Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Henry, no cheating!” Octavia called across the garden. “I can see you.”
“I wasn’t!” Henry shouted back, even as he took a hurried step away from Aaron.
“You know this, Henry…” She started down the pathway toward him. “And do not say differently.”
“I don’t mind,” Aaron said with a sense of pride. “It’s easy.” He put his hands on his hips and pronounced his chin.
“Is that right?” Octavia chuckled.
“You said it would be hard, but it’s not.” He shrugged. “At least for me it isn’t.”
As the boy looked proudly upon Octavia, waiting for her to praise him, Henry crept behind so that Aaron could not see what he was doing. Then, sure that he was out of sight, he stuck out his tongue.
“Henry!” Octavia gasped.
“What?” Aaron turned around, saw Henry sticking out his tongue, and burst into laughter. “Caught you! Caught you!”
“You didn’t!”
“I’m going to get you!” A most wicked look flashed behind Aaron’s eyes, and before Octavia could even try to stop him, he took off after Henry.
Henry was older than Aaron by a year, but he was the same height and far skinnier. To look at them both, one might think they were the same age, or that Aaron was the eldest. He certainly acted with more confidence and bravado.
For this reason, when Aaron gave chase, Henry turned and fled. But he laughed as he did so, giggled freely as he leaped over hedges and ducked around trees. Aaron giggled along, trying his best to cut Henry off so that he might tackle him into the dirt.
“Quit running!” Aaron called as Henry sprinted away. “Get back.”
“Too slow!” Henry cheered, looking over his shoulder, a smile on his face that warmed Octavia’s heart to see.
I had worried how the two boys might get along. Aaron, the son of a duke, and Henry, the son of… well, nobody nearly so important. There was every chance that they might hate one another.
I see now that my fears were misplaced. What both boys were missing was a friend, and now that they have found that in each other, it is like they have been close their entire lives.
“Enough of that,” Octavia called to them both. “Come now, we’re not done with our lesson.”
She did not shout too loudly, nor did she pitch her voice in a way that suggested she was upset with them. Yes, they were technically in the middle of a lesson, and yes, they should have been behaving, but she saw no need to try to force such things upon them.
Discipline did not come through scare tactics and threats, but respect.
Besides… today’s lesson was supposed to be fun.
Aaron was still a ball of energy, and he still struggled to pay attention and sit down for more than a few seconds.
What was more, he was still just a little wary of Octavia’s rule, and he liked to test what he could get away with.
With that in mind, Octavia had conceived today’s lesson as a means to counter these troublesome qualities.
It was a scavenger hunt that Octavia had constructed.
It had taken her all last night to plan it, and most of this morning to arrange it, but she was more than pleased with the results, just as she was thrilled to see how the two boys enjoyed the effort…
or she liked to believe that they did, anyway.
Octavia had written dozens of little clues and placed them around the back garden; each clue led to the next, six in total. Henry’s clues were written in Latin while Aaron’s were written in Greek, and she had pitted them against one another with a promise of a prize for the boy who won.
Aaron was doing even better than she expected. While Miss Spencer had assured her that he knew his Greek lettering, Octavia was not so certain if he would care to try or prove as much. A misplaced worry, she now saw.
Henry was still learning Latin; he struggled with each clue, but when he sought Aaron’s help, and when it was given freely… I was right to insist that they learn together like this. It is so good for both of them.
“Look out!” Henry cried as he charged down the path toward Octavia. “Octavia, out of the way!” He waved for her to move.
Octavia flashed her eyes and spread her legs, blocking the path. “Oh, no, you don’t.”
Henry laughed hysterically as he tried to duck around Octavia’s spread arms, but she was too quick, and she wrapped her arms around his body and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Caught you!” she laughed.
“Too slow!” Aaron darted around a hedge, he leapt at Octavia and Henry, and he slapped Henry on the arm as he reached them both. “Got you.”
“Not fair,” Henry pouted. “Octavia –”
“Miss Finch, thank you,” she corrected her little brother.
He pouted. “Miss Finch…”
“My turn, my turn!” Aaron demanded, getting ready to run. “Chase me.”
“Easy now…” Octavia released her brother and rested a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “You have a game to win first, don’t you? Unless you want Henry to beat you?”
Aaron snorted. “He won’t. I’m too smart.”
She scoffed. “That sounds like giving up to me.”
Her words had the desired effect. Aaron was not a naughty child by nature. He did not misbehave because he enjoyed it. What he wanted was attention, and challenging him like this was the perfect way to give it.
“I am not!” he cried. “I only have one more to go.” He whipped out a piece of parchment from his pocket, one of the clues. “See!”
“And why are you standing around here, then?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Or do you need Henry’s help?”
His eyes turned wide, he looked about to object, then his brow furrowed, he glared at Henry, and he took off. As he did, she saw him reading the clue, just as she saw him already on the way to the next one.
“And how are your clues?” Octavia said to Henry.
He grimaced and fumbled in his pocket for a little slip of paper. “I… I think I understand it.”
“Do you want some help?”
“No.” He furrowed his brow with determination. “I can do it.”
She laughed. “I believe you can. Just as I believe you can beat Aaron.” She winked, and her brother beamed. “How is Aaron? You two seem to be getting along.”
“He’s fine.” Henry shrugged. “He just has so much energy.”
“He does,” she agreed with a chuckle. “But I think he likes you. And he looks up to you.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“You’re older than he is,” she said. “One year might not seem like a lot, but it is. Half of what he says and does is him trying to impress you.”
“Really…”
“Use that information wisely,” she said with another wink. “Now, hurry along. You can’t have him beating you.”
Henry jumped on the spot, his eyes wide as if with worry, then he took off across the garden.
She watched the two boys eagerly decipher their clues as they moved around the garden.
No doubt, Aaron was better at this, just as he was likely going to win.
But it did not matter who won, and Octavia would be sure to tell them both at the end of the day.
What mattered was that they had fun… and that they learned something in the meantime.
It was twenty minutes later when Aaron sprinted toward her. He had a piece of paper in his hand, and he waved it excitedly in the air. “I won! I won!”
“Do you think so?” She folded her arms and looked down at him. “Then what are you coming to me for? Why aren’t you racing to the finish line?”
He came to a sudden stop, suddenly hesitant. “I think… You are the finish line?” A glance at the piece of paper in his hand. “Isn’t that what this means? It’s you?” He held the piece of paper out to her. “Dask… daskalos,” he sounded out the word. “It means teacher.”
She beamed. “Right you are!”
As Arron stood proudly, no doubt thrilled that he had won their little game, Octavia noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
It was movement, coming from the topmost window of the mansion.
She thought it was a curtain billowing in the window, but a quick glance confirmed that it was the Duke watching them in the shadows.
For someone who pretends to act with such disinterest, he certainly makes a habit of always being close by…
A ripple of energy rushed up her spine as she felt the Duke’s eyes on her. That ripple spread across her body so that goosebumps began to appear. It was followed quickly by her pulse quickening; the same sensation she had felt the last time that she was in the Duke’s presence.
She still could not explain it. She still could not fathom its true meaning. All that Octavia knew was that there was something about the Duke that somehow both terrified her and excited her in one. She liked his eyes on her, just as she feared them.
“Master Aaron, look who it is.” She turned and indicated to the Duke in the window. “Your father has come to observe your victory.”
“R – really?” Aaron seemed unsure. He quickly glanced at his father, and he looked away. “I doubt it.”
“He has…” She stepped into Aaron, rested a hand on his shoulder, and turned him to face the house. “Let us wave, yes? Show him that we see him.” She started to wave, even as her heart rate quickened.
Aaron still hesitated, but he started to wave, and Octavia saw the Duke watching. For some reason, she expected the Duke to wave back, as if he were the type who might do such a thing.
Rather, he turned and stepped away from the window.
Aaron’s shoulders slumped. “See, I told you he doesn’t care.”
Octavia’s heart broke when she looked down at Aaron; the slump in his shoulders, the pain clear across his face. The boy liked to pretend that he did not care, just as he liked to act out and be at the center of attention. Both these traits were closely linked.
It is his father’s attention that he craves the most. The more it is denied, the more he misbehaves so that his father might notice him… even show him some semblance of affection. I wonder if the Duke has ever hugged his own son?
Gaining Aaron’s trust had been easy, a job well done, or so Octavia thought. But as to how she might bring the Duke and his son closer together… that was a question she did not have an answer for.
And how might she find that answer? If only Octavia knew.