A/N the imagine included in the media section is meant to represent Jane and Elizabeth Bennet but I thought it reminded me of a Georgian era Annabeth and Piper.
Piper walked into town with Annabeth, who had suggested a trip to the printer's shop. The afternoon was crisp and blustery. Chilly breezes whipped at their skirts, shawls, curls, and bonnets.
During their stroll, they passed trees almost completely bare of their leaves. Their fiery autumn splendor had burned out and all that remained were piles of the drab, brown ashes.
Before going into the printer's shop, Piper dropped into the post office to mail a letter to her parents, which told them of her upcoming engagement. She imagined her mother dying of happiness to hear that she was going to marry a marquis, though Piper, herself, couldn't care less about Lord Skye's title. She would marry him if he were a chimney sweep.
If only she could see Annabeth engaged to Lieutenant Jackson, then her joy would be complete.
At the printer's shop, they looked through newspapers, fashion plates, political pamphlets, and prints of the latest cartoons by Gillray and Cruikshank which lampooned notable figures, such as the King, and his fluctuating sanity, and the Prince of Wales, and his extravagance and debauchery, and current events, like the revolution taking place in France.
The ones about the French Revolution interested her the most. These gory, barbaric images, featuring severed heads, burning buildings, and cannibals tearing each other limb from limb reminded Piper of a line from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
From what Piper read in newspapers, the truth was not far off from the carnage depicted in these cartoons. The streets of Paris were stained red from the rivers of blood being spilt and the people put to death by
Committee of Public Safety now numbered in the thousands. Most of Piper's maternal relatives had managed to emigrate over to England at the start of the revolution. Still, she wondered if she had any distant kin she would never know because they were now headless corpses.
Annabeth decided to purchase a print by Cruikshank which featured several ladies pushing and shoving each as they tried to reach the top of a spiral staircase. It's title was The Quality Ladder.
"I wonder what they're try to get to?" Piper said when Annabeth showed it to her.
"A handsome, wealthy, and titled husband," Annabeth replied. "A grand house with an army of servants, rich clothes and jewels, and the like."
"It all seems so frivolous. Surely, they don't need those thing to be happy."
"My dear Piper, your naivety is one of the reasons you're so charming."
She then began to look through some fashion plates. There was talk of the Graces throwing a ball with in the next month and Annabeth wanted to make herself a new gown. They discussed the new fashion for high waists: Piper liked this simpler silhouette but Annabeth imagined that it would make even the slenderest woman look like she was great with child.
Piper opened her drawn-string handbag made from embroidered silk and found an envelope she had previously forgotten about.
"What is that?" Annabeth said.
"Dona Reyna asked me to bring this to the post office," Piper replied. "I knew I was forgetting something when I was there."
"Who is it for?"
The envelop was addressed to a Spanish convent. Dona Reyna and her older sister were sent to be educated in a school run by the Carmelite order after their mother died. She often spoke about being close with the convent's Mother Superior.
Annabeth had an insatiable hunger for other people's secrets. Piper was surprised that she did not try to find out what the letter contained but it was written in Spanish, a language she did not understand.
"I surprised she entrusted this letter to you," she said. "You're not exactly her favorite person."
"She's unwell today," Piper replied. "Since we were going into town, I asked her if there were any errands she needed done and she gave me this letter."
Annabeth caught on to what unwell meant.
"It was kind of you to do this for her."
"No matter how many kind things I do for her, it never makes her any warmer towards me. I don't understand it."
"I think it's painfully obvious. Dona Reyna is one of those who push and shove the most to get to the top of the ladder of quality. She's done her best to catch Lord Skye, and his fortune and title, and all she's gotten for her pains is a humiliating tumble back down to the bottom. While you, on the other hand, are one of those who reach the top without even trying. Just by being your effortlessly lovely self, you managed to win the heart of one of England's most desirable catches. It's all dreadfully unfair."
"I guess it is."
"That's just how life is: fortune smiles on some and turns her back on others. And sometimes she gives us a lucky break but we blow it."
Piper wondered if this were a rare instance of self reflection on Annabeth's part.
They passed the apothecary shop on their way back to the castle. There, one could buy a special tincture, distilled from raspberry leaves, chamomile, peppermint, motherwort, cramp bark, marshmallow root, and ginger, which helped treat the worst symptoms of a woman's monthly curse.
"I'll wait here," Annabeth said as Piper went inside.
When she returned with the bottle of tincture, Annabeth was conversing with a young officer. He handed her a letter which she stashed in the bodice of her gown.
"Good day, Miss Chase," he said. He took her hand and kissed it. "I look forward to hearing from you again soon."
Annabeths cheeks were bright red against her porcelain skin, giving her a doll-like appearance.
"I as well," she replied.
He swept her a bow before departing. As he walked away, Piper recognized him as Captain Castellan. With his pale, chiseled face, blond hair, and large, blue eyes, the officer looked like an angel. The scar which cut through his left eye did little to mar his near perfect beauty. But Piper was not fooled by his appearance; she knew how much of a devil he actually was.
A year before, her sister, Silena, had the misfortune of coming across him. He toyed with her, made her believe that he loved her, then jilted her for another young lady. Silena was wise enough to get over him quickly and transfer her affections to someone worthy of them. Then there had been his attempted seduction of Lady Thalia for which he was driven away from Skye Castle. Lady Thalia still sulked over it. Now Annabeth had fallen under his spell.
"What were you and that gentleman talking about?" Piper said when she rejoined her friend.
"He asked me for news from Skye Castle," Annabeth replied.
"He gave you a letter."
"A letter for Lady Thalia. We were all wrong about him. He's truly in love with her and I've been bringing letters back and forth between them."
The whole thing sounded like dragging the chairs from the dining room onto the lawn or hiding outside of a window to peak in on Mrs. Sparta and her lover: something that will only get her into trouble.
"If the Duke and Duchess find out that you've been ferrying letters between their daughter and a young man they hate, you could be sent home in disgrace."
"I know something about Captain Castellan which might make them change them change their minds about them."
"What?"
"He's a young man of greater prospects than we thought. His grandfather is Viscount Kronos, one of the greatest peers in Ireland, and only a childless uncle and a sickly cousin stand between him and the title."
The weather was milder when they returned to Skye Castle. Lord Skye and Mr. Di Angelo were playing cricket with some other young men from nearby estates.
Lady Thalia and Miss Levesque practiced at the archery butts.
"Tea will be served at four," Lady Thalia told them as the passed.
"We'll be there," Annabeth replied. "I have plenty of news from town."
"Can't wait to hear it."
Annabeth grabbed Piper's hand.
"I'm fatigued, let's go inside."
Inside the castle, the servants were getting ready for tea. Annabeth and Piper scurried past them towards the grand staircase.
"I usually leave the notes on her writing table," Annabeth said, pulling Captain Castellan's letter from her bodice.
"I'm going to bring the medicine I bought to Dona Reyna," Piper replied.
Her Grace's little dog, Ovid, scampered out of nowhere, startling Annabeth. Her foot slipped on the next step and she dropped the letter.
"Here, allow me," Annabeth looked up to see Lieutenant Jackson extending a hand to help her up.
"Thank you."
"What's this you dropped?"
He picked up the folded piece of paper and examined it. Annabeth quickly snatched it from him.
"It's none of your business, Sir."
Lieutenant Jackson dipped a stiff, formal bow to the girls before continuing on his way. When he was out of sight, Annabeth walked towards Lady Thalia's chambers.
Piper knocked on Dona Reyna's door.
"Come in," the Spanish girl said.
Dona Reyna was tucked up in her bed and looked green and sickly. Her two hounds, Arum and Argentum, were curled up at her feet.
"I delivered your letter," Piper said. "And I brought you some medicine."
"What kind of medicine?"
"A tincture from the apothecary shop. The apothecary says its good for treating illnesses associated with a woman's periods."
Dona Reyna groaned.
"At this point, I'll try anything."
Piper opened the bottle and poured some of its contents into a spoon.
"Take a spoonful of this three times a day until you feel better."
Grimacing, Dona Reyna swallowed the tincture.
"I'm going down to tea, would you like me to have something set up to you?"
"Some chamomile tea, please... Miss McLean?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. You've been very kind."
"I hope all is well with your family," Lieutenant Jackson said when Annabeth sat down in the drawing room.
"Yes, everything is well," Annabeth replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You were very secretive about that letter you dropped."
"I believe I said it was none of your business."
Annabeth picked up a silver plated pot and filled herself a cup of bergamot tea.
Her Grace languished on a chaise lounge, stroking Ovid, who lay in her lap. She daintily picked up a golden watch, attached by an enameled clip to the waistband of her skirt.
"It's close to thirty minutes past four," she said. "The tea treats should have been brought up by now."
Zhang entered the drawing room, carrying a tray of pickled eggs and rose and marzipan petit-fours.
"Finally."
Piper put several petit-fours onto her plate.
"What were Miss Chase and Lieutenant Jackson talking about?" Lord Skye Said.
"Miss Chase received a letter today," Piper replied. "And Lieutenant Jackson was quick to assume that it must be from some secret lover and she scolded him for prying."
"Was it from some secret lover?"
"No, it was from her parents. They sent her money for a new gown."
If Annabeth was going to get herself in trouble, Piper was going to stave off the consequences for as long as possible. Castellan was a knave and Annabeth did not deserve to loose her reputation because of him.
"Now let's talk about something that's actually important...what are we having for supper?"
"Leftovers I believe."
The beefsteak and vegetables from a few nights before used as the filling in a pie, which was served with leftover salad, onion soup, and mincemeat pie.
Once the meal was finished, the group returned to the drawing room and entertained themselves by reading aloud from "School for Scandal." Lord Skye and Piper thought it would be amusing to give Annabeth and Lieutenant Jackson the roles of the bickering newlyweds Sir Peter and Lady Teazle.
" I have gain'd much by my intended expostulation," Lieutenant Jackson, as Sir Peter, said. "Yet with what a charming air she contradicts every thing I say—and how pleasingly she shows her contempt of my authority—Well tho' I can't make her love me, there is certainly a great satisfaction in quarrelling with her; and I think she never appears to such advantage as when she is doing everything in her power to plague me."
He shot a glance over to his Lady Teazle, who was chatting with Piper about the announcement His Grace had made over supper.
There had been the vague promise of a ball for weeks but now it was official: the guest list had been drawn up and the invitations sent. The month until the ball would pass by quickly with all the preparations which needed to be done. New dresses had to be made and His Grace finally agreed to bring them to the assembly rooms in Olympus, a thrilling prospect in its own right, in order to practice their dance steps.
"I'm hoping Lord Skye will announce our engagement at the ball," Piper said.
"That would be the perfect occasion," Annabeth replied.
"Who knows, maybe you and Lieutenant Jackson will be announcing your engagement as well."
"Piper McLean, what the Deuce are you talking about?"
"Remember that time we were shown Skye Castle's orchards and you took an apple from him. You said that by the customs of the Ancient Greeks, he had made a proposal of marriage and you accepted."
A/N Percy tossing Annabeth an apple in The Lightning Thief technically means they're engaged and you can take that headcanon from my cold, dead hands.
"Don't be ridiculous."
The two girls then resumed reading the roles of Maria, the young ingenue, and Lady Teazle.
It was a cozy, autumn evening. A cheerful fire crackled in the hearth and filled the drawing room with a stuffy warmth. The wind blowing through the trees outside the windows sounded like dogs howling.
These conditions were perfect for curling up with a gothic novel. Piper had finished reading The Romance of the Forest and was ready to start with The Castle of Otranto. But the dim, flickering light and warm, heavy atmosphere of the drawing room made her feel drowsy. She yawned through the rest of School for Scandal until it was time for bed.
Preparing for the upcoming ball, keeping Captain Castellan at bay, earning Dona Reyna's friendship, getting Annabeth and Lieutenant Jackson to confess their feelings for one another, and all her other cares could wait until the morning, after a good night's sleep.