All That Glitters: Ione

[Restlessly paces the marble inlay floor, the click of my latest pair of Louboutins hushed by the stiff rustle of my skirts, porcelain face serene, belying the mounting fury boiling beneath its surface. Another night of dinners and dancing, the endless drone of gentile conversation driving me to the brink of sensory-deprived madness masterfully hidden by a forced smile I’d held for so long I feared my jaw would crack. It was beyond ridiculous. For nearly 200 years I’d been in one gilded cage or another, escaping when I could to seek amusement beyond what my late father’s wealth afforded me. The grotesque gallery of downtown Caldwell often called to me, the array of decadent pleasures to be had irresistible to one who’d been sheltered and pampered, groomed to take the arm of a high-born male of the aristocracy. My lips pulled back from my fangs on a rebellious grin. The Glymera were as suffocating as the corset beneath my gown and the male prospects were but banal shadows compared to the life I’d seen beyond these walls. The only thanks I could offer for this life was the fortune that Donall had left on his death, giving me some measure of freedom to do as I pleased and with whom I pleased. If there was but one thing my father had taught me, it was that everything had a price. Everything could be had with the right amount of persuasion and a healthy bank ledger. If there was something you wanted, you took it. If someone else had it, you found and exploited their weakness until they crumbled under their own deficiencies. I ran my fingers over the mahogany balustrade, rolling my eyes at the mindless babble filtering in from the ballroom. I had to get out of here before I went mad. Mind set, I hurried up the stairs to my room, quickly exchanging my flowing gown to an unabashedly short sheath overflowing with silver sequins and glossing my lips a deep rouge, I stole back down the stairs and across the foyer to slip through the front door before the doggen could protest my flight, dematting to Trade Street the moment my heels hit the front steps.]