Chapter 39
***
"I'm sorry, Aubrey."
Barbara looked genuinely upset.
"I'm fine, and it's nothing for you to be sorry about."
Aubrey patted her hand warmly.
"I just think it's a bad time, and I'll let things settle down a bit more and talk to your uncle again, so don't be too sad......."
"Sure. I'll try to figure out more about what I want to study in the meantime."
Aubrey seemed to have gotten her act together, and Barbara breathed a sigh of relief. Then she held out the invitation she'd brought with her.
"There's someone who organizes a fancy ball every year. He heard about your situation and invited you to come along."
At the mention of a ship’s ball, Aubrey remembered the story she'd heard from Nicholas a few days earlier. The invitation she pulled out was nothing special. It looked like one of those hastily scribbled ones.
"Thank you, but I don't want to go."
Aubrey said as she put the card back in the envelope.
"I don't think socializing is for me, it's not where I belong."
Barbara looked at her sympathetically for a moment. As if she knew why she thought that.
"But, Aubrey, social events are an integral part of your life."
Barbara reaffirmed her presence. Diane Sandalwood, no, Diane Herbaldi's daughter. The scion of an aristocratic family, technically in the Herbaldi blood, a lady who might have been socializing with Emily by now if Diane hadn't made that choice.
"Maybe you’d already be married."
Barbara smiled warmly, but Aubrey couldn't help but laugh. She knew, and Barbara must have known, that Baron Herbaldi would never accept her. Still, to say such a thing.......
"Auntie wants me to go to that party?"
Aubrey asked, and Barbara just smiled, not saying a word. After a moment's thought, Barbara stroked Aubrey's hair soothingly and said.
"I want you to study, but I also want you to find a good mate."
Such was a Lady's task in this world. To marry a gentleman of a great and venerable family at the proper age, to be his beautiful and wise companion, and to become a noblewoman. One only had to look at Emily now to see what she was aiming for. And, she hoped, Aubrey would follow in her footsteps.
"Let's be realistic for a moment."
It sounded like she was implying that she’d already come too far to dive headfirst into studying. Which, when she thought about it soberly, wasn't entirely untrue. Aubrey swallowed the sob that was escaping her.
"But, Auntie."
Did she really think she could be a lady?
"Yes, Aubrey. Tell me."
"......Nothing."
Aubrey swallowed a bitter laugh; it was a question that didn't need to be asked.
***
The gray sky certainly wasn't the best weather for a walk, with dark clouds threatening to dump a torrent of rain at any moment. The breeze was also a little light. She could almost smell the stench of iron in the air.
"Thank goodness, the door is open, my lady!"
Trin's voice was exuberant. She'd been raving about how delicious the cookies at Damond's were.
"I'm sure you'll love them, Miss, and who wouldn't feel better after eating them!"
She sounded like a child full of hope. Aubrey laughed lightly. The carriage came to a stop in front of a red-signed sweet shop. Through the glass window, Aubrey could see the staff serving freshly baked sweets. She pushed the door open and a clear bell rang. Trin had already gotten to know the staff, so she smiled and said hello.
"Can you recommend the best ones in town? My lady hasn't been feeling well the last few days."
Trin whispered the afterthought, but unfortunately it was overheard. The quick-thinking employee hurried to recommend the baked goods and cookies that were doing the best these days, but Aubrey listened in one ear and passed it along. Her attention was elsewhere. Aubrey pushed past Trin, who was frantically loading sweets into a small basket, and approached the employee.
"How do you choose your employees here?"
"What?"
The baffled employee opened her bunny eyes and asked. Aubrey said with an embarrassed smile.
"I was just wondering, how do you hire people to work in such a pretty store? Are there any qualifications or anything?"
The clerk nodded vigorously. She thought perhaps the lady was curious, and replied with a friendly face.
“They don't really need any qualifications. As you can see, all I do is put the chef's sweets on display outside. Other than that, I can do some counting and cleaning. Oh, they must be good at math."
Hmm. Aubrey bit her lip and thought for a moment. She was about to ask one more question when Trin spoke up.
"Miss, would you like to buy these butter cookies, too?"
"Anything is good. If it looks good in Trin's eyes, it must be good."
Aubrey smiled softly, then turned serious again. She had found studying as a way to support herself, but her idea wasn’t supported. Barbara and Jeffrik had expected her to go out into the world and find a husband immediately, rather than study. If she couldn't get their support, she considered striking out on her own. But not in the confines of the manor. She was not confident. She didn't know what she was doing.
Still, money was a problem. Aubrey didn't want to walk the streets empty-handed again. That had happened once enough. It wouldn't take a miracle for someone to save her again. So she went for a walk. She wanted to see what everyone else was doing for a living.
As she looked around, she realized that there were quite a few different people in the square, each doing their own thing. Baking bread, cutting cloth, shining shoes. Aubrey recognized some of the tasks she could do right away. But she always ran into the same problem. Would Barbara let her?
Aubrey imagined herself going to the couple and telling them she wanted to learn to bake bread. She imagined herself telling them she wanted to learn how to make shoes. The look on their faces in her imagination was the same each time.
A ridiculous look. Followed by a deep sigh. The soothing, placating words. When Trin left the store, she carried a red box in her arms, filled with a bunch of assorted cookies. Aubrey smiled knowingly, only when Trin spoke to her. The two of them climbed into the carriage.
Raindrops began to fall slowly from the gray sky. The leisurely walkers quickened their pace a little, their stumbling was comical. As Trin closed the window, Khaled’s townhouse came into view.
"Miss, it's raining, so I’m going to close the window.”
“….”
The gray wall was lined with windows of equal size, spaced at regular intervals, each one angled as if it had been pieced together in a mold, out of keeping with its twisted owner. Aubrey's gaze settled on one window. She looked through it, past the blue parlor, and remembered the cold eyes staring back at her. A man who knew how to survive. She wondered if it was the only way.
****
"Say that again."
Khalad swiped a large hand across his face. His face was fierce with fatigue. The sprawled laborer had been fidgeting since earlier.
"That, that......."
"Quickly."
With that, Khaled took another look around the bizarre scene. The bizarre sight of a bare-bones building with no sign of the wine bar that was supposed to be open by the end of the week caught his eye. The empty bottles rolling around in the corners were a bonus. And even the bartender, who should have been bustling with activity, was the only one left standing. With a red nose.
"My lord, my master told me not to do anything until the negotiations are over......."
He knew what was coming, but he needed to hear it one more time. Khaled thought of Murfrio Hemburg, the master of the workmen. His furrowed brow, his eyes glittering with fury. His brows narrowed in disgust.
"Some negotiation."
He said in a barely suppressed voice, the laborer in front of him innocent of any wrongdoing, but it struck fear in its own way. The laborer could not easily meet the man's eyes, which looked as if they would pierce him at a moment's notice. He was a big man, too, and he looked like he could pick him up and throw him to the ground in a heartbeat.
"I think we should move to the main street......."
"I thought we were done talking about that."
When his father's longevity made him ineligible for a knighthood, Murfrio found a new way to acquire wealth and honor. The man with one hell of a head had approached Khaled first. He wanted to open a wine bar in his name, officially, and chose Lavonne as the location. So far so good. Until Murfrio insisted on the main street, which was lined with clothing and general merchandise.
He thought about giving in, but the main street was already occupied, with all the big-name brands, and Khaled wasn't about to give in to Murfrio's wishes by pushing him out of the way.
So he cut him off at the knees. He told him to go to the capital if he didn't like the conditions, that there was already a long line of people waiting for Lavonne to open, and that he'd be happy to open on the street he'd chosen. That was the end of the story. A negotiation.
"You don't understand."
The laborer was at a loss. His cheeks were reddened from the alcohol he'd been drinking since broad daylight. Khaled brushed past him and stepped out into the street. His furious steps took him to the waiting carriage.
"What a clueless man. Though contemplation is exactly what he was."
"You stay here."
"What? Where are you going?"
"To catch a crook."
"Do you know where he is?"
"It's August, I don't know where he is."
Khaled already knew that Murfrio had gone to the capital. All he had to do was ask him.
"He'll be here soon, why don't you wait for him?"
"What's the point of waiting? I'm not going to wait. He’s a cheap piece of business."
Khaled gritted his teeth and climbed into the carriage. At the same time, he searched around in his pockets for a cigar, but nothing came up, so he popped a match into his mouth.
****
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