Late Nights

After dinner, Peter excused himself for the night and the rest of the diners made their way to the drawing room.

Ava and Count Grier continued their conversation on border politics with the two merchants chiming in to offer their opinions here and there. Occasionally, Little would nudge Richard and give him a seething glare. Begrudgingly, he translated key points of conversation for the imposing woman, feeling lasers of death shoot out from her eyes whenever he spoke to the Duchess. Meanwhile, Charlotte was roped into playing cards with the Countess and her second daughter, who obviously had a less than close relationship with each other.

The clock had just struck 9 o'clock when the door opened to allow another visitor into the room. It was none other than cousin Lydia, the Count and Countess' second child and eldest daughter. Despite the exhausted look in her eyes from having given birth just a week prior, one could tell that she had taken great care to dress up nicely.

Gertrude immediately got up and made her way over to her favorite child, leading her to the sofa where she fluffed some pillows up behind her. "Darling, are you feeling alright? No need to push yourself to join us. Please, go back to bed and rest."

"I'm alright mother. It's tiring being alone with the baby all day. I feel much recharged seeing everyone's lively faces here in this room." She scanned the room looking for her cousin Ava, when her eyes fell upon the champagne fur.

"Ava!" She stood up from her seat suddenly, worrying her mother. Ava turned to meet her eyes and smiled. She made her way over to her younger cousin and gave her a quick hug.

"Lydia, what a wonderful surprise. I thought I wouldn't see you until tomorrow. Congratulations on your third child!"

"Where did you get those clothes?!" Lydia shrieked, silencing the entire room. Everyone's eyes turned towards the three women. She'd agreed with her mother's plan to have Ava wear her old dresses, though she did not expect her to look so good in them, it made her jealous of her always beautiful figure. However, the fur wrap had not been included in those clothes.

Ava knew her aunt was oblivious to the one sided crush Lydia had on Alex as a child. He gifted the fur wrap to her for her fifteenth birthday on the advise of his mother to be in good graces with his in law's family. If she was going to be insulted by her aunt into wearing her cousin's old clothes, she was at least going to have a part of him with her. Plus, who knew her cousin would put on quite a show, it would seem she never truly got over a man she could never have.

"Aunt Gertrude was kind enough to let me borrow them as all the outfits I packed are quite dreary," Ava put on her best act as a gracious guest and flashed an innocent smile. "If you'd like, I can have them returned to your chambers and go back to wearing the dresses I have prepared."

Lydia was about to speak when her mother panicked, thinking about the depressing outfit Ava had arrived in sticking out like a sore thumb at the party she had perfectly planned. "No, no need to return them," she cut off, looking at Ava sternly in the face. She then turned to her daughter, "Darling, you must be tired. Let us retire upstairs and we'll have a dressmaker come in the morning with the newest fashions for you to choose from."

Lydia pouted, afraid of what her mother might do with the fur if she made a bigger scene. She reasoned with herself to deal with Ava another time and retired for the night. A sly smile briefly flashed across Ava's lips and she made her way back to the others in the room, politely excusing herself and retiring for the night as well.

—-

Ava put on her nightgown and sat in bed for a while, staring at the wall in front of her. She glanced over at the fur draped over a chair. Memories of her best friend began to flood into her mind. She did not notice when the tears came rolling down her delicate cheeks, quickly turning into soft sobs as another night was to pass with her crying herself to sleep.

—-

After Ava retired, the rest of the party decided to retire as well. To their surprise, Little and Richard were put up in the same wing of the estate, a tenseness filling the air as they walked down the hallway together. Little took out the pin holding up his hair and cracked his neck as he made his way towards his door. It was in that moment Richard recalled why the uncouth beauty looked so familiar. Though her hair was shorter, she looked to be the spitting image of the ethereal man he had once seen in passing at a pleasure house for high ranking people on his last trip to the capital of Qing.

He had heard from his business contact that it was the popular second prince of their formidable king. A bastard with no claim to the throne, it was said that he spent his days living frivolously, enjoying the finer parts of life. 'Could this woman be a distant member of the royal family?' He shuddered and held his neck, thinking about the forward comments he made earlier that night.

"Goodnight my lady," he bowed deeply, eager to erase the bad air between them.

Little turned to him and glared. "Goodnight," he responded flatly.

—-

He waited a few minutes after closing his door, listening for sounds in the hallway. Once it seemed no one was near, Little slipped out of his room and wandered around the halls, searching for Ava's room.

Something invisible was always pulling him towards her. At dinner, he badly wanted to give her a hug, but he held himself back, knowing it was not right. Again, later when the young woman screamed at her, he could see her hands clenching into tights fists, and he wanted to go hold them to make everything alright.

Though he was a distasteful man, the merchant he met this evening provided him with insightful information about Ava and her family. He now clearly understood, that despite her openness and his ever growing feelings for her, he needed to be especially careful in front of the eyes of others - so as not to make things even more difficult for her.

He turned a corner and began down yet another hallway in this large estate, careful not to be seen by any of the busy maids. The faint sound of crying could be heard as he passed a door on his right. 'Ava?'

He paused in front of the door, squeezing the doorknob tight. Without hesitation, he gently knocked on the door. All of a sudden the crying went silent. A moment passed and he knocked on the door again, this time more nervously. A click came from inside the room, and the door cracked open. A pair of clear green eyes peered out from behind the door, still puffy and red around the edges though she managed to hide away her tears.

"Little?" She looked up in surprise. And in one swift motion he embraced her in a tight warm hug and shut the door behind them.