The Eternal Shadow

Chapter 6

VI

Guy strode confidently into the banquet hall and if the looks he received from those assembled bothered him, he didn't let it show.

Vaisey wasted no time in getting them settled with some of his cronies at a table next to Francesca and her family, (Guy smirked at this for he knew his master's humour all too well), and shortly after, Lord Cavendish cordially greeted them both. Natalia did likewise, unfazed by Guy's cool demeanour and nudged Francesca sitting by her side, who quietly murmured her greeting and barely looked up.

The usual round of lewd comments from Vaisey and friends began and Guy rolled his eyes. He wondered that Lord Cavendish could tolerate them speaking about his daughter so – he must have been able to hear them for they were hardly being quiet about it, collapsing into fits of laughter after one particularly uncouth quip from Vaisey.

His gaze then alighted on Francesca and once more the world tilted on it's head.

His resentment melted away in a heartbeat.

She looked pale... and tired...

and sad.

She whispered something to her sister and then wearily pulled herself from her seat. Her father barked something at her that Guy didn't quite catch over Vaisey's chatter and then she walked away from the table.

Guy felt terrible.

Was she alright? Had she fallen ill whilst he was away? Was it all of this...?

It became instantly clear to him that he'd been gravely mistaken. This was not her fault. This was not the reaction of someone who had wanted this. As Vaisey continued with his banter and Lord Cavendish did nothing to defend her, Guy began to feel distinctly queasy. How much of this had she already had to endure? Had this been going on the entire time he'd been away?

As he heard a group of ladies at a nearby table laughing like overexcited hens whilst merrily dissecting her life story, he found himself horrified on her behalf but also strangely fascinated and unable to stop himself from listening in.

The first revelation of sorts was that the sisters were only half blood; Lord Cavendish had married twice. Guy had suspected as much, the daughters were so dissimilar in looks, it seemed only logical but he'd never have been so impudent to ask, let alone sit a stone's throw away from the family whilst discussing the matter. He continued to hear snippets of what the ladies were saying, (which was not easy with Vaisey at his side, in full flow, a venerable font of innuendo at his and Francesca's expense), but little by little he pieced together the bare bones of her story, unaware that in doing so, he was satisfying his own urge to listen to gossip despite having condemned others for doing the same.

So half-sisters then. One father, two mothers. Natalia was the happy result of a harmonious marriage to a woman that Cavendish had worshipped. Sadly, her mother died of fever not long after giving birth and Natalia swiftly took her place as the primary object of Cavendish's devotion. As Guy stared at Natalia sitting regally next to her father, there was no doubt in his mind that that was exactly what had happened here.

Cavendish, despite still grieving his first wife, swiftly moved on to his second, in the hopes of producing an heir. It was not to be. Francesca was born to sighs of disappointment and raised to shouts of anger. Her mother had tried to be a model wife but despite all best efforts, could not live up to the memory of her predecessor or Cavendish's unforgiving standards and it all went downhill from there. When she too died of illness, it is said that Cavendish was not terribly upset about it.

It all slotted into place for Guy now. As he watched Francesca return to her seat, pushing her plate aside to the harsh tones of her father's voice and her sister's glare, it all made sense.