Free Reads!! Wednesday Briefs – Innocence & Carnality Part 40
Welcome to the next part in my Wednesday Briefs flash fiction serial, Innocence & Carnality! Each chapter has to be between 500 and 1,000 words and this week I chose the to skip the prompt.
Nathan is rescued?
Click here to start from the beginning
Part 40
The vicar slouched, his eyes wide as Blythe lifted the flask to his nose. With a quick inhale, his normally hard stare turn into a fearsome glower.
“Fuck off, old man before I kick the shit out of you.”
The man scrambled off the bench and raced into the dark as if hell was biting at his heels.
“I wasn’t going to drink it.” I said. “It stank like my mother’s sleeping tonics, only ten times stronger. I was figuring out which of his knees was softest so I could dash away.”
Giving me a dirty look, Blythe emptied the bottle into a nearby shrub and placed it inside his own jacket. While I expected him to snatch me off the ground, he surprised me when he sat beside me and sighed. In relief? I looked forward with my hands in my lap, unsure if I wanted to see any possible judgement on his face.
“How did you find me?”
Blythe leaned back into the bench. “He didn’t snitch, but Harston’s a shit liar and Rother knows how to read people. Your stuff from home came today. It didn’t take much to figure you’d try to go back.”
“Rother sent you?”
“Yeah.”
“But didn’t come himself.”
“He’s busy.”
“Yes, with all things Delaga House.” Why I voiced the obvious wasn’t nearly as confusing as why it disappointed me.
“Samantha was worried and wanted to come, but she’s needed at the house with all the guests.”
“So you drew the lucky card, I see.”
I chanced a glance and found Blythe’s features harder than the shadows should have allowed.
“Are we really that hard to live with?” he asked.
A pang of guilt answered his question inside me, but he needed to know. “Born in Victoria, do you realize how difficult this is for me? Every day, I pray I’ve figured out how to fit in and something comes along that derails my every effort. I have no idea of how to behave or what to expect. I’m lost.”
“You just need to ask us more.”
“I’ve tried! I’m not exactly close to many people. I can ask you about life here. Samantha is endlessly busy, and Rother doesn’t tell me anything past what he thinks I need to know. Beyond that, the rest of the staff aren’t holding out their arms for me.”
“They think it’s all an act.”
“What’s an act?”
“That you’d marry Rother, and be so easily offended.”
I scoffed. “I bet Vivian had a hand in that. Francinian culture breaks a lot of Victorian society rules, but I doubt Delaga House’s standards are common for the entire country. And forgive me if while I was struggling to understand how to be a better Francinian, I didn’t anticipate needing to ask whether my jealous, possessive husband would be sharing the beds of the whores under his employ.”
“That was just business. You expect him to ask for references?”
Images of my husband with others assailed me, making me feel small and worthless. I closed my eyes, hoping Blythe wouldn’t see my weakness, even as I tried to make him comprehend.
“Before Rother, I’d never been so much as kissed. There were no courtships allowed for me and my only examples of wedded bliss were my dysfunctional parents and other socialites. I was taught to be my husband’s second hand and be a gracious host to his guests and business partners. I barely have any idea how to be anything else. Why does everyone expect me to already know what to do? It was all arranged, not a lengthy betrothal. Don’t they understand that?”
“How many whores did you know in high society?”
I shot a flat glare at Blythe. “In Victoria? You’re joking, of course.”
“And that’s it. They still see you as a snob looking down on them. And you still do.”
Air rushed out of my lungs, deflating me. “I don’t try to. I’ve been dropped into the most severe, contrary circumstances. It’s no wonder I’ve exploded so often.”
Blythe snickered. “Oh, they like that part. Shows them all you’re human.”
“It’s just not done in Victoria. And if you say one word about not being in Victoria anymore, I will rough up your boys in a way you won’t find enjoyable.”
Blythe burst out laughing. “See? That’s the spirit I know you have. You can survive this. If you can figure out how to relax, I think you can even find your place with us.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I do. You and Rother have your work cut out for you. But I’d like to think if they ever find out how much money Rother makes, you’d be able to rub your family’s nose in it and maybe make ‘em faint. And seriously, do you really want Vivian to get her way?”
I hated Blythe’s perceptiveness at times. Why couldn’t my bodyguard be a brainless thug? I could write off his ideas as idiocy and ignore them completely. But no, everything had to sound appealing.
“I assume if I refuse to come back, you’ll only throw me over your shoulder and make me anyways?”
Blythe turned to me, his dark eyes pleading. “Don’t make me have to.”
Why I held onto my ludicrous plan for the next few minutes, I couldn’t say. Old school defiance? Ultimately, I gave in with a resigned nod. We stood, Blythe’s hand at my back directing me away from the bench. I refused to admit my backside welcomed it.
“Come on. Getting a carriage back is going to be a chore. You couldn’t run away during the day?”
“And miss out on the chance of being kidnapped by a degenerate priest? Perish the thought.”
We began walking back, away from the light’s false security, yet next to Blythe, I felt safe.
“What you said before to the old man? You were wrong,” he grumbled.
“About which part?”
“About how no one would miss you if you were gone.”
Check back next Wednesday for the next installation… Be sure to take a read at the other briefers free reads this week here: Wednesday Briefs
