The Beastkeeper's Redemption

Ten

Ten 
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

When Izzy threw open the door of her chambers the following morning, she almost fell over the small box that had been set outside it.

Upon closer inspection, she deduced that it was not quite a box, but rather a cleverly contrived mesh enclosure. Set atop the neatly compacted mesh was a wooden hatch door that locked securely shut with a bolt and lever that one slid shut. Her eyes then strayed to the folded parchment paper tucked into margin along with a sprig of snowdrops.

Her heart increased its tempo when she retrieved the note, already predicting the origins of the small cage and author, and when she unfolded the parchment and beheld the bold, sweeping print of his scrawl, a warm flush suffused her entire body.

The easiest and safest way to secure pixies was with one of these, and I thought they far surpassed rats as dexterous escape artists. Maybe this would suit Otto's (and your) needs better?

Yours,

Kaede

She clutched the note, and then the cage, tightly to her body, wholly moved by the gesture. Fondness for the male barraged through her like a sturdy and endless current. She'd hardly been in his presence for two days and already she could feel her heart blossoming with the beginnings of an infatuation and there was very little she could do to stop it. Before he had lingered on the margins of her conscience- a brooding spectre that made her steer clear of any interaction with him- and it had been too easy not to pay him any heed.

Now, it was a battle of mental willpower to think of anything else but Kaede C'lainn.

Which is why, Izzy conceded nervously, it was for the best that she reveal all to him that day. She'd know then for certain how best to proceed- if he didn't reject her, of course. And even if he did, she could gather the pieces of her dignity and bruised little heart and be on her merry way with the hope that he wouldn't expose her secrets and thereby ruin Cassie's chances of ever having a successful season.

"Oh, Miss Cotton, you're awake," Addilyn Holt said cheerfully from across the hallway. She stood on the threshold of her chambers directly opposite Izzy's, a fresh green day frock and matching warm coat cinching her waist, and her eyes dropped to the cage cradled to Izzy's skirts. "I do hope your, er, pet is contained today."

"He's..." Izzy blinked several times to clear some of the more astounding fluctuations taking precedence in her mind before she managed a coherent response to the other woman. "Otto is secure, but Kaede has kindly gifted me this superior enclosure for him."

Addy's eyes widened and a beaming smile dominated her face. "Did he now? Well isn't that sweet." She came forward then and inspected the cage, her gaze lingering on the small sprig of flowers tucked into one of the narrow openings of the mesh.

"It is incredibly thoughtful." Her words were the truth. Izzy was inconceivably touched by the gift. It was not an odd occurrence that men of her set would often send her gifts and tokens of their intentions to win her attention, but they had been meaningless and generic in nature- flowers, chocolates, pretty trinkets and perfumes. Somehow, this felt vastly different, as if Kaede had deliberated over sending her the well-made cage rather than any other romantic gesture.

A knowing look entered Addy's eye and she nodded her head. "Very thoughtful," she agreed. "Especially after your disappearance the night prior."

She felt her cheeks flame at that, especially as she was forced to recall the tempestuous and torrid kiss in the alcove. "I informed you of my intention to retire early for the evening," Izzy mumbled, hurriedly dipping inside and placing the cage atop one of the side tables within her chambers. Out the corner of her eye, she caught Otto peering out from his current cage curiously, whiskers twitching. "Did you know that the first documented domestication of the rat came from Japan?" she told Addy, who looked vastly unimpressed with that imparted token of knowledge. "Also, they have been proven to be incredibly gregarious in nature-"