Chapter 14
Draco rose as the sun's rays started to peek over the sleepy land. He was in the stables in the tack room picking a saddle for one of the Abernathy's horses when a groom interceded him. He watched as the man pulled the saddle securely around the animal. He climbed atop the magnificent chestnut beast and cantered out of the stable yard. He rode down the driveway of the estate and turned towards the village.
The path was beaten, giving evidence of how often it was travelled. The morning was cool with the light breeze blowing through his hair. He loosened the reins on his horse and let him race down the trail. It felt good to be out and exercise his frustrations out. He felt like laughing with the joy he usually got from riding. It was one of his hidden passions.
The village was quaint and already well into swing with the day's activities. Children ran through the village towards the school house while younger ones watched from the yards of their homes. Merchants already had their stores open and women were busy with their daily house chores. He came to the Inn's yard and tossed the reins to a stable lad with a gold coin.
Inside the Inn he inquired after the whereabouts of the Baron of Haverling and was directed to a private sitting room. The Inn was well kept compared to the others throughout the near countryside. A tantalizing smell wafted to his nose and he felt his belly cramp in hunger.
The Inn Keeper announced him while Draco took in the room. There was a small table and two chairs, a fire place, and several arm chairs. The Baron stood and bowed to Draco.
"Good to see you this fine morning, Your Grace." The Baron said jovially.
Draco bowed to the older man. "Thank you for inviting me."
The Baron signaled for Draco to take a seat at the other side of the table. "If we could get some of your wife's fine breakfast, sir, we would much appreciate it."
The Inn Keeper beamed, "Right away, My Lord, Your Grace."
Draco raised brow. "You do not talk to the lower class the same way most people do in this time. May I inquire why?"
The Baron poured a cup of black coffee for himself and Draco. "My family comes from a long line of Merchants. Scandalous, I know, my father inherited from an Uncle with no direct heir. So when my father passed away I inherited my barony and his business."
"Interesting, what kind of business is your family into?" Draco inquired while he picked up his mug and took a drink of the fortifying drink.
"I own a shipping business, quite lucrative. We ship from India, China and France. While it is not widely accepted how many people are going to turn their nose up at one of the richest men of the ton?" He smiled.
Draco laughed. "Who indeed! What do you import and export?"
The Baron's smile grew wider. "Everything you can think of."
The Inn Keeper personally brought in their trays of breakfast with a fresh pot of coffee. The pastries looked flaky and moist. Draco nodded to the man as he bowed out of the room. His first bite of the pastry was like heaven. He'd never had anything so divine.
"You brought the book and piece you wanted me to see?" The Baron asked.
Draco reached into his jacket and pulled out the tome and gold piece. He slid it across the table and watched as the Baron study the gold piece. His brows rose and his eyes grew bright while he examined it. His fingers traced of it like Hermione's had when she read it. He turned it over in his hands several times before finally picking up tome.
Draco continued his breakfast and looked out into the in yard. There were several people out working or socializing. He turned his eyes and noticed the Baron had found the page he had studied so many times already.
"So you say a lot of these are banned in your time?" The Baron asked carefully.
"Yes, sir, they are." Draco replied.
He nodded and pointed to the one Draco knew so well. "How about love spells?"
"Unfortunately so, sir."
The Baron shook his head and looked closer at the spell. "I'm afraid Love Spells are slowly becoming banned in our time, also. I haven't ever seen this one, though I've seen my fair share of them."
Draco groaned. "This does not sound too promising."
The Baron gave a small smile. "I'm sorry to discourage you, but at this point things do look a little bleak. I can get with some colleagues of mine and do some research on it. I've only seen a piece like this once but nothing happened when we translated it. Sometimes love spells have affects we do not understand."
Draco took a liberal drink of his coffee feeling he needed all the energy he could get. "I found a potion I'm going to try. It uses Dragon scales. It's supposed to fix the effects of love spells. I'm not so sure if it will work, but anything is worth trying at this point."
"Give it a try and if it works have the Marquess forward me a note. I'm going to be upfront with you, though, I do not seeing that it will work."
Draco sighed. "Nor do I. Trying to keep Hermione with me was proving almost too hard to do. We are engaged to be married."
The Baron gave him a surprised look. "That is interesting news, this Hermione girl is the one that came back with you?"
"Yes she is, it's too hard to have private moments with her without ruining what reputation the real Lady Sophia has."
"Very smart," the Baron said, "Are you sure that is the only reason you are having a fake marriage?"
Draco stared at the man's smiling face. His eyes were twinkling mischievously. "That is the only reason. We do not get along."
The Baron hid his knowing smile and made a copy of the spell. He handed back the piece and tome. "I shall send a note around as soon as I find out what I need to know. Please be careful for the time being."
They ended breakfast and Draco exited the Inn after asking the Keeper to relay to his wife she made the best scones. He was heading towards the stables when he heard a little cry.
"Leave me 'lone, Davie!" A little girl cried.
A dirty little boy in hand me downs was picking on a little girl. "Whot are ye gunna do 'bout it?" He taunted while he pulled one of her braids.
"I'll tell my Ma and she'll tell yer Ma!" She sniffled while pushing at the little boy.
Something about the scene tugged at Draco's heart string. A stable lad stopped the scene unfolding before him. He smiled at the little girl with a dress dirty around the hem of her gown. She had large brown eyes and unruly brown hair. He had a memory of seeing Hermione for the first time.
Shaking his head he collected his mount from the stable and headed for home. He supposed it was now time to tell Hermione about the spell he had found.
Hermione was heading to breakfast when someone grabbed and pulled her into a parlor. She gave a little squeak of surprise and turned around to face Draco.
"What is your problem, Draco?" She demanded.
He thrust the tome at her with the book open. "This is my problem, Hermione, and if you had any sense in your head it would also be yours."
She stared at the book and felt the air in her lungs leave. She looked up with him with a crease between her brows. "What is this, Draco? Is this a trick? Because I'm not finding the humor in it."
He scowled at her. "It is no trick, I found it after I bought this book."
She gaped at him. "You waited that long before you showed this to me? Why would you wait?"
Draco took the tome back. "I had to be sure. I spoke to Baron Haverling and he's going to make some inquiries for us. He has advised us to keep going like we have."
She glared. "You mean like the marriage?"
"That's exactly what I mean. We are to go through with it and don't think about putting a stop to it. You will ruin Lady Sophia's reputation more by doing that. We must keep at it." He demanded.
Her hands went to her hips and she continued to glare. "It hasn't even been announced yet, so I doubt there could be any damage that be done."
"Hermione," he bit out harshly, "We are going through with it and there is no backing out of it."
Before she could say another word the parlor door flew open. The Earl of Hawkins stood in the doorway beaming. "Well, my dears, are we ready to announce your betrothal this morning? We leave tomorrow, after all."
Draco pushed Hermione towards the door way to follow Lord Hawkins to the breakfast room. Everyone was seated around it talking merrily when the Marquess nodded towards Lord Hawkins. He picked up a glass and clinked it lightly grabbing everyone's attention.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to announce the betrothal of my lovely Sophia and Matthew. I cannot tell you how proud I am to finally see my daughter marry."
Draco smile and pinched Hermione's hand to signal she needed to do the same. Everyone started to talk at once, getting up to hug the couple. The only people to stay behind were Lady Victoria and her Mama. Hermione could feel the red head's glare on her.
She was hugged and kissed on the cheeks so many times that she forgot. Draco stood there with his hand on her lower back looking like a proud man about to marry his great love, but the warning in his eyes told her a different story.
"How wonderful! When did this come about?" The Marchioness asked.
"Just yesterday," Hermione assured her.
She gave her a hug and squeeze. "You should of told us yesterday, we would have announced it to everyone then."
"Oh, no," cried Hermione, "We didn't want to take any of the focus off of your day. It would be unfair."
"Nonsense, you silly goose, you are our friends. I would happily share it with you." The Marchioness gave her a kiss on both cheeks and beamed at her husband.
So the day passed in a happy flurry of wedding talk and of romance that everyone swore they always saw between Sophia and Matthew. Hermione became uncomfortable several times when asked to elaborate to a room full of ladies when she knew that she loved him. She blushed prettily and mumbled something unintelligible. The Marchioness saved her every time from having to answer.
Draco was no better off. In the billiard's room the men drank port and smoked cigars. They teased him good naturedly and drank to his health. A few men told him how lucky he was to snag her. She gave a smile and nodded his agreement and did not tell any more than he had to.
Later that night there was a dinner celebration in the honor of the two. A feast was set forth before them that Hermione wondered how they would eat it all. Later in the drawing room the pushed the furniture back, rolled up the rug and danced in the drawing room. It seemed to Hermione she danced with everyone. She was laughing and breathless by the time the clock struck midnight.
Her cheeks were still a rosy hue when Draco escorted her up to her bedroom. She gave him a smile full of happiness and contentment.
He pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face and stared into her eyes. "You look very happy."
She smiled up at him. "Because I am."
He studied her face. It looked as fresh and young as ever. "You know that we cannot stay here, don't you?"
Her smile slipped and she looked away from him "Yes, I know that."
He nodded. "As long as you know and understand. I do not know when we will get back, right now everything seems so bleak, but I do not want you to become so overly attached to the people here."
"That is asking the impossible, Draco, people naturally get attached. It will be heart breaking to go back, but I shall live." She said.
"We all have heart break, it's just a matter of surviving it." He said softly. He bent over her hand, kissing it softly before leaving her watching after him as he walked down the dark hallway.
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