BRING SWORDS AND FLOWERS

The Wedding

Estelle Torden's  wedding was a grand affair and many prominent nobles were present from all over the realm.

They did not attend because she was Estelle the actress but because she was from the main branch of the Torden family and daughter of  Jonathan Torden,who was one of the richest men in the southern county.

The food was perfect and many exquisite wines were served to the guests.

Tyde was dressed in her new gown and Victoria wore a beige colored gown. After the banquet, both ladies separated to attend their respective businesses.

Victoria went on to greet her new business partners and investors. As for Tyde she made her way across the beautifully lit rooms in search of Ares.

Among the distinguished guests were Raul Adara. After talking a bit  to those who came to greet him, he walked around  until he spotted Ares in the ballroom downstairs.  Ares was sitting with Diana Demetero.He seemed to be doing a fine job as Lady Demetero was seen at ease with him.

When Raul had turned around he felt something under his shoe and when he picked it up, he saw it was a gold brooch which had in it an aquamarine cut in the shape of a fish.

The lady who had dropped it came back to  pick it up and he saw  it was Tyde Voda.

There was a momentary surprise which appeared on both their faces. After the brooch was given back to Tyde, they both bowed to each other and went their separate ways like strangers.

'That was close', thought Tyde. If the Demeteros knew that they were acquaintances they might suspect something.

Tyde pinned back her mother's brooch on her gown.

Because the ladies in the Orbelo house were away, Tyde hadn't been able to gift it to them and instead had worn it herself.Tyde was secretly glad that she could still keep the brooch which was her mother's keepsake.

Raul Adara wondered how Lady Voda had managed to get an invitation. He soon found that out from Gaga who informed him that Lady Voda was staying with the Orbelos.

Raul concluded that it was a clever move on her part to convince the Demeteros. He too hoped that the Demeteros would buy their story.

"Our Lord seems to be in deep thought about something." said a soft voice from behind him.

He saw that it was Lady  Victoria Gaya who was addressing him.

He immediately apologised for not greeting her sooner. He knew that he was expected to dance with her. Accordingly he requested her to dance with him.

Meanwhile Ares had begun to dance with Lady Demetero and Tyde had spotted them.

After a couple of dances Ares had disappeared with Diana and met her father. After a long meeting he came out with Diana hanging on to his arm. And when the later was not looking he raised a glass to his cousin who was watching them from a distance.

Tyde thus confirmed that everything went well. She was about to make her way out of the ballroom when she was suddenly stopped by  a beautiful piece of music. She stepped back to see who was playing it.

Damien Torden was playing the piano and the ladies gathered whispered to each other that Lord Torden was indeed a heavenly being not made for earth.
The piece he was playing sounded rather melancholic and Tyde was quite moved by it.

She stood there for some time  listening to it. If she hadn't been that immersed in that music, she would have seen only a little away from her, Victoria dancing with Raul Adara.

If she had seen them together, she would not have made one very wrong move in the future.

But such is the case in life that small mistakes and omissions lead to huge changes  and we call it fate.

*********

The party had come to a close and most of the guests had left.In one corner of Estelle Torden's  mansion a middle aged man sat  smoking. He was Lord Gregory Torden, an uncle  of Damien Torden from the main branch.

Estelle's father joined him and poured him a drink.
"You would not believe me if I told you.."  he said laughing. "But Demetero has brought us an interesting proposal."

"Who is investing?" asked Lord Gregory.

" No. The question is who brought the proposal to Lord  Demetero." Jonathan corrected him.

"Who did?".

"Lord Voda."

Lord Gregory kept his glass down with a playful expression.

"What are they playing at?".asked he.

"No. The question is, aren't they too young to play with us?"

"What is the proposal? "

"The Vodas will sell their business for higher than a normal price and the buyer will be indirectly investing in our special side business."

"And who is the buyer. No, more importantly what do the Vodas get?"

"Ten percent for acting as intermediary."

"And the real investor wants to remain anonymous?"

"Yes."

"What a childish trap."

"But I investigated a little. Lord Voda's cousin was staying at the Orbelo's for the past few days.Lord Voda has also visited them."

"Lord Orbelo sure has the money. There is a possibility that the Vodas have no clue about us and is actually thinking about making some quick bucks ."

"Even if they do know about us, they might not know what we did to them in the past.."

Both the Tordens fell silent.

"So what did you tell Demetero?" asked Gregory after the pause.

"I asked him to go ahead with it. "

"Good.The Demeteros have been making trouble for us already. It's time to end our partnership with them."

"If the deal goes smoothly then it's all well, but if the Vodas are being used to catch the Demeteros, Helios might have already started suspecting us."

"It is Lord Adara who is in charge of this case. But the Vodas and Adaras are not on good terms, I heard."

"After this test we'll know who is on the side of who."