Trails of Intertwined Stars: Chapter 74

~Chapter 23: The Vase~

Jiu and Leora made their way back to the drawing room, Leora had been quiet the entire way. Jiu was unsure whether she was scared from what she claimed to have seen, or if she was scared about Lord Bramston. He gently pushed the doors open, and both Henry and Lord Bramston startled up, as if awoken from some peculiar dream.
"You're back?" Henry furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yes," Leora nodded, before turning to Lord Bramston," Lord Bramston do forgive me, I left in quite a hurry since my makeup was a mess."
Lord Bramston blinked, as if not believing Leora to be there, before he broke into a massive grin.
"Ah, you women and your makeup!" He laughed," I am not bothered, not in the slightest. Come, sit. Both of you."
Jiu let Leora go first. She sat down with a charmingly schooled smile, the type that was so perfect you wouldn't have been able to tell that a moment ago she'd been sobbing. She was a true Victorian woman in that sense. To see her acting as if she hadn't been hurt, it frustrated Jiu in some unexplainable way, but he bit it down and made his way back to the armchair.
"Henry and I were just discussing his wedding again," Lord Bramston smiled, his hand going back to Leora and tracing the folds of her sleeve in an uncomfortable manner," His betrothed and he are having a ball. Quite a novel idea, don't you think?"

"A ball?" Leora's eyes shone," You never said this before, Henry. Oh, how exciting!"
Henry laughed, collectedly," Well, Lady Brandon was quite eager for it. I couldn't exactly deny her that, could I?"
"Of course not, brother! You should never get a lady's hopes up and then crush them."
"You would know."
Lord Bramston chuckled," I should only hope you'll be my dance partner, Leora? I can tell you're quite eager to dance."
Jiu had to bite down another wave of frustration at the idea of Leora dancing so closely with the same man who was currently fondling her sleeve in such a revoltingly, perverted manner.
"I should hope so!" Leora huffed," It would be rude of you to deny me such an honour."
Jiu studied her eyes carefully, as he'd learnt that was the best place to look for a mortal's true emotion. There was a flicker of fear in her eyes, yet she had filtered it down surprisingly well. His heart lurched slightly at the sight of her internal distress.
"Of course, how could I deny my own lady such an occasion. That would be simply treasonous," Lord Bramston chuckled.
Jiu watched as his hand went from her sleeve to just above her thigh, searching for something Jiu knew he did not want him to touch. Before the general could intervene, there was a loud crash. Henry startled up; glancing around in anger, whilst Lord Bramston swiftly withdrew his hand, searching wide-eyed.

"What was that?" Lord Bramston uttered, surprised.
"Probably that careless maid again, we hired a new one you see, a teenager," Henry grumbled, already assuming," She's such a clutz, it's unbelievable."
"You're too hard on Daisy, Henry," Leora sighed," She's a sweet girl."
"Sweet girls are not good at jobs, evidently."
Henry stopped in his tracks, spotting something off. He immediately made his way to the table in the room, where the floor beside it was covered in shards of ceramic. Lord Bramston and Jiu noticed too and went over quite startled; Leora, on the other hand, simply watched from the comfort of the sofa.
"Perhaps it wasn't Daisy," Henry muttered, crouching down to inspect it," Only we were in the room. Perhaps there's a draft in here I need to get sorted?"
Henry stood up, glancing around, confused. Jiu stayed silent, feeling for any gusts of wind, but found none. Nothing at all. It was as if the vase had fallen of it's own accord, or been pushed off. Lord Bramston reached to inspect one of the shards, but hissed loudly, tugging his hand away and bringing it to his mouth.
"What's wrong?" Leora glanced over.
"Blasted edge," Lord Bramston uttered, blood dripping down his finger," It caught my flesh."

Jiu glanced at the bleeding, suspiciously. For such a small and pathetic cut, there was a lot of blood dripping off it. It was hardly a deep cut, but it bled like it'd taken a decent chunk of flesh off. The blood dripped onto the floor, pooling into the grooves of the wood a little, in some kind of sickening display.
Leora stood up, turning for the wire in the room to ring a servant bell," I'll get one of the maids to fetch some hot water and a bandage for that. It looks quite bad."
"Don't worry," Jiu straightened up, inspecting the cut," I've been on battlefields. This cut? It's no deeper than a paper cut. Just clean it off and you'll be good as new, no harm done."
Lord Bramston nodded, cradling his finger like it had been infected somehow by the ceramic. Jiu glanced down at the shards, and his lips twitched slightly in confusion. The shards themself were not sharp, if anything, they were surprisingly smooth and without edges for ceramic. For Lord Bramston to be cut, let alone to the point of bleeding, it must have been done with quite a bit of force. A maid came and Leora asked them to fetch the hot water and a bandage for Lord Bramston; the maid quickly returned and tended to the wound all while the Lord fussed like some incorrigible toddler.
"Carefully now, maid!" He hissed, thrashing his head against the sofa a little," It's deep, I tell you! It could have struck an artery. I'm lucky to be alive."

Leora chuckled, weakly," Now, now. It's just as Ji- I mean, Kong Hun said; just a little paper cut."
"Kong Hun, what does he know!?" Lord Bramston scoffed, looking quite offended by the remark, seeming to forget that Jiu was sat beside him," This is my cut, not his. And trust me, it's awful!"
"Right," Leora deadpanned, exasperated.
"Henry!" Lord Bramston cried as the maid put on the bandage," Would you stop faffing about the window like some foolish old oaf!?"
Henry was still preoccupied, searching for a draft. He had a look of puzzlement on his face, clearly unsuccessful in finding a draft.
"Perhaps one of us moved suddenly and it fell?" Jiu suggested, taking in his confused expression.
"Perhaps," Henry sighed, sitting down.
Lord Bramston continued to cry.
"Oh do pipe down, here, numb yourself," Henry hissed, chucking the packet of cigars at Lord Bramston, who took it without hesitation and started to smoke as the maid tended to him.
Jiu could not take his eyes off Leora, however. For the girl was staring at the blood puddle on the floor, her expression somehow...dark.