Vixen’s Mistress

“Good morning, my Lady,” Mr. Williams said as Rayne entered the dining room.

“Good morning, Mr. Williams,” Rayne said with a smile. “I trust everything is going well this morning?”

“Indeed it is, my lady,” the butler said as he pulled out the chair for Rayne to sit down in. He was ever the gentleman. Rayne sat down and gave him a smile as he pushed her in. “We even got the morning post a little earlier than normal, so I was able to sort it a little for you.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Rayne said as Mr. Williams went to grab the mail he had prepared for her. A footman soon brought over her breakfast and poured her a cup of tea. She of course thanked him as well.

“This should be all the personal mail, my lady,” Stewart said as he set it down close enough that it was within easy reach but clearly not meant to disturb her meal. “And this should be business related. I sorted Mr. Vestar’s letter into this pile.”

“Oh wonderful,” Rayne said, excitedly going for that letter.

“Dear sister,” Hamish said walking in, “please do not tell me you paid for him to send an immediate reply.”

Rayne pursed her lips and didn’t look at her brother. “Good morning to you too, Hamish.”

“That wasn’t a no.” He sighed as he sat down. “Honestly Rayne, did you?”

Mr. Williams brought over a letter opener for Rayne and she happily took it. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

“Rayne…”

“If he wants to make it here before the season ends he would need to leave soon. Any letter he sent wouldn’t make it here any faster than him, so it only made sense.” Hamish shook his head at her, as she opened the letter. “We can afford it. Let's see.” She started to read the letter and couldn’t help but smile. “Azaphan accepted. He says he will set out in two weeks.” Not only did he say that but he also promised to bring a large assortment of Casiden jewelry including lip rings. Rayne felt excited to see what Hannah would look like with lip piercings.

“Wonderful,” Hamish said as he was served his breakfast. “How long will that take him? A month?”

Rayne nodded. “Maybe three weeks with fair winds.”

“So expect him in the next five or six weeks. It’ll be after Kaden’s eighteenth.” Hamish quickly eyed the open door and listened. When he heard nothing he quietly added, “Which might be for the best. Speaking of when people should arrive, would now be a good time to talk about cousin Margret?”

Rayne started cutting into her food. “That’s fine. Was there anything specific uncle Allan wanted in regards to Margret’s stay with us?”

Hamish shook his head. “Nothing specific. Just to look out for her and help her find a decent man. We all know well enough you are more than capable of frightening off any unsavory man from trying his hand at our cousin.”

Rayne gave a light chuckle as she chewed her food. Margret was a lovely woman and a very trusting person too. While that was a very sweet aspect of her nature, she wasn’t that good at reading people or situations which led to problems and misunderstandings. People had been known to both take advantage of that as well as use it to mock her behind her back. From what Rayne understood these issues had put Margret off of being part of the season for the last two years. Not that Margret ever outright refused, just made it clear she had no interest. The lady had forgotten that bit about Margret last night when she was still in shock of the possibility of Hamish and Margret marrying. Honestly Rayne was a little surprised she would be willing to come for the season in the capital, which then made Rayne wonder. “Does Margret know she's coming here for the season?”

Hamish took a deep breath after swallowing a bite. “Yes, though when I was there the only real thing she got excited for in regards to the season was getting to spend time with you.”

The lady felt touched. It had been almost half a year since they last saw each other and now Rayne was looking forward to it even more. “Well I’m also excited to spend time with her. It's been too long.” Rayne smiled. “I’m actually looking forward to this season.”

“Oh?” Hamish said through a mouthful of food.

Rayne found frowning at Hamish’s look. “To see Margret.” He eyed her. “Nothing else, Hamish.” Her brother didn’t say anything and went back to eating. That did bring up a good point though. Rayne had no intention of finding a husband nor had she ever or moving forward, and she finally understood why. With that in mind she couldn’t ever bring herself to try and force another woman to look for a marriage she didn’t want. If Margret still had no interest in marriage (as she hadn’t the past two years) then Rayne was going to help in staving off men for Margret. She would of course make it look like she was actively helping find one but Rayne could easily find fault with any man and use that as an excuse of why they weren’t good enough.

“Well I hope this is a good season for all of us and that we all find what we want.”

“When do you think we should have her arrive?” Rayne asked, ignoring her brother's words that still made his stance on the ‘man’ she clearly wanted to marry clear. “The season officially starts in three weeks, so I would say she should arrive in two.”

The Lord swallowed a mouthful of food. “Two would be fine. She could arrive sooner if she desires but I think two weeks will be fine enough. That will be plenty of time for everything to be prepared for her, won’t it?” He asked Mr. Williams.

The older gentlemen gave a curt nod. “Whenever Lady Keating desires to arrive we most assuredly will have everything ready for her.”

“Wonderful,” Hamish said.

~~~

Hannah quietly read from her book as she and a few of the other staff took a small break from work. Reading for pleasure again was a blissful experience and it was made even better by finding she really enjoyed the book. It was also a little bit of a gamble when you didn’t have a store owner or librarian to ask questions about the book before you buy/check it out. At least that was Hannah’s experience. She was always a little particular about stories, especially romances like this book appeared to be turning into. She would have preferred a book about two women falling in love, but one between a woman and a man wasn’t bad.

The vixen of course knew that same gender couples were not accepted in the empire. Mostly from beatings on when she insisted her fiancee was in fact a woman and not a man. A few of the humans had believed her but that ended up making the punishment worse for being a ‘heretic to the Goddess’. That was completely wrong because all Everlians knew the Goddess would take lovers of all identities and races. Humans had apparently missed or outright ignored those historic teachings of the Goddess, which most certainly upset the Goddess. Hannah wasn’t in the position of trying to correct humans' failures to accept that love was love. All that meant was that Hannah knew she wasn’t going to find any books with romance between people of the same gender. That wouldn’t stop her from reading romance however. Reading was a gift from the Goddess and she wasn’t going to waste it.

“You really can read,” James said from the other side of the table. “Never known a beastkin to read before.” There was no malice in his voice, just surprise.

“It’s not right,” Anna muttered more to herself than to the small crowd.

“Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it's wrong,” Neila shot back.

“I think it's pretty interesting,” James said. “I’ve heard some nobles teach their slaves to read and write. Being able to do that probably helps in getting better owners if you’re ever sold.”

“Not when you’ve clawed out human eyes before.” Hannah’s voice was quiet but from how quiet the room got it was obvious she had been heard. Honestly the words had come out faster than she could really realize what she was saying. It was true though. To this day Hannah was still a little surprised at how hard she used to fight back and how savage she was after they killed Elaine.

“Y-you’re joking right?” A maid called Jain asked.

Hannah slowly looked up from her book and found everyone looking at her. She didn’t like being the center of attention, especially on this matter. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to lie but she also didn’t want to answer.

“You haven’t done that have you, Hannah?” Neila asked from beside Hannah.

Hannah felt her face heat up and she couldn’t take everyone looking at her anymore. She looked back down at her book. “Twice.”

There was a few seconds of silence before James said, “Note to self; don’t piss off the fox.”

Anna sneered and quietly said, “Animal.”

“I wouldn’t push your luck with someone known to claw out eyes, Anna,” he said from behind a cup of tea.

“Why would you do that?” Jain asked.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate question considering Hannah wasn’t always a slave,” Eda said walking into the room. Everyone went to stand up to greet their superior but Eda waved them down. “I don’t think any of us would take kindly to being made a slave.” The way Eda spoke made it clear that that was the end of the conversation. “Hannah, would you be so kind as to join me?”

The fox quickly closed her book and stood up. Thankfully the book was small enough she could slot it into one of the front pockets on the apron part of her maid uniform. She could have left it on the table but she had a feeling that that could end poorly. Eda gave her a gentle smile before leading Hannah out of the room. It was a bit of a walk before they came to a room Hannah hadn’t been in before. It was clearly an office with Lady Hayward sitting behind the desk and Mr. Williams standing in front of it.

“Hello, Hannah,” Rayne said with a smile.

“Mistress,” Hannah said with a curtsy. She couldn’t help but wonder what this was about, though she had a feeling it was about their talk last night.

“Now that you are all here,” Rayne said as the pair of women approached the desk to stand with Mr. Williams, “I want to discuss changing some of Hannah’s duties in this house. It occurred to me that having a trained teacher on our staff and only allowing her to teach on her own free time at the end of the day feels a little counterproductive. Not to mention that that time also cuts into some of the things I have asked Hannah to do.” She saw Eda’s eyes narrow just a little at her, but she ignored it. The lady did catch Hannah blushing lightly as well. “I propose that we set time aside for Hannah to teach during the day. Not just for Derek, but for any member of this household both family and staff, if they so desire. As you heard last night, Mr. Williams, Hamish has even said he would like to seek Hannah’s help with Treysian. Do you think that would be doable?”

Both Mr. Williams and Eda thought for a moment. Eda was the first one to speak. “We were already making do with maids before Hannah came along, so I don’t think there would be any problems with work getting done.”

That made Rayne happy to hear, even though she was going to let Hannah teach no matter what Eda or Mr. Williams thought of it. Her eyes glanced at Hannah and found her vixen smiling gently. In fact if she focused hard enough Rayne could hear the gentle rhythmic swish of fabric coming from behind Hannah. That made all of this worth it in the lady’s eyes.

Mr. Williams gave a gentle thoughtful nod. It was clear that he was debating something in his mind before he finally spoke. “I think it is very telling of your and this family's character that you would offer our staff the option to continue an education. A better educated staff means a better staff overall.” He gave a slightly conflicted glance at Hannah.

Hannah felt joy surge through her. She was going to be teaching as part of her job, not just something for fun. She wondered how many of the staff would also like lessons and what they would like them in.

Rayne ignored Mr. Williams’ confliction and the fact that he didn’t agree or disagree. “Good. Why don’t we have Hannah set up and teach in the library? I’m sure I can trust all of you to figure out when would be the best times.” Rayne paused for a second. “Mr. Williams, have you by chance had any luck finding a librarian?”

Mr. Williams shook his head. “I have not yet, my lady.” There was a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “It has not been a pressing priority while we get the house ready for the season.”

The lady gave a thoughtful nod. “That’s understandable. Have you been able to keep up with duties related to the library?”

The butler took a deep breath. “I have made time when I can. I have not had time to do a full check of the collection.”

“There are a lot of books,” Rayne conceded. It also wasn’t meant to be Stewart’s job to begin with. “Well, if Hannah’s already going to be in the library for teaching, maybe it would make sense to give library duties over to her. After all, it's not like she can steal books and run off with them like our last librarian. Would that be something you feel you would be capable of, Hannah?” Rayne hoped that Hannah’s inability to leave and sell of expensive books sold this to Mr. Williams. Eda she wasn’t worried about.

That took Hannah by surprise. Sure she had expected her mistress to talk about teaching, but not to take care of the library. That wasn’t a bad thing though. In fact she would really enjoy getting to work in a library for more than just cleaning. The fox gave a nod. “Yes, Mistress.” Her tail was starting to grow a little sore with how much it had been wagging in the past few days.

The swishing of fabric only grew and the lady couldn’t help but smile bigger. “Would that work for the both of you?” she asked both Eda and Mr. Williams.

“I think that would be a good idea,” Eda said with a small smile. She then looked at Mr. Williams.

“That would be much appreciated help,” the elder man said earnestly. He turned to Hannah. “I hope I can rely on you to maintain such a large collection of books.”

Hannah gave him a nod. “I will do my best, Mr. Williams.”

“Wonderful,” Rayne said. Things were honestly going better than she had prepared for. She hadn’t expected Mr. Williams to so readily agree. He may be conflicted about having a beastkin teach humans, but he appeared to have enough trust in Hannah’s intellect to take care of library duties. “Why don’t we have this start the day after tomorrow. If of course you can find time to walk Hannah through her new duties.”

“I will make time to properly prepare her to take care of the library,” Mr. Williams said with a small bow. “It’ll be good to have someone to more permanently look after the library.”

How was Rayne consistently making Hannah’s life better and better every day. She had only been Rayne’s for four days now and yet her life was completely different than it had been last week. The fox was also happy about it, even if that little voice in her head still told her she wasn’t good enough. She did her best to push that voice away with the thoughts of being a teacher and librarian. Hannah made a decision that she was going to be the best teacher and librarian her mistress could ever ask for. She wanted to make Rayne happy like she had done for her.