Swapped Fate

22: Arejinn

When Madam Felicity inquired about our date once we arrived back at the mansion, I refrained from babbling about the most traumatic date I had ever been on. And I had only been on two.

Tristan handled the situation and put on a pretty convincing show, going on about our marvellous time visiting an old friend of his in the outskirts of the city. Our change of attire had not gone unnoticed by Lea but Tristan, that quick-witted fiend, gave an untrue account of how we had soiled our clothes in some dung at his old friend’s farm. This old friend’s wife apparently had just the perfect dress for me.

Tristan Devereux was the smoothest liar I had ever met.

********

Lea had scheduled our horseback riding session for Monday, the 14th of April. She was worried for the weather, since the cloud showers had lasted the whole Sunday, but it turned out to be a bright Monday morning.

Thank goodness for that, for I was not only excited to learn to ride a horse, but it would give me peace to get my mind off The Five Plagues of the Abyss. What I gathered from the attack on Saturday was that they could strike at any time. It stirred up paranoia within me whenever I found myself alone in any part of the house, and I hated that feeling.

So I chose to focus on the present and live in the moment. I had faced many obstacles in my life, and I always overcame them; always emerged alive. I, Mavis Flare, would do the same with these plagues. Without Tristan’s assistance.

“Seems like you two are starting to get along,” Lea said to me as we strolled down the stairs, already dressed in our riding gear.

It was my first time to see her dressed in trousers—and fitting ones at that. Coupled with the off-shoulder white blouse, corset and riding boots, she looked gorgeous. The outfit accentuated her curves, complimenting her figure. It was a contrast to her usually modest but still lovely style.

“Whom do you mean?”

She gave me a pointed look. “You know who. Your second date with him seemed like a good time.”

Right. The friendly visit Tristan made up in place of us being almost mangled by the abyss’ guard dog. What a good time indeed.

“He was exaggerating,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Was he now?”

“Quite.” I nodded. “He said all that merely to keep his mother happy. It was simply an ordinary visit. He still infuriates me and my existence is still a nuisance to him.”

“Oh.” Lea frowned. “So you didn’t get along?”

Memories of Saturday flashed in my brain. That moment in the carriage after we had survived the beast...when he held my gaze for what seemed like hours. His eyes had told me what his lips could not, and an understanding had passed between us.

“I thought we did,” I said softly. “I thought that for once, our minds had aligned through our actions. That perhaps my meeting a friend he trusted was something that could bring us together as a team.”

I shook my head, freeing myself of the stupor and sighed. “But I was getting ahead of myself.” I chuckled wryly.

We reached the ground floor and Lea turned to me. “Oh, Mavis. You just need to give it time.” She offered a reassuring smile. “All might not be as it appears.”

I smiled back, but it was weak.

The sound of a throat clearing made us shift our attention forward.

Mr. Adrian Devereux stood before us, looking dapper as always in a crisp dark blue suit, his hands tucked in his pockets. He analysed our attires and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Lea. “Did I miss something?”