Page 19 of The Rake’s Absolutely Devilish Reform (The Notorious Briarwoods #4)

P riscilla slipped down towards the breakfast chambers, back through the servants’ halls. She didn’t want to parade it about, what she’d done, though she had a funny feeling that no one in this house would judge her for spending the evening in the arms of Lord Hector, her soon-to-be husband.

She felt liberated at last, free, joyful, and as she turned down another staircase, she startled. A cat raced around a corner of the hall at the base of the stairs, batting at a ball.

And then a crow darted around the corner too, landing beside the cat, pecking at the yarn.

Priscilla was ready to run forward and tell the cat to shoo, lest the poor bird be undone.

But then a rather plucky voice called from around the corner. “You need not fear. It’s quite all right. The cat and the crow are friends, you know.”

She stilled. She’d not ever heard that voice before. She was certain of it. Did some strange servant keep pets in the house?

Before Priscilla could ask, a girl who was not quite yet of the age for a season poked her head around the corner.

“How do you do? I’m Lady Perdita, and you’re going to be my sister.”

“How do you know that?” Priscilla exclaimed, elated at the statement yet quite surprised that it was such public knowledge.

“Because your parents are staying here, and you spent the night in Hector’s room,” Perdita said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Priscilla swallowed. “You’re very direct, aren’t you?”

“It is the only way to be,” Perdita said with a shrug and smile. “I see everything, you know, in this house.”

“Well, I hope not everything,” emphasized Priscilla.

Perdita laughed at that, her eyes dancing and her dark hair bouncing about her face. “Oh, well, no. I suppose not everything, but I know the whereabouts of everyone, and I know the machinations of everyone too. It is what happens when you observe like I do.”

“Are you like the house ghost, only corporeal and breathing?” Priscilla teased, immediately liking the girl.

Perdita cocked her head to the side. “You know, I think I would make an excellent heroine of one of those sorts of novels. Ah, what would it be like, I wonder, to be in a fictional castle on the Moors, lurking about in the fog, waiting for my dark hero?”

“I don’t think you should want a dark hero,” Priscilla pointed out. “In real life, they’re really very terrible.”

“Ooh, real life,” Perdita tsked. “It can be very terrible, can’t it? Much better to stay in one’s thoughts and the fictions of one’s books and plays. Animals are also a very good bet. Far better than people.”

Priscilla laughed. “I take it you are a Briarwood from the comment about me being your future sister-in-law?”

“Of course I am,” she said. “And you are about to be a Briarwood too. I am quite pleased about it. I’ve been watching the whole turn of events unfold, you know. And it’s quite frustrating being my age. I’m not a child, and yet I’m unable to act as much as I might like,” Perdita huffed, but then she straightened. “But I will say, I approve.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Priscilla beamed. How could she not in Perdita’s winning presence?

“Your parents almost didn’t let you go through with it, did they?” Perdita frowned and shook her head. The crow seemed to sense her mood and cawed. The cat meowed. “My sympathies were with you, Lady Priscilla. It’s quite hard when you’re not of age and can’t choose your own husband without permission from your father. I’m lucky though because my mother lets me do just about anything that I want. And my brother too. Leander, the duke? We’re two peas in a pod. We understand each other very well. He doesn’t get in my way. He doesn’t make me wear silly frocks or play the piano or dance to ridiculous tunes. He doesn’t try to make me be anything that I don’t want to be. And that’s what this family will do for you too, Priscilla. You don’t have to be anybody you don’t want to be.”

“I’ve come to understand that. It’s quite a revelation.”

Perdita grinned again, and her crow flapped its wings and came to rest upon her shoulder. “Oh, this family is full of revelations. Just you wait. Your whole life will be one long, ongoing revelation.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Priscilla asked.

“Of course not,” Perdita returned, stroking the crow’s sleek black breast. “It is the greatest thing in the world to be a Briarwood. I adore it, and you shall too. And your parents will love it too. Even though they won’t technically be Briarwoods, they’re part of the family. And once you’re part of the family, well, the world is a wonderful place and all will be well. Always. It always works out in the end. Just you wait and see.”

Priscilla smiled. She longed to have Perdita’s optimism, and now perhaps she could. Now that she had stepped out of the shadows and declared her love for her soon-to-be husband, she would not have to fear ever again.

“You know,” Perdita began, kneeling down and scratching the chin of her cat as the bird jumped down on the floor and pecked at the yarn. “It is hard for parents to let their offspring go, at least for humans. In the animal world, it’s quite different. They raise their children and then set them free. They do not try to hold onto them. It would be quite unnatural for a cat to hold onto its kittens or a crow to ask its offspring to stay. I think we’re the only animal that really wants to control its young. Pack animals stay together, of course, but they still don’t treat their babies like babies once they’re grown. And I think it is a good thing that your parents at last see that you are independent, Priscilla. You are your own woman.”

“I’m about to be a married woman,” she pointed out.

“It’s true, and that will only make you freer in this family. Married women get to have all the fun. But remember, you must be yourself. Never think that you must give way to my brother. He wouldn’t like it, in any case.”

Her heart softened at the kind girl who was instructing her in matrimony when she herself wasn’t married. And yet Priscilla was certain that Perdita had the right of it. “Thank you,” she replied.

Perdita nodded and stood. “I can see how much you’ve struggled and how much you’ve had to fight. You don’t have to fight anymore. We’re all here for you.”

And with that, Perdita ran up to her, threw her arms around Priscilla, and hugged her tight. The cat came up and batted her skirts, and the crow circled round.

“Now, we are off for a grand adventure outside, and I must go with them lest one of the foxes tries to eat the cat. The fox I have upstairs won’t do that. He knows the way of things. But you can never entirely trust wild things,” Perdita said as if it was the most important thing in the world.

Perhaps it was.

With that, Perdita gave her a wink and ran down the hall, her animals leading the way.

Priscilla stood watching the empty space the girl had once occupied, and she smiled. It was one of the most wonderful exchanges she had ever had, and a realization came to her.

That’s what her children would be like.

They wouldn’t be afraid. They would be overjoyed. They would pursue their own interests and be free to do so. They would not have to live in fear. They could be themselves and they would be safe. And that? That was the greatest gift of all.