by A. R. Rend
She’s actually asking me to end my marriage.
It hasn’t… even been a week.
And I don’t even know her!
“I know, I know, we’ve only just met,” said Mim, after inhaling another sandwich. “But I can’t lie, and you’re a damn handsome man. And you’ve got a nice brain in there that I suspect is far more than I think it is already. All the men my mother keeps pitching me at as a suitor are all so vapid. It’s a wonder they get anything done.
“And Alice seems like she doesn’t know what to do with you, and I certainly do. So, let’s go ask her to dissolve the marriage. You and I can be off before anyone’s the wiser.”
Letting out a shaky breath, Phillip ran through everything she’d said. In the end, he couldn’t help himself and started laughing.
Smiling, he shook his head slightly.
“Alas, Mim, you’re a beautiful, interesting, and seemingly intelligent woman, but I must abide by my family’s honor and duty,” Phillip said.
Then he reached up, took Mim’s arm off his shoulders, and set it down between them gently.
Mim slowly nodded her head at that, her face holding the absolute appearance of consideration and appraisal.
“Well! A chase it is then! This should be fun,” Mim said, promptly putting her arm back around Phillip’s shoulders. “Ptfff, Alice doesn’t even know what she’s wasting. I can’t wait to show her how amazing you are after I’m done. When you’re my husband and I give you the attention you deserve.”
Sighing, Phillip pursed his lips, gently pulled Mim’s arm off his shoulders, and put it once more between them.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a moment too soon either. Lenore popped out around the corner, still dressed as he’d seen her last.
“Phil? Sophia?” Lenore asked, walking straight toward the older woman and Phillip. “I had no idea you two had met.”
“We hadn’t. I was just introduced when Phillip so kindly brought in a tea service for Alice’s business meeting,” said Mim.
Lenore’s eyes jumped to the tea-trolley not far away and the obviously unfinished service, as the scones and maple balls were clearly untouched.
Lenore’s lips pressed into a thin line as she came over to stand in front of the two.
“I see. And how’d the meeting go?” Lenore asked, putting her hands behind her back.
“Not very well if I had to be honest. Phillip raised some really good points,” Mim murmured. “Points that made me very uninterested in pursuing anything further. When the time came to ink paper I backed out. Pretty sure Tiffany and Alice are going in though.”
“You… you backed out?” Phillip asked, looking at Mim curiously.
“Of course. You raised good points. Points that weren’t answered in a way that bred any confidence in me, and so I said no,” Mim said with a laugh. “And when the time comes to pay you back, when those two chuckle-heads lose their shirts, I’m going to make sure you get what’s coming to you.”
Mim patted Phillip’s knee with her hand, her fingers lingering for far longer than they should. Levering herself up from the bench, she snagged another sandwich on her way out of the garden.
“See ya, Lenny, Phil,” Mim said, walking away.
Standing there, Lenore contemplated Phillip, then the tea-trolley.
“She kicked you out for asking questions, didn’t she?” Lenore asked.
Unable to help himself, Phillip let out a long sigh and leaned back in his seat.
The last thing he wanted to do, was recount the whole thing to Lenore.
But of everyone here, she was one of the two people he could trust in.
***
Sitting in his private room, Phillip knew that Alice was asleep.
He’d watched the light go out from under her door a while ago.
Leaving him sitting in his room with nothing to contemplate but the day he’d had.
In the end, Lenore had listened to him patiently.
Attentively.
Kindly, even.
To the point that it’d been hard to leave her side, even after darkness fell and it grew nearly impossible to see.
Leaning his head back, Phillip stared up to the ceiling above him, the dark wooden beams hiding shadows and unwanted thoughts.
Unfortunately he hadn’t realized how far back he was tipping until the chair legs went out from under him, and he nearly fell backward, grabbing onto the desk with a thump and pulling on it.
No sooner had he got the legs back under him, than the door to his bedroom popped open and Mildred came in. One hand was on her truncheon at her side, and the other had already pulled a short sword off her belt.
“Oh!” Phillip said with some surprise. “I’m sorry, Milly, I just… I was falling.”
Mildred’s eyes scanned the room quickly, took everything in, and then settled on him.
“Falling,” Mildred said with a grim look on her face.
“Yes, I was… being stupid,” Phillip said with a huff. “Sentimental and stupid. And I almost fell.”
That finally got a hint of a smile from Mildred. She re-sheathed her blade, and then closed the door behind her.
“I can’t guard you from yourself, Phillip,” Mildred murmured, coming over to stand near him.
“I wish you could. I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is running into a wall over and over,” Phillip muttered.
“Mm. I heard a little bit about that from the day guards,” Mildred said. “She didn’t like your tea-service?”
“Didn’t like me asking questions about business,” Phillip elaborated. “Dismissed me, basically.”
“And that’s when the… young woman… chased you down,” Mildred stated.
“Ah… yes. Sophia,” Phillip said. “My words were enough to stop her from investing, I guess. But not Alice or her other friend.”
“Then Lenore tracked you down.”
“I… yes. That’s right.”
“In other words,” Mildred said, leaning up against the desk next to him, her rear end partially on the top of it. “Everyone but Alice is interested in you.”
Phillip snorted at that and looked up at Mildred.
“I dunno, Milly. Starting to think I should just finish up this deal, take my dowry and whatever else I make, and run away. Go live somewhere for me and me alone,” shared Phillip. “I don’t think my family will suffer too much for me doing it. It’s not like I really bring anything other than a basic political alliance to them.”
Mildred frowned at that, then slowly nodded her head.
“Your mother would be sad but she’d move past it. She’s an incredibly strong and determined woman,” Mildred agreed. “Your grandmother would suffer the most for the political snub but it wouldn’t last. While the Rias family is rich, their power is only as far as the spending of their coin goes.”
“Ah. I suppose it would at that. Grandmother will survive,” murmured Phillip. Then he laughed. “So there it is. I guess I just run away. Abandoning everything and everyone. By myself.”
Grunting, Mildred folded her arms in front of her chest.
“I’m sure someone would follow you,” she countered.
“Really? I don’t know about that. Lenore’s nice but I can’t imagine her leaving her family. I suppose M-Sophia might. But that seems harder than living by myself,” mused Phillip, working through his thoughts. “That leaves only you, Milly. Run away with me? I’m positive I can keep us more than moderately well off.”
Staring at him, Mildred said nothing.
“Right, sorry. Never mind,” Phillip said, breaking eye contact with the soldier.
She was a career woman. It was unlikely she’d be willing to cross his mother’s wrath just for him.
“I wouldn’t be a good wife to you, Phillip. I know very little about what would be expected of me. I only know fighting and guarding,” admitted Mildred.
“Pretty sure in a wild wood that’d be ideal. Or anywhere else we’d likely have put down roots. Certa
inly not in a city where someone could find me easily. Or at least, not a city anywhere near home,” Phillip muttered and then followed it up with a yawn. It was all idle talk without a shred of anything behind it. The very idea of running away with Mildred, while sounding exciting and what he’d want, would also alienate him from anyone he ever knew. Likely Mildred as well. “And where were you today? I didn’t see you around and honestly I was looking for you.”
“I sw-I was covering for a night shift. Someone needed a break to take care of something. That’s all. I’ll be back on day duty after my day off,” Mildred explained.
“Oh good. Whens that? Wasn’t the same without you around today,” Phillip said, getting to his feet. He felt incredibly tired all of a sudden. Tired and feeling like he was ready to lie down. That his mind wouldn’t race away with the events of the day. “And the other guards aren’t… you.”
“The day after tomorrow is my day off. Which means I’ll be back the day after that. So three days from now.”
“Far too far away. I need you, Milly,” Phillip groused heading for his bedroom. “Go to bed now. Swap to the day shift tomorrow. I’m ordering it. And since I’m technically your employer now that you’re being paid out of my dowry… then that means I get a say in your shift. Even if it’s my mother’s money.”
“I… okay, Phillip. I’ll take care of it just as you’ve instructed. Tonight.”
“Great, thanks, Milly. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight… my lord,” murmured Mildred, her eyes following Phillip as he left.
He only noticed it in passing, then quickly forgot it.
His mind was focused entirely on getting into his bed and going to sleep.
Between his talk with Lenore and Mildred’s presence, his mind had been eased considerably.
Eight
The days bled one into the other, and faster than he thought, Phillip was already in his third week of marriage to Alice.
Except that she’d never visited his bed or invited him to hers since the first night, nor had she said very much to him.
She felt more the stranger to him than Lenore or Mim did. Who both regularly visited him, and chatted him up.
He knew she was working a great deal of the time. Knew that her mother was putting a great deal of pressure on her now that she was a “woman” of the family.
Often enough he’d heard her coming home late at night. Likely not even changing out of her clothes.
“Damnit all,” Lenore complained only a minute after they’d walked into the family office in the city. “That silly twit just sent over a load of barrels that weren’t up to standard. Now I’m glad we hired someone to check each shipment.”
“That was a good idea on your part,” Phillip said with a grin, watching his partner as she flipped through her correspondence that’d been handed to her.
“You know, I wish I could claim it as my own. I really do,” growled Lenore. “But it wasn’t. It was Alice’s.”
“Alice?” Phillip asked, confused at that turn of events.
“Yes. I’d been talking to Mother about the deal you and I made and Alice came in. I believe it was to talk to her about a deal as well. She suggested to have everything checked since we weren’t getting the purchase all at once.”
Frowning, Phillip didn’t quite know what to think of that.
It wasn’t something he’d considered so he definitely owed her at least a thank you.
“We should go handle this before we get into what I wanted you to look at,” complained Lenore, finishing up with her letters and turning toward Phillip.
“You go handle it, Sofie responds better without me there,” Phillip said knowingly. In the few meetings they’d had with the woman, every time Phillip was there she’d had problems.
That and he suddenly wanted to track down Alice. He was fairly certain she was in the office today.
“Really? Thanks. I know you want to be there. It irks me how she just can’t seem to handle you,” Lenore murmured, giving him a warm smile. “After this we don’t have to work with her again. We’ll figure out how we can avoid them in the future.”
“That’s far more optimistic than realistic,” said Phillip with a chuckle. “Go on, I’ll wait here.”
“Going, going. See ya in a bit.”
Lenore turned and left the Rias office from the same door they’d entered from.
Watching her go, Phillip snared Mildred with his eyes when she looked his way. Then he nodded his head at Lenore.
Smirking, Mildred got the hint, and left the office, tailing after Lenore. The other guards remained in the Rias office.
Entering the front lobby, Phillip found the receptionist there. A young man that looked slightly younger than himself. They’d entered through the locked rear door with Lenore which apparently was a family entrance.
“Alice is in today, yes?” Phillip asked.
“Yes she is,” said the young man, looking up from the book he was reading.
“And her office is… where?” inquired Phillip.
“Errr… it’s the fourth to the left. May I ask who you are?”
Apparently only now did the man realize that Phillip was both coming from the wrong direction nor had he identified himself.
Phillip didn’t bother to answer that. He wanted to surprise Alice this time. This was an opportunity for him.
And there was that little shop with the meat pies and it’s about lunch time.
This’ll work perfectly.
Exiting the office, he left quickly. He had a mission to get back here before Lenore returned. The last thing he wanted to do was aggravate Alice.
Phillip returned a short while later with several meat pies. They were wrapped in thin parchment and loaded in a small basket.
Phillip waved at the receptionist with his free hand.
“I’m Alice’s husband, by the way,” Phillip said and then walked past the receptionist.
Going into the hallway that led away from the entry area, he began counting doors as he walked. Moving down them one at a time.
And… here we are. Alice’s office.
Glancing down at himself, Phillip quickly made sure he looked correct. Then he reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a small personal bronze mirror.
Looking into the highly polished surface, he found he wasn’t mussed in any way.
Nodding his head, he slipped the mirror back into his pocket. Raising his hand, he knocked twice on the door.
“Enter,” called Alice’s voice from within.
Doing just that, Phillip pulled the door open, stepped inside, and closed it behind himself.
Alice was sitting at a desk, a ledger open in front of her. She had a small metal rod in her hand that looked like it belonged to something else, that she was using as some type of visual aid.
He assumed it kept her focused on whichever line item she was reading, rather than using her finger.
“One second,” Alice said, dragging the implement across whatever she was reading. Then bringing it down.
Pursing her lips, she looked like she re-read the item. Setting the thin rod down, she shifted to her right, picked up a quill, and began making a note in a different ledger.
“Sorry about that. Trying to get this deal squared away. What can I do for y-”
Alice looked up as she spoke and stopped talking once she realized who she was talking to.
“I… hello, Phillip,” Alice said, looking confused and somewhat nervous.
“Hello,” Phillip said with a bright smile. “I brought you lunch you can eat with one hand. I wasn’t sure what kind of meat you’d want, so I got one of each. Pork, beef, and chicken.”
Phillip went over to the chair directly across from Alice and sat down. Setting down the small basket in front of her, he indicated to each one.
“Pork, beef, chicken. My guards assured me they’re actually very delicious. Sounds like they make trips to pick these up sometimes,” Phillip said with some amusement. He’d
made sure to buy each of his guards one, along with one for Lenore and Mildred while he was there.
“Thank you, Phillip. I… I haven’t eaten at all today,” Alice said with a small smile. Reaching into the basket, she picked up the chicken and bit straight away into it, not hesitating in the least.
Nodding his head, he reached to his side and pulled off the large watered-down wine skin he’d purchased as well. It wasn’t enough to get anyone drunk by any means, but it would likely ease any tension Alice had.
Not to mention it apparently went well with the pies.
Setting the skin down on the other side of the desk in front of Alice, Phillip smiled at her.
“How goes the world of Alice Rias?” Phillip asked. This was the first time he’d gotten to talk to her in a long while. Everything had been mostly in passing lately.
“Uhm,” Alice said with her mouth full, chewing delicately. Taking a swallow, she gave him a lopsided smile. “Made a bad investment. On crop fut-well, food. Been running down on all the various ways to offload it on someone else and connect the two parties. Working more as a middle woman.”
Nodding his head, Phillip didn’t immediately respond to that. He wanted to tell her that he could have warned her about that, if she’d just talked to him, but he didn’t. It wouldn’t actually fix the problem at the moment, and would likely only hurt or upset her.
And he didn’t want to do either of those.
“I’ve managed to sell everything back to someone else at this point,” said Alice and then let out a short chopped breath. “Took all my skill, a lot of sleepless nights, and work, but it’s done. A lot of the crops have greens attached. Vines, stems, or otherwise. Sold all of that to one party that wants it for… you know I didn’t even ask. For the food itself I sold it to a few different purchases for mercenary companies.
“We’re not going to make any money on any of it. We’ll likely even lose just a little bit, but it isn’t troubling. More just a lot of time lost on my part, really.”