ALL NOVEL Chapter 24: Gossip Rag
Rayne stared off into the distance as Eda helped her get dressed in the morning. Her thoughts kept circling back to Hannah. Thankfully not all of them were memories of the sound her fox had made or the imaginations she had had about her. Most of the thoughts were on how she would approach Hannah after this. Was it going to be awkward between them now? Were they going to have normal nights together after this or would there always be a new distance between them? Would Hannah ever let her play with her ears again?
“Your arm, my lady,” Eda said as she held out part of Rayne’s outfit for the day. Rayne made an acknowledging sound but didn’t move. “My lady.” Still Rayne stared off into the distance. Eda sighed. “Rayne.”
Hearing Eda speak her name always had an effect on the lady. She only ever called her by her name when it was something serious. It brought Rayne out of her thoughts of Hannah and back into the moment. “Yes?”
“Your arm,” Eda repeated.
“Oh, right, sorry.” Rayne reached and slipped her arm into the hole her lady’s maid offered. Even after that her mind started to slip back to Hannah.
“Alright, what happened?”
Rayne was glad she had enough awareness to answer. “What do you mean?”
Eda took a step back and put her hands on her hips. “This morning I actually had to wake you up and open the curtains myself. Normally you're already up and the curtains are wide open. Then you’ve been distracted this entire morning, barely registering my words. And don’t think I’ve missed that you keep occasionally blushing harder than I’ve seen in a while. That combined with the washrag…”
Heat rose in the lady’s face. She understood why Eda had to help her dispose of such a thing, but Rayne hated that she couldn’t ever masturbate without Eda knowing about it. Couldn’t she just pleasure herself without having someone else know about it like a normal person? But so was her curse.
Rayne opened her mouth to speak but found no words coming out. She took a deep breath before she let out a sigh. Finally her voice came to her. “It was just a mishap. I’ve already apologized for it.”
Eda pursed her lips before continuing to help Rayne finish getting dressed. “What kind of mishap?”
“I didn’t realize when you said that beastkin ears were sensitive that it could also mean in a…” Rayne sighed. There was no point in beating around the bush with Eda. If she couldn’t speak to her openly and honestly, who could she? “Sexual manner…” Rayne didn’t like the way Eda took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She also didn’t like that it took Eda a minute to respond.
Eda started buttoning the last of the buttons on Rayne’s back. “What else did you think I meant by sensitive?”
The heat that was filling Rayne’s face started to dissipate at the relief of Eda not admonishing her. “I just thought you meant sensitive. Like the small of someone’s back or lips. Maybe ticklish even.”
“Oh, to be young and innocent.” The last of the buttons were done up and Eda stepped away.
“I’m not that young. Nor am I innocent,” Rayne said with only the barest hint of a scowl. Eda just raised an eyebrow at her. “Fine, in that sense, I might be considered innocent. How… How was Hannah this morning?” The worry was clear in her voice.
“She appeared to be fine,” Eda said as she started putting away the nightgown Rayne had been wearing earlier. “Maybe a little distant and occasionally blushing, just like you.”
That was to be expected after what had happened last night. As much as Rayne wished Hannah would just let go of last night, she had the feeling the gentle fox wasn’t going to forget it that easily. It wasn’t going to be easy for Rayne to forget. Rayne nodded before deciding it was time to move on. “Alright, what is the plan for the day?” Rayne was honestly rather good at remembering and planning, but she always liked to double check everything with Eda.
“You have a couple of meetings throughout the day. I’m not fully sure what Lord Hamish has planned, but I think it had something to do with poetry.”
“Naturally.”
“Kaden has his second to last etiquette class today.”
It was a good thing Rayne did double check the plan with Eda because she had honestly forgotten about that. Though Kaden was to be eighteen in about three weeks, it was customary for those entering their first season to have lessons nearly all the way to the season. It could never hurt, though many youths didn’t like it. Rayne had to admit that since she turned eighteen four months before the season she hated the idea that she had to continue lessons even into adulthood. She still did it, though. Technically Kaden’s birthday was three days into the season, but no one would care for the first gathering however.
“Wait.” Something occurred to Rayne. “Mr. Williams is showing Hannah her new duties in the library today, right?”
Eda nodded. “He’s set time aside this morning after your breakfast to show her, then she will be there for presumably the rest of the day. Stewart has decided the first order of business will be a full inventory.” A tightness grew in the lady's chest. Lessons were always held in the library, which meant Hannah and Kaden would be in the same room. The teacher would be there as well, but Rayne didn’t like this. “Is something the matter, my lady?”
“I don’t like the idea of Hannah and Kaden being that close to each other.”
“Would you like me to set her to do something else for the day?”
It wasn’t the worst idea, but Rayne thought back to the other day when she was told Hannah was told she would be the librarian. Her fox had looked so happy and Rayne couldn’t imagine making Hannah wait another day to do what she so clearly wanted. There would also be the teacher with them, so there was at least another person. Was it Rayne’s decision to make, though? Would Hannah want one over the other? “I’ll talk to Hannah before Kaden’s lessons start and see what she would be comfortable with.”
“Very well. Just make sure it doesn’t interrupt Stewart showing her around or he will be upset.”
Rayne chuckled. “He can deal with it if I step in a little too early. Kaden’s lessons aren't first thing are they?”
Eda shook her head. “They won’t start until after lunch, so you will have time to talk to her before anything.”
“Wonderful.”
Ten minutes later Rayne was walking into the dinning room for her breakfast. She could already smell the food and felt her stomach growl. Last night had been more vigorous than she was used to and now she was pretty hungry. Normally Rayne was the first to make it to breakfast, but she wasn’t this morning. “Good morning, Kaden,” Rayne said as she went to her seat at the head of the table.
“Good morning,” Kaden replied. He gave her a quick and smile glance up from the pamphlet he was reading from.
Rayne was pleased to receive a smile from Kaden given the past few days. She wasn’t as pleased to take a closer look at the pamphlet once she sat down. “Are those Goddess-forsaken things already coming out? We’re still three weeks out, what gossip could those rags have to talk about?”
Kaden looked up at her again and gave her a smirk. “Well, they’ve had the whole off season to build up drama from the country. Now that everyone’s coming back there’s plenty to talk about.”
As Mr. Williams set her plate for Rayne, she shook her head. “Why does everyone revel in gossip rags?”
“People love their drama, Rayne.”
Rayne sighed. “Please don’t give into reading such things.”
“Dear sister,” Hamish said as he entered the room, “You say that as if I haven’t caught you reading the Mr. Meriwether Weekly publication.” Hamish paused in his stride and gave both of his siblings a little bow. “Good morning.”
The lady pursed her lips. “I have only ever read it on occasions, and only after someone has told me to.”
“That’s still giving into it.” Taking his seat, Hamish smiled at them both. “Don’t worry, I won’t go around spreading my own gossip about how the darling Lady Hayward, who is above gossip, actually does read it.” All that Rayne could do was roll her eyes at Hamish. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had read such things more than she let on. “But in all seriousness, as fun to read and talk about as they might be, Kaden, don’t believe everything you read in those things.”
“I’m not an idiot. I know half of the gossip is poorly interpreted hearsay, but I do know people are going to be talking about it. I would be rather happy to not be left out of the loop during my first season.”
Rayne nodded. “Admittedly that’s not the worst idea for a socialite such as yourself.” Kaden appeared to be happy with Rayne’s mild approval. “Just don’t become a worse gossip than Ms. Livingston became in her first season.”
Hamish couldn’t help but chuckle. “My that woman can talk. You know I’ve always theorized that she is actually the writer behind Mr. Meriweather.”
“I’ve heard worse theories,” Rayne said as she finally started eating her breakfast.
“I’ve heard better,” Kaden said.
Hamish waved his hand dismissively. “Just be sure to let us know if we start appearing in those things.”
“Well if that’s the case, then you already have.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time Hamish has been gossiped about. Especially after a Ms. Varddittir went abo—”
“Let us not talk about her,” Hamish said, cutting off his sister's story about the Casiden woman who embarrassed him. “I swear to the Goddess whatever I am in there for, I didn’t do it.”
“Oh, no. It’s not about you, brother. This is about our dear sister.”
“What?” The other two Hayward siblings asked in unison. It was true Hamish had appeared in major gossip one or two times, though it was never for something drastic, but as far as Rayne was aware she had mostly stayed out of such things. The only time Rayne could remember when she had actually been gossiped about, outside of when she was seven, was when she headed the family business instead of Hamish. And even then it hadn’t been scandalous, more a criticism of a woman running such a company. Since then she had done well to prove all those criticisms wrong and they had yet to ever mention how well she was doing now. She did her best not to cause any drama that would invoke mentioning her name, and now she was concerned what this gossip was.
Kaden held up the pamphlet. “You’re on the first page, or more accurately, you are the first page.”
Rayne felt her heart start to pound in her chest. She refused to believe her secret was out because she felt like it would have been the first thing Kaden said to her. There was the possibility that whatever she was in the pamphlet was about was all just a lie. That was the best option. She was capable of ending a lie. “Let me see that,” she said, reaching out to her brother. There was no hesitation from Kaden as he handed it over to her and she was thankful for that.
“What is she in it for?” Hamish asked his brother as Rayne started reading it over.
“That fox she bought.”
The first page of the gossip-rag was true to Kaden’s words and fully dedicated to Rayne and her purchase of Hannah. There were thoughts of having bought Hannah for Kaden’s eighteenth, which Rayne was disgusted by, but nothing was ‘confirmed’. It gave a speculative account of how Rayne came into purchase of Hannah, correctly claiming that she did come from Guild Row Market but getting all the other facts wrong. They said she came from an auction house and cost the lady a hefty two-thousand crem thanks to her ‘well educated state’.
“Did you really pay three-thousand for her?”
“Goddess, Rayne, I know she’s knowledgeable but did you really just pay that much on a whim?”
Rayne sighed, and kept on reading. “I didn’t pay nearly that much for her. I didn’t even pay a third of that.” The next section was a voyeuristic account of Rayne taking Hannah out shopping yesterday. There wasn’t any specifics mentioned from inside any of the stores and Rayne felt a little relieved by that. The rag did stick on the topic of taking Hannah to a bookstore for quite a while though. A beastkin being able to read was really a big deal apparently.
“Then how much did you pay?” Hamish asked
The idea of admitting how much Hannah cost her didn’t sit well with her. “I don’t feel comfortable discussing the price of another person. Let’s just leave it at being less than people think and far too much when you realize Hannah is just a person.” Hamish shrugged and didn’t appear to be fazed by her answer. Kaden, on the other hand, appeared to be a little upset by it. Rayne ignored that thought. “It appears that gossip about Hannah has finally gotten out. Hopefully people will get over this soon enough.” With that she went to hand the pamphlet back over to Kaden but Hamish stuck his hand out for it.
“Drama doesn’t go away as fast as you would hope, Rayne,” Hamish said after taking the gossip-rag.
“At least not unless there's something bigger to gossip about,” Kaden added.
“True.” Hamish started reading it over.
“Then why don’t we hope someone does something more scandalous than buying a beastkin? I’m sure there will be something within a week or two.” Rayne finally started eating her food again, hoping that would signify an end to this conversation. How many more times would she have a similar conversation about Hannah in the coming season? People were always bound to ask questions and this was a big change for the Hayward family.
“Maybe it will be Kaden’s turn to appear in these things.” Rayne couldn’t help but laugh at Hamish’s words. While she hated the idea of any of them having major gossip about them, it would be fitting for all the Hayward children to have their time in the spotlight.
“I hope not. I would much rather read about other people than myself.”
“It is much nicer that way,” Rayne said. “Given our status though, people will always find something to say about us. Just don’t take it personally when it does happen.”
“Did Hamish take Ms. Varddittir embarrassing him personally?” Kaden couldn’t help but smirk.
Hamish groaned. “I said let us not talk about her.”
“Oh, but it was so funny to watch you get taken down so many pegs, Hamish.” Rayne smiled. “I did warn you about—”
“Yes, well, I obviously didn’t listen did I?” Hamish finally handed the pamphlet back over to Kaden. “May we continue on with our breakfast?”
“I do think the best part was when Hamish went back to her at the next gathering, only to get embarrassed a second time.”
“He went back a second time? I didn’t hear that part of the story,” Kaden asked, intrigued.
“By the Goddess, I messed up and insulted a lady one time and I got my ass handed to me for it. I went back to try to apologize and explain myself and it happened again.” Hamish’s face started to turn a little red. “I’m never going to hear the end of it am I?”
The lady shook her head. “No.” Now she turned to Kaden. “Never insult a traditional Casiden dress, Kaden. Especially one belonging to a woman’s passed grandmother.”
“I wasn’t trying to insult the dress, I was just saying that it was a little revealing for such an event…” Hamish just shook his head and looked down. Quickly he started putting food in his mouth.
“Like I said, don’t insult a Casiden woman’s dress.”
