A Season of Masks and Masquerades

Chapter 21: The Grand Society Ball

Esther wished she had answered the previous question, for this was surely not something she was ready to discuss. 

When she ran off the dance floor right after the dance ended yesternight to spend rest of the evening hiding behind pillars and curtains, she decided to herself never ponder upon her actions again. 

"I'd not say I ran off." She began and Edward jumped off his horse to listen giving her more anxiety than she was already dealing with. 

"Mhmm, go on." He amused as he gave her his hand and she took it to climb off the horse. 

"I rather excused myself." She turned away to look at the river leaving her back to him.

"Excuse yourself for what, Miss Sherborne?"

"To dance with other gentlemen, of course. I could not have possibly wasted all my dances on you. Pardon my word." She added with a pretentious smile.

"Oh, of course. Pardoned completely." He said shaking his head at her clear teasing. "However, one would not say you wasted that dance on me. You were rather enjoying it, very much, I must add."

"I enjoy dancing, that's all." She said to end the conversation and it did. Both their gazes were fixated parallelly at some far-away end of the river. 

"So," Edward mumbled softly, "Did you enjoy? Dancing with other gentlemen, I mean." 

"Of course I did." Esther was too quick to answer this one. "More than anything, from the core of my heart."

"I see." It was rather unsettling but Esther could not help but detect a hint of hurt in his voice, but again he was more than proficient at fooling people with a facade of appearances and emotions. "I shall presume these gentlemen were all 'not' rich, in particular."

Esther looked at him with an irritated expression. "They were not. Not as rich as you for certain." 

Edward breathed a feeble giggle, "You wound me, Miss Sherbourne, and I am certain, purposefully."

"If I offended you by any means, please, pardon m-"

"Pardon your words, yes, of course." Edward completed the sentence for her making her cheeks go red instantly. 

She looked away.

"Who made you take such a vow anyway?" He asked deeply, no hints of humour in his voice. 

Esther did not mean to have deep conversations with him but the way he asked, his voice somehow compelled her to answer. "Juliette."

Edward's head snapped to her with amusement in his eyes. "The eldest Miss Frampton?"

"The very."

"Pardon me, Miss Sherborne, if I offend you by this, but your relationship with her hardly explains why you would take the most important decision of your life based on a vow you made to her."

Esther was not offended, she was rather hurt. Not by his words but by the reality of them. "We weren't always like this. Once upon a time, we were the dearest to each other. I had no sisters and Jennifer, her younger sister, was too young to give her company. It was just the two of us, all the time. Moreover," she added taking a deep breath, "The vow is not the only reason."

She went quite after that. Edward waited for her to speak, complete the sentence, reveal the mystery, but she never did. He wanted to ask her but for some reason he could not word his question right. Perhaps, this was not the moment.

"And?" Lawrence asked leaning forward to hear the big secret later that evening.

"And that's it." Edward said, "She did not tell me anything apart from the fact that there is another reason."