II. chapter: A role she didn't have

Morning came and sunrays gently brushed the facade of the Buckingham palace. They sneaked through the windows, tickling the residents of the place, but couldn't wake a young woman, who was still tangled in sheets. Only when her maid came knocking on the door like all hell broke loose did she open her eyes just the slightest.

"Milady, are you still asleep?" she heard the maid ask loudly. "It's already eleven o'clock."

"Give me an hour," lady Rayne replied, still half asleep.

"As you wish, milady," came the answer, followed by a sound of footsteps when the maid left.

Lady Rayne turned onto her other side. She was still wearing the clothes she had got a day before and her hair was a terrible mess. But she was tired, too tired to get up. Everything came after her in a moment, realization of her new knowledge, and the burden wasn't easy to carry.

She pushed herself into a sitting position with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't let anyone see her wearing the clothes she had on, not even servants. Therefore she forced herself to get up, got rid of the clothes, which she hid in the deepest corner of one of her wardrobes in the dressing room, and put on a white silk robe. After that she staggered back to the bed and fell asleep once again.

XXXXX

Exactly an hour later she was woken up by the same maid, who shook her not really gently.

"Milady," the maid called. "I came to wake you up as you wished."

"Thank you, Abby," replied lady Rayne, peeking through scattered strands of her auburn hair. "Prepare me a bath, please," she added.

"As you wish. I know I am not in a position to ask, pardon me, please, but I cannot help but to wonder what happened to you, milady. You look..."

"Horrible?"

"I wanted to say a bit messy," finished Abby. Her real name was Abigail. Even though she was two years younger than her mistress she had been lady Rayne's maid for years, ever since they had been kids, and the latter had been calling her Abby just as long.

"The bath will be ready in 10 minutes," the maid announced. "Do you need any other help? Should I help you with your hair? Order you breakfast?"

"It's ok," lady Rayne shook her head, which caused waves of her long auburn brown hair scatter over her shoulders.

"You will be beautiful tonight," Abby smiled.

"Tonight?"

"The fireworks, milady."

"Oh, yes, the fireworks," she pretended not to have forgotten. "But please, Abby, do not address me with milady every single time you speak to me."

"It's only appropriate," Abby replied from the bathroom where she was preparing the bath.

"It's not necessary," sighed lady Rayne. She had had a good lesson about manners and appropriate things yesterday. Suddenly she was starting to wonder what the titles were actually good for, something that had never crossed her mind before. She had never been one of those blinded royalties, who were convinced the world existed for one purpose alone – to serve them, but neither had she been wondering about statuses and similar things a lot.

She waited till the bath was ready and sent Abby away. She enjoyed the hot water embracing her body for a moment before drifting into thoughts. Yes, the fireworks for her majesty. It should be enjoyable, sitting at the bank of Thames, watching the show...

She actually winced when a dangerous thought crossed her mind. Rathbone's machine gun was at the river. The fireworks would be fired from barges exactly opposite the place, where the royal family would sit. That would be a perfect opportunity; all they had to do was to move the machine gun on a barge. That way they'd have all nine heirs of the throne served on the plate. Everyone would be in the gun's reach, including her if she was to be there, although she wasn't anywhere near the throne. She wasn't even related to the Queen but she still had a connection with the royal family as the granddaughter of Queen Victoria's ex-husband's brother. Most of lady Rayne's family was already dead, the only one alive was her brother but he had left England years ago and she hadn't seen him since then. Not that she cared. Just as she didn't care about the rest of her family. The reason was simple – she had never known them. Her father had died when she had been one and her mother a year later. For some strange reason queen Victoria had shown interest in her at that time and took care of her. Now, with twenty-three, she was a real lady.

XXXXX

Time went by too fast. Before lady Rayne knew it, two maids were already helping her prepare for the solemnity. While they were doing her hair her thoughts drifted to the past. It wasn't very likely things would ever be the same after this night...

"You're ready, milady," a maid's voice pulled her back into reality. She nodded her head but didn't move. Instead she exchanged a look with her own reflexion in the mirror. She was wearing a midnight blue dress, made of quite a big amount of fabric, but made so nicely it didn't look kitschy at all.

"Is something the matter?" Abby asked. "You look...weighted by something."

"No, everything is fine," she replied in a calm voice. With a decisively raised chin she stood up, took hold of the fabric and left her rooms with confident steps.

What was a title if one couldn't do anything with it? Despite being a royalty there was nothing she could do. Was she really so powerless? As a lady – yes. As a normal person – maybe not...

XXXXX

When she saw the queen, followed by lord Rathbone, get out of her carriage her insides twisted. She winced but politely bowed to both of them. On the outside she might have seemed completely calm and relaxed but she was fighting a fierce battle with herself.

The flow of royalties made her move towards the place where they were to sit, still her eyes remained on the barges. Suddenly she noticed someone jump off the bridge and land on one of them. That made her move. She rushed back into the carriage, ordered the driver to bring her on the other side of the river and leaned back. She could only hope her decision was the right one.

As soon as the carriage stopped she jumped out and ran to the riverbank as fast as she could in the dress. Fabric was getting in her way but there was nothing she could do about it. Lady Rayne wasn't completely sure where to go. Her eyes stopped on the nearest barge, the one which was really close to the bank, connected to a pier with a wooden board. She saw a man come out of the lower deck and leave the barge – Wu Chow. When she was just about to follow him something inside her made her stop and instead she hurried over the board and onto the deck. When she peeked into the lower deck she knew her decision was the right one. Lin was kneeling on the floor, tied and gagged, and a boxer was standing behind her with a sword on her neck. Lady Rayne's eyes shoot to a pulley nearby. She swung it as hard as she could and the pulley hit the surprised boxer directly in the head, knocking him out. Lady Rayne hurried to Lin, who was looking at her with surprise. She untied her wrists and helped her on her feet.

"Please, don't let the massacre happen," she whispered feverishly. Lin nodded, looked at her rescuer once more and ran off. Lady Rayne sighed. Now she thought she had probably decided wrong. But when she thought about it again she knew she had done what she had thought was the best. True - she couldn't do much but maybe there was something that she could do, she just had to discover what. So she started to look around. She found Lin and the other Chinese, who were fighting Wu Chow, and saw Lin send him in the air with a fireworks-rocket. Relief washed through her. They had survived and Wu Chow was dead. Still something was bothering her, the blond O'Bannon guy was nowhere to be seen.

Lady Rayne bit her lip. She was powerless at the end, others had done all the work. Almost disappointed she returned to the carriage and to the lodge for the royalties. It was a total mess but no one seemed to be hurt. Everybody was still there, safe and sound. Well, almost. Her eyes shoot through the crowd and noticed lord Rathbone was nowhere to be seen.

"Lady Rayne, are you hurt?" she heard a voice behind her.

"No," she answered. "And you, Edwin?"

She knew the guy beside her so she smiled slightly. Apparently no one had noticed her absence but she still had to pretend she had been there. The game was on.

XXXXX

Lady Rayne was standing in the last row. Queen Victoria has just knighted Chon Wang, Roy O'Bannon and Arthur Conan Doyle. The young lady sighed.

Even the House of Lords hadn't heard the whole truth but rather just the simplest facts that were needed to make the matter more or less (and probably it was less) clear. They were asked to keep these facts a secret though.

Lady Rayne had gone to see the place in the yard where he was supposed to have fallen down but there was nothing to see. She heard that quite some glass, wood and metal had also fallen down. The body found amid it all had been unrecognisable, said her source, only pieces of the uniform could be made out.

After the little solemnity she stayed outside for a couple of moments, watching Chon, Roy and Lin say goodbye to Artie. When Lin took Roy's hand to let him help her get on the carriage, lady Rayne clenched her fists. These strangers were strong. They could protect people they cared for. And she couldn't.

Her decision fell in that very moment. She would never be powerless again.