Chapter Seventeen
Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'cept Patricia and Lark.
A/N: This story, all in all, is twenty chapters long. Only three more to go, counting this one. This chapter is a midget.
Patricia sat in her room, bored. She was lying on her bed, flipping through the old entries of her diary. It was a very small, but thick, book, and she had entries from as early as her teen years in it. Reading it was like watching herself grow up. However, she hadn't written in it since she was married to Eric; she didn't have the time.
Now she did.
She was startled to hear a knock on the door. Praying it was Tavington, she opened it and stared.
Lady Cardian.
A sweet smelling perfume flooded her small abode. Despite her shock, manners kicked in, and she bowed and said, "Why, Lady Cardian! I wasn't expecting you! Do come in."
Lady Cardian smiled and curtsied. "Yes, hello Patricia. Don't mind if I do."
Walking in, Patricia closed the door behind her guest. Lady Cardian looked around the room for a few moments, looking at the faded pictures on the walls and the tiny table and chairs in the corner. "You, I see, have the best of the servant's quarters," she said.
"Thank you."
Lady Cardian's face suddenly grew stern, and she pulled up a chair and sat. "We need to talk," she said. Patricia could bet what was coming.
"About what?"
Cardian stared at her. "About Colonel Tavington."
Patricia silently gulped.
"He's my friend, that's all," she said.
Cardian nodded, and there was a silence. "Tell me, if you're just good friends, then why does he tell me you love him?"
Another pause.
"I can't imagine why he would say that."
Lady Cardian, smiling, stood up and began pacing around the room.
"Then...maybe, there's something here that will tell me why," she said. Patricia froze.
Lady Cardian stopped at Patricia's bed, where the diary lay. Getting a sudden evil look, almost exactly like Tavington's himself, she placed her hand on it.
"No!" Patricia yelped, the thought bursting out in words.
Cardian stopped, and looked at her, knowing she had found the answers to her questions. However, she pulled her hand off of it and kept walking.
Patricia said nothing.
"I respect your right to privacy," Lady Cardian said, pacing, "But I must tell you."
A silence.
"Stay away from William."
Patricia felt rage boiling inside her, and wanted to unleash it at this bitch of a woman who was telling her not to love. She couldn't just choose to do that, and she wanted to let Cardian find that out right in her face.
Lady Cardian opened the door. "I'll be going now," she said, "And remember what I said."
As she closed the door behind her, Patricia screamed.
