Chapter 4 4

IV. On the Third Day

"Congratulations on your engagement, Cressida."

Cressida turned to the owner of the voice. Belinda was smiling at her but she knew that behind that fake look were thoughts of disdain. Belinda was only one of the few women who hated Cressida and she knew that for certain. She'd had enough time spent behind curtains, corridors and pillars to overhear the lady speak of her with malice. "Thank you," she simply answered, returning her gaze to the middle of the ballroom. Her mother had to drag her to the party because she had to make appearances. For all she knew, her mother wanted to brag about her lucky strike.

"I notice that you are not being escorted by your fianc茅," Belinda pressed, giving Cressida one of those looks that were provoking and condescending yet innocent at the same time. However the brat could master such look was a wonder for Cressida.

"He's busy, I assume," she gritted out. She was on the brink of her patience. But she had to hold it out as long as she could before she made it to the gossip section of the Herald. The last time she came face to face with one of Belinda's friends, she had ended up emptying a glass of wine on the woman's dress. Her mother had to pay off someone just to make sure that incident was not published on the Herald. Really, who fools would even bother reading such things on the paper?

"Too busy for his fianc茅e? My, I wonder how he would manage to have an heir after you're married." Belinda turned her all-too-perfectly-made head to stare at the dancing couples in the ballroom. "In a few years, when the Lord of Haverston will die, not that I wish that to happen at all, your soon-to-be-husband will inherit his title and he will be in need of an heir or his brothers will benefit from it. But then, he could always sire an heir without his wife, if you know what I mean. You can always rear a child from one of his mistresses like a lot of mamas here do."

That did it. Cressida turned to Belinda with a forced smile and uttered, "If that happens, I hope that the child will not be from you, dear Belinda because I cannot imagine rearing a child with a brain like yours."

Belinda's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock. "You...you...you insolent-"

Cressida lowered her head closer. "Ah-ah, I don't think you want to continue that statement, dear," she whispered to Belinda. "It is not proper for a lady."

"And you call yourself proper?"

Cressida shrugged. "I call myself honest." She crunched her face and tilted her head to the left as if in deep thought. "Maybe that's why I caught the big fish. The Lord of Easton seems to like the idea of a scandalous wife than a...pampered, manufactured, phony girl very much comparable to garden plants. I hope you get what I mean." She looked at Belinda with as much condescension as she could gather and added, "Because I really do hope that prettily dressed head of yours has more talent than it lets on."

Belinda's face was now scarlet. "You should count yourself lucky that someone like Lord Easton would even consider marrying you. You have no breeding at all. Your mother must be-"

"I know I am never one of you. You don't have to point that one out. Though I should consider myself lucky indeed. To be considered a member of your circle would be the most insulting and scandalous thing ever," she managed to spill out in one breath before she walked away, leaving Belinda standing in rage, gaping at her with horror.

Cressida fought her way through the crowd of people wearing the finest gowns and jackets. She hated the entire charade even more all of a sudden. The dim lights, the heavy air and the stares. They were not happy stares. Most of them were curious. Ha! They must wonder why she was suddenly engaged and to one of the most eligible bachelors for that matter. They must even be wondering why, after her engagement, she was not escorted by the man himself. Wasn't she worth it? Were they much more deserving?

Along the way, she had heard whispers around her.

Where's Easton?

She's that girl who called the Lord of Bradford a pig, am I right?

I've seen her walk around without a corset! Can you imagine that?

If I knew being scandalous would land one a lord, I would have let my daughter do a thing or two.

She isn't even that pretty.

Finally, Cressida found quiet alone in one of the hallways outside the ballroom. The lights were dimmer and she could only guess what time it was. They didn't have skies to even see if it was night time! She hated to go back inside and mingle with the rest of them. Maybe that was why she was never one of them. She always found herself alone in times like this, always having the opportunity to hear gossips about her. There had been many times when she was standing along in such hallway and hear the ladies talk about her and how she was a lost cause.

Her eyes wandered to the door that led to the small garden of the estate. The Lord of Featherson's wife was among those who didn't believe a garden should be as lavish as the ballroom. She walked out the door and found no one there, much to her relief. Gardens in The Town mostly comprised of fake plants the gardeners had to water to keep clean. The only plants one could find were the ones on the other side of the country where the crops were grown and the parks all over the The Town under the holes.

The air tonight was chilly. Night must have settled up there, she thought. She sat down on a lone stone bench and took a deep breath. Her mother would be looking for her by now but she didn't care.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Cressida jumped to her feet and whirled around. The Lord of Easton was standing behind her, almost hidden behind the wall of tall fake bushes. His powerful presence was even more palpable in his evening black jacket and trousers. His black hair was brushed up away from his face and his eyes were hard and steady as he looked at her.

"You scared me," she huffed, sitting back down on the bench with relief.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I needed some air." She waved with her hand. "Not that you can get it here. Or anywhere in The Town. Except in the parks where real air can come in. But then, that too can-"

"You talk too much, Cressy."

"Don't call me that. And I don't talk too much. I simply have to explain-"

"Not everyone wants to hear you explain," he cut her off, walking closer. "Have you made your decision?"

"It's only been three days. And why are you here? I thought you couldn't come? If people see you not arrive in my company..."

"What? What would they think?"

"Forget about it."

"Because you don't care what they think."

"Exactly." She squared her shoulders and refused to meet his gaze. His eyes bothered her. They seemed to see more than they should. It was uncomfortable.

"Then why are you out here alone?"

"I told you. I needed some air."

"Have you caused another scandal?"

"No. I nearly did though."

"Oh?"

"Not that I care."

He did not say anything further. He simply stood there and when it seemed to Cressida that he was not planning to start another conversation, she stood up and said, "I better go."

"Have you made your decision?"

"I know I don't want to be here any longer."

"So what stops you from telling me to go on with our plan?"

Finally, Cressida met his gaze and it almost took her quite a while to form a coherent answer. His eyes were boring into her as if he wanted to devour her. She wasn't na茂ve as not to get the meaning. He wanted her. But it was impossible! She cleared her throat to speak. "I am not sure if you can be trusted."

He gave her an incredulous look, the first real emotion she had seen him wear from the moment she met him. "You have the gall to tell me I can't be trusted?"

She shrugged. "You told me you are a Leaguer. That is something a Leaguer does not easily share."

"If the situation does not call for it. But I believe this one does. We are both desperate to get out of this marriage."

"Fine." She circled around him, reversing their position. "If I say yes, how do you plan to get me out?"

*****

Calan turned to face her again, trying hard to ignore how she looked in that green dress or how her hair teased the skin over her shoulder.

Cressida was one of the few ladies he had met who wore her emotions in her eyes. He could easily read her in seconds. But she knew of that disadvantageous trait that she barely allowed herself to look him in the eyes. He had noticed that those moments were her most vulnerable. But right now, she was looking at him with challenge in her pale blue eyes.

"I know of passages. I simply take you to them and you can be out of here in no time."

He watched as she considered his words and he had to look away again when she chewed on her lower lip, deep in thought. The woman didn't know she was inviting trouble with her gestures. Even the way she shrugged sent impulses in parts where he didn't want them.

"If I take your word for it, I can be free of this place," she said, more to herself than to him.

Calan almost didn't want to tell her of the little changes in their plan he had thought of, changes that might horrify her.

"You still have four days to make up your mind," he assured her.

But she began shaking her head. He knew then that she had made up her mind. "No. I'll do it. Everyone may condemn me for it, even God, but I will get out of this horrid place."

"It's that distasteful for you?"

The fearless look on her pale blue eyes was stronger in the dark and the determination set by the way her perfectly curved brows, made Calan agree that this woman was not cut for the shallow upper society of The Town. Her courage to set out on an adventure to an unknown world set her off from the rest of the women-even the gentlemen-inside that ballroom. "No, not so distasteful. The Town has been my home from the moment I was conceived and I won't go as far as say it is distasteful just because I am surrounded by witless and prejudicial group of people who didn't know how else they could spend their time and wealth other than live by shallow standards and make others suffer because they can't. The Town is not distasteful. It's the people."

He wanted to tell her that she had not been to the other parts of The Town to give that opinion, but he didn't. He had already set his mind to help her escape and free himself of the marriage. It may be the most selfish move he had done so far, but it was better than to tie someone to a life he couldn't even give them in the first place. Pushing Cressida to get out of The Town was better than to tie her to him because he would always be a Leaguer. Leaguers couldn't have families unless they had it in them to ignore them and keep their dark secrets for themselves. And Calan had darker secrets anyone could imagine.

"I have thought of a way to help you disappear in the last three days after our talk in your mother's garden," he started. She stood motionless, all attention to every word he said. "If you leave, I would be left with a missing bride, but still unmarried. They may give me years to search for you or mourn your loss but it would not be for long before the mamas would start planning to throw their daughters to my direction and I don't want that to ever happen."

A frown had formed on her face as she listened. "What do you mean to say?"

Calan took a deep breath and sighed. "What I am trying to say, My Lady, is that we must wed."