Chapter 7 First Meeting
Sharon
I can not believe my luck……..or my eyes when finally I get home.
" Goddess be praised," I exclaim as I let myself in. No one's home, the house is as empty as it was when I left this earlier today. I don't let my guard down though, they could be lying in wait for me in hidden places or waiting for me to finish the list of chores they had left this morning before pouncing on me. With my family nothing was impossible.
Refreshed by my long nap, I attacked the chores with vigor and was done by midnight, fixing myself something to eat and taking a quick bath. I was in bed an hour after midnight. Despite my long nap, I was asleep almost immediately, only stirring when I heard my father's carriage drive into the front yard (unlike the Drago's finely tuned carriages, father's was an old jalopy one of the members of the higher council had foisted on him. It had more than half of its nuts loose and broke so twice a week- Nevertheless, it was Barkin Samaf's pride and joy)
When I heard his heavy footsteps as he stuttered in, leaving his carriage in the middle of the yard and finally collapsing on the settee, his snores sounding like that of a grizzly, I knew I was safe.
He wouldn't dare come home this drunk if his wife was home….. and since he had had his full of ale and women, I was safe from his prying hands for tonight.
Pulling my pillow over my head to block out the snores, I can finally sleep in, perhaps I can even stay in bed till seven. I thought to myself as I tried to get back to sleep.
The next day……or later that morning
My dreams of sleeping in had turned out to be just like all my other dreams, pipe dreams.
Mother and Vienna had ridden up just a few minutes after dawn. They had a party to attend tomorrow night and they needed to start the preparations today.
The Goddess alone knew what preparations they had to make for a party that wasn't theirs.
They had promptly sent me off with a message to the seamstress to come for a fitting later that day and to the market when there was no need. They had spoken to the seamstress weeks earlier and she knew when she was expected and we still had more than enough food in the house, but of course, they had to send me on errands anyway, surely it wouldn't do for me to stay home idle. I did take my sweet time though, I wouldn't try this on a normal day but since father was sleeping off all the ale he had guzzled yesterday and mother and Vienna were sleeping off their fatigue, I figured I was safe, at least for a an hour, with that in mind, I went round the market at a snail pace, is ignoring the hisses of disgust and contempt that came at me from every nook and cranny of the market.
I had just ducked to avoid a burly dowager when I saw him. The dowager with dumpling arms who had a particularly strong hatred for me- she never forgot to spit whenever she saw me.
He was in the very back of the market, leaning against one of the empty stalls, he had a black cloak over his and had his hat pulled over his face, successfully blocking his face and body from prying eyes like mine, despite all this he had an enchanting aura about him that seemed to draw me to him. A glance around the market showed me I wasn't the only one thus affected.
Almost everyone else was casting surreptitious and not-so-subtle glances his way, but he might as well have been made of stone. He remained as still as marble, completely unmoving. After staring at him for a few more seconds, making sure no one else saw me staring at him of course. I hurried off to get what I had been sent to get and hurried back home, not wishing to waste a second more. Sure my family was sleeping, but I wouldn't want them to pee and not have me there to bring them the chamber pot. The last time that happened I ended up with a broken toe and had to walk with crutches for two whole weeks. That wasn't an experience I wished to relieve. Certainly not in this life.
Rever
"What is wrong with you?" I asked myself as I settled my hat firmly on my head and hurried out of the market, my hands still buried in my pocket. I took extra care to look casual, not wanting to attract any more attention to myself. Although I was quite sure u had done enough of that with my mysterious all-in-black sht at the market.
" Just what is wrong with you?" I asked myself again, giving myself a good smack on the head for emphasis.
" Why are you acting like an adolescent boy who hasn't had his first woman?" I added, of course I didn't get an answer, I hadn't been expecting one. There wasn't an answer either. I was just being exceedingly stupid.
That didn't stop me from going around the market to follow her trail though, it didn't stop me from following her home either. No sir, it did not. The same way it didn't stop me from lounging about a few places from her yard waiting for her to come outside.
With enough free time on my hands, I found myself reminiscing on all I had heard and seen at the market earlier and my blood boiled. No wolf deserved to be treated that way. No wolf at all.
When she finally came out, I was so excited, I nearly gave a whoop of joy….. until I saw the weals on her arm.