"Who are you?" the Lady asked in a shiver in his arms. The knight didn't respond but he looked into her eyes and he knew her from a yesterday dream.
"Why would you get involved with the spirit of the castle?" the strange man asked coldly.
"I want to explore. It has a mysterious history and I want to know the bottom of it." the Lady replied innocently.
Without a word, the knight clasped his lips with hers. Her eyes opened wide as if the stars and the moon were falling down and the firmament was turning into a whirlpool of confusion and excitement. He pressed in and she -
"AH!" Isabella gasped in shock. She almost rolled down her bed.
Her cheeks were boiling red. She couldn't believe love could be filled with such a rush of adrenaline and heat. She loved her sister and parents but never did she feel that way. She could only find such chemical reactions while reading these novels. In real life, she felt no excitement but a boring ritual.
Elizabeth was startled by her sister's sudden shout. She looked at her and sighed, "Oh, Izzy, you can't possibly find true love by reading those silly tales."
Isabella blushed and pressed the book closer to her chest, "Perhaps Mama is wrong. Perhaps the only way to find true love is through an adventure in a dark forest or a castle or to an exotic land, but definitely not through parties and balls."
Elizabeth climbed into Isabella's bed. Her golden braids appeared to be more mild and tender near the light of a dim orange candle. She stroked Isabella's ginger curls and kissed her forehead, softly, she said, "Isabella, love can never be found in social class or adventures. Love is found in a genuine heart. When two people meet, they have good feelings for each other and they continue to build a relationship based on those good feelings. Gradually, those good feelings become love and love grows into passion and not even time can wash it away."
"Lizzie, does love feel like a kiss on lips?" Isabella laid her head against Elizabeth's shoulder and snuggled comfortably in her quilt.
"It feels more than that," Elizabeth replied softly.
"Lizzie, have you found your love?"
Elizabeth didn't look at Isabella but fixed her gaze in a far away distance, as if her lover was standing outside the window, outside the meadow, outside the centre, waving at her by the margin. She replied, "I have, and he is the best in my world."
"Really! When? Was it the second season last year or the guests in our last Christmas party?" Isabella was so excited that she almost screamed in delight. It was like one of her favourite romantic tales came to life!
"Shhhhh," Elizabeth hastened, "you will wake up the entire household."
"Who is he, Lizzie?" Isabella asked much quieter this time but the excitement in her voice was not diminished. "Is he the Baron from Longenton? Or, the Count from Stockholm? Oh, no, please don't tell me it's the Baron from Kingsley! He's forty, so much more senior than you."
"And I thought you were sitting quietly on the bench reading your books," Elizabeth replied in a playful manner.
"Well, sometimes people are more interesting to read than books are." Isabella brushed away the knots at the end of her braids and continued, "for example, do you know Lady Susan was having an affair with Captain Bertly?"
"My word!"
"Yes, I read her eyes looking at Captain Bertly in a captivating desirous flare and the roguish smirk twisted at his lips. And when they danced, their expression changed as his hands touched her waist."
"My Isabella!" Elizabeth cupped her sister's rosy cheeks, "sometimes I really don't know you."
"Who is he though?" Isabella asked.
The smile on Elizabeth's face disappeared and she turned to look at the back of her hands, "Do you think I can choose?"
"Of course! Only the best can suit you. The Baron from Longenton or the Count from Stockholm? Who is your choice?"
Isabella clasped her fingers with Elizabeth's in a loving endearing way, almost as if she could feel somewhere within her sister was depressed and she wanted to comfort her. Elizabeth looked intently at their fingers, long and short, swirled around together, like how their blood was bonded and she sighed, "Perhaps I would choose the Baron from Longenton?"
When the night fell darker and the world was sleeping, Elizabeth gently got off Isabella's bed. She was very careful at her gesture and tried not to wake her sister. Yet, she knew better than anyone that not even the angelic trumpet could wake Isabella when she was deep in slumber.
Carefully, she moved down stairs. Since the main door was locked, she walked her way through the garden. The closer she reached the back gate, the heavier her heart beat. The man in shadow was waiting for him and she felt her heart leapt in a kind of delight she never felt before.
"Lady Elizabeth," Mrs Fairfax (the housekeeper of the Marchwood family) asked in a tight respectful manner behind her, "it's too late for your ladyship to have a walk. If you'd want anything, you may inform me and I'll get it for you."
Elizabeth's heart dropped and she smiled bitterly, "I'd like some rose petals for my herbal tea. I can't sleep."
YOU ARE READING
Isabella's Choice (The Choice Series, Book 1)
Historical Fiction"Upon my words, Isabella! They mean nothing to me." he enclosed the distance between them by covering her in his arms. At her ear, his lips almost touched her skin, he whispered, "And now, Isabella, please tell me, who is your choice?" *** Isabella...
