The Beastkeeper's Redemption

Forty-Seven

Forty-Seven

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Ravensfield estate was grand and vast, exemplifying the family's wealth to a great and possibly ostentatious degree, and nothing less had been spared for the stately room Caël led Izzy and Kaede to.

The massive, polished mahogany desk attracted the eye first, set against a backdrop of long velvet drapery concealing the windows and doors that led out to a balcony overlooking the pristine lawns. Tall shelves lined the walls, bracketing the biggest hearth Izzy had ever seen, and crowning that- an intimidating portrait of the late Lord Adams himself to overlook proceedings from the grave.

And Izzy couldn't help but wonder what the deceased duke would have made of his two daughters, who were currently causing their own brand of ruckus in the gloom of the study amidst their Other heartmates.

Lady Lillian Adams, now returned from her jaunt with Aëghan Dranora who knew where, leaned a hip against the edge of the desk and squeezed the bridge of her nose between her fingers, eyes closed. "Your point has been made, Aëghan. Could you heal yourself, and possibly find a shirt while you're at it?" she was saying in a crisp tone when the others entered the study.

The male in question stood before her with his hands on his hips, a wide grin on his face, and a gaping wound on his chest that was dripping blood onto the polished floorboards of the study. "Perhaps I'll allow it to scar and you'll be reminded every day of what I had to endure to save your... friends."

She huffed a sigh at that and dropped her hand to glare at him. "You'll bleed to death before that happens. Will you please fix it? Really, I hardly have the time to ward off your irreverence while tending to the felonies happening under this roof every other day."

"Cousin Theo was the felon, Lillian," Millie piped up from where she sat sprawled across her husband's lap, his tail binding her waist to him.

"Yes, and we are still in the process of finalising that court date." Lillian took note of Kaede, Izzy's and Caël's presence with a curt nod, before snapping her eyes to her heartmate. "Heal. Now."

"How can I resist when you get all authoritative with me?" Aëghan teased while Lillian turned her back on him to move to the other side of her desk. "You know just the right tone to make me fall to my knees before you and do your bidding."

As she commanded it, so the skin and bloody flesh of the Dravolese's flesh began to knit back together in an intricate pattern that sealed the severed parts of his chest, leaving only a trail of shimmering blood as any remnant that a wound existed there at all. During the magical process, Aëghan hefted himself onto her desk and swung his legs back and forth while he took in the other occupants of the chamber.

He definitely didn't pay any mind to the irked glower his heartmate was throwing at his back for his evident lack of decorum.

How the pair had been matched together, Izzy would never know. They seemed... simply opposite. Lillian, with her cool unflappable demeanour and inherent aloofness, juxtaposed against the flippant irreverence of her heartmate who wore a smile that suggested he never took anything too seriously, least of all himself. Indeed, when Izzy had first stayed at Ravensfield, it was Lillian Adams that had concerned her most, sure that the woman's shrewd and discerning demeanour would see through her fabrications.

Never would she have supposed that Lillian would have become taken with the likes of the Dravolese that had lurked about the estate with a restless energy and a quick grin.

Similarities she could identify in the other match, and in herself and Kaede. Millie and Blayne were warm and hospitable, encouraging friendships and belonging with easy smiles and welcoming embraces.