A Scandalous Entanglement

XXXV

She straightened and the woman before her seemed not faced of her unruly state of dress or hair. "I do not think we have met, my lady." She added so as not to be rude in case the woman was high up on the societal ladder. "Indeed we haven't, I only but arrived this morning. A close friend to the family's."

Emilia saw the gold about her neck, a familiar symbol as to the set of rings lady Seymour had worn just the previous morning. "A family earldom, one of a kind if you ask me. A small token of appreciation from the lady of the house given to me by herself." Her eyes raked Emilia's person as if observing all imperfections on her. "Not every one is lucky enough to receive one."

"You must be more than a close friend to the family then." "Oh, more than close." The woman settled herself on a lounge sofa and tucked her legs as delicately as possible under her skirts. "Family if you please. Lady Seymour has been nothing but a second mother to me." "May her grace run on." The woman nodded.

"She would have been my mother in law, but things don't exactly turn out to plan do they? Most especially after being a prospective bride for so long and then all of a sudden, news of a hasty wedding taking room. It was fun however long it lasted."

"The Lord Seymour, he was to be your husband?" "Most devastating news I ever received that day. He left me for well." Better judgement crossed her face and Emilia stood as rigid as possible. "I am sure he had his reasons." Emilia pointed out delicately.

"Yes, the father of his bride was offering his daughter up for marriage with the promise of shares to his mine. Devyn being the man that he is, chose that as the perfect advantage taking a woman of far less dowry than I had for a wife. He is of course is of a rebellious and stubborn nature, always has been always will be. The question is, however how well can you handle him?"

Emilia preferred she didn't answer the question, she had handled her husband just fine even though their marriage was a far cry to society. "Is he a hard man?" She asked instead as she sat down on the nearest sofa clearly afraid of the answers she would receive. Though why was she even asking, Devyn Seymour was a ruthless mean man, a man with arrogance and though she hadn't really seen that side of him, she knew it existed, his constant hard jaw and mean eyes were evidence enough.

"Why he was never really shown love but rather only a hard hand from his father. Love isn't a term he is used to and if I should go on to say, Devyn was never a priority to his father, I doubt the lord even considers him as his own biological child." That explained a lot. ""But he knows how to treat a woman right." She continued and again better judgement took hold of the womans face and Emilia straightened her back to her comparison. "That is if you even know how to handle him well enough."

Confusion which she was sure of was on her face. What did the woman mean by such a statement? Did that mean that she herself had had some relations with her husband before their meeting? She had after all confessed to being his intended before she was brought into the picture, and it wasn't unusual for couples courting to share a few kisses with each other. But go as far as a simple kiss, Emilia failed to believe it. The woman before her was jesting.

The woman stood up from her seat clearly satisfied that she had managed to put Emilia in a sort of puzzlement.

"But who am I to judge, seeing as you have kept him long enough. A good day to you lady Seymour."

A strong hold of jealousy took hold of her and she all of a sudden wanted to know all about the woman and Devyn's past history even though they might not have slept together. Though she didn't want to come out as inquisitive rather just having a handful of knowledge on what happened.

Damned it, she wanted to know who the woman was to Devyn.

"Perhaps he didn't find you worthy enough of being his bride?" She asked the lady who stood with nothing but a neutral expression clearly showing her dislike at such statement. "And he found you worthy of being his?" It was a question that was asked with such bitter disgust. Granted he had only married her for the mine and when she couldn't give her an answer, the woman simply concluded. "Well the loss is on him then."