The Cadre of Embers

Chapter 25

Althea rested an elbow on the table, her head propped on the back of her hand. It was nearly eleven o'clock now and the crowd of people had slowly started to disperse. The ones who remained though, reeked of stale wine and sweat as they shuffled around dancing and yelling over the booming orchestra in the corner.

    She was waiting for Jasper to return from the powder room. For when he did, Althea would ask if he was ready to retire for the night. Although it was still early in the evening, these events drained the energy from her like a spider sucking the life from its prey. She did enjoy the dancing and the music and even the laughter and chatter, but she could only take so much before she needed a break.

    "Excuse me madam, I noticed you may be lonely... would you like to accompany me for a dance?" the nasally voice of a male beside her questioned.

    Althea's eyes lifted up, up, up, to a tall, older gentleman. His brown hair was speckled with grey and drifted so far back in the centre that she couldn't even see his hairline as he looked down at her. He looked old enough to be her father... possibly even her grandfather now that she studied the deep set lines in his face.

    It was times like these that Althea wished she had the power of Zella, turning invisible on command wouldn't be such a bad thing. Nevertheless, Althea allowed a thin smile to spread across her lips as she said in the polite, airy voice her aunt had instilled into her during those weeks at her manor, "oh thank you sir, but I'm quite alright. My dancing partner," she spoke the words with swivel elegance, "should be returning from the powder room any moment now."

    "I'm certain he wouldn't mind you sharing one dance with me... after all he did leave you here by your lonesome," the man drawled, reaching out a hand for her to take. That air of calm refinement faltered slightly as Althea clenched her jaw, her smile growing tighter.

    "And I am certain that he would mind, very much..." noticing that he didn't quite look convinced by her words she added tersely, "he can be a bit possessive and I only fear that if he happened to see the two of us together, he may make a scene. I would simply hate for you to be caught in the middle of that." The words tasted bitter as she spoke them, likely because they were not entirely untrue. Jasper could be a bit possessive, she knew, and though she should enjoy the idea of having a male claim and protect her like that, something about it made her slightly uneasy. And there was a small, insignificant part of her that was tempted to dance with the man, just so she could witness how far those tendencies rose within Jasper, how far he would take that need to lay claim to her, that she knew lie within him.

    The man's confidence wavered slightly, but he nodded, looking around the ballroom as if seeking out the next victim on his poaching list.

    "Very well," he gripped the edges of his tweed tailcoat, pulling it taunt as he stared off into the expanse of room, "if you do decide you'd like some company while you wait, I'll be around," he glanced back down at her now, "my name's Leonard Swavel."

    Althea nodded her head, raising her eyebrows as she stifled a laugh within herself. These were the encounters that made events like this all the more exhausting... somewhat amusing, but exhausting.

    "I'll keep that in mind," she continued nodding and he hummed a huffed sigh before walking past her.

    "God save the next woman who he seeks out," she muttered aloud to herself resting her chin back on her hand. She resumed watching the couples dancing, now to a more upbeat tune.

    She did wonder where Jasper had gone off to... he'd headed for the powder room nearly twenty minutes ago... for a woman to take so long was one thing, they had layers and layers of skirts to lift or remove and then put back on... but him? He had only trousers and undergarments, and she knew from experience just how quickly those could be ripped off. Althea smirked at the memories.