Chapter 11
****
He bowed politely.
"Nicholas Atherton."
"I'm ......Aubrey Sandalwood."
They exchanged pleasantries and left the mansion together. Barbara watched Aubrey the entire way, her eyes full of concern.
"Emily must have left first. She was so grumpy, I wonder what happened."
Nicholas spoke as if he knew Emily well. Then he led Aubrey to a waiting carriage.
"Please climb aboard, Miss Sandalwood."
He smiled broadly and held out his hand. Aubrey, wearing white gloves that came up to her elbows, gingerly placed her hand in his. The two of them climbed into the carriage, and at Nicholas's command, the carriage pulled away. He kept smiling at Aubrey.
"Do you think I'm dressed a bit oddly?"
Aubrey asked, unable to resist the stares and laughter, and Nicholas let out a small chuckle.
"Not weird. Not at all."
"......."
"You're beautiful."
Aubrey blushed at the blatant compliment. But his next words sent her heart racing with excitement to the floor.
"I suppose Miss Sandalwood doesn’t remember me?"
For a moment, Aubrey forgot to breathe, she thought. Where had she seen him before? Then a boy flashed through her mind. Black hair as black as the night sky, emotionless blue eyes. A body running toward her, holding her hand. A voice telling her to run away. No way.
"Miss Sandalwood?"
Her heart began to beat like it was going to burst out of her chest.
"Are you okay?"
Aubrey ducked, startled by the outstretched hand, and Nicholas hurriedly apologized.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't mean to scare you."
Still frightened, Aubrey barely moved her eyes to look at him. To her dismay, his hair was yellowish blonde. It wasn't black. His face, when she looked a little closer, didn't look the one she remembered either.
"I was just trying to tell you about the last time I saw you in the lobby hall......."
"Huh, the hall?"
"Uh, yeah. You don't seem to remember. In fact, I think I'm the only one who saw Miss Aubrey."
Nicholas said he'd seen her before, when he'd stopped by the mansion briefly. Aubrey hadn't realized it, as she always followed a set path, whether to the library, her room, or the garden. Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief and straightened her posture.
"No, no, I misunderstood."
Okay. We'll never see each other again. And even if we did, we wouldn't recognize each other. (*she is talking about the boy in the past)
* * *
Nicholas was a charming man with a big smile on his face, and he told her a lot of stories as they made their way to the Paddingham’s.
That he was Jeffrik’s nephew, that he had been a frequent visitor to the Ravant’s mansion since he was a child, and that he was therefore well acquainted with Emily's fiery temper.
"I've been trying to get Miss Sandalwood to come to this party."
That he was the one who made it possible for her to go to the Paddinghams' party. This was the part that surprised Aubrey the most.
"Me?"
"Yes. I'd heard that my uncle was sponsoring someone, but I’ve never seen her, so I was curious, and that's when I saw you."
He laughed, as if it was funny to think about now.
"So I did my best friend Patrick a favor and asked him to invite Miss Sandalwood to this party."
Aubrey's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe her sudden turn of events, how she'd ended up at this party by some twisted coincidence. Perhaps her life was really about to get better.
She wondered if all these good things were happening to her just for the sake of it. A smile spread across her face. Aubrey looked up at Nicholas with a beaming smile.
"Thank you. Now I can go to the party."
Nicholas blinked a few times at the innocent words, then scratched the back of his neck absently.
"No, well, I just thought you’d have a little fun....... I'm flattered that you like it so much."
Aubrey's smile deepened as she realized that this young man was as innocent as he looked. Maybe she and Nicholas would be good friends, she thought.
* * *
She didn't need to look outside to know that they were nearing the Paddingham’s mansion. Faint music and bright lights pulsed through the dark carriage.
"Have we arrived?"
"Yes. I think we will get off soon."
Nicholas quickly made a connection. He began to call Aubrey by her first name, based on the conversations they'd had on the way here. The carriage came to a stop and the door opened. Aubrey disembarked with Nicholas' help and was speechless at the sight of the opulent mansion in front of her.
"It looks like a palace, doesn't it? They must have spent a fortune."
Nicholas chuckled and offered his arm to Aubrey.
"Shall we go in now, Miss Aubrey?"
The tightness in her stomach loosened a little, thanks to Nicholas. Aubrey smiled good-naturedly and slipped gingerly into his arms. As they slowly ascended the stairs, the footman at the door recognized Nicholas and greeted him. Then he looked at Aubrey.
"Miss Aubrey Sandalwood."
Nicholas answered for her, and he quickly checked the list. He smiled warmly and ushered them inside. The ornate interior caught Aubrey's eye as she cautiously stepped inside.
Two staircases circled a spacious lobby. A statue of a dancing woman and gentleman stood in the center of it. The shiny floor seemed to go on forever. Around the statues, the hall stretched out in three directions.
Gorgeously dressed men and women walked and chatted in the hall. The all-red walls made them seem unnecessarily stealthy. As Aubrey and Nicholas approached the center of the hall, a small crowd of eyes gathered around them.
"Are you nervous?"
Aubrey, who had unconsciously clutched Nicholas's arm, shook her head in exasperation.
"You need to relax. There are a lot of people who want to know about you."
Nicholas chuckled and led her to the innermost part of the hall, where red curtains closed in on all sides. The ceiling was infinitely high, and a band in one corner was playing soft music. The two soon stopped in front of a handsome man. Tall and thin, he was quite dashing in his tailcoat.
"Patrick."
Nicholas called out to him, and he spun around, his eyes widening as he spotted Aubrey.
"This is Patrick Paddingham, the host of the party, and this is Miss Aubrey Sandalwood of the Ravant family."
"Hello, Lady."
Patrick's eyes were full of curiosity, wondering if Nicholas was right about her being a celebrity. Aubrey, a little intimidated, cautiously bent her knees.
"Nice to meet you, lord Paddingham."
"Thank you for accepting a strange invitation. I hope you had no trouble finding your way here?"
Nicholas interrupted.
"She couldn’t have trouble when I came with her."
"I was asking if you made the lady uncomfortable.”
Aubrey smiled at the bickering between the two best friends. In the minutes that followed, Nicholas introduced Aubrey to the people.
To her relief, they all greeted her with smiles. He whispered something in her ear as they moved away.
"I think we’ve said hello to everyone."
"How can there be so many people?"
"You don't have to look around and get your face stamped.”
Just then, someone hurriedly found Nicholas.
"Can you be alone for a minute?"
"Sure."
He excused himself and disappeared through the crowd. Aubrey let out the breath she'd been holding. It was hard enough to keep smiling in front of people she'd never seen before, in clothes she'd never worn before.
But everyone who stood still and looked around was doing it. They were dressed to the nines, laughing and talking nonstop. Aubrey lifted her chin a little and looked around for Emily.
It wasn't long before she spotted her. The man with his back to her was quite tall. His broad back made him stand out from the rest of the men in the room.
It wasn't just her, but a few other ladies who were staring at him. His back was so wide that she couldn't even see the face of the person standing in front of him.
Even from this distance, the man exuded a sense of power. As she stared, she happened to make eye contact with a man who was also looking in her direction. He had a much larger physique than the other men, a strong jaw, and black hair that fell across his forehead. He was looking exactly her way.
“Oh, help me.”
An island of darkness. A faint breeze. The back of her head as she ran across the darkness, holding her shaking hands. The boy who spoke monotonously in the fishy harbor.
"Go. Go.”
A brief but intense memory flashed before her eyes in fragments. The boy who had saved her life, maybe even given her a new one. The boy who had been the first salvation in Aubrey's life was now a burly man, staring back at her.
"Ah......!"
But the joy was short-lived; he spoke briefly to the man who approached him, his eyes still fixed on her side of the room. Suddenly, what he might have said came to her like a hallucination.
"I didn't realize slaves were invited to this party.”
Someone who knew her past. A man she should never have met. Soon he was striding towards her. For a moment, her blood ran cold.
***
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