Siren Call

Warm Welcome

Adalynn stood with ill concealed wonder before the marvelously structured house sprawling across such a grand expanse of green land.

"You live here?" she wondered naively, and Leonal laughed heartily.

"We live here, Adalynn. Come, come, the morning chill has not worn off and it would do best to get you scrubbed and clean for your presentation to Lysandra. You as well, Master Cael," Leonal stated haughtily, but Adalynn knew there was not contempt behind the order.

In truth, she longed to be free of Cael's overwhelming presence.

The trip to the inn was full of questions about her, as Cael refused to speak, and Adalynn found herself growing rather fond of Leonal and his subtle barbs of humor, though admittedly, she did not understand much of his more adult jokes.

In addition, he investigated her quite thoroughly and she had to take care not to reveal much of herself to him. If he discovered she was much more advanced in her etiquette and education that he previously thought but suspected, then the time she had until she was released into marriage was considerably shortened.

Cael, on the other hand, followed her every move like a hawk. He obeyed the duke's orders to sit next to him during the carriage ride and had allowed for his room at the inn to be on the opposite end of the hall from Adalynn, but still, she felt nearly swamped but his determined attention and searing gaze.

To keep refusing him hurt her, but she knew that she needed to make a choice and she would always choose the possibility home.

Now, after cleaning up and having lunch, he would be whipped away to Dantu City, an hour away from the du Gati household to begin his new life, for which she was shamefully thankful for. She did not enjoy harboring these wavering feelings of desire for him, but knew that to keep him hooked onto her like a fish on a line was folly and hurtful.

She would let him know now that she would not marry him, so that perhaps he could recover the blow and marry someone else. It would make her absence later on much easier to deal with.

As they parted, he to his room and she to follow Leonal to hers, she scanned all the furnishings and tasteful, elegant decorations with an appreciative eye.

"Now, welcome home, Lady du Gati," Leonal stated with a teasing flourish as he thrust the double doors to her room wide open.

She gasped wide, a steady stream of buttery sunlight danced in the space, gracefully lighting up all her new and expensive furnishings. With a childlike wonder and appreciation earned from living in poverty, she delicately reached out and placed a soft hand upon the dresser against the wall, marveling at the richness the simple touch seemed to convey.

"What do you think?" Leonal asked laughingly, happily taking in her every expression and gasp of wandering marvel.

"Oh Leonal, it's beautiful," she whispered as if the room evoked a sense of reverence, and indeed, in her shabby and worn out dress of muted browns and blacks, she felt as if a muck-ridden mongrel shaming this place of beauty and elegance.

"I am glad the room is to your liking then. Here, let me show you where the gowns are, and then I shall have the tub in the other room filled for you to bathe. Also, I shall send in your maid to help you dress in the future -"

"No!" Adalynn gasped out, struck down from her admiring to protest the offering.

Sensing his surprise and wariness at her refusal, she scrambled about for a plausible reason but could not come up with one that would sit well with someone surely clever enough to detect a lie.

"What I mean is... I... I can't," she muttered shyly, averting her eyes from his piercing gaze and heard him exhale a surprised breath.

He cast his gaze about before striding in and closing the doors behind him.