𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 ✔

Chapter Nine

Not long after the letter arrived, Devolle served us lunch. Which was an assortment of many different types of cheese, bread, and meats.

"I hope you do not mind us eating a light lunch. For dinner I am having a meal served exactly like what you will receive Sunday, and not finishing your plate is considered a rude gesture. Therefore, I cannot have you too full to eat, but not starving to the point of lightheadedness."

"I understand Madame." In fact, I did not understand because what she considered a light lunch was enough to feed twenty of me. I did not understand how wealthy people could eat so much regularly without causing themselves to be sick. Where did it all go? In addition, the corset only lessened my appetite. However, I hadn't much of an appetite after seeing Bash anyway.

"I see the uncertainty written all over your face child," She let out a chuckle and took a sip of her tea, "You are not meant to eat all of this, just to nibble."

We took the entire time to relax because we knew that we would not have a moment of rest once Bash had returned. To be fair, I had taken advantage of the time I've had away from him to the point that I had been spoiled beyond repair. I never thought, in the months previous to mine and his argument, that I would or could have ever come to loathe him as much as I did afterwards.

He had been a large part of my life, and I honestly did not regret any of the time we had spent together, regardless of how much of it was a lie. It felt real, and I was happy for those eight years. There was no point wasting my time looking at the past when I did not have much of a future left.

On the other hand, Madame Fontaine had begun to grow on me. The longer I remained at the estate the more she opened up and started to reveal the sweet and caring woman that she truly was under that fierce, harsh, and eloquent façade. She was a self-made woman, it being very clear that she had gotten to where she was in life and the social hierarchy all on her own with a lot of blood, sweat, and the tears of others. She was very intriguing to me as much as I was to her, and if there were to have been a way for me to have a life in the end where she was a part of it, I believed the two of us would not have had it any other way.

We had been talking about nonsense, not only because Madame was somewhat loosened by the wine from earlier and on her slow decent back to sobriety, but just to kill time. That was until Bash walked into the drawing room.

"Bonjour Marchioness, Mademoiselle, you two sound like you are having quite the time." We both glared at him, however, Madame caught herself and stood up with a forced smile on her face.

"Welcome back your grace, I hope the business that you needed to attend to did not take too much energy, for you still have a good deal of dance lessons to give this evening, starting now." He bowed and kissed her hand, in return she curtsied.

"It was quite a trivial matter. In fact, I feel more energized than ever. With such a lovely dance partner, this evening could not be any more pleasant." He shot me a devilish grin. I was sure he had been looking forward to these lessons, after all he would have been able to touch me to his heart's content and I could have done absolutely nothing to stop him.

"Merci, your grace. I appreciate the time and effort that you are going to be dedicating while you teach me to dance well, and I will do my best to not disappoint." I cringed internally as I forced myself to be polite.

"I am sure you will not disappoint." He held out his right hand for me to take. "Then, shall we?"

"Indeed."

I took his hand reluctantly as he escorted me to the formal dining room that had been cleared out and turned into a small ballroom immediately after breakfast. There had already been a pianoforte in the room previously, the drapes had been closed to simulate nighttime and only the candle lit chandelier and candelabras, that were strewn about the room, provided light and some unwanted heat.