Private Tales Taking Two

[Orchid]

Jodeth looked back at his desk as if he had forgotten it existed. In that way that lovers do he had.
"Agh."
He gestured to the papers as he walked about the desk, placing his hands on it and scanning the scene as if the answer was some misplaced thing.
"The rent is due but the Solomon's cannot pay it, again. So I'm hoping to make it so they do not need to. Which is more difficult than it sounds."
He rubbed his neck and cast a half hearted look at Adra just as Laura appeared with the tea and set it down.
"This new man of yours, Sessile, he doesn't by any chance have a head for numbers? Thank you Laura."

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

"He came well qualified from his former employer..."

She offered Laura a quiet smile in thanks, "We can manage, Laura."

"Will my Lady be needing a hand with her clothing change?" Laura, "I can wait up."

"No..." Adra gave her husband a sidelong glance before shaking her head, "I think we can manage that as well for just one night. I've kept you up long enough. Away to bed with you."

"Thank you, M'Lady," Laura tried to keep a wane smirk in check, curtsied and departed, closing the door gently behind her.

"I'll take a look at it in the morning with Sessile to see what he's capable of," Adra moved to pour herself some tea, "it is my role to keep after the numbers, after all. Unless you prefer to agonize a bit longer over it yourself?"

 

[Orchid]

Jodeth took a step closer to Adra. Part of him unable to stay away and the rest all too happy to follow. He did not miss his wife's gentle insinuations.
"You do so much already."
He smiled and turned back to the papers, idly moving them.
"No, I'll see to it once I've slept. I'm sure morning light will bring me clarity again."
Placing his hands behind himself on the desk he turned again to face Adra.
"You need to take it easy for a while. Rest after your travels."
Jodeth was quiet. He hated his love being away and the things she had to do and the danger it placed her in.
No less than anything the Academy had done, which he hated for it but all the same. He was the military veteran. He should be out there and Adra, should be fat and happy, surrounded by children, their children, in nothing less than happiness.
He had never blamed anything other than cruel fate for it.
They had hoped together and grieved together but it never turned to anger in him. Just sadness and a hope to try again.
After the second time he confronted his mother and told her that if she continued to imply Adra's "natural ill fit to motherhood" again then grandchildren or no she would never see them. This he swore on his father's bones. She had not brought it up since.
"Do you remember how to rest?"
He teased.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

"That's my secret," Adra replied over a short drink of tea, "I never learned how to begin with."

Rest had never been an option at the Academy, so many years before the Revolution. Things had changed for the Initiates now, she knew, but Adra's hopeful outlook warred against Fennec's disdain for the change in question. She said nothing further on the matter and elected for silence while she drank her tea.

"Take on Sessile in the morning," she said once the cup sat empty on its plate in her hands, "make use of him. He is eager to learn his new role and prove himself."

Even if he was meant to be her Assistant, so long as he was living under this roof in the employment of the Edens, the boy would take orders from anyone with the surname.

"I will..." she sighed in thought, moving to place the cup and saucer on the silver tray on his desk, "bring your mother out for a walk through the gardens. Does such a thing suffice as rest?"

 

[Orchid]

Jodeth scoffed a laugh.
"I would not call it restful."
He shoved himself forward, now that the woman he loved was done with the tea he wanted her in his arms again.
So he took a liberty and pulled her close into a smiling kiss and when he stopped to look at her spoke again.
"Let us talk no more of servants or my mother. I have missed you and I don't want to waste a moment of our time together until we are parted again."
It was like this, a few months together in between eternities of months apart. To have her close was a blessing, every time and in every way.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

The Lady Dreadlord was quiet, malleable, and willing under his attentions. He had a way of bringing the rare and earnest smile to her lips that no other had and he could warm her coldest moods with his lips alone. She folded against him and within his arms, leaning into his chest to feel the sound of his voice reverberating throughout.

"Then I am yours until that time," Adra replied, leaning into his jawline, "shall we? My lungs would appreciate being able to take a full breath."

Corsets. The curse of the noble Lady.

 

[Orchid]

Jodeth's smile held back his growing excitement.
He almost lifted her and carried her upstairs but knew better than that. Much as he knew she loved him he also knew that compressing her body further in her corset would be less than pleasurable for her.
"Yes, let's.'
Taking Adra gently by the hand he led the way down the hall and up the main staircase.
He turned at the beginning of the hallway and smiled again, savouring her presence.
Some of the night staff tactfully averted their eyes as they passed until the couple finally entered their bedroom and closed the door. Sealing it with the familiar click of the lock.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

The days at Eden House started quite early, as one would expect of any noble household. Though typically one of the first to rise, often even before the help if only due to a lifetime of discipline instilled in her at the Academy, some days her husband managed to convince her to remain. Today was one of those days. At the first inkling of movement, she'd felt his arms wrap around her, urging her to stay.

Stay she did, because for all her failures as his wife he asked for very little. Adra used the time, laying beside him listening to him breathe, to plan out the day and all the small things she would do to nudge certain events into play. There was a dinner party to arrange within the next two weeks, and a meeting of the Pledged at the Sirl Estate just after. There were specific faces she needed to ensure would be there. Information to disseminate and collect. Items needing passed on to the right parties.

And at least one life to take for secret treachery.

A Dreadlord's work was often never done, but an Agent's worked lived in the details of the now, then, and yet to come. She stared at the canopy ceiling as she ruminated on it all, moving pieces like on a chess board within her mind.

"Jo," Adra said into the darkness cast by the black-out curtains hung on their four-poster bed, "are you awake, my love?"

"The gentleman's club we acquired a fortnight ago ... have you looked into its earnings yet?"

 

[Orchid]

The slightest frown bent Jodeth's brow.
She was not twelve hours home and already she was working again.
He swore one day he would rid her of this never ending toil. Without opening his eyes he answered and lead his answer with a heavy sigh.
"This would be the Yeoman gentlemen's club? Yes? They've been running money through it for years. Gamblers, thieves, smugglers, blood money. It's history is long and sordid. I put a good stop to it while you were away. It's as respectable as it's likely to get.
He brought her into him, a squeeze and release.
"Now please, I thought we agreed, no talking business in bed love."
Softly he planted a kiss on her hair.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

Her eyes narrowed at the news that the Yeoman's main lifeblood of business had been stopped in her absence. Hmm... that had not been in her plans and would cause problems down the line. Now she would have to sort through the contacts she'd made there, arrange new locations for their ventures, make new contacts at Yeoman's.

Husbands. Another curse of the noble lady. She made a mewling sound when she squeezed her.

"We did," Adra assented to that agreement, shifting her weight to lay on her stomach at his side so she could lift her head up to look at him in the darkness, "but I would not be in bed if you had let me go when I woke up."

He might just make out the barely perceptible smirk on her face, "You know your mother is an early riser. If I am late to greet her I'll not hear the end of it."

 

[Orchid]

"Hmmmmm."
jodeth Eden opened his eyes and while they adjusted he wore a smirk of his own and gently pulled Adra over onto his chest.
"How are we supposed to make the time to be a family if we do not find time to make our family?"
Her pale features caught the dim lack of light and he brought his face towards hers brushing her nose with his.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

That smile, as faint as it had been, faded slowly under eyes half-lidded. Still so full of hope and optimism he was, that they would ever have a family. Her thoughts on the matter were much devoid of his confidence, but she had so little goodness to speak of and smothering out that which sat before her felt unfair.

So Adra answered with her best Dreadlordism and pressed that small smile to show again, "By taking advantage of every opportunity we have." A kiss followed, hoping to placate his morning grumblings with an incentive of the time they still had before the help arrived to dress them.

 

[Orchid]

Even in the dark his dear Adra's change of mood did not completely miss him.
It was painful for her. Every time was painful and every time they had talked, after the tears and mourning they had spoken of the kind of decisions nobody likes to make and likes less to give life with words.
He put his hand through her short hair and held her cheek in his warm palm. It was a blessing, this time before the world came crashing in around them. He received her kiss with a gratefulness that spread through him, it showed in his every motion.
"I'm being selfish. I want you all to myself."
Jodeth knew the many burdens of his wife and her many curses.
He thought it greatly unfair that the worst thing he had to contend with was time away from her when she had so many worries.
"Promise me something."
His body loosened it's hold on her. The sacred moment was over, the world had breached his awareness now as it had hers.
"Don't let my mother or the good Doctor hassle you today. They've had me on, some vile grass cocktail for weeks. Heavens know what they'll try to get you to do."
His half speak was jovial but had a serious core. As with these things The Doctor and his mother had seen Adra as the primary cause of her miscarriages. Which had never sat well with him, he had half a mind to dismiss the Doctor.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

"I'm being selfish. I want you all to myself."

A sober pause followed that line while Adra looked down at him, silently apologetic.

"It is good... to be wanted." And she wished he hadn't loosen his arms about her, but knew she was the architect behind all her own suffering. Had she not been the one attempting to escape his embrace but only a few moments ago? Well...

"I promise I will not let them make me drink grass," though she would if she thought it would fix their problem. Her problem. Adra smirked, lifting a hand to lightly trace a finger along his jawline, "though it would not be the worst thing I have eaten to survive." A quiet chuckle followed, one that verged on a disdainful regret of her memories as the taste of something foul from her past resurface on the back of her tongue.

She made a noise of disgust and slowly extracted herself from his arms, slid from the bed and slipped her naked self into a dressing robe.

"Don't forget about Sessile, my love," a gentle reminder as she pulled the chord to ring the bell for her Lady's Maid, "he's come a long way to be useful."

And off she padded to the dressing room where Laura had also just arrived with a quiet but friendly greeting.

 

[Orchid]

"Hmmm, he must be. He seems to have impressed you enough."
Jodeth teased as he got up with a grunt and pulled on his breeches. Stretching he got up, leaving to enter his wash room and prepare for the day.
"Who knows..." He called to his wife from the other room as she too prepared herself.
"If he is as good as you say we may get the work done early. What do you say to spending the afternoon together? Walk the grounds? Picnic by the river?"
He was eager to keep her rested and happy while she was back. He contemplated it while getting his cream ready for his shave.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

A short stint of silence as Adra was fitted into various layers. She wanted to put him off, give Orchid more time for first impressions, but doing so would likely draw some curiosity from Jodeth.

"That sounds nice," she answered, "don't let your mother catch wind. She'll insist on joining."

 

[Orchid]

He rolled his eyes at the mention of his mother. She certainly had a way of finding herself in the most unwanted of places.
Jodeth applied the shaving cream lavishly.
"Maybe Sessile can keep her distracted. I'm sure she'd like to grill him for information about your travels. Call it a test of his loyalty and character."
He sharpened his razor and applied it to his cheek with a laugh. He had no idea what to expect from Sessile but he would have to meet his mothers iron scrutiny sooner or later.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

"That would be cruel," said the Dreadlord of such a fate for Sessile's first afternoon at the manor, "we can at least give him a peaceful first day, can we not? Beckett would much rather run him through the routine of the house I'm certain."

Her hair was always the quickest part of getting ready for the day. Adra had kept it short since her childhood and found no reason to let it grow out now, not even with Jodeth's mother insisting it was the furthest thing from lady-like in its current state. Ladies had long, beauteous hair that they styled in the latest fashions for Court.

"I would much rather deal with your mother's ire than Beckett's..." such was the hold a well-installed Butler had on a proper estate. Beckett had a routine and expectation that rivaled even the militant ideals of the Anirian Guard, "not even she likes to ruffle his feathers."

 

[Orchid]

"A fate worse than death surely."
Jodeth answered with a laugh.
"Then Sessile shall be given to Beckett. Leaving us with what t do with my mother. Shall we simply avoid her and slip away?"
His face was half done. He rubbed his hand over it and smiled. He had missed this, morning conversations as they readied to face the day ahead.

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

"I brought back some new books from the capital," Adra said after a moment, set before her vanity while Laura touched up her face with powder and rouge, "A new one from the Modiste on the latest fashions and some others. I'll see if any interest her while we promenade. Perhaps that will keep her for the afternoon."

She wore very little in the way of jewelry. No earrings and seldom any necklaces or bracelets. The weight of heavy jewels around her neck or wrists reminded her of the anti-magic collars and shackles utilized by the Proctors at the Academy, often in conjunction with cruel punishment or torture, so she preferred to go without as often as possible. Her wedding ring, however, would always be where it should on her finger.

Adra slipped her feet into a set of short heels, thanked Laura, and stepped back through their bedchamber to her husbands dressing room. She stood behind him where he sat before the mirror, pale eyes studying his reflection. How did she get so lucky and he so unlucky to be stuck together? She did not deserve this fate.

"Any news from your father? He has been away for quite some time now."

 

[Jodeth Eden]

Jodeth was wiping his face and so did not notice Adra's approach.
"Father is doing well, says the sea air is helping his constitution. He claims to be writing his masterpiece, again."
Jodeth's father loved poetry but had no really gift besides his boundless enthusiasm for it. There were whole volumes of it in the library. Poor health had led him to seek a calm life by the sea but he still wrote frequently. Always asking about Adra and her happiness.
"He asks for you, wonders when you'll finally stop "all this running about"..."
Jodeth's impression of his father was pretty good but he cut it short when his gaze caught Adra in the mirror.
Jodeth turned and quickly dried his hands.
Books, parents, poetry it all left him as he took her in and gently put his hands on her shoulders.
"I keep forgetting how beautiful you are, it's true!"
He added when he saw the familiar signs of Adra's suspicion on her face.
"I know that sometimes you doubt it but that's what I'm here for. To appreciate you."

Adra Eden

 

[Adra Eden]

Jodeth's father was exceptionally gracious ... and forgetful. At times Adra found herself wondering if he truly did not, would not, or simply could not remember that she was a Dreadlord first and a wife, second. It wasn't as if she had any say in the matter of all this running about.

She smiled solemnly into her husband's doting words, her lips stretching broader to assure him that his insistence did not go unappreciated, "So long as you believe it then that is all that matters. I am not here to please anyone but you."

"M'lady," Laura was back in the doorway of the room, "...the time."

"Ah," Adra's brows lifted, "I am very nearly late for your mother. Don't keep me, husband, or we'll never have our picnic."

Leaning forward, she planted a warm kiss on his cheek and gently extracted herself from his hands, "See you at lunch, my love."

Without any further ado she departed from their chambers and down the hall. Her journey through the manner was silent beyond the sound of her heels or the whisper of her dress across marble and woven carpet alike. Dawn was still faint but growing stronger and her steps carried her at the opposite end of the hall where the rays of the rising sun did not yet strike.