A/N: I'm mad how this series isn't under books. Like seriously. ANYWAY. I've had this idea for like ever and I wanted to write it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with the books or Kady Cross or the publisher or anyone. Not beta'd unless you count my friend Lydia
Finley Jayne woke to a bright light shining through her window. She rolled over groaning and pulled the luxurious mauve duvet up over her head. She had nearly fallen asleep again when a knock came at her door.
"Time to wake up, love!" hollered Griffin King, the Duke of Greythorne and owner of this house that she now called home. Finley reluctantly sat up and trudged out of her room after throwing on her robe, not caring that her hair probably looked like a hen had been nesting in it. After meandering through the hallways she finally found her way to the dining room where breakfast had been set up on the side board. Finley filled her plate until it couldn't hold any more food and took her seat at Griffin's left. Griffin's best friend Sam Morgan sat at Griff's right and Emily O'Brien, Sam's sort of almost girlfriend and general Irish miracle worker, sat on Sam's other side. To Finley's left sat Jasper Renn looking extremely solemn and rather put out. Finley couldn't blame the American cowboy seeing as how he had just returned from burying the girl he loved back in America so she gently hugged him before sitting down. She could tell Griffin was feeling nervous and more than a little awkward around Jasper. That daft boy needed to stop blaming himself for Mei's death; Jasper didn't so why should Griffin have to feel so guilty?
"Well look who's finally up," said Emily lightly grinning slightly at Finley across the table.
"Yes, why couldn't you have woken up earlier?!" demanded Sam, "Griff's been making us wait to have breakfast."
"Oh, and you couldn't go ten minutes without eating could you Samuel?" asked Finley smirking at the dark-haired boy. "Next time you guys can just eat without me," she said this time talking to Griffin.
He simply smiled at her and looked like he was about to say something to tease Sam when the housekeeper entered the room.
"Your Grace," she said nervously as usually Griffin preferred not to have his meals interrupted except for important matters.
"Yes?" Griffin asked more curiously than annoyed.
"Well, you see sir there's a young lady here to see you, says she's got an important invitation to deliver."
"Oh, well alright then I guess," he said and the housekeeper left the room. "Might as well indulge society from time to time," he said amusedly sending a wink Finley's way to which she rolled her eyes.
"Knowing how you are with 'young ladies'," Sam put in cheekily, "She's going to throw herself at your feet and beg you to take her to marry her or something else daft."
Griffin sighed while Finley wondered about what Sam had said. "I thought a servant would come to deliver an invitation…?" she asked confusedly.
"Well maybe for someone else," Emily put in tactfully before Sam had a chance to respond, "but as you know Griff here isn't your average rich, socialite fellow."
"Oh," Finley said understanding now, "since he's the Duke of Greythorne they have to deliver it to him in person."
"That just makes it all the better to watch when he turns them down!" Sam said laughing.
"Come on, Griffin wouldn't just flat out turn them down," Jasper said indulgently speaking for the first time.
"Oh you'd be surprised," said Emily sending Jasper a warm smile.
Just as Jasper was about to respond a girl entered the room. With a young man, to everyone's surprise, as they were expecting the girl to be alone.
Griffin stood and walked over to where the two were standing. The girl curtsied and the boy shook his hand. Both of them looked to be the same age so they were probably a little older than Griffin and a couple years older than Finley.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Griffin asked behaving just a young gentleman should.
Surprising them further it was the girl who spoke first. "Well, Your Grace," the girl started looking at Griffin shyly, "I am Phoebe Morton and this is my fiancé Robert."
"Ah yes I know who you are, Lord and Lady Morton's daughter, correct?"
"Yes, and we wish to invite you to our wedding."
"Oh? And when is the wedding set to take place?"
"Sometime in the upcoming spring," she answered. "We have not yet worked out a precise date."
During this time Finley had frozen up. Phoebe. Phoebe? She's getting married. To Robert? That explains why her voice was so familiar. No one noticed Finley's reaction since they were all paying attention to Griffin's conversation- everyone except Robert whose eyes had been wandering the room when they landed on her. His eyes widened almost comically and he unconsciously touched his wrist- the one that Finley had almost broken. She smiled without a trace of amusement and nodded at him in acknowledgement.
Apparently he had not been expecting this. Does he think it's not me? She wondered laughing to herself. He elbowed Phoebe who had been in the middle of telling Griffin some more details about the wedding and gestured to Finley with his head. Her eyes followed Robert's and landed on me. She drained of color at the same time that her mouth stretched into a wide grin.
"Finley!" she exclaimed happily. Finley got up and walked over to embrace the girl. She smiled knowingly at Griffin who stood off to the side, still smiling politely but clearly confused.
"My apologies, Your Grace," Phoebe said when she released Finley from the hug.
"Oh, it's no problem," he said cordially, "I'm just curious as to how you know Finley here."
Phoebe's eyes momentarily widened at Griffin's use of Finley's first name as opposed to her surname and she sent Finley a questioning yet suggestive glance before speaking. "Well she… stayed with my family for a while. As a companion to me. We became quite close friends," she said albeit hesitantly.
Griffin raised his eyebrows questioningly sensing there was more to the story. Finley promptly ignored him and looked at Phoebe as if to say, "You can tell him."
Evidently Phoebe got the message because she turned to Robert and said, "Why don't you go dear? I'm going to stay and catch up with Finley." Robert nodded and went out to the carriage they had taken to Griffin's manor house, not suspecting why his fiancé had sent him away.
"So you haven't told Robert then," Finley assumed as soon as she heard the door close behind Phoebe's husband-to-be.
"No," Phoebe said sighing. "I don't know how to. He'd probably just think me mad in any case."
"Well if he really loves-" Finley started.
"Finley please don't. Can you honestly say you've told anyone you care for what happened?"
Finley avoided her eyes, giving Phoebe the answer to her question.
"Well," Griffin said, "Why don't we take this conversation to my study?"
Sam, Emily, and Jasper all nodded their assent- Sam grumbling about missing quality breakfast time- and the six young adults headed towards the study that had formerly belonged to Griffin's father.
"Okay then, what's this all about?"
Phoebe and Finley exchanged glances seeing who would start talking first. They were all situated around the fireplace in the study looking expectantly at Finley and Phoebe. Knowing Finley this was going to be a good story! Lord knows what kind of trouble that girl had gotten herself into.
Phoebe broke first. "Well Your Grace-"
"Please just call me Griffin here Miss Morton, it's fine honestly," Griffin said cutting Phoebe off before she could even begin.
"Then I must insist that you do the same for me… Griffin," Phoebe continued a bit hesitantly. "I'm not sure if you remember but I was engaged to a different man a short while ago," she paused here waiting for Griffin to nod in affirmation. "Well Lord Vincent- I- we were engaged. And my mother had a bad feeling about him so she hired Finley as a companion and protector to me- and protect me and even my mother she did!" Phoebe paused in her story, clearly getting lost in her memories.
"But how did Lady Morton know about Finley?" Sam asked his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.
"I suppose how I got dismissed from my previous position rather tipped her off…" Finley muttered vaguely.
"What on earth did you do lass?" Emily asked with a sparkle of mischief behind her bright eyes.
"Ipchedagvrness" Finley said unintelligibly.
"What was the Finley dear?" asked Jasper with a teasing look creeping into his own eyes.
Seeing Jasper at least a little bit happy made Finley decide to be blunt and just come out with it. "I punched a governess in the face. Could've hit the old cow harder, but I did knock in a few teeth," Finley declared loudly and with apparent satisfaction.
To Phoebe's utter surprise none of the people in the room looked entirely surprised just curious and highly amused.
"Why?" Griffin pondered, stumbling upon the million dollar question.
"Well, she hit the young lord just because he wanted another biscuit. She was cruelly torturing the child and I certainly wasn't just going to stand there and let her," Finley replied with a scowl and an acidic taste in her mouth.
While none of her friends were particularly surprised by her motives they did all appraise her with obvious looks of respect.
"Anyway," Finley said squirming a little on the inside at the way they were looking at her- she'd done the extreme of what anyone would do hadn't she?- and deciding to continue, "Lady Morton had heard why I had gotten sacked and decided I'd be perfect for protecting Phoebe. So I went to live at their house-" when had she started using the word house to describe a manor home? - "and I accompanied her whenever she was around Lord Vincent."
"We became close," Phoebe said, "How could we not? The night she came to the house we had to attend my engagement party. Finley met Lord Vincent and Robert there- nearly breaking Robert's wrist in the process, mind you- and I think she got the gist of why my mother was so concerned."
"It was the way he watched you," Finley chipped in, "and I don't know just something about him that was just… creepy."
"Yes, that's true. Anyway, the next time we were around Lord Vincent was at the park. I was in his carriage and he had gotten out when the horses raced off. I must say, I lost my head a bit and began to panic; if Finley hadn't rode up and proceeded to slap me, Lord only knows what I would have done. So she stopped the horses just in the nick of time and we were alright."
"Unfortunately for me though, this made Lord Vincent very much suspicious," Finley cut in, "I mean the horses were automatons and the only way I could think to stop them would be to rip out the wiring and inner mechanics, and I suppose your average person could not accomplish such a feat." Griffin and Jasper snorted at that, but Finley and Phoebe ignored them.
"Shortly after we were attacked," Phoebe continued, "Two men assaulted my mother, Finley, and I in an alleyway, holding a knife and gun to us, but Finley overpowered them before they could hurt anyone."
"I found out later that they were sent by Lord Vincent to see just what he was up against. Phoebe's mother sent me out later during a dinner with Lord Vincent to do some reconnaissance at his home. I had already been the night before and had no problems. Until…" Finley trailed off nervously. Despite everything the teens present had weathered together- with the exception of Phoebe, though she had her own experiences to familiarize herself with the abnormal- Finley didn't think they would believe her, she hadn't even believed what had happened at the time.
"Go ahead Finley," Phoebe encouraged. "You're the only one who can tell this part of the story. I wasn't there," she said softly, a chill running up her spine. At this statement all eyes snapped to Finley. Sam, Jas, Griff, and Emily were all engrossed in the story being told to them and were so curious as to what Finley would say.
Confidence bolstered, Finley plunged ahead. "I got into his room. Not the room where he sleeps, but a lab of some sorts. In there he had- he had a- a brain. It was the brain of his dead wife. Lord Vincent suspected that I would be snooping and returned early from dinner to dispose of me." Finley spoke dispassionately, and all of her friends were greatly concerned for her well-being, wondering what had happened when he tried to "dispose of her." "Well, he got there and like all other villains, told me everything. That that was the brain of Lady Morton's cousin and Vincent's dead wife and that he was planning on attempting a brain transfusion into Phoebe's head since they so resembled each other. He thought he could get his wife back, but he was wrong. I told him he would fail. He began shooting at me so that I couldn't spoil his carefully laid plans, but never got me. I broke the glass with her brain in it and ran. I remember being surprised that he hadn't called any of his household to get me or aid him and I was almost out the window when I heard the gunshot." Finley paused here taking a shaky breath. Phoebe grabbed her hand comfortingly and nodded at her to finish the dreadful tale.
"He had killed himself and it was entirely my fault. If I hadn't done that he would still be alive and-"
"And I would be dead," Phoebe said firmly, "He was mad and sick Finley. You mustn't blame yourself for what happened to him. It is not your fault."
"I suppose in the end," Finley said doggedly, as if Phoebe hadn't said anything, "I just felt sorry for him. He really was just mad from sorrow and grief."
All six young adults sat there in shock, silence, and sadness, pensively thinking about everything that had been said.
"You know it's funny Finley," Phoebe said smiling, "You were my next stop to deliver your invitation." She presented Finley with the heavy paper and hugged her.
"You really want me there?" Finley asked hesitantly thinking about why she had left the Morton estate in the first place. "It'll just serve as a terrible reminder of what happened."
"No it won't. You'll just be my friend, the one who made it possible for the wedding to happen in the first place." Phoebe said determinedly, and with that took her leave.
Finley headed back to the dining room as it was now about lunch time and saw all her friends talking and laughing with each other. When Griffin noticed her just standing there observing them, he motioned her over and she gladly took her spot next to him.
"You know it's funny Griff," Finley said conversationally, "All the times I could've run into you and we just missed each other. It's really quite astonishing."
"Hey, who am I to question the way the universe, but you know what? This just confirms it. It was fate that we meet Miss Finley Jayne." He looked deep into her eyes and Finley smiled her chest so much lighter after airing some of her past to the people who mattered most to her. Maybe now she could really start enjoying life here with Griffin and everyone else.
Yes, events were shaping up quite nicely for this ragtag group of outstanding people.
Please review? Pretty, pretty please? I'll love you forever. Or just give you a cookie if you're not into that. Thanks for reading. This is only my second fic, but I'm really proud of it! He H