Chapter 25
Previously: The Rose of Whitby – Chapter 24
The harp music brings Dr Seward up to the music room, and seeing her so overjoyed makes him smile. He wishes everybody was this easy to read. Emotions are difficult. Then again, reading others’ emotions is easier than reading his own, always elusive, always seeming like there should be more if what he observes from others is any indication. But that isn’t so important when around Darcy, his rose petal. His pride and joy, his little girl, so of course he says yes with a smile when she bounces up from the harp and runs so she can have a dance with the most important man in her life. She giggles at saying it, he thinks he can identify that what he’s feeling there is pain, a fear of losing her when she marries, and for him to identify that so easily must mean it’s a strong emotion. But he can’t let that show, not when she’s always so eager to be an obedient daughter, to be good for him, he doesn’t want to make her unhappy when she’s so elated now. Instead he dances with her and then lets himself be dragged off to give her feedback on the dresses.
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Arthur is glad Darcy is looking forward to the ball, but he’s really not. Also, he’s a bit surprised that she is- balls mean people, and she generally doesn’t like it when they have to go out and meet new people. But he supposes it’s a girl thing to find balls exciting.
He’d rather stay far away from it. The thought of having to pretend that he knows what he’s doing among a bunch of high society people who do this all the time makes him want to hide under his blankets. The best he can hope for, he knows, is to not stick out like a sore thumb.
At least Darcy is with him on cramming as much etiquette knowledge as they can manage into their brains before then.
She also fusses about his hair, declaring it needs a cut- like a big sister, she claims, then blushes and asks if that’s okay, since after all, that’s what she’s going to be with the wedding… Arthur, of course, blushes, too, but nods shyly- he’d like that.
He doesn’t like the costume she picks for him. At first he thinks it’s just a ‘knight’ one, but then he finds out it’s a King Arthur one- and he wants nothing to do with whatever his father was planning when he named him!
But then Darcy assures him that she knows- Gregory must’ve told her, because Arthur certainly didn’t. And she thinks he should wear the costume not to say he wants to be some kind of king, but so he can burn it afterwards!
That… sounds more appealing, he has to admit. He’s still not entirely convinced he likes it, but… it’s only for an evening. And then he gets to burn it. And Darcy says she’ll be there, too, and do it together with him.
And she seems so convinced that it’d be good for him.
So he agrees.
Still, he prefers when their discussion moves on from costumes to what to give the duchess as a gift. Their research shows that she’s known to have an interest in weapons, and so they go to see if there’s something suitable in the castle’s weapons’ room.
On the way there, Darcy confesses that she hopes Gregory won’t do something bad in front of the sheriff. Arthur kind of agrees, but reassures her (and himself) that surely Gregory wouldn’t do anything… inappropriate with the dame.
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That hadn’t been the direction Darcy’s thoughts had been going but now she suddenly feels jealousy run through her whole body like lightning.
She won’t have it! What is he doing?! She should never have allowed him to be alone with another woman! To Arthur’s confused blinking, she stomps off to find Gregory, which she does easily enough, the drunken singing from the kitchen is not difficult to follow. He has no idea what he’s being chewed out for but Darcy is pretty sure Jennifer is observing curiously, clearly less drunk, if drunk at all, than Gregory. As the silence after Darcy’s short lecture at Gregory and his unacceptable behaviour grows tight the Dame gets up and says she’ll retire to her room, she did bring some reports to write anyway. Darcy gives Gregory one more glare then closes the door behind her with the most silent click she can manage, gets back to Arthur and helps him pick out an antique rifle that should appeal to the duchess’ apparent collector’s sense.
Still silently fuming by the time she retires Darcy is not surprised when she wakes up later to Pretty pawing at her. Trying his best to look adorable, he clearly wants her to be in a good mood again, purrs to soothe her temper. When his antics don’t seem to work, he transforms right in her bed to his human form, causing her to shout at him: What is he thinking he’s doing?!
He says he just wants to talk, but she’s in her nightgown! They’re not married! She isn’t letting all his pouting and insisting it’s no big deal and he doesn’t care about the etiquette convince her and finally manages to get him to turn back into Pretty. It’s not as if he can’t talk like this, too. And he might not care about etiquette, but Jennifer is a dame, she’s his superior, she’s a fully sworn-in knight, and the personal knight of Darcy’s own aristocratic superior. What if she reports his behaviour back? That could have bad consequences for his advancement at the very least.
He says he doesn’t get it, he drank with the other knight, too. Trying to explain that that’s different because that was a man Darcy grows only more exasperated when Gregory really doesn’t get it. Having known him and how he constantly tries to get another bite or at least kiss and grumbles about this whole engagement thing and not being allowed to have sex with her yet, she tells him with a blush that well, he has a bit of a single-track mind. It’s only three weeks, they are being very lewd about their wedding, she’s accepting the gossip so he can be happy, he could at least sleep in his own room until then. He doesn’t want to and splays out across her legs in answer. Having tried but knowing that, well, she’s the woman, she’s meant to obey, she just scratches him behind the ears, feeling a bit unsure again what she has gotten herself into with him.
But she wants to do it right, she wants to be good for him and he went so far to buy the ring for her, she has to give something meaningful, so once he left to go on patrol she sneaks, as much as she ever manages with being terrible at it, out of her room and down into Papa’s.
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Noticing who it is, Dr Seward stuffs the throwing knife back under his pillow and smiles at his rose petal. Up to the point where she tells him she needs medical help. Awake instantly he’s up and giving her a once over already before she can giggle and tell him, no, she has special plans for her wedding. Then she blushes furiously, um, no, she didn’t mean those medical devices he handed her to help with, um, well, her problem with not being a normal woman. And yes, she’s wearing them, the discomfort and pain isn’t too bad, she could already go up a size.
Dr Seward sighs and really would like not having to think about the fact that yes, he’s helping his daughter with dilation issues for… that specific engaged she had to pick. Instead of grumbling, he praises her for always being so diligent, so what else can he do for her?
Nothing too much, just amputate a finger.
He what?!
It’s for the wedding ring, she wants it to be really meaningful so she wants it to be bone from her, wood from his parents’ old house and held together with gold from the first gift he gave her.
He probably should argue more but he knows his daughter so Dr Seward just sighs again, asks if she’s sure Mr. Cobb is out of the house, and then sets up with help from the house spirits. If nothing else, this is fascinating as to dhampir capabilities, he runs out of gas before she really is anaesthetised. Gas might not work on her, field version it is. With her never having drunk any alcohol before, she’s giggling and sleepy in no time. Her healing abilities also are impressive, this outpaces what he’s seen from hunting dhampirs, so he has to cut fast, caution soon giving way to scientific curiosity as she keeps giggling and smiling at him, she doesn’t mind at all.
Pressing the wound shut until her healing stops the bleeding, he can’t help the chuckle at her poking her own severed finger with another giggle, that’s his little girl, curious to a fault and not scared of anything but losing him. She might not mind, but he wants to hold her a bit after having had to operate on her like that. That doesn’t last long because yes, she did clearly burn blood to heal, finger already starting to regenerate, because he can feel her nuzzling against him with an obvious sniffing sound and leaning up against his neck. Dhampir family attraction, he’s read about it before, family is irresistible to them and now that she’s awakened he can’t ignore it any more, so he brings her back to her room, promises to see to the necessary preparations for the ring when he returns to London soon, and vacates the premises.
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Smelling the mischief, Llew steps out of the wardrobe again because a drunk Darcy sounds like too much fun to ignore, she’s always so amusingly huffy at him, so much lovely emotion, but with her being drunk she has no filter, so slurs at him that she doesn’t like him one bit, not at all, he’s rude and she doesn’t trust him, no matter that he teleports them around for the excursions sometimes. Yes! This is even better than he hoped, so much emotion, no holding back, so obviously he stays right there, at least until Gregory returns early and isn’t that just the jackpot, Darcy nearly blurted out a panicked ‘Don’t leave me alone now’ at Llew, oh, that woman gets him going with all that juicy emotion.
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Of course, he does leave anyway and Darcy sits on her left hand to hide it from Gregory, it’s too late now to pretend she’s asleep and he already is giving her a worried look, which melts away as he comes closer, prompting her fangs to spring out. Close now, he smells the alcohol on her breath, too, and is terribly amused. Obviously, she blames it on Llew and tries to not have to talk about it by eloquently playing mute now.
Looking around for something else to talk about Gregory stares, walks over to her bookshelf and checks that it’s really the book he thinks it is, yupp, he liberated that one from this room a while ago because he thought it would make her upset and embarrassed.
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Darcy mumbles that the house spirit must have put it back from where she was hiding it under the bed, she has to prepare for doing her wifely duties after all and Eluned recommended those. He doesn’t like that she calls it duty, and she, still terribly embarrassed, says that she believes in the sanctity (well, that’s the word she wants to use if her tongue would obey) of marriage and all the responsibilities that come with it, she wants to make him happy! That puts a wide grin on his face and he scoots up on the bed next to her, but that’s too far, she tells him she just said ‘sanctity of marriage’, they’re not married yet!
But he smells so good and she’s so hungry and of course now he stood up off the bed only to sit down next to it with his neck close. Shifts to his demon form because he knows she thinks he smells really good like that. Feeling thoroughly tempted she hesitates for a moment but… oh why not, it’s her blood, she wants it, she should take it!