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tamingthemuseTitle: To Satisfy a Pact
Fandom: Original Fic – Halcyon Days
Prompt: Bangkok
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: Melissa plots to make use of her daughter.
“Of course, Kali was livid and that was why I had to leave Bangkok.”
Melissa smiled as she listened to Mr. J’s tale of life in the orient. Mr. Jasfoup was a man of indeterminable age. He looked exactly the same now as when she’d inherited the manor from her father. He was all she needed, really, with the exception of two maids and the kitchen staff, for Jasfoup acted as butler, gardener, footman and gamekeeper and yet always had time to sit and chat amiably.
He put down his tea cup and leaned forward. “It’s the 29th,” he said. “Are you prepared?”
Melissa took another sip and looked at him over the rim, her blue eyes sparkling. “I have two days yet,” she said. “Plenty of time.”
Jasfoup hissed between his teeth. “Don’t make light of such things,” he said. “What will you do with Charlotte engaged? Will you fight?”
“No.” Melissa inverted her cup onto the saucer and turned it three times widdershins. “I shall honour the agreement.”
“A child?” Jasfoup shook his head. “I don’t like this, Mel. Dealing with Faery has consequences you couldn’t begin to imagine. You could be setting up trouble for generations.”
“Just as I have been left the mess I’m dealing with now.” Melissa’s tone was sharp and Jasfoup sat back as if stung. “Why should I give my life to protect the Manor? Or Charlotte, for that matter. She has no compunction about doing her duty here. She’s off gallivanting with Mr. Money.”
“Albert. His name is Albert.” Jasfoup crossed his legs and brushed an errant greenfly from his knee. “You don’t mean that anyway. You adore Charlotte. You’re just hurt that she’s left you all alone. She’s in love, Mel. Even you must remember being in love.”
“Was I ever in love?” Melissa lifted the teacup and stared at the pattern of leaves at the bottom. “Fortune turns and a wedding.” She snorted and put the cup down. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You loved Charles,” said Jasfoup, ignoring her despondency. “At least when you married him.”
“Was that love or avarice?” Melissa said. “He had enough money to pay off all the taxes on the house with plenty to spare. It was a fresh start and the means to keep on going.”
“You’re just being cynical,” said Jasfoup. “You knew the deal. You could stay here until you had an heir and then you had to go back. Charlotte’s almost twenty-one now. It’s time she took over.”
“I was hoping to have another, you know.” Melissa looked across the lawns to the cornfields beyond. “I’d hoped for a boy. Charles was desperate for a son.”
“Sons don’t inherit,” said Jasfoup. “Faery will always be a matriarchy. That’s why the price was so desperate to marry you. Without your line to marry into he loses all his power when his father dies.”
“Unless he has a daughter himself.” Melissa’s eyes glittered under her straw hat.
Jasfoup snorted. “You can’t have another child…” His voice faltered. “You mean with Charlotte, don’t you?”
“I know that she and Albert have had relations,” said Melissa. “He would assume the child is his. Why should I not direct Prince Leafmould to her bedchamber?”
Fandom: Original Fic – Halcyon Days
Prompt: Bangkok
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: Melissa plots to make use of her daughter.
“Of course, Kali was livid and that was why I had to leave Bangkok.”
Melissa smiled as she listened to Mr. J’s tale of life in the orient. Mr. Jasfoup was a man of indeterminable age. He looked exactly the same now as when she’d inherited the manor from her father. He was all she needed, really, with the exception of two maids and the kitchen staff, for Jasfoup acted as butler, gardener, footman and gamekeeper and yet always had time to sit and chat amiably.
He put down his tea cup and leaned forward. “It’s the 29th,” he said. “Are you prepared?”
Melissa took another sip and looked at him over the rim, her blue eyes sparkling. “I have two days yet,” she said. “Plenty of time.”
Jasfoup hissed between his teeth. “Don’t make light of such things,” he said. “What will you do with Charlotte engaged? Will you fight?”
“No.” Melissa inverted her cup onto the saucer and turned it three times widdershins. “I shall honour the agreement.”
“A child?” Jasfoup shook his head. “I don’t like this, Mel. Dealing with Faery has consequences you couldn’t begin to imagine. You could be setting up trouble for generations.”
“Just as I have been left the mess I’m dealing with now.” Melissa’s tone was sharp and Jasfoup sat back as if stung. “Why should I give my life to protect the Manor? Or Charlotte, for that matter. She has no compunction about doing her duty here. She’s off gallivanting with Mr. Money.”
“Albert. His name is Albert.” Jasfoup crossed his legs and brushed an errant greenfly from his knee. “You don’t mean that anyway. You adore Charlotte. You’re just hurt that she’s left you all alone. She’s in love, Mel. Even you must remember being in love.”
“Was I ever in love?” Melissa lifted the teacup and stared at the pattern of leaves at the bottom. “Fortune turns and a wedding.” She snorted and put the cup down. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You loved Charles,” said Jasfoup, ignoring her despondency. “At least when you married him.”
“Was that love or avarice?” Melissa said. “He had enough money to pay off all the taxes on the house with plenty to spare. It was a fresh start and the means to keep on going.”
“You’re just being cynical,” said Jasfoup. “You knew the deal. You could stay here until you had an heir and then you had to go back. Charlotte’s almost twenty-one now. It’s time she took over.”
“I was hoping to have another, you know.” Melissa looked across the lawns to the cornfields beyond. “I’d hoped for a boy. Charles was desperate for a son.”
“Sons don’t inherit,” said Jasfoup. “Faery will always be a matriarchy. That’s why the price was so desperate to marry you. Without your line to marry into he loses all his power when his father dies.”
“Unless he has a daughter himself.” Melissa’s eyes glittered under her straw hat.
Jasfoup snorted. “You can’t have another child…” His voice faltered. “You mean with Charlotte, don’t you?”
“I know that she and Albert have had relations,” said Melissa. “He would assume the child is his. Why should I not direct Prince Leafmould to her bedchamber?”
no subject
Date: 2007-10-28 02:18 pm (UTC)This is I did not expect. (And somehow, Jasfoup acting as gardener makes me giggle. Imps, I presume?)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-28 04:18 pm (UTC)Top marks for the imps guess!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-28 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-29 11:49 am (UTC)Eek, you can't end on a line like that. I want the next bit, now!!
Sorry, pushy reader...
no subject
Date: 2007-11-03 03:18 pm (UTC)You could stay here until you had an heir... Sons don’t inherit
So, the manor is passed on by the rules of faery? But Melissa is human? Or has she aged beyond child bearing, because she has been out of that world?
But that last line? That definitely constitutes a cliff-hanger. And deserves a 'Whoa!' So I need to wait a week to find out what's going on here? To discover exactly how the apparently loving mother of the first chapter fits with this Machiavellian schemer? And what would happen to such a child? So many questions. I look forward to finding some answers. *hopes* Thanks.
A little thing, but I think you need an 'n' in That’s why the pri[n]ce was so desperate to marry...