Gossamer silk cascaded about her petite form, accentuating the subtle rose stain on her soft cheeks. Her long, chestnut hair had been loosely coiled and twisted into an elaborate bun that fell about the nape of her neck. The forbidden necklace hung encircling it - the locket, with all intent and purpose, lay tucked within her bodice.
As she walked about the euphoric ballroom filled with guests of honorable disposition and their secretive fetish for scandal, she felt more solitary than ever. Various men looked her way, believing they could seduce her through the smokey veil they produced from their freshly bought Upmanns.
But to no avail - there was only one man that could ever hope to capture her attention tonight.
“Izzy! How good it is to see you! It has been too long,” a voice called to her from across the dance floor. People stared in incredulity at the bold woman walking her way.
“Gabby, why it has been a while, hasn't it?” Isabelle responded with a detached air as Gabrielle Harrington of Devonshire came to exchange the customary kiss-on-the-cheek.
“Oh yes. I have much to tell you! Paris was simply exquisite. You have to come with me one winter, it is true. The city is most beautiful at that time.”
“So I hear.”
Gabrielle, puzzled by her friend's aloofness, decided to pin it to excessive fatigue. “Izzy, your father isn't press-”
Isabelle abruptly cut her off. “No, why would you think that?”
Gabrielle stood more baffled than ever at Isabelle's odd behaviour. “Oh, it's just that you don't seem to be entirely here. As if you're off on some other planet.” A planet filled with much more entertainment than this one, apparently, she added under her breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, nothing dear. I'll come find you later, I must go greet Thomas and get a sip of that delicious wine,” she ended with a suggestive wink as she embraced her friend and left to set on her next pursuit.
Isabelle just stayed there and stared in awe, bewildered at the short exchange, and emitted an infinitesimal giggle at Gabrielle's antics.
“Whatever is so humorous, I am so deeply thankful to it. Oh how I adore your smile, love.” Her breathing hitched. Her heart stopped its beating and restarted with a painful thump at the words being whispered into her ear from behind. That voice. Ah, the voice that she had been longing for, for what seemed like eternity.
He took her gloved hand with undeniable care and lead her swiftly out the door held slightly ajar for the few that felt like a stroll in the starlight. The moon beamed its light upon them, letting them know that their world was never entirely theirs. They walked for a while in silence, tension held aloft all the while, till they reached the only place they knew the could not be seen.
He turned to her and, with a light touch that made her shiver, he caressed the side of her face and leaned in to kiss her.
She missed this.
She dreamt about this moment for so long, it was hard to believe that this was true and not simply one of her hallucinations. But it was real, it really was. She could feel it in the marrow of her bones, in ever fiber of her quivering frame. His lips were so soft, yet filled with such an intensity that she felt like she would scorch from their fire.
At last they parted, betrayed by their need to respire. His forehead on hers, he closed his eyes and smiled this perfectly crooked smile that was all his own. Isabelle's elation lifted her, made her feel as light as the air surrounding their intervened bodies. She slipped the glove off her right hand and touched his golden halo of hair; moved her fingers to his temple, over the ridges of the lightly protruding scar that was surely found there, to his cheeks – flushed with the cold – until they finally reached his lips. He was so beautiful, an angel.
“Isabelle,” he sighed her name, and it sounded like a lullaby. So sweet on his lips. “My dear, dear Isabelle.”
“Yes?” She panted, not having yet regained her breath from their passionate kiss.
“Isabelle, you nearly gave me a coronary when I first saw you. You're heartbreakingly beautiful, you know that?” He smiled his crooked smile once more, than kissed her nose gently.
“You're not so bad yourself, handsome.” She smirked and he chuckled. She abruptly pulled him in for another kiss that grew in urgency. He bought his hand to her face and ran it down her neck to the necklace that resided there.
He pulled their lips apart and whispered, “You kept it.”
“Of course I did. It is the most precious thing anyone has ever given me.”
“Strong words.” He mumbled in a distant tone as he brought out the ancient locket.
“Yes, and they are every bit the truth.”
He smiled, as did she.
“I have kept that locket close to my heart, every night, you know. I kept faith and I prayed for fate to bring us together again. I read the inscrip-”
He put a finger to her lips. “Shh, love. Can you hear that?”
She listened. For a while, all that could be heard was water colliding with rock from the river nearby. But then, a small chirping came to and a whole harmony of sounds, as if an orchestral composition began to unfold among the desolate ferns.
“It's beautiful, Jasper.” She stared in contempt at the night sky and breathed it all in. She wanted this all memorised before she had to be sent back home.
All the while he just stared at her. He would give up everything in this world to have her be his. Thus, with the faintest whisper, he spoke to her soul. “Run away with me, Isabelle, and this could all be ours. Away from the binds of our parents. We could be together, Isabelle. You and me. Free.”
Those alluringly tempting words wormed their way into her heart, but the fight of logic prevailed.
“I can't, Jasper, you know that. I have to obey my father's wishes. I'm the only one he has, after mother-”
He took her in his arms. “He'll be alright. He has the ever-evident aristocrats of society and his seldom-sober poker partners to keep him company. He doesn't need you. If anything, he is trying to destroy that girl full of hopes and dreams inside you that I cherish so, for his political gain. I'm not going to let him do that to you, Isabelle.”
“But-”
He felt a tear denounce his despair. “I will not let him take you away from me. Not again. Not this time. I-” his breath shuddered. “I love you.”
She smiled with those characteristically sad smiles of hers. A tear trailed down her cheek. “I love you too. So much. But what happens when father finds me? What if love is not enough?”
And he replied with a resounding finality. “Remember when we were little, you ran to find me and I read you that book you found that you thought looked pretty, because you couldn't read yet? Remember how Peter took Wendy to Neverland, that place where no adults were allowed and where all your cares were carried away with a cloud? You remember when you told me you wanted to see what it was like and I promised you I would show you one day? Well, I think it's about time I did.”
He smiled at her and Isabelle felt herself smiling back as they began to slowly fade away.
--Ani.
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*blushes* I'll go away now.
1 comment:
will you look at that, a story of love
>.<
How out of character
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