Hardly a Lady

IV

The grand carriage that Sir Lansley had arrived at Forest Castle in rolled around to the front steps of the house, the horses who pulled it freshly groomed and watered ready for the journey to Samarus. It would be fortnight of travelling to reach the capital - something that Giselle was dreading, although not as much as she dreaded the man who waited at the end of their journey.

Servants rushed around frantically, hurrying to ensure that everything was ready for Giselle's departure. All of her dresses and clothing had been packed up neatly into trunks, her possessions wrapped and stored with the utmost care so not to be broken during the journey. Whilst Giselle had not been spoiled by her father since well before her mother died, she still had a considerable amount of possessions that she couldn't bear to part with, her horse Lila being amongst them.

Giselle waited with anxiety growing in her stomach as each moment passed, watching the preparations from the window of her now empty bedroom. Kendra had disappeared to bid farewell to her family, since she would be accompanying her mistress to their new life in Samarus, and so Giselle sat alone, surrounded by a melancholy air without anything to lighten the mood.

Suddenly, there came a knock at her door. Giselle looked up, curious to who it could be, before calling out "come in!"

The door opened to reveal a little boy with tousled dark curls and dark eyes, which were red-rimmed as if he'd been crying. Giselle's heart broke as he staggered into the room, carefully shutting the door behind him and then turning back. He paused for a moment, examining the creature sat before him in her finest travelling clothes and cloak, before deciding it was Giselle and running into her arms, crawling onto her lap and burying his face in her shoulder. Within seconds, the boy was sobbing.

"It's ok Than," Giselle murmured, stroking her brother's head. He was the only thing - except for Jakson of course - that she would miss here. It broke her heart to have to leave him behind, to leave him in Adela's care without Giselle there to protect him, but although she has begged their father to let Than come with her, he had refused. "I cannot send both of my heirs to the Decristos," he had snapped back, and that had been the end of that.

"Please don't go," Than stammered into her shoulder, his voice thick with tears. "Don't leave me alone with her."

Giselle's heart was breaking. She wanted Than by her side always - she had practically raised him after all - and the thought of having to leave him at Adela's mercy was unbearable. The poor boy would be subjected to cruelty and hatred from the moment Giselle left, and she wouldn't be there to provide even a little warmth in his life.

"Listen to me, Than. You know Jakson, the stable-hand?" The little boy removed his head so Giselle could see his grief-stricken face, and furrowed his brows as he thought carefully. Then, he seemed to realise who his sister was talking about, and nodded. "Well, if you have any problems, I want you to go to him for me, ok?"

Jakson had promised Giselle that he'd keep an eye on her brother for her, and would make sure that he didn't grow up to be a miniature clone of her hateful father.

Than nodded in obedience, his bottom lip quivering as he tried not to let himself cry again. Their father always told him that only girls and weaklings could cry, certainly not the heir to the Debault lands and fortune.

Giselle stared at her little brother, and hated herself, her father and her new husband for making her leave Than with these people. She so desperately wanted to take him with her, but her father (being the vile man he was) would not allow it.

"I don't want you to go," Than murmured, his bottom lip quivering as he spoke. Giselle brushed his soft curls gently with her fingers and pulled him onto her lap, this little boy whom she had practically raised herself. She was the only mother he had ever known, and now she was abandoning him. Giselle couldn't even imagine how Than was feeling, perhaps similar to how she had felt when their own mother had died.