Chap. 13
She jerked away from him. "Don't touch me," she warned as she backed away, her breathing ravaged. He merely looked at her with amusement twinkling in his clear blue eyes, and laughter reflected in his gaze. He gestured, and when a servant answered the summons, he whispered something into her ear, after which the servant nodded and walked away with a quick, interested glance in Tomoyo's direction. Fuming, she remained quite still, until he stepped toward her and opened his mouth to speak. With a swirl of lavender skirts, she whirled and furiously climbed up the nearest staircase with frustration fueling her very step, his startled chuckle floating after her.
**************
Tomoyo gradually came to a stop, looking around her in confusion. Where was she? Hesitantly, she opened a door in front her timidly, then stepped in more confidently, dazzled by what she found inside. Bright green tapestries that depicted beautiful mythical creatures hung on the walls, edged with gold, seeming almost alive. Around the room were vases and more vases of assorted blooming flowers that filled the air with a gentle fragrance. Bright-colored buttercups greeted her with their sunny yellow petals, and roses sent their own sweet-smelling hello. Delighted, she stopped to bury her face to inhale their wonderful scent.
"I see you like flowers," said a gentle, chiming voice, interrupting her from her preoccupation with the violets. Tomoyo looked up to see a sweet, old woman with white hair. Despite her age, she carried herself regally, and her face looked like it could be severe when she wanted it to be. But with a gentle smile on her face, the old woman's face transformed into the kindest face Tomoyo had ever seen in her life. "It's nice to have someone who really likes them," she said brightly, "You see, most of the other ladies pretend to like flowers, but they truly don't. It's just something that's de rigueur amongst the ton, and they want to be fashionable. You, on the other hand seem to like them for what they are.
"Ah, I seem to have forgotten myself, rambling on like that. My name," she said with a carefree, girlish laugh, "is Lady Elizabeth des Fleurs, and you?"
Tomoyo smiled. "Tomoyo-"
The door opened, and both women looked up to see the duke standing in the doorway. "So, mother," he said finally, "she was with you. I've been looking all over the place. Now if you don't mind, I will take her to her room." With that, he took her arm and led her out the door.
"Mother?" she burst out as soon as they were outside the room, "That is your mother? You cannot say that the sweet woman in there is the famed, sharp-tongued, and cold dowager duchess of Clynester!"
He smiled. "She's only cold when she wants to be," he said simply. "But inside, she still has the mind of a young woman." He stopped at a door. "This is your room. I bid you good night." As she watched his figure fade as he walked around a corner, she vowed that she would escape, because no matter now nice he may seem now, he had betrayed her, took away her freedom, and literally bought her from her father. In the light of all that, she was sure that he had a black, twisted heart and no conscience at all. How in the world did a gentle woman like the dowager duchess give birth to a cruel son like him?
***********
The Dowager watched her son as he comfortably settled himself in a wing chair in her room. He had been acting so preoccupied and distant nowadays that she'd been alarmed. But now, she was absolutely delighted and quite happy, for she'd discovered the reason. "So," she began casually, "is she the reason you've been so negligent toward your mother on her visit?"
"Truthfully speaking," he said nonchalantly, "Yes."
"What if I were to tell you," she said teasingly, "that I do not approve of her? She is not of exceptional blood, nor does she have considerable wealth, and," she said, drawing herself up proudly, "she is not as beautiful as some of the women amongst the ton. Our blood flows from the blood of kings and emperors. You would dare sully that royal link?"
"Nothing matters, but the fact that I love her. And," he said in a dangerously quiet voice, "she is more intelligent than all of the female population put together!"
"Hush," she said, laughing. "I was only joking, you know." She watched his tense face relax, and his grip on the arm of his chair loosen. "You do realize, however, that she won't easily forgive you."
"Forgive me for what?" he said cautiously.
"I…ah…heard the final exchange between you and her father an hour ago as I was passing by. Really," she said huffily, "you and your father are all the same. Don't you realize how a woman would feel if she felt she had to marry you because she had no choice? She would feel as if you took away her freedom and bought her like some sort of chattel!" When he quirked his eyebrow in skepticism, she said quite seriously, "My dear boy, your father did the same to me, believe it or not, and I felt that way."
He grimaced. "I hadn't thought of that," he said, getting up. "It was all too sudden, but she probably hates me even more than you suggest."
"What do you mean precisely?" his mother asked, curious.
"There was a little accident…"he said, and her face shifted as he told her everything that had happened. "Now," he finished, "she thinks I've betrayed her in some way."
"I don't think you could possibly let her go…" she trailed off, looking at the expression on his face. " I didn't think so," she said softly. "If you mean to catch her," said the dowager duchess, hearing gentle footsteps moving down the hall. You better go get her now."
"Yes," he said with an amused look on his face. "I already expected her to try to escape tonight. Of course, I can't let my prey go, can't I?" With that, he quickly slipped out.
The duchess smiled. "Like all Hiragizawa men," she mused aloud, "he can't be forced to the altar of holy matrimony even if it kills him, but when he finds his woman, he would do anything to make sure that she, willingly or not, comes with him down the aisle."
*********
*sigh* I also tried to add in a little of the next part, but I'm too exhausted. So until next time, ja ne!