Start->Chapter 4->Episode 10 To Lucinda
An Engagement to Remember
I had the good fortune to attend the dinner party where the engagement of my niece to the younger son of Vanderhag was announced—oh wait--since I had engineered the entire affair it came as no surprise to me, my sister or even my raucous aunt who gave me a very close hard stare after the news.
I watched the old ducks flutter about excited over the prospect of another pending marriage while the daughter looked so deliciously aghast I tormented her the rest of the evening by reminding her that she was the only one left in the nest. A little surreptitious press of the knee under the table and she paled alarmingly sending a thrill of delight up my spine and the only missing ingredient was an audience of minxie. How I would have adored watching her disgust over the iron grip my dear Elyce kept on Royce and see her glare at me with barbs of pure hate knowing it would stir my loins into a black desire of lust and revenge.
But that was not to be so instead I took turns in encouraging the ducks in their cackling, welcoming the Vanderhag into the upper echelons of society and tormenting her offspring at covert moments. Well except for the eldest, he is a quarry of a different nature as this boy was one of those utterly annoying honorable types who did everything above board and did not have the smidgeon of past to blackmail him with. He was also the type who would be just as likely to deck you at the hint of a blackmail attempt, so this type you torment by harming those he loves. Instead I toyed with the idea of enjoying the ornament of a sister as it was time someone took the girl in hand and showed her that the world does indeed contain a big bad wolf. The engagement of her brother served me on so many varied levels it was masterful in its conception and I knew that despite my silence once minxie heard the news she would be fuming over my little wanderings into the lives of her friends. She is not in a position to save anyone—least of all herself and I have only begun the deconstruction of the woman I loved.
