Ashes of Vile

21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Plastic Romance

Abourne wore an indigo blue dress that nearly reached the tip of her feet. It wasn't too revealing yet fit her figure perfectly. It was the perfect dress for her. Times may have changed but the tradition of debuting your daughter into society was still a trend. And whether it be deemed necessary or not in securing possessions to be passed unto future generations, a few elites of Ashgrim solely found entertainment in such a practice.

She walked into the Vile main building locked with her father's arms. She could sense his inner disapproval in being in the place of the family he detested: the Viles. The Valkyrie was easy to spot within the crowd, there were lots of watchmen blending in with the crowd not too far away from her incase of emergency. She talked and laughed with every person who approached her. Lots of eyes were on the Blaques. And although Abourne's beauty was enough to make all heads turn, it was different that day. People had seen Abourne from time to time. She would be spotted in a crowd or in a place in Ashgrim. But her father hadn't. Aleister Blaque had spent the past few years locked in his own mansion and headquarters doing all kinds of things to keep himself busy and to keep his health from deteriorating.

They were immediately approached by a woman in her forties who wore so much jewelry that it nearly made her unrecognizable. "Aleister Blaque," she acknowledged him then the two did a formal hug. Then the woman looked at Abourne and her eyes filled with sparks right away as she jumped straight into hugging her. And after the uncomfortable exchange, she pulled away and held Abourne's shoulders. "Oh how fast time goes! I remember when you were right about here." She pointed at her lower hip. Abourne chuckled with not much sincerity since she couldn't recognize her and quite frankly did not want to put all of her energy into having a conversation with someone who did not interest her. But she put up the plaster of fake socialization like she used to do at these events. And they were easy sometimes, all she had to do was mirror exactly what the other person was doing. No one is really sincere at such social gatherings.

"I believe you haven't met my son, Wyld." She said as he eyed a guy in the corner to approach. He received the signal and hastily made his way over. He then greeted Aleister then flashing a huge smile at Abourne. He was an undeniably pretty man. He had rare grey eyes and curly light brown hair. And when he smiled, he was shining. It seemed corny, but even Abourne herself was star struck. It was the son, heir to the throne of the Maddens. Wyld Madden. His name was quite a mix, and so was he in the department of looks.

And before she knew it, it was just the two of them. The crowds drowned out and their parents who obviously initiated for them to talk further disappeared into the crowd to linger with others. Wyld thankfully broke the silence in their own little bubble despite being in a sea of noise. "Shall we go get a drink?"

She nodded and followed him to the end of the room and filled up two bottles of champagne. The beauty of Ashgrim ridding of its currency was preventing elites from pushing their stance of superiority even further by ordering people around to serve food and drinks they could easily do on their own; And Ashgrim was filled with dedicated and hard workers who worked their tasks and jobs purely on their own decision. Most people did it to fill in their time, some did it because it was all they could see themselves ever be dedicated to, and some did it for strictly personal reasons. She thought of Lilac and her jumping around doing all sorts of jobs.

Given the setting and opportunity to gain a new acquaintance, Abourne would have been rambling about all kinds of topics; But her energy was drained and all she thought about was getting this over with and going back to them. Going back to Cassidy Idgen and seeing for herself the person whom she had kindly welcomed with open arms the first time they had met to be the person who could possibly destroy everything in just a second. She knew Cassidy was a delicate matter to be dealt with. And she knew that whether she was around them physically or not, she knew their tactics. She knew they were making her life a living hell. And Cassidy Idgen was bound to want to tear them to pieces. So she knew the only reasonable thing was to continue being Abourne Blaque. Not the Abourne Blaque who knew and who thought. But the Abourne Blaque Cassidy still percieves. She had to be the familiar comfort.