Chapter dedicated to my beta, Nuit Songeur. We click so well. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's been going through a difficult period so I hope all my readers will join me in sending her and her loved ones all their positive energy and good thoughts.
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Also, thanks to my other betas, Elfsquire90 for helping to guide me through the process of creating this new story, WonderfullyWicked for giving me the encouragement I needed, reader13lovesbooks, Apathy Undone, and tym4change.
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Reading Key: Liska means "fox"
Svoboda means "freedom"
Dominik means "lord"
Faye's name is also important but we'll get to that later. ;)
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As always, PLEASE REVIEW!
Much love, Cat
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It was hell on earth.
The atmosphere in the kitchens was one of chaos and frustration as pots boiled over and aching fingers worked to complete a lavish meal that the small kitchen staff of the manor house was ill-equipped for. As such, Liska, who should have been preparing the future bride for exhibition, had been recruited to peel vegetables, scrub pots, and generally fill in wherever needed. She was trained to serve as Faye's lady's maid, to do her hair, tend to her clothes, tidy her things, entertain her, fetch whatever she needed; essentially, to do anything Faye required of her. It wasn't by any means easy, with Faye being so temperamental and often demanding, but sometimes it all felt so frivolous. She would trade all of Faye's luxurious hand-me-down gowns for her old wool frocks if, in return, she could have someone to care about her again, someone who was interested in her opinions beyond what colors best suited blond-haired girls.
Sometimes it was difficult to imagine life outside of the manor. But she had once known one. As the potato skins unwound from her nimble fingers, her mind drifted back to afternoons with her mother in their small cottage. This dingy, overcrowded room full of shouting and clanging dishware was radically different from their warm, cozy room with its fireplace and little stove. But if she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of roasting lamb and pungent vegetable broth, she could almost imagine that at any moment her father would walk through the door filled with stories and laughter.
"Liska!" called out the cook in a weary voice.
When she rushed to the older woman's side, she found a large serving vessel shoved into her arms. Before she could protest, she was instructed to take it upstairs to the parlor adjacent to the dining room.
"Sara, I have to be back to help Faye get dressed for-"
"There'll be enough time," the cook interrupted, waving her out of the kitchen and towards the staircase.
Liska mentally calculated how much time it would take to brush and press Faye's ivory velvet gown, dress her in the complex layers of petticoats and underthings, and complete her beauty regimen before her betrothed would arrive with his mother and sisters. She had about ten minutes to spare before she absolutely had to be upstairs getting ready. Truthfully, she didn't understand the fuss about the arrival of the guests considering the fact that all the papers had already been signed. Nothing his mother or sisters said would affect Dominik's decision to marry Faye. Men did not alter their plans to accommodate women.
She placed the heavy tureen on the parlor table and casually wiped her hands on her apron as she walked briskly to the servants' stairs. Once she was out of sight, she flew up the stairs and down the network of hallways and corridors that led to Faye's bedroom. Had anyone been around to spot her, they would have seen a blur of rustling skirts and heavy, dark brown hair coming loose from its pins. After darting into Faye's room and shutting the door behind her, Liska quickly set to work. It would take a great deal of effort to transform Faye's pure and ethereal beauty into the image of earthly doll-like perfection a man like Dominik would expect.
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"Liska! How could you forget to prepare my new gown?" cried Faye, anxiety clouding her green eyes. Her gaze darted towards the door as if expecting someone to come bursting in at any moment.
An agitated tapping filled the room. Liska glanced down to find Faye tapping her foot, something she did when she was nervous. "It's alright, Faye. I'll just…"
"No! No, it's too late!" said Faye, fluttering around the room like a caged sparrow. "There isn't enough time. Just take out my old rose silk gown while I fetch mother's pearls. Perhaps we can manage to make it appear as though I'm exercising restraint and not wearing old gowns because we can't afford a bridal trousseau."
"Yes, Faye," Liska murmured, walking to the closet.
Faye returned to the room wearing the necklace of delicate freshwater pearls she had received from her mother just before she died. Her mother's jewelry collection was one of the last things Faye had been allowed to keep, and which her father hadn't sold off to pay their debts. She allowed Liska to help her into the decadent dress she had worn to lavish wedding she had attended two years ago in a distant town. The dusky pink brought out the warmth in Faye's pale skin, highlighting the soft flush in her cheeks.
As Liska began to brush out Faye's hair, the tapping noise resumed. "Everything will be fine," she said softly.
The noise stopped. Faye closed her eyes and slumped slightly in her chair. The position looked awkward given Faye's slender frame and her normally excellent posture. She looked…defeated.
"I can't put up your hair with your head tilted down like that," Liska noted.
Reluctantly Faye straightened, casting a quick look of longing out the window.
"As much as you long to fly, God should grant you wings," teased Liska, tucking the loose strands of Liska's hair into the rest of her coiffure and encasing the coiled braids in a golden net. She used the filigreed golden and pearl hair combs to anchor the hair in place.
"I don't need to fly…" Faye said wistfully. "If father would only let me take Svoboda out for an hour…I've forgotten the feel of the sun and the smell of the field grasses.
"Who did I accompany on a walk in the garden yesterday…Svoboda?" quipped Liska. "Besides, the sun has almost set. Dominik should be arriving soon."
"How lovely," muttered Faye.
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"She is stupid," he said with the flat intonation of someone stating a fact.
"Dominik," his mother reprimanded softly.
"I don't mean to insult the girl, but it is something that cannot be disputed," the handsome young man said, leaning back against the plush velvet cushions of the carriage seat.
"When have you ever cared about a girl's intelligence anyway?" his sister chirped.
Dominik leveled her with a glare of frosty hauteur but she continued to smile back sunnily.
"I don't need a companion, but she will have to be able to run the household, entertain guests. It appears to take her several hours to simply complete her toilette," he complained, remembering the painted and powdered exhibition that had gazed at him with unnervingly wide eyes and curtseyed so stiltedly he thought she might collapse under the weight of her court dress. He felt uncomfortable merely looking at her. A frightened girl making her first appearance at court would have usually elicited his sympathies but she never struck him as nervous, just dimwitted and distant. The few times he had tried to engage her in conversation she had met his gaze while somehow seeming to stare through him and murmured a vague answer in her dreamy voice. Not the kind of woman who could command the kind of authority he needed in a wife. Yet he was marrying her.
Dominik turned his head to look out the window and shut out his family's prattle long enough to contemplate his future with Faye. The coachman cut in to say they would be making a short stop in a few miles to change horses before reaching their destination in another hour or two. Wonderful.
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Again, thank you to all my betas and as always,
PLEASE REVIEW!
Much love, Cat