Col. Tavington stepped huffily into his quarters, cursing under his breath.
"Damn her... comes back to her room two hours late... won't say one bloody word about anything..."
Mary, who was sitting in a chair reading, glanced up at him with a stony look.
"Up late again.. could you not sleep?" Col. Tavington asked his wife gruffly.
"Yes, I couldn't sleep, and from your appearance and sour mood, neither could you."
"No, I couldn't. She came back late, two hours late, to be exact."
"Let me guess, by 'she', you mean Jae."
"Obviously... she and I got in a bit of a row..."
"Really? Is that so? Because I could only hear you quite clearly outside, as could half the people on this floor, I'm sure."
Col. Tavington rolled his eyes.
"Mary, the sarcasm isn't helping-"
"Well neither is your approach on the issues concerning Jae! As I said, I heard you're little exchange of words in the hall, as well as the sound of a hard slap, and I know it was you-"
"Mary-"
"Jae would never lay a hand on you, and I don't know what got into your head to lay a hand on her in such a vile manner! God help you, William Tavington, if you should ever do it again!"
"Ma-"
"You are much too overbearing with her! Just do as she told you and trust her; it won't get any better if you don't."
Shaking in rage, Col. Tavington walked over to his wife and stopped only when his face was but an inch from hers.
"This is my issue to deal with in whichever manner I choose; stay out of it!"
"William, what has gotten into you? This whole situation has driven you mad!"
The colonel opened his mouth to retort but then closed it again, seething with anger as he strode over his chest-of-drawers, and pulled out a clean set of nightclothes, cursing softly to himself as he got dressed for bed. Then, looking over at his wife, who stared at him frostily, he gave a derisive snort and climbed grumpily into bed and fell asleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that morning, at approximately half past seven, both Jae and Jula met a disgruntled Lady Tavington downstairs in the library for their literature lessons.
"Good morning girls." she greeted them curtly.
"Good morning, Lady Tavington." Jula replied.
"Good morning..." said Jae, looking somewhat distracted by her thoughts.
"Take a seat."
Dutifully, Jula and Jae sat down in a couple of chairs and prepared for their discussion on Homer's the Iliad. However, Jae seemed more intent on staring off into space than getting her work done, and it was evidenced on more than one occasion during the lesson when both Lady Tavington and her sister had to call her back out of her thoughts.
"Jae. Jae... JAE!"
"Huh, what?" came Jae's reply as she reluctantly brought her wandering thoughts back to reality.
Jula scowled and said, "The lady just asked you a question. She wanted you to summarize for her what occurred in Book One of the Iliad."
"Oh..."
Jae hung he head slightly as Lady Tavington gave her a stern look, but before anything could be said, the door to the library opened and Gen. O'Hara stepped in, eying the three, glancing lasciviously, yet nearly imperceptibly at Jae before quickly turing his gaze to rest evenly on Lady Tavington's smoldering emerald eyes.
"Is there anything I can do for you, General." Lady Tavington asked, keeping her calm, yet nearly snarling out the word 'General', as if it had an unpleasant flavor to it.
"We have some visitors from England arriving today, personal guests of Lord Gen. Cornwallis himself, and I need you and one of the girls to tidy a couple of the larger rooms for them, as well as prepare them personal meals." he replied with the same air of calm that she had, sans the snarling.
"General, there are servants in the estate who can do these tasks for you. I am in the middle of a lesson."
"My lady, with all due respect, many of the servants are already very busy preparing food, or they're out at camp, filling in for the shortage of medics that we have, as an infantry battalion just arrived here at around three this morning, and a great deal of the men are severely injured."
Lady Tavington pursed her lips, inhaling and exhaling from her nose in an attempt to keep her anger and loathing from surfacing.
"My lady, I can stay here and continue the lesson. That way, at least one of them will get notes and can report back to the other one on what was done."
"Very well..." replied Col. Tavington's wife slowly. "Jae, you're staying here. Jula, come with me."
Jae's head snapped up and all of a sudden, she was paying more attention than ever.
What? No! Don't do that!
"Jae, is something the matter?" Lady Tavington asked, noticing her quick reaction.
"No no, everything is fine. I was just spacing again.." Jae replied, hoping that she was able to convince her.
"Yes, you've been doing that quite a lot today. But I expect you to stay here and take notes on the lesson while we're gone."
"Yes, my lady." Jae replied with a slight nod.
"No, wait, let me stay instead." Jula spoke up suddenly, also noticing her sister's reaction.
"No, Jula, just go. I'll take notes."
"Yeah, right, like you can take notes with how much you were paying attention this morning-"
"Shut up! I am perfectly capable of taking notes! Now go with Lady Tavington and I'll stay here."
"Fine... god..." Jula replied, glaring at her sister, who stared icily back.
"Alright, you two, stop it, or you'll have more work to do." Lady Tavington said sternly, breaking in before anything else could happen. "Jula, come with me."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alright, where did Lady Tavington leave off in the lesson?" asked the general as soon as Jula and Lady Tavington had left.
Jae stared at Gen. O'Hara incredulously.
Are you on crack?
Seeing her surprised expression, the general chuckled and said, "Darling, the library doesn't have a lock. Besides, we wouldn't want to seem too suspicious if Lady Tavington asks for the notes and you have none to give."
Jae's look was still disbelieving until Gen. O'Hara actually retrieved a roll of parchment and a quill for notes and began asking her questions, as well as answers on her assigned reading. Then, he assigned her a summary of Book One that was to be completed within the next couple of days.
So the guy does read... hmmm, there is some form of intelligence, though very primitive...
"Well, I believe that is enough learning for the day, now come with me..." said the general, getting out of the chair he had been sitting in during the lesson and pulling Jae roughly out of the library and into one of the washrooms, locking the door behind them.
"Are you not going to fight me?" he snarled, shoving Jae roughly up against the back wall of the washroom, pressing his body firmly against hers.
"No, I am not." Jae replied.
And indeed she showed absolutely no signs of resistance when he crushed her mouth with his, plunging his tongue into it.
"Prove it then." said Gen. O'Hara perversely.
Jae smirked and mimicked what he had done to her with equal if not more force, leaving the general surprised and gaping.
Stupid general.. When all this is over, he won't even know what hit him...
A/N: A big shout out of thanks to Mona Lisa23 for giving me the 'lessons' idea. I look forward to hearing more from you.
-S.R.