Chapter 14

Heather was snapped out of her pondering when Astrid, carrying herself with a frosty poise, extended her hand towards Lord Nelson to accept his dance invitation.

"Just what the hell is she thinking?" Dagur frowned as he came to stand near his sister, placing a careful arm around her shoulders while Dame Mala stood on his other side. "She knows how much he hurt you,"

"Brother, wait and watch." Heather said. "Astrid never does something without a purpose."

"I don't think she wants to make a scene right now," Mala observed. "After all it's bad form for a lady to decline a dance. Besides look, she's deliberately stepping on his toes." The knight smirked as she pointed out the pained expression Lord Nelson tried to hide.

Heather actually had to stop herself from laughing out loud. She quickly opened her lace fan to hide her growing grin. Whatever Lord Nelson was trying to convey was interrupted by Astrid's feet. She was tormenting the man and he could say nary a word about it. It was rather rude to comment on one's dance partners' abilities after all.

Once the song ended they could see Astrid making her way over to them while Lord Thuggory vanished into the crowd. "Oh dear me, I must be tired from socializing," Astrid dramatically declared but the smirk directed at Lady Heather gave it away that she wasn't tired at all.

"Did he try anything?" Heather asked nervously.

"He complimented me and then he was talking about his business and fortune. Honestly, I tuned him out halfway. The man is as dull as a nail in an oak tree."

"Why would there be a nail in an oak tre-OOOH," Dagur finally got it. "Can I borrow that? I might want to use that on someone in the future,"

"Why do I have a bad feeling about who you are going to insult?!" Heather's eyes narrowed.

Astrid was used to the sibling bickering and instead turned to Dame Mala who stood by Dagur's side. Instead of the traditional ball gown, the knight wore her official uniform. It had a similar cut to the Royal Navy uniform but was instead white and adorned with a red and gold sash. A ceremonial rapier was fastened to Mala's belt and she wore pants which caused quite a few eyes to turn and mouths to wag, but the lady looked very prim and proper in her ensemble. "I'm so glad you could attend Dame Mala. However, did the Earl convince you?"

Mala actually blushed slightly and coughed to hide her embarrassment and just as she was about to answer, Astrid was yanked back by a firm grip on her arm. Astrid's head whipped to the person who dared to touch her only to see her father bearing down on her with an angry look. "Just what are you doing?!" he asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Let go of me," Astrid hissed as her eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing?!" her father asked instead, choosing to ignore his daughter's words. "Why are you associating with someone that has no last name?! Do you know how this looks? You shouldn't tolerate their sort!"

"Let go of me, you're causing a scene," Astrid hissed back.

"Astrid, do you know what it means to associate with a disgraced Noble?!" Samuel said loud enough for Mala to hear. "They are not our sort,"

Astrid growled and finally managed to yank her arm free. She jabbed her father in the chest where his cravat was neatly tucked in and uttered "I will converse with whom I wish to converse."

"H-How dare you speak to your elders that wa-" Samuel was in the process of raising his hand to backhand Astrid when a strong arm stopped him. The man looked to his right to see his wife, Esmeralda, holding his wrist.

"Samuel, you are clearly distressed!" Esmeralda tried to frantically convey. "Please, why don't you go upstairs to rest. You must have gotten too agitated when talking with Rosey." For once Astrid was grateful for Esmeralda's interference.

"And who's fault do you think that is?!" He asked angrily as he glared at Esmeralda.

"Samuel please...." Astrid noted there was a hint of urgency in her stepmother's voice. "Let's go upstairs where you can cool off. You can talk to Astrid in the morning,"

Esmeralda guided her husband away from the group, making subtle excuses along the way to save face. Astrid frowned and then turned back to Dame Mala, intending to apologize for her father's abhorrent behaviour just now. Mala's eyes were downcast, her hands were clenched together, slightly shaking. She uttered a quick apology to Astrid, saying that she's sorry, before fleeing the ballroom.

"My angel!" Dagur exclaimed following after her.

"I'll... go talk to her," Heather stated, giving Astrid a short curtsy before following after her brother.

As Astrid was left alone after that debacle she groaned, rubbed her forehead for a moment, before locating several of the estate knights and ordering them to guard her father's bedroom for the night. He would not be coming out for the rest of the evening if she had any say in it. Oh how she would like to take a rest but as the host, she had an obligation to see the rest of the ball through.

The party was awkward after that. Tongues would definitely wag through the social circles. It was not how she wanted to start her first day as Marchioness so she resolved to settle the matter soon.

Edwin joined her side not long after, looking quite red-faced. Astrid raised a brow as she spotted some lipstick, discreetly tucked against his collar. "Someone had an interesting night," She commented briefly, causing the teen to turn even redder if that was at all possible.

"I'm sorry," Edwin said, apologizing for his parents and sister's awful behaviour.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Astrid stated as she let no emotion leak out in front of all these Nobles. She often wondered how Edwin could have turned out so different from the rest of their family. Edwin was like a sheep in a family of wolves. Even she considered herself a wolf given that she had in fact been scheming to take down her stepmother and her father. She had noted that he was more of a follower than a doer but his affections latching onto Astrid's person had been a total surprise.

"Woah man, what a night," Gobber exclaimed as he stretched his limbs in the carriage they had rented for the night. They left the party half an hour ago and Hiccup was still blushing. "Now what's with that face?"

"I made an utter fool of myself Gobber!" Hiccup uttered. "How could I forget that in this kingdom dancing twice with a lady means that you intend to pursue her!"

"Right, well you certainly were a bit scatter-brained tonight," Gobber announced. "Why I'd have thought you'd take the knee right then and there when ya saw the lass."

"GOBBER!" Hiccup hissed as his blush turned up a notch.

"Lad, a gigantic dragon could have been rampaging through the city and you'd still be going gaga for her." Gobber, "Probably contemplating which flowers to pick too,"

"OH MY THOR GOBBER!"

"What? It's not like you have a lass at home waiting. Just Stoick and Valka wanting grandbabies. Imagine telling them you're actually attracted to this lass."

"No.. No NO NO NOOOO.." Hiccup made an abort motion. "We are not telling them anything! Mom and dad already have their hands full looking after the island right now. My love life doesn't need to come into it."

"Besides, we have a mission to complete here. After that it isn't likely we'll even return." He sighed. "We can't get side-tracked."

"Lad love definitely isn't a side-track." Gobber sighed. "You should ask her out. Who knows...."

"I want to, I really do but I think she's way out of my league. Have you seen her tonight," Hiccup sighed. "So beautiful,"

"Don't tell me the Chief of Berk is having second thoughts,"

"I'm not the Chief yet Gobber." Hiccup muttered.

The ride was silent after that and once Hiccup and Gobber got to their destination Hiccup frowned. "Didn't you lock that window?" Hiccup asked as he pointed up to the second storey window that was now open. The forge was on the first floor while the living quarters were on the second.

"Aye, I did," Gobber answered.

The duo cautiously entered from the front door with Gobber taking the lead. The wooden door creaked open ominously while two sets of eyes adjusted to the now dark workspace they had occupied just that morning. A thud came from above, Hiccup looked up for a moment before grabbing the nearest thing he could find as a weapon, which so happened to be Gobber's spoon prosthetic.

More thuds were heard and soon the upstairs door banged open as a black blur all but raced down the stairs. "Toothless?!" Hiccup asked, surprised, seeing the familiar green eyes before he was bowled over by a heavy Nightfury. The dragon in question wasted no time in licking his rider from head to toe.

"Toothless! Toothless! Nooooo! THAT DOESN'T WASH OUT!" Hiccup pleaded before he had more wind knocked out of him when the dragon flopped down on him with a huff.

Footsteps raced down after the commotion and both Gobber and Hiccup turned to see a short muscular man halfway down the stairs. "Oh thank Thor you're finally here!" The man exclaimed.

"Snotlout?!" Hiccup frowned and squinted in the dark while he was still being sat on.

"What are ye doing here?" Gobber asked. "And weren't you supposed to be dragon sitting?"

"Don't worry, Hookfang is watching the Nightlights back on Berk." Snotlout answered.

"You let Hookfang watch the kids?!" Hiccup exclaimed in shock before groaning.