The Façade of Quad in Nimrod ✓ | Satire, family drama, dark society

XX

In bed at the Glavisland house, Georgina was moaning in her sleep. She had retired here saying she had been awake since four—which was no lie—and needed to rest a bit. She told the Lady she would be down at dinner time because 'I wouldn't miss the party for the world'—which was a lie.

It was the same nightmare that plagued her occasionally. Just like Valerie's dream, Georgina would be walking through a beautiful forest when a tall gray wall would loom up in front of her. The forest would darken and frighten her, but the wall would intrigue her. Georgina reached her arm out but just before she could touch the wall, she woke up with her arm stretched out before her

With a sigh, she sat up. Something important she knew had been forgotten, but what it was she could not remember. Glancing around the room, her eyes paused at a scenic painting of Eleya by the famous artist J. M. W. Turner that she adored. At least the Sorienttos had good taste in art, she thought.

In the painting, a beautiful ocean stretched forward, and a fishermen's village flanked the sides of the shore. She could almost hear the sound of the waves and the calls of the fishermen as they sold their fish or brought in their boats. 

She had never been to Eleya—a country said to have the most delicious pasta and exquisite assortment of fish along with a paradisiacal island off the coast in the south. That gave her an idea of the next thing she wanted Aulen to do for her.

Her next wish would be to take her to Eleya. Mordecai had left all his money and the house in her name as far as she was still concerned, making her the richest middle-class woman there ever was. A grin spread across her face and she squealed into her pillow. She could leave Mordecai forever. That thought brought her such joy and the excitement about her plan that it kept her awake until dinner time.

Never once did she think it was about time to check whose name the Quad fortune was in. It was common sense to make sure what was going on with the family finances time and again, but Georgina was confident it was in her name. Little did she know that it had been changed to her daughter. How furious she would be if she ever found out, but Georgina would always be in the dark.

* * *

Valerie faked sleeping when someone came into the room to check on her.

"Miss Valerie," Fernando said, and she wondered who else was there with him, "dinner is about to start. Won't you come down?"

She ignored him and heard the low muttering of her father's voice and the door closed. Footsteps of two distinct people—the heavy thud of her father and the light tap-tapping of her fiancé—gradually distanced until the room was shrouded in quiet.

After a moment of nothing, she could hear the vague, exotic tunes of some flute playing a traditional Rajanese tune. She'd heard them before at Crockensham's marketplace. Valerie was intrigued, but she didn't want to go down and be with the very people that upset her.

"The nerve," she said in a hoarse voice. She was so thirsty right now and could see the string for the bell over her bed to call a maid or butler, but she didn't want anyone to think she was coming down or ready to talk. She would just try not to think about being thirsty. Instead she let her mind go elsewhere—to Thomas Benedict.

Now he had become her fantasy knight in shining armor though the man that was her tutor was only there in name and face. She had created a completely new character for him. 

He was kind and always put her needs or wants first. He kissed her when she wanted to be kissed. He hugged her without her even having to tell him she needed it. He was there for her emotionally and said the things she wanted to hear.