Chapter 17

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to leave for the day? Aurora mentioned she wanted to visit us this afternoon,” I reminded Rayne as we stood outside the house.

It was early morning, and the sun had only been up for about an hour.

The air was filled with the fresh scents of dew and grass. I could see the soft glow of the sprites flying high in the trees of the surrounding forest.

The peaceful and lovely scene brought a calm to my heart that I had been longing for.

Rayne stood beside me, also taking in the fresh air. His ears moved to the sounds of the soft rustle of leaves and sprites singing.

He looked handsome in the morning sunlight, dressed lightly in a loose white shirt and dark pants.

“It will be fine. They know I want to spend time with you, and they’ll have plenty of other opportunities to visit,” he reassured me.

“I suppose,” I reluctantly agreed.

“Did you want to spend the day with Aurora?” Rayne asked me.

That felt like a trick question. Yes, I did want to have some time to get to know her, but I wanted this time with him much more.

“Yes, I would’ve liked that, but I also want time with you, so I’m willing to wait,” I answered honestly.

Rayne chuckled, reading my thoughts easily. “Please don’t feel like I was testing you. I promise I wasn’t. I was just curious about your feelings.”

“Well, I can’t deny that I’d like both things, but right now, I want this time with just us. I’ve been missing you for the past few weeks,” I confessed.

Rayne pulled me into a comforting hug. “I’m sorry. I’ve made you feel lonely, haven’t I?” he lamented.

“I promise I’ll be here for you much more from now on, and we can start that today.”

“Do you have any plans for our time in Jumal?” I asked as I held onto his waist.

“Not really. I thought we could spend our morning looking around, and I wanted to stop by Sherry’s shop and thank her.”

“I didn’t get the chance to thank her yesterday for her kindness to you. I feel rude not doing so,” Rayne admitted.

“I’d like to do that as well. I had started to think that none of the other women liked me at all, but she treated me like a friend. It was quite humbling,” I told him.

“I know how they’ve made you feel, but I’m sure that most are not against you. They just need time to get to know you, and once they do, they’ll step up and stop this foolishness from continuing, just like Sherry wants to,” Rayne assured me.

“I suppose it’s possible.”

Rayne took my doubts in stride. “It will be fine, Luna,” he promised as he brushed my hair over my shoulders. “You’ll soon see that most are not out to judge others, and we’ll find out who is behind all of this; then you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

It was a sweet promise, and I did feel slightly more secure knowing that he was going to be with me. But as we reached the path out of the forest and saw Jumal in the distance, I couldn’t help feeling slightly nervous.

I kept lightly tugging at a strand of my hair, hoping that things would go well. Not only was I not hiding myself this time, but I was also with Rayne.

Would this really go okay, or would the rumors only intensify?

Rayne held my hand, lacing his fingers in mine as we walked.

“There’s no reason to be nervous. You are mine, so it’s only proper for you to be seen with me,” he reminded me.

“You have a point,” I reluctantly acknowledged.

Rayne gave me a quick kiss on my temple. “Relax. Everything will be fine.”

Jumal was just as lively as when I’d been there the day before, although it was much earlier, so there were even more people out, probably hoping to beat the heat of the day.

I stayed close to Rayne as we entered the village, doing my best not to look as nervous as I felt. But while there were eyes on us, they didn’t feel as judgmental as I’d become accustomed to.

Instead, they seemed more curious, and I heard different quiet conversations here and there.

“Oh, it’s Lord Rayne, and he’s brought his mistress!” one woman was saying.

“How exciting! I’ve been hoping to see her!” another softly chimed.

But one whisper caught my attention right away.

“She is as beautiful as they said, but I don’t see where she feels malicious at all like she claimed.”

~Like she claimed.~

That part had my attention, and I glanced up at Rayne to see his ears twitch. Yes, he’d heard it too, and there was no mistaking that it was a clue to who was spreading lies about me.

But he didn’t say anything about it, instead acting like he didn’t hear it and smiling at me.

“Would you like to visit Sherry’s shop now? We can thank her for yesterday and you’ll get the chance to see what she has,” he suggested.

“I’d love to,” I agreed, returning his smile.

The two of us continued down the roads, and I was taking in the different sights with him of the stalls and shops, along with some of the creatures there.

A few people openly greeted us as we went along, even addressing and bowing to me as they introduced themselves. I’ll admit that I wasn’t used to this at all, and was winging my responses a little, doing my best to be polite to them.

What an incredible change of heart this felt like, even though I couldn’t exactly say that they were the ones speaking ill of me.

It was comfortable walking under the shades of the tarps, and we didn’t feel much of the heat at all when we arrived at Sherry’s shop.

She was just opening her door as we arrived and greeted us warmly.

“Oh, good morning Lord Rayne and Lady Luna! It’s so nice to see you!” she said as she gave us a polite bow.

She wore another sparkling silver dress, her long hair cascading gracefully around her as she moved.

Rayne returned her smile as I continued holding his arm.

“Good morning, Sherry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, and you look as lovely as ever,” he greeted her.

“I thank you for the kind words.” Sherry beamed.

“It’s nice to see you again, Sherry. Thank you so much for all your help yesterday. I appreciate everything you did for me,” I added.

I admit that I did feel better seeing her. At least I had one person here that I was sure was my friend and on my side.

“I will be here anytime you need me, my lady, and I am so happy to see you again,” Sherry said as she stepped over to us.

“Are you able to come in and visit with me for a bit? I feel awful that we didn’t have the chance to speak about much more than what was going on around you yesterday, and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Rayne wasn’t surprised at all.

“We have no issue with that. You have been a good friend to our family for a long time, and I’m certain you have been hoping to get to know Luna.”

“Very much so,” Sherry confirmed.

She led us into the shop as she continued, “My parents started this shop many years ago, and they’ve had much pride in it.”

“Daddy has also been so happy that Lord Jekia and his family enjoy coming here and spending time with us. It is nice that we’ve been able to cultivate our friendship with your family as we have.”

“Lord Jekia has come to this shop for a long time?” I asked, feeling slightly surprised.

“He has,” Rayne confirmed.

“While we do maintain friendships with many creatures including those who oversee the towns and villages, there are certain families that we have simply known forever.”

“From what I know, Father has had a friendship with Sherry’s family even before he became one of the rulers, so it is only natural that we’ve stayed close to them.”

Now some things were making a lot more sense. Sherry wasn’t just another creature who respected Jekia and his family as rulers.

Her family had ties with them from long before any of that.

“I see now why you became so upset when I spoke of those whisperings about me. It wasn’t simply because you found them disrespectful. It was because you were already close to our family,” I surmised.

Sherry nodded as she turned to face us. “Very much so, and it truly did break my heart to see you so hurt.”

“You are very, very sweet at heart, Lady Luna, and it was easy for me to tell that none of that about you would be true.”

“Far be it for me to say this outside of here also, but I immediately had suspicions of why this was happening too, and it bothered me very deeply.”

“You are speaking of the matchmaking houses,” Rayne guessed.

“I am.” Sherry looked at one of the nearby windows before going on, “Far be it for me to say this, but I have little respect for some who are part of those houses.”

“I’m especially suspicious about Madame Lucille’s lately. I just don’t like a few that she has allowed in charge there.”

“Madame Lucille? She is the one that your mother and father were speaking about yesterday,” I noted as I looked at Rayne.

“Yes, she was. Tell me, Sherry, do you suspect that the rumors have originated from her House? You are making it sound that way,” Rayne pointed out.

Sherry nodded. “While I cannot prove it, I can’t ignore my intuition, nor the way a few of them tend to act.”

“Several of the higher-ranked women tend to see themselves as above most others, and I’ve experienced the brunt of their conceit a few times now.”

“While I know that Madame Lucille doesn’t condone it and will come down on them if it is caught, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if one of them started the rumors about Lady Luna.”

“We do know that there were efforts from that House to arrange Matchmaking services for you in recent years, so I’d imagine that some of those higher women are beyond miffed about you refusing them and then suddenly choosing Lady Luna,” she explained.

It looked like Rayne and his family had been right on the money with this one. But which ones had crossed this line?

It felt like they’d been covering their tracks very well.

“Yes, I think that’s probably the answer as to why this all started, and Father and Mother appear to be thinking along the same lines.”

“They told us yesterday that they plan on calling Madame Lucille to the palace to speak about this soon too,” Rayne informed her.

“I agree that it would be fruitful for them to do that. Madame Lucille does have the utmost respect for your family, and I’d imagine she’s mortified if she’s heard of this,” Sherry stated.

“Mortified is not a powerful enough word for it,” a woman’s voice suddenly interrupted.

The three of us turned to see a woman entering. She was stunning, standing with perfect posture in a long red gown.

Her hair, as black as night, cascaded to the bottom of her dress, and her bright blue eyes were framed by long, curled lashes.

A golden chain with small hanging red jewels adorned her forehead, and a similar chain was wrapped around her waist.

Sherry politely bowed her head to her. “Goodness, I have quite high-class company this morning. Good morning, Madame Lucille,” she politely greeted her.

This was Madame Lucille? She certainly was beautiful and came off as very refined, and definitely struck me as the type to train proper young women.

Yet she was not stuck up at all as she spoke to Sherry.

“Good morning, Sherry. You look very lovely today, as you do most days.”

Sherry smiled at her. “I thank you for the sweet comments. You have always been so kind to me, my lady.”

“I see no reason not to be. You’ve always been such a sweetheart. Your mother raised you extremely well,” Madame Lucille complimented her with a motherly pat on her head.

She then addressed Rayne. “It’s been a while now, Lord Rayne. I am so happy to see that you are doing well, and excited to see that you have a beta now.”

“It is nice to see you again too, my lady. You are as beautiful as ever.” Rayne decided to go ahead and introduce me, “This is my beta, Luna. Luna, this is Madame Lucille. She is in charge of the Belgan Matchmaking House.”

“It’s nice to meet you, my lady,” I politely greeted her, giving her a slight bow.

“It is nice to meet you too, my dear, and you do not need to be so formal. You are the one who is royalty,” Lady Lucille reminded me.

She took a moment to look me over. “My, you are a beautiful Fae, just as I had heard. I can tell that you know how to carry yourself very well too, but you are also not full of yourself. I do like seeing that. Self-confidence is good for a lady, but conceit will ruin you.”

“I see no reason to be conceited. I was raised as a servant, and I see no need to put myself above anyone even in my new position in life. I’d rather remember where I came from and be who I am,” I assured her.

Madame Lucille looked very pleased. “I knew I could trust you to pick the right one. I can already tell that she’s the perfect match for you,” she told Rayne.

“I did tell you before that I trust my intuition, just as my father and brother have,” Rayne pointed out.

“True, although I did have concerns over Lord Rin for a while. I was happy to see Lady Aurora when she came into the picture. She certainly calmed him quite a bit,” Madame Lucille commented.

“Well, you did say that he was a Fox like his father, Sage,” Rayne reminded her.

“I cannot deny that one.” Madame Lucille decided to change the subject back to what we’d been speaking of. “Moving on, I did happen to hear what you were speaking of when I walked up, and I am more than willing to meet with Lord Jekia to discuss what’s been happening.

“I was rather alarmed yesterday when I heard word that such terrible things were being said about Lady Luna, and I refuse to allow any of that to come from my House. If any of my girls are behind it, then I will ensure that they are punished for it.” She was acting polite, but I could see a quiet fury in her eyes. The mere thought that any of the women training under her would speak so ill of me infuriated her.

“We do appreciate any help you could give us to stop this nonsense, and we’ll be making certain that all understand that it’s only vicious rumors being spread about Luna. There is nothing dangerous or evil about her, as you can well see,” Rayne assured her.

“Not at all. I have met many kinds throughout the years, including those who were born to the Fallen Angels, and that has nothing to do with how they truly are.

“If you have chosen Luna, then all should know it was meant to be, not believe that she would ever be out to use you,” Madame Lucille stated.

I bowed my head to hide where tears had formed in my eyes.

“Thank you very much for your kind words. I have been feeling much better now that I know there is some acceptance of me,” I confessed.

“There’s no reason for there not to be, and I can promise you that there are plenty here that are excited to see you. I heard them speaking last night about that, and they had nothing but nice things to say,” Sherry informed me.

“Very true, and I will make certain that it stays that way.” Madame Lucille smiled at me as she reached into her sleeve, pulling out a small dark velvet pouch. “This is a rather fortuitous meeting too. I had been wishing to give Lady Luna a gift from me and our house.”

“Ah, yes. Mother did mention that yesterday,” Rayne recalled.

Madame Lucille opened the pouch and lifted out a silver chain with an oval pendant. The jewel within the pendant was incredibly beautiful, with a mixture of blue, purple, and green colors and sparkles deep inside that looked like stars.

Sherry’s eyes widened as she saw it.

“My goodness, is that a star crystal?” she asked in amazement.

“It is,” Madame Lucille confirmed as she slipped the chain around my neck, allowing the pendant to rest against my collar.

“I knew this would be the perfect gift when I heard about Lady Luna. It suits her so well.”

“It’s wonderful. Thank you so much,” I said as I stared at it.

Rayne looked at Sherry. “Out of curiosity, could you do a special order for me?” he requested.

“A special order? What would you like?” Sherry inquired.

“Let us step over to the counter. It’s a bit specific,” Rayne suggested.

I remained with Madame Lucille as they moved to the other side of the room, still speaking to her.

“Thank you again for this lovely gift, and for standing up for me. I’m sorry if all this mess with me is causing you trouble,” I apologized.

“I don’t look at it that way at all. I don’t condone speaking down about others, no matter what their position or how they came into this world. It is as unrefined as one can be. I’ve even had to remind some of my family of such things from time to time, unfortunately,” Madame Lucille admitted.

“I see.” I suddenly remembered the encounter I’d had a few weeks before. “If you don’t mind my asking, I met a beautiful lady here a while back named Hailia. Do you by chance know of her?”

Madame Lucille looked surprised. “You met Hailia? When did that happen?”

“A few weeks ago now. We met by chance when I first came here to see Jumal, and she was very kind when we spoke. She was in a beautiful home toward the edge of the village too, so I wondered if perhaps you knew her,” I explained.

“Yes, I do, and I am sure the home you are speaking of is one of mine. Hailia is my younger sister,” Madame Lucille admitted.

I blinked in surprise. “You have a younger sister?”

Rayne had been listening too and stood up straight as he turned to face us.

“I hadn’t realized that Hailia had returned here. Were you expecting her to do so and let her use your extra home?” he asked.

“Well.” Madame Lucille let out a tired sigh. “She did come back a bit out of the blue, but that wasn’t too surprising. Hailia certainly never has much luck when it comes to her males, though I blame that on her too.

“I have been allowing her to stay at my home here in Jumal and even teach a few classes to my girls from here to let her be part of our family business. I’d imagine she must’ve gone out and was interested when she saw Lady Luna as a potential young lady, then kept up the conversation when she learned who she is.”

“I see. I suppose that is only natural. You do scout out the young ladies for your House too,” Rayne noted.

“True, but I would prefer it if Hailia just stuck to what I ask of her. We’ve always butted heads about how we do some things, but I suppose it’s to be expected. We can be quite different in our outlooks on certain things,” Madame Lucille responded.

“Is it all right if I stopped by to see her sometime? I feel bad that we only spoke once and I haven’t been back to visit when she was so kind to me,” I requested.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything, but please allow me a bit of time to arrange it. Is that all right?” Madame Lucille suggested.

“Yes. Of course,” I agreed without hesitation.

I didn’t miss the suspicious look Rayne had as we said this. He may have done well at keeping a neutral expression, but it showed in his eyes and how his tail slightly twitched.

It was like he suspected something more in this but wasn’t going to say anything there.

But I let it go. If there was something more to it, then I trusted he would tell me later.

For now, I would just bask in being here and feeling accepted, and hopefully, this was the beginning of me being able to stand as the proud beta I was supposed to be.