╒══════════════════╕
Marivatan Manor, Nasavte
Eighteen years later
╘══════════════════╛

Andreya pulled the ivory curtains aside to peer through the window, her other hand checking the lock on the door for the fifth time that day. Upon sight of the empty front garden, she brushed past the door and down a short flight of stairs to the kitchen, where she touched the lock on the servants' door and instinctively glanced at every window in the room, though there were only two. Both were closed and locked.

Andreya pulled the many layers of her navy dress up to her shins to tackle going back up the stairs and peeked at the front door lock again as she passed. Her morning rounds were extra fastidious today. Extra thorough. Extra safe. She'd made sure of it after the letter she'd just stumbled upon with its jade wax seal and its crest from the Radenbutan House. The Radenbutans kept order in Nasavte, and order, for Andreya, never seemed to be of the good sort.

"If they see me," she muttered to herself, pulling closed the minuscule gap in the full-wall draperies and bathing the parlor in semi-light. "If they see me, if they see me..."

She tossed a stray lock of hair from her face and plopped into her seat in a pool of fabric, continuing to chide herself in a lower tone. She couldn't continue hiding in her family's manor forever, denying every ball or offer of courtship, every tea party and social outing. Even invites from the royals went unopened, gathering dust in the chest she'd placed next to the front door for the very purpose of collecting unwanted mail. It had been something like seven or eight years since she had openly participated in social activities. The only person she ever saw was in the mirror that used to stand in her room, and the woman there was still twenty-two. Andreya was far from twenty-two, and so the woman in the glass was not her. She didn't even have herself for company.

The clock chimed mid-afternoon and Andreya jumped into a brisk round about the house again, checking every window and every door and tugging every curtain and redoing every lock just to hear it click. When she swept back by the front window she came to a skidding halt, pulling the curtains apart with a single finger just enough to see the garden. There, her fears had come true in the form of a jade carriage out of which emerged two well-dressed men and their elegant sister, Teline. The Radenbutans had known her entire family for generations, which was precisely what made them so dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Too dangerous by too much.

They and one servant wove through the short garden path to the front door whose window Andreya was peeking through and Andreya prepared herself to meet them in every way she could think of. Straightened her hair—though she'd broken all her mirrors months ago—yanked her traveling cloak from the rack and flicked the hood up, pulled on her periwinkle gloves and placed a dainty, shaking hand on her corset, under which she had hidden a dagger. When the Radenbutans were close enough she could hear the clack of their shoes, Andreya swung the door open and burst out, apparently in a hurry and nearly knocking Teline over.

"Oh!" Andreya gasped. "I'm terribly sorry, I was just on my way to my cousin's estate, if you'll excuse me—"

"Andreya?" Teline's dark eyebrows shot up. It had been over a decade since they had last met and unlike Andreya, Teline actually looked the part. "Is that you, my dear friend?"

Andreya tried unsuccessfully to slip through them while hiding her face. "I'm terribly, horribly sorry, I really must be going—"

"Duchess Marivatan." The oldest Radenbutan's harsh voice made Andreya stiffen. "We sent notice two weeks ago announcing today's visit. You'll kindly remember our audience with you today is made obligatory by King Diewel himself."

Andreya did not think it advisable to mention that she'd only just sent their notice an hour before when she accidentally knocked a stack of neglected mail from her settee.

"Now really, Kaudwik." Teline touched her brother's arm. "No need for the formal speak. Isn't that so, Andreya? Is Jahaniya still in your service? Her tarts were the quintessence of our childhoods."

Andreya could hardly breathe. They would see her. There was no way they could not see her. They would know. Still, she managed to straighten, pale as a ghost, and reluctantly face the three siblings. "No, I let Jahaniya go several years ago."

"Ah, that is unfortunate." Teline was already gravitating toward the front door. "Can we join you for tea? I remember your mother's parlor being lovely."

"Duchess," the second brother warned, and a sinking feeling told Andreya her escape had failed. So much for keeping her secret. Did they know already? Were they drawing her into a trap in her own house? Sucking in a long breath, heart hammering against her dagger, Andreya lifted her chin and hoped her choking fear did not show in her expression.

"Yes, of course," she said, voice deceptively pleasant, "although I must admit I've kept the Manor in a dreadful state. Deepest apologies."

Teline's smile grew threefold. "I am sure it looks in better shape than when we tracked mud through it in our academy days. The housekeeper was so mad."

The front door creaked when Andreya opened it to let the three of them in. Yes, she thought, I am making a huge, inevitable mistake. She swallowed and closed the door once they were all inside.

"It has hardly changed." Teline dabbed her eye, caught suddenly in nostalgia. Kaudwik and Hedemit skipped the formalities and made straight for the parlor.

"Can I interest you in some tea?" Andreya said, hoping to escape from the kitchen door and perhaps leave the country before they found her.

"Do you not have a maid?" Teline asked at the same moment Hedemit said, "We've no need for tea."

"Ah, well then." Andreya had yet to remove the hood of her traveling cloak. "Please, make yourselves at home in the parlor and I shall join you in shortest order."

"I think not." Kaudwik's boom made Andreya freeze again midway to the stairs. "No more delays, Duchess. The King demands it."

Andreya must have looked like a cowering dog. All three siblings staring in silence, she finally stepped between them into the semi-lit parlor. She didn't open the curtains, but as she settled on a blue velvet chair with all the comfort of a bed of needles, Hedemit thought it necessary to open them himself and told her to kindly remove her traveling cloak. Teline perched like a delicate bird across from Andreya, but both her tall and intimidating brothers stayed standing.

"I'm sure you are aware of the purpose of our visit," Hedemit said.

Andreya gave a small nod.

"So it's true, Andreya?" Teline asked, studying Andreya's dark locks and smooth skin. "You really have been using an anti-aging elixir?"

Andreya looked up sharply. "I—"

Hedemit interrupted. "According to our records, you have not attended this year's class census, and in doing so you have denied your passage into second vicennial class and have been charged by course of law with class tax evasion."

"I'm so sorry," she said, "I will gladly pay the interest—"

"In addition, you have been accused of the possession and use of anti-aging elixirs, for which you are being placed under arrest in the name of Royal Law."

Andreya's dress swished as she shot to her feet. "I have done no such thing! You have no grounds on which this arrest is warrant—"

"Andreya, dearest, we haven't seen one another in nearly ten years"—Teline's rise from her seat was slow and graceful—"and you don't look a day older than you did then. You look half your age." Her face took on the gentle sadness of a disappointed mother.

"Search my property, then," Andreya snapped, "and you'll see I have nothing of the sort!"

But at her resistance, Hedemit took hold of her arm and yanked her toward the door with just enough gentleness to be polite, and before she knew it Andreya was already outside. She twisted back to the manor and saw only Teline closing the door behind them and following Andreya and the brothers to that wretched jade carriage.

It was a kidnapping in Andreya's books, an arrest in the law books. But whatever it was, it was the first time Andreya had crossed the edge of her family's property in nine years, and it would be the last time she ever saw it.

──── xxx ────

Hola, humans! What do you think? Let me know in the comments and vote if you enjoyed! Don't forget to check out the other cool ONC novellas out right now, too! We all love your feedback and it's a wonderful community to be a part of.