Silence Breaking (Storm and Silence 4)

Slowly but surely, Karim was swallowed up by a jungle of hoop skirts, waving fans and dance cards. When the noise level had reached ear-damaging proportions, I snuck to the door and slipped out of the room. Nobody noticed. Nobody, that is, except for Adaira, who joined me a few moments later.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

‘Prince Utairah Jafri fi al Qurram Qumrah III,[10] heir to the principality of Bakavasa?’

She shrugged. ‘My governess was very thorough. Besides French and German, she insisted on oriental language training.’

Her voice was very nonchalant, but there was a little devil dancing in her eyes.

‘Adaira?’

‘Yes?’

‘What does that name mean, exactly?’

She managed to keep up her nonchalant front for about two more seconds - then burst into laughter and ducked back into the room to avoid the barrage of questions I was about to fire at her.

Oh dear.

That couldn’t be a good sign. What exactly had she cooked up in that brain of hers?

Well, I’d get to the bottom of it later. Now it was time for a little rebellion!

I made my way back towards my room to fetch a cloak, just in case my search for Captain Carter led me outside the house. But, as it turned out, a search wasn’t necessary. The captain was standing in front of my door, just raising his hand to knock as I approached.

‘Miss Linton? Miss Linton, are you in there?’

‘No,’ I told him, and he jumped, whirling around.

‘Shouldn’t a soldier be a little more on guard?’ I teased. ‘I could have been a Frenchman, preparing to stab you in the back.’

‘We currently are at peace with France, I believe, Miss Linton. I met with their ambassador only a few weeks ago. He invited me to have dinner with him, sometime soon.’

‘Even more reason to be on your guard, Captain. Just one word: snails.’

That got a small smile out of him, but it was gone almost immediately. He was still in the same unusually serious mood I remembered from our last meeting. And in his eyes I could see that the subject he wanted to discuss hadn’t changed, either.

‘Can we have a talk, Miss Linton?’ he enquired, his voice soft. ‘In private? There’s something I have to discuss with you.’

‘Certainly.’ I extended an arm. ‘Shall we take a little walk together?’

Romance in the Air

It was cold outside. I told myself it was not because Mr Ambrose was staring at me. He wasn’t even here. It was just the winter. Cold is perfectly normal in winter. Still…it felt as if two dark, sea-coloured eyes were burning into my neck with permanent frostbite.

Relax, Lilly. You are doing nothing wrong. You are an independent girl, and can go on romantic walks with whomever you choose. Even if it’s not the one you’d actually like to be walking with.

Mr Ambrose had to learn a lesson. He had to understand that even if I didn’t want anyone but him, I was, theoretically, perfectly within my rights to choose anyone else, whether it be the King of England, the shoeblack in the local tavern, or Captain James Carter. Only once I had managed to hammer this fundamental principle into his thick head would it be possible for us to have a future.

Really, Lilly? So you have to go on a romantic walk with one man to secure your future with another?

All right, maybe my logic was a little bit unconventional, but then again, so was Rikkard Ambrose.

And besides…

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced up at Captain Carter. Poor man… The way he was gazing at me, with that gleam in his eyes…

He had the words ‘love confession incoming’ practically tattooed on his forehead. He was full to bursting with romance! If I didn’t let him vent it soon, it would explode. What might he do then? Start painting the walls of Battlewood pink? Dance through the halls, writing valentines across all the ancient portraits? There was no way to tell.