Serendipity: Jovana And The Duke

When Jovana got back home, she could tell that her brother was exhausted. Looking up at him with concern, she asked, "How are you feeling, Eli? Is everything okay?" 

"Yes, Jovana, I'm just tired." Elijah responded, and Jovana nodded, smiling at him.

"As you like to say, dealing with high society isn't much better than war," Jovana remarked, and Elijah nodded in agreement with her.

"Exactly. Goodnight, Jovana." 

"Good night, big brother." Jovana replied, and Elijah was about to climb the stairs when he turned back to her.

"I know that a lot has happened tonight…but, please, be careful and try to avoid rushed decisions." There was nothing paternalistic in his tone; he just seemed worried about Jovana.

"Don't worry about me, Eli. I'll be careful, I promise." Jovana assured him.

"Thank you." Elijah said with a smile, and then turned his back to her, and slowly climbed upstairs. He did his best to hide it, but Jovana could see the signs. She could see the way he held onto the handrail, the subtle grimaces of pain.

At his every step she could see the shadow of the illness that took their mother's life following after him. 'Eli.... You can hide it from the world, but not from me.' Jovana mused sadly, clenching her fists as her eyes followed him over the last painful steps. 'To hell with dancing and parades. I'm not going to watch Eli suffer like this.' Jovana thought determinedly, and instead of going to bed, she went straight toward a second corridor in the oldest part of the house.

Jovana knelt in front of the ancient statue, reached for a hidden lever and a panel of the wall slid silently to the side. She descended a spiral staircase down into a hidden cave underneath the house where the lab had been built. 'Finally, I can undo the suffocating corset and drop the whole debutante act.' Jovana mused, and lighted the fire under her jar.

'I need to make more changes to the serendipity formula and do more tests. Finding a healing effect to save Eli is harder than I thought. And now that the King put Caspian Clifford on my tail, it will be even harder.' Jovana thought with a sigh. As the jar warmed up and the chemicals started to bubble, she lighted candles all around and started taking off her jewelry as she mused, 'There might be no rest for the wicked…but the kindhearted have to work hard as well.' 

Jovana was exhausted, but sleep was still far in her future as she sneered inwardly, 'I need to get the next batch of serendipity started and keep things moving as fast as possible. Now that the king has laid eyes on my work, I don't know for how long I will be able to do this. And Eli's time was running short.' The temperature soon rose, and Jovana started stirring the jar, keeping an eye on the gauges of the many copper tubes that emerged from it.

'Thinking back, I was naive. How could I have thought that such a large operation wouldn't draw the King's attention? It's a miracle that I have been able to operate without interference this long.' Jovana thought, and when the jar was about to reach the desired temperature, the glass spiraled all around, and she started filling up with a slightly bluish silver fluid.

'Weaponizing serendipity…what a great idea, Your Majesty! Thanks a lot.' Jovana snickered. All of a sudden, the image of the Duke's steely eyes appeared in her mind like he was watching her right there. Eyes that could see through her lies. Eyes that could pierce through her soul. 

'How am I supposed to hide from those ey—' 

CRACK!

Jovana trailed off when a vial she was holding in her hand popped under the pressure of her fingers and the glass cut through her skin. "OUCH!" She exclaimed.

The bluish glimmer of serendipity and the red of her blood mixed on the cold stones of the floor. Very calmly Jovana squeezed the cut to be sure there was no glass in it and wrapped her hand in a clean rag. The pain spread through her fingers like a warm wave. Jovana looked at the cut and sighed, 'How come I can manage pain like it was nothing…but the touch of a mysterious stranger could make me lose my mind?' 

She could almost feel Caspian's warm hands around her waist, his fingers softly stroking her back as they danced…. Suddenly, Jovana shook her head, as she chided herself, 'No! Forget about it, Jovana! He's too dangerous.' 

In the meantime, the temperature of the jar was stable and all the systems were working. She could leave it to run for now. She glanced at the old carved clock on the wall and thought, 'Good, my special guest should be on his way. I just have the right time to get rid of this bulky dress and prepare for our meeting. Hopefully he will bring good news.' 

Jovana quickly went out of the hidden room, and went to her bedroom to change into faded blue jeans and a long black sleeved top. Most parts of the house could be accessed by walking behind the walls thanks to a secret passage. Jovana's ancestors must have been very private people. It came in handy now that the circumstances had made her equally secretive.

But despite knowing all the secrets of the house, Jovana still jumped out of her skin when a curved figure almost appeared in the corridor. "AH—--" Jovana's surprise got cut off by a rough finger pushed on her lips.

"There is no need to scream. It's me." An elderly man with gray hair and a beard, who appeared to be in his late forties came into Jovana's view.

Jovana breathed a sigh of relief, and glared at the man, "How can you pop up like this? You almost scared me to death." 

The man shrugged, and replied, "You showed me that passage….I assumed you were expecting me." 

"I know but… Well, let's go to the living room. I could use a drink to warm up the blood." Jovana said, cautiously walking through the house in dead silence, right to the living room.

Keith followed along, and sat opposite Jovana on the sofa, "Thanks for coming." Jovana said, smiling appreciatively at him.

*You don't have to thank me. Even if I'm getting old for meetings in the middle of the night." His voice was barely a whisper that caressed the air.

"I know, but I couldn't wait. I had to know." Jovana said, and Keith nodded, but by the look in his eyes, Jovana could already tell the answer.