Come Little Children: Book I

The Cruelest Goodbye

Her travelling gown had not belonged to the troupe of mismatched and torn gowns, it belonged to Lady Anne, a newer gown of hers that she'd generously gifted her, and bore not one tear or loose thread, with a few adjustments to Katerina's size it was as good as her own. The gown was of an emerald that almost mirrored her eyes (one of the reasons Anne insisted she take it) and was adorned with a black partlet of lace so intricate it appeared to be spun by a spider. She pinned her hair with pins of gold and flecks of emerald and her jewelry, again, was as simple as the cramp ring on her finger and the one on her chain.

The two trunks of clothing the servants brought down for her were of the clothes with the least amount of imperfections, those would sustain her until her own gowns could be commisioned. She did not pause her waltz down the stairs when one servant's fingers became weak and dropped a trunk down the steps. The trunk slid down and missed her ankle just barely but she seemed wholly unaware as she escaped its contact and trotted to the elaborate coach at the ready for her departure. She could just barely hear a servant breaking out into a sigh of relief as he retrieved the trunk from the bottom step but made nothing of it.

The black horses became a subject of interest to Katerina who caressed their wet snouts, allowing herself a fanciful moment to think that they would be her accomplices for the course of her journey, they (as well as the coachman) would take her to her new lands. This made her grin with an eagerness that was almost dangerous and a smile that despite her best efforts revealed her Taker incisors. Luckily enough, the servants were loading, the coach and the coachman was nowhere to be seen and no one had arrived to bid her farewell yet. Only the horses were victim to the sight of them and they whinnied and tugged away from her touch with fright.

No sooner than when Katerina was forced to walk away from the horses (for fear that they would trample her) did her companions and benefactors begin to arrive and it seemed only fitting to bid farewell to Cecily and her ladies first. "I should like to thank you, your Grace for your kind benevolence and understanding for my situation. Without you taking me under your wing, I don't think I'd have made it through my days in Court." Her words felt odd as they rolled against her tongue but soon she realized that they were not foreign but genuine.

The duchess dowager attempted at stifling her smile to no avail and she soon envelopped her in a gentle embrace. "You are a good, kind young lady and I would think of no one better than to take under my wing." Her tone was dry but Katerina could tell that her words were genuine.

She was not good nor kind and was amazed that she'd managed to convince her, or anyone for that matter, anything otherwise. She'd might as well take part in the King's theatre production. This managed to leave her so astounded that her curtsey to Cecily was shaky.

In attempts to stray her thoughts from this she turned to her ladies and took a breath. "Well ladies, I must thank you for your hospitality, indulging me in gossip as well as comforting me in the times where I felt the backlash of it and most importantly, allowing me to embroider with you all." The ladies tittered good naturedly. Everything she'd said, including the smile, had been genuine.

Though her words were as genuine as her gestures, she left out saying that they were all blind for not seeing that she was not who she appeared, that she was conniving and cruel and hadn't come to Court for love (though she'd found it anyway) as much as she hadn't come because of the death of her faux husband but because she wanted riches and an estate all on her own, to do something her mother could have never achieved. It was odd to feel so genuine towards their hospitality and so smug that she hadn't been discovered. Katerina blamed the babe for toying with her emotions.

The toy of emotions did not stop there and from smug she went to her lip trembling the moment the ladies Anne and Margaret trailed in with nips of their lips to keep their own lips from trembling. Before she could crush them in an embrace of her own, they did so and she was rendered near deaf from a shrill chorus of, "How we shall miss you".