LTSV - Lost & Found 13 (Patreon)

“Your top candidate, I recall,” Mira said and, without thinking, offered him her hand. It was Violet’s muscle memory again, coming to Mira’s rescue, and when Colvin placed a gentle kiss on the back of her palm Mira got a vague recollection of what the gesture meant; an invitation to be friendly rather than formal. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Adelram. I’m sorry that you saw how badly I am in need of your assistance so soon.”

 “Please, call me by my name,” Colvin said as he straightened up. “Lady Vesper briefed me on your circumstances earlier. Given the nature of my duties, we have agreed that it would be best if I am introduced to others as your companion.”

Mira frowned over at her older sister. “Is it usual for young women to have male companions?” she asked.

“Not generally,” Vesper replied. She glanced at Colvin and Cecily. “Would you two mind giving Violet and I a moment of privacy? I have something to discuss with her. Cecily, could you ask Nanny to bring up refreshments for Mister Adelram? I’m afraid I haven’t given him the opportunity to eat since breakfast.”

“Of course,” Cecily replied and stood immediately. “Mister Adelram, please let me show you to the private sitting room. There’s a speaking crystal and dumbwaiter there. We can have a plate sent up directly.”

“Thank you, Miss…” Colvin paused on the name.

“Forgive me, I’ve been rude. Mister Adelram, this is my younger sister,” Vesper said and patted Cecily on the shoulder apologetically. “Lady Cecily Coventry.”

Colvin paused and there was something different about his tone when he spoke, a distant and steely glint in his eye that hadn’t been there previously, “It is my pleasure to meet you, Miss Coventry. I’ve heard much about you, although I was unaware that you were a Coventry.”

“Oh,” Cecily squeaked and flushed a brilliant shade of pink. It made Mira wonder what the newspapers were saying about her, since she was a prominent figure in the drama of Prince Andrei’s broken engagement. “I… no, sir, it’s a recent discovery. My sisters have been kind enough to make me welcome with them and I am very grateful to know them now. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Adelram. Thank you for agreeing to look after my older sister.”

“We will leave you ladies to your discussion,” Colvin told Vesper. “Will you join us in the other room when you’re finished?”

“Yes, thank you, Mister Adelram,” Vesper said and waited until the door closed behind them to address Mira. “Forgive me, Violet, I have a major request to make of you and I cannot explain my reasons yet. Will you hear me out?”

Oh, Mira did not like hearing that.

“I’ll listen, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll agree,” she replied.

“Thank you, dear,” Vesper said and dabbed at her throat again. There was a faint sheen of sweat all over her face and neck. How busy had she been since she left the hotel? “You are correct that it’s not usual for a young woman to have a male paid companion. Older unmarried women do sometimes, but they are usually understood to be either that lady’s bodyguard–or her lover. That leads me to my unreasonable request.”

“The request you can’t explain to me,” Mira clarified, liking this even less and less.

“Yet,” Vesper stressed the word. “I will be able to explain it all to you within a few months. I am not asking for your faith on an infinite basis, just for a short while.”

“What is it that you need from me?” Mira asked and silently prayed that it wasn’t another engagement. She didn’t think that was likely, but recent events had proven to her that the game only covered so much of reality here. There were many things going on out of sight that the player wasn’t privy to. 

“I need you to promise that you will not agree to marry anyone,” Vesper told her, very seriously. “You cannot enter into an engagement or understanding, either, for at least the next year. This could possibly go on longer, but if it does then you will know why and will have a chance to make an informed decision then.”

At first Mira thought Vesper was trying to keep her available for another arranged marriage, but the second half of Vesper’s request suddenly made that seem less likely.

“I hadn’t planned on marriage at all,” she confessed. “Nanny explained my finances to me. I’m able to support myself in comfort and I don’t have anyone I like right now.”

Vesper’s tense shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch with relief as Mira explained her feelings. “That is good,” she said. “That’s very good. I was concerned that you would feel obligated, but—you don’t remember your upbringing now, do you?” She cocked her head at Mira quizzically. 

“I remember bits,” Mira hedged. “Mostly about you, because I’ve seen you. I remember Madame’s face and that we have two other siblings. I might remember more later, but right now? No, I don’t.”

Vesper considered her for a while, looking a bit sad. “You don’t need to remember,” she said at last, quietly. “It wasn’t a happy household and we were kept separate. Madame directed your education with the goal that you would be a prince’s consort. If mana testing wasn’t mandated by the Crown, then you might never have even gone to the academy.”

‘So Violet was raised to be a housewife by a woman who didn’t like her,’ Mira interpreted in the privacy of her own head. No wonder two failed arrangements sent her into a fatal shock and she had no idea about her own resources. Having your planned future evaporate in front of you not once, but twice in short order wasn’t an easy ordeal on top of having latent epilepsy.

Mira found herself rubbing at the place underneath her bangs where the skin of her face turned hard and poreless; her beautifully disguised scar tissue from whatever happened to her eye and ear canal. Poor thing. Violet hadn’t had an easy life and she was barely twenty years old, practically still a child. 

To her surprise, Vesper caught her hand and guided it down. “Don’t think too much about that for now,” she instructed Mira with tension simmering in every line of her body. “Not until after you’ve been inscribed.”

“Was it bad?” Mira asked. 

Vesper nodded once and said, “Just—try to ignore that until it’s safer for you to be upset.”

Fat chance of that, but Mira didn’t want another seizure so she intended to try. “I may not want to get married at all in the future,” she said, returning to their earlier topic. 

That was a small lie. She knew she didn’t want to be married, ever. She’d endured marriage in her past lives and even became a little affectionate with some of her spouses, but there had only ever been one person in all her lives that made her want to commit to another person in that way—and he was long gone. So, if she had the choice, she wanted to remain single.

“If that’s what you want, then I support your decision,” Vesper said and reached out to gently stroke Mira’s cheek. There was no confidence in the gesture so Mira knew it wasn’t something Vesper was used to doing, but she had said that the Coventry sisters all led their lives separate from one another. Maybe she just hadn’t had the opportunity to try? “However, please don’t change your mind until a year from now?”

“Alright,” Mira said. She was a little distracted by the petting. It was nice. People didn’t often touch her. The families she was born into weren’t always bad, but they weren’t often physically affectionate even when they cared for one another. Maybe this new life wouldn’t be so bad? “I promise.”

“Thank you, Violet,” Vesper said with a small smile. 

“Mira,” Mira said. She still didn’t want to answer to a dead woman’s name if she didn’t have to. “I haven’t had a pet name before, have I? If not, then could you call me Mira?”

“A pet name?” Vesper cocked her head. “No, none of us had anything like that. Mira—yes, I can do that.”

“Thank you, Vesper,” Mira said and went in for a hug. The patting was making her feel a little closer to her physical age and it seemed to her like Vesper wanted to be hugged. She had been reaching out since that morning, getting incrementally more tactile as she became comfortable with Mira and Cecily.

To Mira’s surprise, Vesper was actually muscular under her structured suit dress. Her clothes made her seem thin and delicate, but there was very little about her physique that was soft. Mira had thought that Vesper was primarily a politician, but that couldn’t be right, could it? She was the heir to the Lord Warden of the Central Corridor. That was a military title and she had the hardened body of a warrior.

Mira’s older sister had hidden depths.

“I like hearing my name from you,” Vesper observed. She sounded soft about it even though Mira couldn’t see her face. “Please keep using it.”

“What did I call you before?” Mira asked as they drew apart and Vesper helped her up.

“‘Older sister’, although not often,” Vesper replied. “As I said, we weren’t encouraged to become close.”

“Why was that?” Mira asked. This was a prime opportunity to get some background information on their family. She could already tell that getting Vesper alone was going to be a hassle. She’d have to make the most of this opportunity.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Vesper pursed her lips as she thought about it. “Madame, our stepmother, kept us all very busy when I was underage and Papa kept me even busier when I became old enough to train. Madame is a complicated person who needs to be in control of her environment. Perhaps it was nothing more than that.”

Mira felt compelled to point out, “You don’t sound convinced.”

Vesper sighed. “I am not fond of our father’s third wife,” she confessed. “The feeling is mutual. She’s tried several times to supplant me as father’s heir with one of her children, despite the fact that neither are qualified. We are destined to oppose one another, I suppose. She’s ambitious and frustrated. Her family is also deep in the Prince Regent’s pocket and they’ve used her marriage to put pressure on Papa in the past.”

Huh.

Mira had been assuming that, if the Prince Regent had a faction, that their father was part of it. Was that not the case? When Mira thought about it, she decided it was more likely that their father’s loyalty was pledged to whoever was in governance. Otherwise the Prince Regent wouldn’t need to pressure him at all and, in her experience, no regent ever wanted to give up their power with grace. It happened once in a great while, but the Crown Princess was finishing her studies now and starting to exert her power.

The Lord Warden knew about Violet’s seizures and ordered it kept quiet. Then, the second he was able, he tried to shuffle her out of the political playing field with an obscure marriage and enough money to keep her comfortable for life. She still had no memories of him, but she was starting to form a picture of Violet’s father nevertheless. What she was missing was his motivation. Either he was a neglectful and self centered man who didn’t protect his children at the expense of his own profit or he was doing his best and Mira didn’t understand the wider situation enough to comprehend his choices. At this point, it could go either way.