Free Reads!! Wednesday Briefs – Innocence & Carnality Part 1
Welcome to my first installation as part of the weekly flash fiction group, Wednesday Briefs!
The rules for each chapter are as follows: Every chapter has to be between 500 and 1,000 words while using one of the prompts given to us each week. This week I chose, “Use ‘Wonder of wonders…'” and a picture of an hourglass.
So without further ado… welcome to the first part of Innocence & Carnality.
Part 1
“Who told you?” My mother, Lady Margaritte Valencus, huffed in disgust as she sat on the edge of the settee. Her back poised tall with perfect posture, she never touched the tufted, embroidered upholstery behind her. A woman of her standing could be expected to do no less. “I swear your brothers are like a pair of gossiping old women at times, Nathan.”
My chest pinched at the news. “So it’s true.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
I knew this day would eventually come, but the proof brought me to a morose silence. Amongst the elaborately decorated furniture of mother’s salon, rested a handcrafted hourglass on the end table next to her. The elegant glass bulbs were suspended between a framework of brass and gears. The fine sand had emptied to the bottom, marking the time left to choose my own future. I wanted to invert it, to start my chances over once again.
Mother turned to the small canvas atop the nearby easel, and began dabbing a slender paintbrush to the surface. It was an affectation. The bristles were void of paint, and in my twenty years, I’d never seen her finish a single painting. Plus, the possibility of staining her sable and gold brocade gown was incomprehensible. Women of Victorian lords were expected to fill their days with arts and crafts, while providing the proper trophy for their husbands.
I played along with her fiction, giving myself time to absorb the reality. A turn of the switch along the ebony wainscoting and the gaslights grew brighter, illuminating the sanguine, patterned fabric lining the walls, giving her more light to pretend to work from.
“Thank you, Nathan.”
I leaned against the mantle, fingering the edge of my waistcoat. The layers were snug and tailored, the fine wool properly adorned with buttons of fine metal, befitting a young man of my status. In another hour or two, I would be expected to changed into formal dining dress to eat. There were clothing standards for every aspect of our lives. Only certain hobbies were permissible to dabble in, and employment was unacceptable for the nobility. With little to spend my time on, I grew restless. The prospect of a marriage held the hallmarks of opportunity and disaster all at once.
“Do you know who he is?”
“A business associate of your father’s, Lord Rother Marsh Delaga III from Francine.”
“So far away?” I didn’t want to whine—I was accused of it often enough—but this house and land were all I knew. For all my complaints, I wasn’t looking to abandon it and my family.
Mother gave me a dismissive shake of her head. “Francine is an airship ride away. Not far at all.”
“Do you know when?”
“Lord Rother will be coming in two weeks to meet you and hopefully accept your father’s offer.”
Well as if that didn’t make me feel like a commodity. “At least I’ll get to meet him first before I’m shipped off.”
Mother slapped her dry brush onto the end table in her displeasure. “Don’t be droll, Nathan. You know perfectly well how things are done.”
“And what if I don’t like him? Will Father force me to go through with it?”
“Most likely. This is an important union for our family.”
“He can’t do that.”
She paused for a moment for effect. “Of course he can. Under Victorian law, until you are married or turn twenty-five, your father has final say.”
Pacing in a circle, I waved my hands in the air. “Wonder of wonders… All hail the land of Victoria.”
“Stop that,” she snarled. “Given your… orientation, there have been pitifully few offers in this area to find a suitable mate for you. Since the plague last decade, Victoria has been focused on repopulating. Since you are unlikely to bear children—”
I stopped and glared at her. “That’s not my fault.”
Mother pulled a broach from her collar, which spun itself out, expanding into an exquisite fan with translucent blades. Another affectation, the room bore a chill. “No, it isn’t, but it’s the situation you’ve been saddled with. It is our station to follow the plan laid out for us.”
She was right. Being born to privilege had its immense backlash. You were held to a different standard, and required to maintain a certain kind of decorum. Every step in your life was measured by the manner in which you bore yourself. Act a fool and be cast out. Be the saint, and have every good fortune at your fingertips. No matter how hard I’d tried, I wasn’t capable of either.
Choosing the person you’d spend the rest of your life with was a luxury our kind seldom experienced. Marriages were transactions to benefit the family’s longevity. If you were fortunate, you could learn to love your partner.
If you were fortunate.
Sighing, I traced my finger over the clockwork sculpture gracing the occasional table against the wall. It’s delicate workings danced under my light touch. “Do you know what he’s like?”
“I haven’t met the man, I only read his arrival schedule and his accommodation requests. Your father has been the only contact regarding your betrothal. From what he said, Lord Rother’s only rigid stipulation was proof of your purity.” She stopped waving her fan long enough to pierce me with her gaze. “I can assume that requirement will be met.”
My face flamed from embarrassment twined with a resentful fury. “You know well enough that’s true.” An ache radiated through my hands from the tightness of my fists. I spun on my heels, storming to the door, trying with a futile effort to hold back my venom.
And my volume.
“You and father made sure of that, didn’t you?”
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
