setting: circa 1806, the hall of covent garden shines most exquisitely as if lit by the divine hands of apollo himself. the god of music and dance makes it known to all attending one of the many agendas of the evening—love, in all its beauties and tragedies and victories centered in the opera of the night, la vestale. however, before love’s eventual triumph is to take place upon the stage, another deity, one to whom all must bow, knowingly ropes together a fearsome pair—the adventurous mr st clair and boisterous miss @isabella-aldwyn. but even fate, with all its machinations, could not have guessed as to what this one meeting would unfold to for years to come.
It was more than fair to say that Byron St Clair was not averse to the act of mischief. In fact, he quite enjoys it as in some cases it is art coming to life.
With each tick of the small watch in his breast pocket he took a quiet step toward an unsuspecting Miss Aldwyn who, to her credit, was trying so hard to surreptitiously empty a small silver canister into the punchbowl. He slowed down only to savour the fact that he had just caught his friend’s younger sister doing something she surely should not have been, pausing as if to admire a work of art in progress.
He stifled a chuckle but the sound was just enough to alert the young miss.
A villainous grin lifted one side of his lightly tanned face into something both familiar and wicked.
“I see you’ve developed light fingers, Miss Aldwyn.” Truly... The formality must surely be a tease. They ought to be beyond that by now. “I swear I heard your brother saying he was missing a flask.” A lie or another tease? Either way...
Politeness dictated that he “protects” her. And so languidly, he used his body to cover her own slight frame that she might stash away her personal effect. “While normally I would encourage your current behaviour, I fear that it would leave less drink for me to indulge. What is in that? Whiskey? Bourbon? Tell me it is not completely dry.” Much has change since he last laid his eyes upon Isabella as he finally regarded the easy boldness that was perpetually in her eyes, now magnified tenfold more than he last remembered. For some reason, that realisation made his smile wider.