The Scales | A "The Jewel" Fanfiction

Alexandrite - Special Scene

A background scene for our girl Alexandrite. Set before the Auction.

Alexandrite paced in her room, waiting for Eric to return. A warm breeze drifted through her open balcony doors, rustling papers on her coffee table and shifting her dark brown curls. She blew out a breath and collapsed into an armchair, tapping her fingers on the arm of it.

The doors to her room opened and Eric entered, gliding across the tile floors. Alexandrite practically launched herself out of the chair and nearly tripped and fell over the long purple skirt of her dress.

"Is he out of there? In bed for the night?" she questioned, quickly slipping her feet into black slippers that would make no noise on the floors. Eric grinned as he watched her rush.

"Yes, my lady. The Duke retired to his room with the support of a couple footmen and Regimentals. He very nearly passed out entirely," he said. Alexandrite hugged him tightly before rushing through her still open doors. A Regimental cried out at her, stopping her in her tracks.

"My lady! Do you require an escort, to wherever you are headed?"

She huffed and turned to face the Regimental, she thought it was Four. Four had always been the biggest problem with nights like tonight, always thinking that she needed an escort, that she couldn't defend herself. Alexandrite could have sworn he was supposed to be in the kitchens, guarding the cooks and servants down there, but no matter. She put on a charming smile and tilted her head slightly to the left, feigning thought.

"No, I don't think so. I simply require a little exercise and a change of scenery before I sleep. Thank you, though." She briskly turned and walked off before Four could argue or convince her otherwise. She had to do this alone.

Alexandrite made her way through the halls, past her favourite drawing room, and into the opposite wing, the men's side of the palace, where her husband's rooms were, and someday, her son's rooms would be. She crept past her husband's room, where she could hear Triphane loudly snoring. At least she knew he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

Finally, she reached the plain oak doors she'd been looking for, and pushed them open, quietly closing them behind her and sighing in relief when no Regimentals came knocking on it and demanding her out. Alexandrite took in the room, the decanter of gin uncorked on the desk, the shelf containing many other crystal bottles, holding possibly every kind of liquor ever produced in the city. But what caught her eye was the open financial book on the desk, counting all of the Scales money and their investments and orders. She sat down at the Duke's desk, sinking into the leather chair. Alexandrite grabbed a pen and chewed on the end as she studied the book in front of her.

Dress order from Verity--3,550 diamantes

liquor shipment--2,000 diamantes

Food shipment--15,000 diamantes

Regimental Salaries--10,000 diamantes

Servant Salaries--50,000 diamantes

Surrogate Preparations: room, clothes, supplies-- 75,000 diamantes

All of the recent entries seemed to be legitimate, nothing wrong. Alexandrite frowned and scanned the page again. She almost set the finance book down when a tiny line of scrawled pencil at the very bottom caught her attention. She squinted at the line and brought the page closer to her face.

more liquor and activities with duke lake: sunday? while duch. at lunch: 150,000 diamntes?

Alexandrite bit the inside of her cheek to keep from slamming the book onto the desk, waking up her husband and demanding him to tell her what he was planning on doing with the Duke of the Lake, and why he needed so much money. She gently set the book back on the table and hunched over it, switching her pen out for a pencil. Carefully, she erased the line of scratched writing, making sure there wasn't a single mark left.

Alexandrite stood up, making sure that everything was perfectly rearranged where it had been. Not that Triphane would notice--if he had nearly passed out going the short distance from the study to his room, he wouldn't remember the state he left the study in.

Alexandrite listened for patrolling Regimentals, then slipped out of the study, quietly closing the door behind her. Triphane was still snoring heavily, and Alexandrite smiled, appreciating that she had her own room, both to sleep easier and to make nights like tonight much easier.

She smiled at the two Regimentals guarding her doors--Four and Seven. Four smiled back at her, his handsome features lighting up.

"Feeling better, my lady?" he asked, opening the door he stood by.

"Yes, thank you. I think the walk helped me a lot. Good night to you both," she said, gliding past them. Two replies chorused behind her, but she ignored them as the door closed. Eric leapt up from his chair by one of her fireplaces, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Did it go well, my lady?" Eric asked. Alexandrite smiled, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"It did. Triphane was planning on taking nearly one hundred and fifty thousand out of our funds to get more alcohol and to meet with the Duke of the Lake." She kicked her legs back and forth, feeling the silky material of her dress. Eric shook his head, looking furious.

"That traitor! What does he think he's doing, consorting with the Lake?"

"Now, now Eric," she chided. "I want to know why too, but there's never going to be a good opportunity to ask him, and he probably doesn't remember anything about his arrangements anyways." Alexandrite waved her hand, dismissing him. She really didn't want to deal with Eric--all she wanted was to go to sleep and forget about her husband's plans with the Duke of the Lake. Eric bowed and left, leaving her alone in her massive room.

Alexandrite flopped backwards onto her bed. The light in the fireplace flickered, disturbed by a sudden gust of wind, casting dancing shadows on the walls. She wished her room wasn't so empty, void of someone to keep her company, to comfort her. Her and Triphane had used to share a bedroom, but she'd had to get her own room, when he'd grown distant, laughing with his drinking buddies nearly all night. Alexandrite missed the Triphane that had courted her--the sweet man who always knew what to say to cheer her up, the man she'd fallen in love with. It had only been pure luck that he had also been the heir to the Scales, because there was no way Alexandrite's mother, the Lady of the Veil, would have let her marry anyone below her station. But he had almost completely changed from the man she'd married. He hardly ever touched her, unless he was drunk, then he was falling all over her; he planned sketchy business ventures without consulting her, too. Just kept her in the dark, trying to keep her distracted with meetings and parties, like a good wife would. A good wife would let her husband handle the finances and not worry about his meetings.

Maybe Alexandrite wasn't a good wife.

Or maybe all Alexandrite needed was someone to be by her side and support her, no matter what.