnt to live with it,Mrs Hertely took me in and I was raised here every since, I have never been anywhere else."she said and Thrianna was finally glad to have gotten her to speak of anything rather than her duty.

"What m******e is it that you speak of."she asked but as soon as she made to speak she tensed at the sight of someone or something, Thrianna turned from her seat to look through the door way,it was the lord Valot,in his usual attire of dark clothing and a white cravat which seemed like it was done by the most delicate hands,his hair was packed neatly,it was always neat, there was never a hair out of place,he walked with the stride of a great lion and carried himself a little too confidently, the sight of him alone made her struggle to catch her breath,lord help her.

"Good afternoon ,milord."he said as she stood from her seat to offer him respect.

He nodded his head at her greeting as he sent Rose a look that said he needed her away from the library and she did just that.

"I want to speak to you for a minute."he said as he stood at the other side of her table as he held the top rail of another chair.

"I thought about what you said last night."he said and she wondered what exactly she had said last night that required thinking on.

"What do you want me to do for you?",he said and she was still in lack of understanding.

"You said that you wanted courtship and I want to give you just that,I will court you rightly for a whole month-"

"There is really no need for that."she said not liking the idea of spending so much time with him, and she had said that to herself and she was so sure she said it in a minute tone,how could he have heard that?,how was she supposed to keep away from him if he insisted on courting her.

"It was part of the conditions you had laid in the beginning,I am not letting it slide so you might as well tell me what exactly you want and I would see to it."he said giving her no room for argument but she dared to continue.

"So was the condition that I would get to see my parents from time to time but guess what,I have had none of that."she said as she looked up to meet his gaze and at that minute she saw that he was struggling to keep his temper in check the gray in his eyes looked like a brewing storm,she wasn't being rude but he would just have to get used to rejection, she wouldn't make it easy for him as this situation wasn't easy for her,she should be scared,she had heard whisperings that he had the tendency to do very wild things when he was angry but they had never completely told her the story,she just happened to hear a spoken word or two from the maids that enjoyed quality gossip and she was becoming a list in their gossips,they pitied her for being the one he chose and they prayed she would never hit the raw chord in his temper but that was exactly what she wanted to do ,she wanted to know how angry he could be with her and maybe , just maybe he would find out during this their journey of a month's courtship that she wasn't the right one for him.

He stared at her for a while as he gripped the top rail of the chair but then a smile appeared on his face the next moment.

"I would just have to find that out on my own then."he said and he left the library and she released the breath she had held in,her mouth might be the death of her one-day,she looked at the top rail of the chair he had just gripped and she saw his hand prints and the dents he had created on the surface,was it him or was that there before?,she was sure it wasn't there before but she didn't want to venture into anything that concerned him,so she sat there like they didn't just have any conversation.