Love is indescribable and unconditional. I could tell you a hundred things it is not, but not one thing, that it is.
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Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer except the storyline of my fic.
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Brandon was due in half an hour.
"Gentlemen, I have a previous engagement that I failed to recall having until now, lost as I was in our delightful discussion."
Interrupting the discussion, which was still ongoing after two whole hours, Kel apologized for her inability to continue entertaining the men and hustled them out of her front door
Yes, she would be attending Lady Weatherly's soiree at eight tonight, and yes again, she already had an escort, so she would meet them at the soiree itself.
As soon as they were all out of the door, she leaned back against the wall and heaved a sigh of relief. Plucking at her spotless pale yellow morning dress distastefully, Kel bounded up the stairs to her room and rang for her maid.
A quarter of an hour later, Brandon Stiles, fourth Viscount of Havenshire, found her in her personal library. Fencing with a cotton dummy, making short work of the poor mannequin, hacking chunks of fluff and cloth out of its hide. She had rid herself of her morning attire and thrown on a pair of men's breeches and a cotton shirt. Wielding a short rapier and dagger, she slashed at the dummy with the grace of a dancer, going through her training as though she was learning the steps of the waltz. Step by step, kick, slash, stab, kick.
Kel had found that she could work off her frustration with the morning's activities by having a thorough workout right before luncheon. Thus, the noontime visits from Brandon. As he stepped closer to observe her, she swirled with an unimaginable speed, flinging the dagger across the room, right at Brandon where it embedded itself to the hilt in the dart board just above his head. Used to her sudden bursts of speed and repeated attempts to frighten him, Brandon chuckled mirthlessly and rebuked her as he crossed the room to take a rapier from her weapons cupboard.
"A few more inches up higher and you would have rendered Uncle Monty's portrait impotent."
"Its just a portrait, and besides you wouldn't give a damn anyway. You never cared much for the stuck-up old goat, if I recall correctly." Kel smirked as she went back to attacking the dummy, regretful that the fun was over.
"Your parents would raise hell if they found your dagger embedded in Uncle Monty's privates. Imagine if it was not them but one of your flops who spotted it."
"This happens to be my personal library, except for the portraits which father decreed must remain where they originally were when he turned the room over to me, I can do anything with it. Besides, absolutely no one can enter here without my permission and no one, not even the servants, is allowed in this wing of the house except under my supervision. Excluding of course, you."
"But..."
"Shush, enough talk. Are you going to use that thing or not?" Kel continued as Brandon made to argue with her. She flicked her head irritably at him as she continued her private war with the dummy, not even missing a step. As it flew across the room, propelled by her kick, she whipped around in a defensive stance, bringing her rapier down in front of her. Unfazed by her obvious irritation with the topic of their discussion, Brandon shook his head slowly and stared at her disapprovingly.
He was always cautioning her about discovery, ever since she almost let slip her identity in a moment of anger. And to the woman with the biggest mouth in polite society to boot. Well, she thought that she could be careful with that temper of hers didn't she? Sooner or later, it would definitely get the better of her and they would both be in the pits.
A flash of light reflected off Kel's blade was all the warning Brandon got as Kel lunged at him. He stepped back just in time, bringing up his own rapier to counter. She lunged and he parried again and again in tandem. Driving him back against the fireplace, Kel grinned with satisfaction. She couldn't keep a secret, could she? She was not stupid enough to blunder and make any mistake. She had been doing it for two years now. That was right, two years since her calling, her broken engagement to Skye...
At the thought of Skye, she felt desolation sweep through her. If only she could, she would give it all up for him, if not for her burning desire to avenge Hazel's death, she would gladly consent to his offer and retire to the country to raise children, hers and Skye's, chubby fat little babies with their father's eyes and guileless charming smile. But, she had a duty, a duty to rid the world of Hazel's murderer and defiler, Razille, a vampire so old, no one in the Council could remember from whence he had come.
She clenched her fist on the grip of her rapier as the familiar anger swept through her, adrenaline rushed through her veins, pushing the desolation out of her system, filling her with bloodlust, a desire to destroy. Dancing away from Brandon, she turned back to the dummy and began hacking at it in earnest. She pummeled it with her fists, the flat of her blade, her legs and feet, all the while imagining that Razille was there instead of the dummy which was quite broken up by now.
"You met up with Skye again last night, didn't you?" Brandon's sharp retort cut through the red haze filling Kel's vision. "I saw you leave with him during Lord Dunningham's ball. Quite a ravishing pair you two make. Were you so enamored of his manliness that you simply forgot who you were, or did you just want to forget? You know that you can never, and I mean never, fall in love. You are the chosen one, you work alone. And why? So that nothing, will stand in your line of duty."
Kel was stunned. How could he have known?
"You were spying on us! How could you do that! First you suddenly pipe up after so many years, during my birthday to boot, and ruin my life by announcing the whole 'I'm the Chosen One' thing, then you forbid me to see Skye because I cannot associate myself with him in case he is embroiled in whatever problem I happen to be working on whenever, wherever."
"Your parents were the ones who forbid you to see him! Not I. I was merely the hapless messenger! Anyway, back to the main point. How could you have run off with him like that last night? If your parents had found out from others that you two were seen together, and not out of necessity, I'd be skinned alive!"
"Well well, then why didn't you come after me? If I remember correctly, someone was in the middle of a rendezvous with his paramour. Everyone could see you two from the ballroom, hands all over each other, and god knows what you two think you were doing!" Kel smirked as she watched the blush spread from Brandon's forehead to his neck.
"Hey! I was trying to break off with her! But she kept touching me and refused to leave me alone! And in the melee, you decided to slip off with him! That's even sneakier!" Brandon returned hotly. "I am totally faultless that I was unable to keep a close watch on you!"
"Whatever. If papa asks, I shall just tell him you were too busy groping your ladylove to warn me from going near rakes like Skye. And he'll believe me because I'm the apple of his eye. Anyway, he never wanted me to be called even though he and mama were prepared in advance for it. So, ha! He'll just take it out on you since he doesn't really harbour pleasant feelings for the Council."
"Why, you sly thing! He'll believe me! I'm his favourite nephew and your eldest cousin to boot! I have a bigger chance of convincing him whose fault it really is, compared to your puny efforts-to-be. Besides, I'll just tell him the whole truth and leave him to judge for himself. Being the sharp man Uncle is, he'll definitely come up with the right conclusion. So there!"
"No, he'll not!"
"Yes, he will!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Whatever! Anyway, papa and mama are out off town this whole week visiting grandmere in Scotland, so no one can prevent me from doing whatever I like, even meeting Skye. Speaking of which, I intend to seek him out during this long and opportune week."
"Ah ha! Now that's one thing you won't be doing, because I'm moving in for the week to oversee your long overdue training sessions which you skipped three times last week to visit Tattlestall, by decree of your father."
"What?!"
"Feel free to call on me whenever you feel up to train. I'll be down the hall from your bedroom in the blue suite. Ta!" Brandon left the room grinning as he relished Kel's shocked expression.
As he left her library, Kel fumed in silence. Let the idiot stew in his room. She was never going to seek him out nor was she ever going to speak to him again. He wanted her to train? He had to find her himself. She never was going to look for Skye anyway. She only said that to provoke him. She hadn't seen Skye in over a year, since he left for Scotland. She only attended the ball the previous night because she heard that he was likely to attend. Blast that stupid Brandon. The kiss. Was it real? Did Skye really kiss her? It felt so right to be in his arms once more. Perhaps he would be at Lady Weatherly's soiree tonight?
She didn't know, but she was going to find out.
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Lala. Finally satisfied with this! Hope that at least someone likes it, but if nobody does, then that's saddening. By the way, does anyone like the Bitterbyne Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton?? It's the greatest fantasy novel on earth! I want to do a fic on it but at the same time, I don't want to insult Cecilia Dart-Thorton by coming up with something that can't measure up to her original piece! Gosh. I think I'll just concentrate on finishing this piece first. Well, sayonara and see you next chapter! (I hope...)