Post by Nicolette Deveraux on Mar 11, 2015 15:24:51 GMT -5
August was drawing to a close, much to Nicolette's relief, whereby they would take their leave of the Gardiners to return to Bordelaix in time for the end of summer festival and resume some semblance of what she hoped would be normalcy. The summer's journeys had been detrimental on a number of levels both personal and family-wise, resulting in much time spent in damage control, re-evaluation and an increasing sense of distrust where her own blood was concerned. The Deverauxs looked to be lurching from scandal to incident to danger like a reeling drunk after an all night binge. Despite the realization that much of what occurred was not her fault personally or across the family, Nicolette nonetheless felt responsible, especially when attacks were made on people under her care.
Now, at the end of August, she could hardly wait to put Shelbourne behind her. In Bordelaix, she hoped to regain control and solid ground, ensuring the safety of her sisters as well as her new ward, who had been the victim of an attempted kidnapping herself. Too many questions were coming to light as a result of these incidents with few enough answers, though she counseled herself to be patient. The answers would be coming soon. All she had to do was survive long enough to see Juliette off to safety in Lavigne, bring her other sisters and cousins home, and keep the surviving Romanovs intact until the uprising in Vasile could be quelled while dealing with the other members of her family.
Exhausted and trying not to show it, Nicolette availed herself of an early morning alone, taking a constitutional stroll in the gardens in an effort to clear her mind. She had a number of decisions to make prior to departure and needed a chance to weigh her options before rendering those choices, not the least of which was the dispensation of Gregoire's son Casper, who would accompany Juliette to Lavigne and then back with the Montenoire representatives, and who would go to Vasile with the Romanovs? She shook her head, tiredly amused at how one matter inevitably led her mind into the next item until it felt like an unending circle.
Reaching the gardens with only a guard in tow, she expected to be alone. Few residents (or guests) of Rosedale seemed inclined to rise with the dawn as she did, leaving the peace lying over the gardens undisturbed. There was a fine mist that morning that the newly rising sun was already burning off, leaving everything sparkling with a thousand tiny diamond-like droplets. If she drew close to one of the rosebushes, Nicolette could almost use the silvery moisture as a mirror. Smiling to herself at the fanciful thought, so unlike her, she reached to pluck one of the fat pale pink cabbage roses, the better to enjoy its dew-drenched scent in a personal moment of undisturbed peace.
@stephanedeveraux