Foreign Affairs ❥ lrh

Chapter Fifteen: Trespassers

Violet's night was full of strange dreams. Some featured the delicate handwritten words in the card on Luke's dresser but they were muddled in fantastic ways. Once or twice she swore that Valentina had appeared in the flesh but she couldn't be sure. The Duchess was, at the very least, heavily enveloped in her subconscious.

In one vision, the card's inscription was scrawled across ancient parchment inside a treasure chest on a beach. Whether the dream was of burying the chest's contents or discovering it got lost in the eclipsing feeling of sand packed under her nail beds from digging so fervently. The only other things she could remember were the taste of saltwater in her mouth and the sweltering heat of the island sun.

In another, Luke whispered them quietly in her ear as his warm body pressed up against hers while they were tangled in his sheets. The feeling of his damp chest heaving purposefully as his palms stroked her skin nearly set her skull on fire. It was somewhat of a miracle that her brain still worked after that dream materialized. But far too soon, it was gone and had changed into something less tantalizing; so unremarkable in the face of Luke's bareness and hushed panting that Violet couldn't recall a single detail.

When she came to consciousness, she had the tiniest hint of sweat along her forehead where she had dreamt that Luke's warm breath had landed over and over. She couldn't help herself from gluing her eyes shut to bask in the afterglow of such a feeling; it didn't matter that it had been just momentary and exclusively fiction.

The private part of Violet's morning leading up to the first day of the Grazítakken Festival was relatively uneventful. Her breakfast had already been delivered to her room, accompanied by an outfit that had been gifted to her by the Royal Family. While she picked through her scrambled eggs, she looked at the pure white floor-length underdress and noticed the soft lace around the wrists with baby blue ribbon running through. It matched the blue corset and several layers of long skirts hanging next to it exactly; clearly, they had been custom made.

She couldn't be sure, but something told her that Luke had a hand in choosing the color because he had told her he liked the way she looked in blue. After all, he had brought her a blue dress once already.

Once she finished the better half of the food on the tray, she gave up and hoped her stomach grumbling wouldn't be heard over the day's festivities. She rolled the cart back toward the door and took the outfit into the bathroom.

When all was said and done, she fell positively in love with the look. It couldn't have been more opposite from the dress she'd worn to dinner with the Queen and was grateful for its much looser fit; she decided she would be able to finish her breakfast and ate delicately so as not to spill anything on the luxurious fabric.

She took another look at the day's itinerary and saw she was keeping track of time fairly well. There was enough time for her to open her makeup case and put her face together; neutral and dewy, not keen on attracting attention her way. After a bit of debate over shoe options, she chose a pair of vintage saddle shoes that wouldn't be very noticeable under her long skirts.

A small bag full of both journalistic and personal essentials and a swish of mouthwash later, Violet left her room and followed the instructions on her schedule down the hall to the round circular room Bella had led them through on their way in.

Upon entering, she saw that Bella and Michael were there patiently waiting for her, as she expected, but were also joined by a surprising third person. The Duke of Whindchester stood with one hip popped mid-argument with Bella, who wasn't too pleased that he was eating blueberry yogurt in his official outfit for the day while Michael watched, mutedly amused. Bella did have an authoritative edge, standing tall in her standard black and green pantsuit, contrasting Calum and Michael's festivalwear that shared the same aesthetic as the outfit Violet had shimmied into.