Your Darkest Dream (Blackwood & Friends #2)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"I must say," Blanche said, panting as she struggled to catch up to Nicola, "this isn't quite what I had in mind." She swatted at an irksome little gnat that had been flying about her face most persistently for the last twenty minutes.

"I think it is rather pleasant," Nicola said unwelcomingly.

Pleasant was not an adjective Blanche would have used to describe the activity Nathaniel had enforced on them with an avidness that had been astounding at first.

"It's rather bracing and fresh," she added, turning slightly to give her a beaming smile.

Blanche grumbled something unladylike at that and continued to trudge along behind Nicola. They were winding through the woodlands that surrounded the Northwick estate. It was hot, the air humid and sticky, there were bugs that whizzed about pestering her constantly, and her thighs were burning and her calves were complaining bitterly about the steady and unending incline she was being forced to trudge up. This was the first day under Mr Southill's tutelage and Nicola and Blanche were being subjected to a brisk hike around the radius of the gently sloping grounds and woodlands of the expanse that was Northwick.

When Nathaniel had agreed to train her in the art of throwing a decent punch, this was certainly not what she had expected.

Lungs burning, Blanche decided right then and there that she couldn't take a step further and collapsed into the bracken that littered the floor to either side of the path they were hiking along. "It is too much," she proclaimed to the canopy of leaves above her, a myriad of blinking pieces of sunlight flickering among the leaves, "leave me here to perish."

Penelope, who was rather enjoying the excursion and dressed in a fine little blue coat, licked Blanche's cheek as she lay prostrate on the mulchy floor. Nicola had stopped further along the path and laughed. "You look ridiculous," she said, "with just your feet sticking out of the ferns."

"I mean it, Nicki. Go on ahead and tell that oaf I shan't move another inch. He'd be better off carrying me the rest of the way."

"It's not so bad," she teased. "Besides, the slope will crest soon and then the rest of the way will be downhill. It will be easier then."

"That's what you said the last time!"

"I mean it this time."

Blanche sat up and threw her a dark look. "I don't trust you," she told her friend pertly, leaning back on her hands. "And I certainly don't trust him anymore."

Nicola crossed her arms and grinned, glancing up the path where Nathaniel had disappeared a long time ago. He was clearly of a different level to the two ladies in his company as the man practically surged ahead. "Well, you can't lie about all day," she told Blanche. "We need to return to the house in the next hour as per your mother's request."

"Really, leave me here. You are the newest daughter she may torment. I do not wish to be pestered with details about tomorrow's ball, especially not after this." Blanche leaned back on her elbows with a sigh so that only her head was above the fronds of the bracken. The house was alive with preparations for the ball that Lady Blackwood was hosting in order to introduce the new Marchioness of Northwick to society and no doubt Blanche would be subjected to her mother's insistent henpecking as soon as this ordeal was over. Sweat was clinging to her skin and had made the fabric of her dress damp, especially at the base of her back and between her breasts. Something was also making her backside itch and she glanced down at the ground she was sitting on.

Damn.

"That may be so, but I can't very well leave you here alone," Nicola explained. "You'll get lost."