Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Shoko Yoshinaka.

Chapter Ten

The engagement party had come and gone, and Zelgadis was beginning to wonder if Rezo really did have any plans to break up he and Lina's wedding. It was starting to look unlikely, but the hungry look that Zel had begun to notice in Rezo's eyes whenever he looked at Lina had not disappeared. Zel didn't know why Rezo wasn't doing anything when he obviously wanted Lina so much. One day Zel asked Lina about this. He wanted to know if she was keeping Rezo at bay.

Lina shrugged her shoulders and gave Zel a little smile. "I'm blackmailing him of course."

"Of course?" Zel asked, not quite understanding.

"Colonel Greywers," she said saucily, "you are a much smarter man than you know."

"What are you talking about? I think you'd better tell me."

"You mean you haven't figured it out?" she asked with a light laugh.

Zel shook his head to indicate that he hadn't.

"Well, suffice it to say that Mr. Rezo Greywers has not been a very good boy. You and your mother obviously have no clue exactly how far he's strayed from respectability behind closed doors. I was under the impression that he was trying to disentangle himself from certain . . . how shall I say . . . problems that would be unbecoming of any gentleman. Of course, he knows that I was living with the gypsies, but that's not half as disrespectable as what he's been doing."

"You know what he's been doing?" Zel asked curiously.

She nodded. "He could tell on me if he wanted to, but it wouldn't be half as damaging as what I could do to him if I told. Have you been worrying that he would interfere with our plans?"

"Yes, I have," Zel admitted.

"Why didn't you talk to me about this sooner then? We could have had this cleared up much sooner," she said brushing one of her long curls out of her eyes.

"I didn't realize you were working magic behind my back," Zel said, not really believing what he was saying. How could he have said that with a straight face? But for Lina . . .

She eyed him cautiously, seeming to notice the strangeness of the comment. "Are you all right?" she asked him, examining him more carefully.

Lina and Zel had been together now for weeks. At their engagement party he had taken her in his arms and maneuvered her about the dance floor while everyone in the neighbourhood admired them. Her ball gown had rustled and the jewels at her throat gleamed under the lamp light. She had smiled up at him and made him feel . . . complete. She had a way of speaking to all his mother's acquaintances that made them feel perfectly at ease in a way that he could never master. That false face that he knew she could summon instantly was like a kind of sorcery, and he often had a hard time remembering that she was not really in love with him. She was just playing out the part he had asked her to play, and he usually felt ashamed of his feelings towards her when he would say good night to her at her door. She would turn suddenly and wink at him in a conspiratory fashion and he would remember that she didn't care for him at all.

On the nights that they were not expected to attend on guests at the estate he and Lina would walk out to meet the gypsies. Apparently they had not left the area, but none of them had Lina's skill with a shot gun, so they were short on pheasant. On these occasions, Zel would arrange with Miss Amelia for a large piece of meat to be left for him and Lina to take with them. Lina would wear her calico dress and he would wear his simplest clothing. Together they would walk out across the field to meet them and share in their jolly fire. There would be dancing and music. And of course the meat that Zelgadis had brought with him. Lina would dance and sing and play on her flute. After awhile she wouldn't be content with Zelgadis only clapping on the sidelines and would insist that he dance with her.

Zel had never exhausted himself dancing before. He had begun to regard parlor room dancing as little more than going for a walk. What Lina taught him how to do was completely different. The music seemed to climb under his skin and take possession of him. The moon looked huge, the food was good, and he felt like . . . he had never been alive.

And there was Lina. When she was with the gypsies that false face would never appear and it seemed that her true soul showed. Zel was enchanted with her in the ballroom, but when she acted like herself, she was completely captivating.

The night before their stroll in the park and their conversation about Rezo, they had been with the gypsies. They had been dancing together before the fire, and Zelgadis had become unusually engrossed in the song. He was forgetting things. He only saw Lina and her passionate eyes laughing into his, the way her hair framed her face, and the way she moved to the beat of the drums. He had put his arms around her waist, and she didn't seem to mind. Within a moment he had turned her around to face him and he had kissed her. For a moment, she kissed him back, and then suddenly, she pulled away and literally ran away from him.

At first he stood stupefied, wondering what it was that he had done wrong, and then he remembered their agreement. Why couldn't he remember the true state of things for at least ten minutes? He brushed his hair off his hot forehead, and stepped out of the ring of dancers where several couples were still dancing. He found that his vest had several buttons undone and quickly corrected them. Without Lina, he didn't want to continue dancing.

That was the moment when he realized the true state of affairs. He had thought that he would be able to keep himself under control. It had not occurred to him that it was possible for him to fall in love with her, but now he knew that there was no way he could have felt any different – not from the first moment he had met her.

Eventually, she came out of the tent where she had been hiding and suggested very coolly that they head back to the estate. He had complied instantly, hoping that she wasn't too angry with him.

He had paced the floor of his bed chamber that night, hoping he could find a way to make their marriage real, but he found that it was impossible until he found out how she felt. Zel wanted to tell her how he felt, but found that instead of coming right out and saying what was on his mind he ended up saying odd little compliments that didn't fit with the order of conversation at all – like now.

Now she was standing there in his mother's garden, looking like a seraph, and obviously pretending that nothing had happened.

"Have you had any luck yet with the keys?" Lina suddenly asked him.

Zel had not forgotten his promise to retrieve the keys to her bedroom, but he had looked everywhere and had been unable to find anything. It was most maddening. Where the devil did Rezo keep them? In the end, Zelgadis had found that he had no other choice, but to break the mechanism inside the door knob so that even if the key was inserted into the lock that it wouldn't be able to unlock the door. Zelgadis found that he really enjoyed doing this.

"Sorry, no," he said, shaking his head sadly. "He hasn't been prowling outside your door has he?"

"You know, it's very considerate what you've done with my door knob. I've really appreciated it. Do you think you'll be able to fix it after I go?" she asked, not looking at him.

Zel had no idea if he would be able to fix it, and honestly, he wasn't even going to try. Rezo could change the lock if he ever realized something was amiss. "I shouldn't have a problem fixing it," he said out loud. "Besides, we won't be staying at the mansion for much longer. The wedding is less than a week away, so after that, you won't have to worry about Rezo."

"I was meaning to ask you about that," Lina said turning to him.

"About what?"

"About the wedding. What exactly will happen after the wedding?" she asked, still keeping her eyes averted, even though she was facing him.

"Well, I thought I'd give you your choice there. I got a notice from General Metalium. He says that our company will be setting out for India within two weeks. I was planning on taking a ship to Dover in order to meet up with the company there," he paused. "I was planning on leaving the night of our wedding. I can either drop you off with the gypsies before I board the ship, or you could board with me and come to Dover with me, and come to India as you wished." Zel held his breath and waited for her answer. He wanted her to say she'd come with him to India more than anything else in the world. The only thing was that he didn't want her to turn tail and run away from him as soon as they got there. That would be far worse than leaving her in England.

She stayed still and didn't look at him. Minutes passed, but she still didn't say anything.

"Well?" he asked at last, when the tension had become enough for him.

"Well, I'll think about it," she answered dully, and moved to go back into the house.

Zel quickly met up with her in order to escort her, but he was very unsettled. He wished that she had been able to answer him.

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