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She had been in the library when the screaming had started. It had given her an awful fright, causing her to drop her book, subsequently losing her page. If it hadn't been for the disturbance, she might've found time to be deeply annoyed by such an occurrence. However, the troubling fact remained that someone somewhere had vocalized that they may be in trouble.

She hoped it was Helen.

Grabbing her book from where it had fallen beneath her chair, Emily hurried from the library in search of the culprit. Hopefully it was nothing to be concerned about, Helen was dreadful enough that she would not put it past her stepmother to make a dreadful scene over nothing.

Walking down the hall, another scream from within the drawing room had her hasten her pace. She was feeling quite out of breath by the time she hurried into the room, taken aback to discover Jeremy alone in the room and not a woman, like she had anticipated.

"What's the matter?" she asked, hand flying to her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. "Why did you scream like that?" she had believed him to be in a great deal of trouble from the sound of things, and yet he was not dying. 

It was as though Elizabeth could read her mind. Though the more realistic assumption was that she was also a victim of their step-mother’s hounding. It had excited Emily, the approach of her first season, and she was desperately trying to hold on to that feeling. Helen made that difficult, constantly offering her opinion of things when it was neither asked for nor desired. “She seems to have more enthusiasm than even you or I,” she said, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone.

“Her own life might be lacking, but that does not mean she may use us to live vicariously”. That was mean, but probably warranted. Or maybe Helen just hoped to marry them off as soon as possible so that they would be out of the house and out of her hair. 

That was probably it.

“But maybe that was out of line...” it definitely was, but Lizzie would tell no one of words exchanged in their own private conversations. She had made some vague attempt at liking the woman when she’d first walked into their lives, but she could not force herself to enjoy Helen’s company. She tolerated her purely because she valued her father’s happiness above her own distaste for the woman.

“Can’t I wish to spend time with my favourite sister?”

“You say that as if it’s a competition,” she teased. They both knew that it was not. “Maybe... If all you’re looking for is casual conversation,” though she suspected she knew her sister better than that. Unfortunately, she also found it too easy to let her guard down around Lizzie- something that was sure to be her undoing. 

It had been an overreaction, to immediately jump to the worst conclusion. But reasonable, almost. It wasn’t the most absurd thing that one of their brothers had managed to get himself killed during her brief reprieve in the library.

 Death snuck up on people like that. It was unpredictable.

Emily relaxed after her nerves were put at ease. Once she was sure that this was an innocent and social visit- from her favourite sibling. She was about to relax back into the chair that she’d risen from when Lizzie took the moment to attack her in such a ruthless fashion. Emily recoiled at her sister’s touch upon her brow and reached to swat her hand away, letting out an overly dramatic sound at such an insult.

“Lies! This is the face of perfection,” her voice lilted with clear amusement, fighting back the beginning of a laugh. “If company is all that you are looking for, then welcome to my sanctuary- if anybody asks, we’ve been here all morning” they were not hiding from anyone, those that sought them out were evidently just unobservant and perhaps incompetent. 

Emily would not protest the opportunity to spend some time alone with her sister. It felt like recently they had had little opportunity to be left alone to talk- just the two of them, without prying eyes or ears. 

“And,”

There it was. She felt the grin fall from her face, because that one word opened the floodgates for unwanted conversation, topics that she did not want to entertain at that moment. Lizzie’s friendly demeanour and promise of company had lulled her into a false sense of security. She had been right to suspect that her sister had an ulterior motive for seeking her out and disturbing the sanctity of her undiscovered (but not at all secret) hideout.

“I don’t even know what questions I would ask, even if I had them,” she muttered, reaching to retrieve her book as though that might aid in fending off Elizabeth’s imminent interrogation. “Helen has already made me aware of the important things. What more is there to know?” she tried to keep from sounding too annoyed, aware that Lizzie’s only intention was to help.

Lizzie was definitely better company than their step-mother.

Sometimes it was nice to spend time with family, and others it was better to be left alone. Emily quite enjoyed talking with her father, when he had a spare minute and didn't mind her rambling about the latest crisis currently taking over her life. It was when her step-mother made an appearance that Emily was forced to make herself scarce.

The alternative was to sit and pretend to listen to Helen's attempts to talk about dress fittings, that simply had to take place before the first event of the season. Emily couldn't stomach those topics of conversation, not with that woman who seemed to be trying so desperately to fill this role of mother in her life.

She had a mother. She did not require someone else to fill that role, just because her father had decided to take another wife. Emily was excited for her first season, but that was one person who seemed capable of sucking out the excitement in a single sentence.

So Emily had excused herself and sought out a quiet corner in which to tuck herself, where she was unlikely to be disturbed. The library was her first choice, it was quiet and you could easily become lost in there for hours before anyone came to check in on you.

Emily had found an interesting book and was pouring over the pages when the voice of her sister roused her from her reverie. Glancing up from her book, she smiled and stretched out her arms- the act of being hunched over the book for so long making her feel ten years older than she was.

"Trying to disappear" she could be up front with Elizabeth. Her sister was one of the only people she felt that way about. "And reading..." she gestured to the book that she still held in one hand, it provided a good cover had someone else found her first, as well as providing some entertainment. 

"Were you looking for me?" she discarded the book onto a nearby table and stood to face her older sister. "Has something happened?" had she truly been hidden away for so long that an opportunity for disaster had arisen. She was getting ahead of herself, obviously and before Lizzie had even had a chance to state her reason for tracking her down. "Why so serious Lizzie? You'll get frown lines" she gestured to her own brow, a teasing gesture in an attempt to ease her own rising nerves.

The party was in full swing, and things had started as they usually did. She had a few drinks until her mind grew foggy from the effects of the alcohol and then would eventually migrate onto the dance floor.

It was only when inebriated that Emily found the courage to take to the dance in the presence of others. Unfortunately, the reason for this was the likelihood of her inflicting injury upon herself or others who were unfortunate enough to stray into the path of her flailing limbs.

When she was sober, she could recognise that she would never go pro in her dancing career. Tipsy-Emily lacked the ability to make such judgements.

It wasn’t until she found herself out of breath and dizzy that she stopped her shenanigans and went in search of her friends. They seemed to have wandered off, leaving her alone.

Abandoned.

Oh, the hurt, the betrayal. 

And so the quest to track them down and reunite herself with her companions was to begin. Trailing a hand along the wall as she wandered out into the hall and began hollering their names, as if that might convince them to come and find her sooner. 

It was their own fault if she caused them embarrassment. They had abandoned her in a room full of strangers. 

Perhaps they had gone to the bathroom. The moment the thought entered her mind, she tried the next available door and stumbled into the room. She had no reason to assume that it was a bathroom, but apparently her brain had thrown out all logical thought.

She was now standing in a room that looked to be some kind of lounge area- but it was certainly not a bathroom. She initially judged the room to be empty, until she noticed a man at the opposite end of the room, presumably hiding from the noise of the ongoing party.

“This isn’t the bathroom,” she announced, allowing the door to shut behind her. “Have you seen my friends? They have misplaced me”

She wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. As was the depths of her humiliation, it convinced Emily that she would be the talk of the ton for all the wrong reasons after tonight.

She only hoped that tomorrow some other young noble might find themselves deep in the throngs of scandal. A selfish thought she might chastise herself for entertaining later. But at the moment, the idea of someone else taking her place was an appealing one.

Emily allowed herself a moment of relief, when the Gentleman got to his feet upon her request. Though then he refused to look at her, which wasn’t at all reassuring- though from his flustered appearance, she felt it safe to assume he felt himself in the wrong and not the other way around.

Emily could hardly conceal her confusion at the man’s behaviour. The way he avoided her gaze and seemed genuinely anxious about the entire situation. Perhaps he’d been in similar situations more than a few times previously. He seemed to move with all the elegance and grace of a newborn lamb, if her ruined shoes were anything to go by.

“Please. It is I that should apologize” she was quick to return his apology. It was the only polite, and might allow the man to feel more at ease knowing that he had not caused her any offense. “I should have been looking where I was going” they were likely equally to blame for the unfortunate circumstances.

Then he began rambling on about her shoes. Was that the reason for his upset? That he may have ruined her shoes?

“I have a dozen pairs similar at home” she hoped it would put the thought far from his mind, to know that the value of the shoes did not concern her.

“I do not believe we’ve met, Lady Emily Davenport,” introducing herself formally. She paused, allowing him the same courtesy. It would be dishonest to say she wasn’t somewhat curious of this nobleman, who seemed to be just as clumsy as she was.