“Oh. This is stunning.” her eyes scan the designs painted across the pages, drinking in every color and ornamentation. it’s as if the pages are coming to life before her eyes, vibrant hues leaping off the sheets and drawing her inside. The girl tears her eyes from the page, looking up at the boy beside her. “You have a gift.” nancy gives him a smile, before breaking the spell herself. ( just leaving it at that would have been awkward. or maybe she’s just inept. girl is a mess in a dress. ) “So you’re an illustrator? Is illuminating your favorite style?”
“ While I DO appreciate a good mystery, I was referring to The Lost World. Daring adventures in the Amazon with the greatest creatures to walk the planet.” she’s got a thing for escapism: she doesn’t have to be trapped in a room, her life more restricting than the corset digging into her ribs. She can explore the amazon, have the most bold adventures. It’s likely the reason she’s mostly been an obedient child.
Running off doesn’t count if she keeps coming BACK.
“ I don’t mind.” she thinks back to Henry and his lack of a filter: best friends don’t have to restrain from cursing around each other, he’d reasoned with her. But no, now was not the time to go down that path. “I’ve heard of it. Well, if it comes so highly recommended, I ought to pick it up next, then.”
“i don’t know about all that,” he grinned, the softest hint of pink at his cheeks from the compliment. “but it certainly passes the time.” that was an understatement. from start to finish, it had taken him near to a year to put this book together. usually he wouldn’t have devoted that much time to a single project, but it had been the only thing that kept his mind from straying back to his brother. upon finally finishing it, he’d been shocked when garreth had given it back to him. “ya keep it,” the old man had said as he closed aedan’s hand around the precious book. “i ain’t got no need for a book so grand. folks around here’re hardly looking for a book worth a small fortune. but i bet ya that with work like that, you could find yer way to a much higher job than i can give ya here.” he drew himself back to the land of the living when her voice sounded out once again. “among other things. i’m a bookbinder, miss. we’re meant to do it all. it is. i think it gives something new to a story.”
“that so? beggin’ your pardon, miss, but i’m a bit surprised you’d be readin’ something like that. it’s hardly the proper literature that a young lady such as yourself would generally find herself fancyin’.” he had met more than a handful of young rich girls, who would barge into the bookshop as though they were the best in the land. usually, they’d browse for ages (and he’d be sent to assist them) until they finally bought the very book that he’d offered them upon walking in.
“you’re an odd one, if ya don’t mind my saying. i can hardly imagine you fittin’ in at the afternoon tea, or whatever it is that your lot do to pass the time.” aedan knew that his comment was insubordinate, but he was curious to see whether she would scold him for it. “it’s a good one, miss. dark, to be certain- but if you’ve got the stomach for a bit of gore, it’s quite the read.”
