Elladora had to swallow down a bark of laughter: rare was the person who thought her a bright soul, or who thought of her as being anything other than someone absolutely guaranteed to inject a black mood on any situation. How on earth nobody had rumbled them over the years when they had a tendency to be so much softer in each other’s company Ella would never know: couldn’t they see how they lingered, how eyes lit up, pupils darkened, porcelain skin became ever-so-slightly flushed.
They were well-practiced at being subtle, of course, but even after Elladora took a step away from the taller woman there was a frisson between them she was amazed nobody could see. If she had her way they would stay out here all evening: the cold weather could be chased away easily enough with a bit of imagination and warm, spiced wine.
“Flatterer,” she retorted, casting a glance over her shoulder at the roomful of people, unable to offer such words of affection with as much ease as Evalina did, even to the woman herself. “I would have worn this dress for you alone if you’d only asked. Instead I might get whisked away by one of the widowers,” Ella said with an eyeroll. Since she had hit her late thirties they had begun to circle again. She had been unjustly confident in the notion that once one was unable, or unlikely, to bear children the men would stop bothering her and the last ten years had been a joy but now they had buried their wives, their children had flown the nest and they were lonely. Suddenly she had become a catch to overweight, whiskered men in their fifties. “And if you don’t rescue me I will take a lot of mollifying.”
fabulous set by Lady <3