Chapter 6: The Preparation

Josiah P.O.V

I could say that the night of the ball came too quickly, but then I knew I’d be lying.

You would think that the end of the week would come faster when you’re busy, not entirely the case here. For me, the week seemed to drag on forever as I worked away to help Cora and her demanding sons. In a way it seemed to me that Cora was insistent in having me do all the work. Simply put, the more I did, the longer the chore list seemed to get.

The other members of the household certainly tried to undo my load and help, but it made no difference. If I wasn’t the one ironing the shirts or sewing holes in ‘ill-prepared’ pants, nothing seemed to be getting done. The whole merry-go-round treatment of it all annoyed me quickly and I had no way of making it stop unless I was out of the house collecting something related to the ball.

Given how much needed to be done to prepare, I rarely saw Levi in the days leading up to the event. I held a silent knowledge that Levi was going to attend the ball regardless of the dangers hanging over going near the vampiric court. In the more recent years, a silent understanding of boundaries existed between the vampires and humans. We wouldn’t purposely intermingle in their affairs, and they wouldn’t bother us with ours.

It saddened me that I couldn’t say the same with the dragon borne. The amount of hatchling children being taken from their parents to work in the mines nearing daily always broke my heart. A part of me continued to convince myself that it wasn’t my business how the vampires treated the dragon-borne—which often left a sickly taste in my mouth.

“Josiah!”

I rolled my eyes from my position, sitting and trying to sew the inner seam of Matthias’ pants. One of the maids came down from the upper levels to tell me that her ladyship called for me. I stopped her by raising my finger at her as I finally tied off the thread, snapping it shut.

“I heard. I’m going,” I said, setting the thread and needle on the table next to me. I got up, turning Matthias’ pants back to the right side in as I hurried up the stairs and into the parlor where Cora sat lazily with Cyrus and Matthias. I gently folded Matthias’ pants and handed them off to him. I watched as he stood up and went to take the pants upstairs to lay out his suit for the ball.

“I finished everything,” I said as I pulled out the physical list of chores that she gave me. I handed it over for her to check. After shooting me a look as if I had offended her with proof of my work, she snatched the parchment out of my hand.

She kept her creepy calm persona as she checked the list. Cyrus looked at it over her shoulder but she swatted him away. I was half expecting her to suddenly give me another task to do out of nothing like sweep the entire house for a second time.

“Seems you have. Are you expecting payment?”

At this point I was expecting a night to myself while they went off to the ball. I took my chances and took a breath, knowing that their answer was going to be ridiculous.

“No, ma’am,” I answered in a snake venom flavored politeness that I could’ve spoken from spite, “Simply a night to myself.”

She stared at me for so long, I worried a bit that she didn’t hear me. Any such worries vanished instantly the second she started laughing at my face. She got up and stepped forward to me, slapping the paper back in my hands.

“A night to yourself? When you need to keep house and staff while we’re gone?” Her words always sounded calm, the kind that tricked you to trust it so it could choke you out.

I swallowed my pride as I matched her stare with a glare. I took the parchment of chores from her before I backed up and bowed, hating every minute of it.

“Of course, please excuse me,” I said as I made a move back towards the kitchen, “I need to start dinner preparations.”

I checked the clock in the hall as I went past it.

‘3:48 pm’

Carriages for the ball weren’t expected to arrive for those in attendance till 7pm. If I had dinner ready before 5, there would be plenty of time to help her ladyship get ready for the ball. I wasn’t worried about Cyrus and Matthias since I knew they’d be able to dress themselves—which I was thankful for.

***

Never in my life did I expect two measly little hours to feel like an eternity.

Like I had expected, Matthias and Cyrus were able to get themselves ready before I was even able to start tightening Cora’s corset. I just barely managed to finish Cora’s hair when Cyrus called from the main floor, saying that the carriage was waiting outside for them.

The amount of relief I felt once they left for the party was oxygen to my lungs and aching muscles. As the silence within the house settled around me, I found myself moving towards the garden in the back of the house. I stood out along the balcony in the cool night air, looking around before my eyes landed on the full moon above me.

I wasn’t ever much of a religious being. Most of that had left me when my parents died. So if you expected me to go crying to a higher being for not being able to go to the ball—go somewhere else.

My silent evening was cut off when I heard rustling in the bushes that lead to a back road from the garden. I went down from the balcony and gently grabbed one of the garden tools sitting on a nearby bench, pointing it towards the sound. My thoughts of an intruder were washed away when I heard a familiar set of whistles.

“Levi?!”