Read Online The Lily Brand by Sandra Schwab - Free Book Online

head. “I see,” she murmured.
    The young nobleman frowned. “Medlycott should call him out, demand satisfaction. I would, if I were him. This… this is an affront to his honor.”
    Lillian looked straight ahead, focusing on the bright orange feather stuck in the turban of the lady in front of them. “So you would kill a man for this?” It seemed to her as if she could hear the song of the dogs in the distance, yearning to sink their teeth into flesh and bone. She could almost see ruby droplets blooming on white linen, and perhaps a pistol shot would sound like the crack of a whip searing skin.
    Lillian blinked.
    Beside her, she felt Perrin square his shoulders. “My honor would demand it. As would the honor of every respectable man.” Her question seemed to have affronted him. “You might think me inexperienced in battle. True, I have not been to the war as my cousin, but he has no father who would have prevented him from going.” All at once, he sounded wistful. “I would have liked to gain glories on the battlefield. How sublime it must have been to fight at Wellington’s side at Waterloo…” Here his voice trailed off, and his blue marble eyes turned to the distance, shimmering, as if he would burst into tears any moment, so moved was he by his glorious visions of heroic deeds for king and country.
    All Lillian could envision, however, were nightmarish sights of blood and gore, the smell of scorched flesh, the cries of men. She suppressed a shudder. To banish these images, she grabbed at the next best question she could think of. “So your cousin was at Waterloo?”
    Perrin frowned, blinked, then shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “No, he was not. He was wounded in some skirmish or other several months before and taken prisoner.” Their round through the room had almost come to an end. This seemed to make him remember his gentlemanly obligations. His fingers pressed reverently down on Lillian’s. “Would you like some refreshments, my lady?”
    Refreshments meant that she could forego the next dance. “Yes, my lord.” She bowed her head. “Thank you.”
    With purposeful steps the viscount guided her toward the refreshments room, a man with a mission. When they arrived, the smaller room was already filled with other thirsty dancers, smiling, talking, and sipping sparkling wine. Debutantes fingered their necklaces, rows of pearls or sparkling stones, and giggled while they stood beside their dance partners, who in turn puffed out their chests and held their wineglasses with elegant nonchalance.
    “Could I tempt you with a cup of soup?” Perrin asked solicitously His hand still rested over hers in an oddly protective gesture.
    Lillian looked at it.
    Or perhaps it was just possessive.
    Yet who would think such a thing of Alexander Markham, Viscount Perrin, with his innocent blue eyes and blushing cheeks? She lifted her gaze and met his, stared at him as if to penetrate all his secrets. But in the end, it did not matter. What ever did?
    His eyes darted away.
    “I would like a glass of lemonade,” Lillian said softly.
    ~*~
    He sent her a delicately painted fan the next day, which Lillian’s aunt could not stop admiring. “He must be in love with you, my child!” she exclaimed, obviously pleased with herself that she had managed to secure a good parti for her niece during her very first season. Aunt Louisa, a woman with an ample bosom and a preference for rainbow-colored dresses and cheerful turbans, exuded the soft scent of violets as she bowed over the viscount’s latest present. “Charming, absolutely charming,” she murmured. “Come and see, Lillian, my dear. Such an exquisite miniature. A scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream , I believe.”
    Lillian stood up from the window seat of her grandfather’s drawing room, which conveniently overlooked the busy street outside. This way, the ladies of the house could observe what was going on in the neighborhood, who was paying a visit on