The Lady Who Stayed

III. The Rake

"Miss Mary Angel Featherton!" The guests did not hide their surprise when the butler intoned her entrance at the Macy Ball.

There could be many reasons for the horror and judgment in their eyes. For one, her father just died, and she was expected to remain in mourning, depriving herself of social fun because that was how one should respect their deceased. Another reason was the simple fact that Mary Featherton did not frequent balls, particularly something as large this one. Her being without a title and the daughter of a rich man who owned the two largest gentlemen's clubs in Willowfair were enough reasons.

Women had always regarded the Mary House and Angel House as enemies. Their husbands and beaus were members, and God was not the sole witness to their husband's secrets. Mary reminded them of their insecurities and the little ugly things they kept in their closets. Seeing her made them wonder if she had knowledge of their husband's infidelity or gambling debts, or of the horrors within their own households the men spilled over card games and expensive bottles of brandy.

Mary was also aware of the gossip circulating amongst the wives and daughters. That she, Mary Featherton, was more involved with the fine gentlemen, perhaps offering services too scandalous to be discussed within polite society.

Do you see her stoop? A commoner's back, that's what it is, they would say. She is not the prim and proper girl her father tried to paint her to be. They were right. Mary was none of those things. And if they knew her secrets, these women would be the first to light the torch and hunt her down.

Built hundreds of feet below ground, the Town was no different from the world aboveground, contrary to what her Cressida might have believed. So long as people were part of a society, there would always be the need for acceptance. And with that came requirements that should be met because humans needed to feel they belonged. But also, they enjoyed feeling better than others.

She knew that too well, having grown up surrounded by greedy men who wanted one thing or another; who would do anything to gain entrance into an exclusive club where the echelons of society spent their useless time; gentlemen who would give up anything to win the next card game because they wanted to double what should have been enough. Men who had secrets. And men who exploited the weak simply because they could.

Cressida, Mary's best friend, despite being born gentry and with the status Mary did not have, grew tired of the Town and its shallow norms. Her friend wanted something different—an adventure that the Town would only frown upon. She wanted true love. Pure, simple, and naïve as it may be, but it was a valid desire. Cressida did find a way out with the help of her husband, Calan Haverston. Mary may have an idea how they managed it, but she did not think it was necessary to find out. So long as Cressida was having her grand adventure, Mary was fine with it.

Yet while Cressida left, Mary stayed. Since then, things had gone from mellow and boring to drastic and desperate.

And dangerous.

Earnest Featherton died, living her with a fortune that no woman in the Town had ever owned. She, an untitled woman, richer than most men in this ballroom, was alone to face the prejudice of every guest who never saw her as one of them.

But the women were not her enemies tonight. She was the enemy to some of these people and they did not even know that. She knew the secrets of their fathers, their husbands—everyone who graced the Mary House and the Angel House where secrets were never truly safe because the walls had ears.

She scanned the ballroom, her mind on one goal: a doorway.

"Mary Featherton!" Mary stiffened and turned. The old, elegant woman who stood before her was a stranger, but she offered a curtsy. "Darling child, I am sad to learn about your father's passing. My condolences. My dear husband, bless his soul, was a member of one of your clubs. And I believe that if we ever bore a son, he would have grown up there, what with the time Jason spent in Mary House!"