CHAPTER 13 TO THE UPPER AIR

flintsredhair:

I’M BACK! So, after struggling with this chapter extensively and cursing
it and calling its ancestors rude names, here is Chapter 13 of To the
Upper Air, finished, complete, done. I’ll be moving onto Chapter 14 and
closer to wrapping this up soon. I’ve also got one other thing done and
waiting in the wings and more fic planned so…. comment and review and
I’ll get it all done faster! I am a feedback-based lifeform, friends. That and coffee. 

Chapter 13: To Catch a Fox

She looked like a different person.

Miranda regarded the woman in the mirror before her in the mirror
critically. She looked tired, she thought. Small wonder, of course – she
had had no rest the previous night and the small amount she had gotten
upon arriving at Kitty Ashe’s home had been negligible at best. It was a
familiar look for her, one she had worn for ten years while she
attempted to run a small farm on her own.  The look in her eyes, though –
that was foreign. Had she always looked so – hardened? Had her gaze
always looked like this, or was it only now – now with her husband in
danger, her lover potentially in greater danger still, and all of their
fates resting on her shoulders? She looked into her own eyes for a
moment longer. It was strangely familiar, the look on her face. If she
looked longer, she could spot the lines forming around her mouth –
familiar lines, born of frowning too often and laughing too little.
Lines that she had last seen on one of the men she loved.

James. The name put steel into her spine and hardened her resolve. It
was long past the time for regrets. She would not fail him. She
straightened, looking into her own gaze, unhappiness turning to resolve.
Enough doubts. If James could do it, then so could she.

“Lady Hamilton? Are you well?” The chambermaid that called out to her sounded anxious, and Miranda turned.

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