Part I

Normally, Dimitri Hyios loved his job. He’d only been in the family’s employ for 9 years but already, he was shaping to take one of the coveted lieutenant positions that were bound to open up in the fall when the brothers Kruschev retired. For now, he was content being in charge of the North island team, which included the landing, where the launch from the mainland made its trips.

Most launches brought the tedious. Supplies, attorneys with important papers, family looking for handouts or the Master’s signatures across an important document.

Tonight brought something else.

He watched as she stepped off the launch, momentarily stunned by the sight of her. He remembered the woman well as probably did the launch captain. Unscheduled visitors required a security clearance to Spoon Island before being allowed near the launch. The fact that the launch captain had only radioed that a visitor was arriving for Mr. Cassadine showed that she was still welcome in the sinister looking home by the staff.

Most had taken to the brazen woman as she sauntered about the house in those months, clad in nothing less than top designer ensembles. She was regal and refined and effortlessly conducted herself as the lady of the manor. She treated the staff with dignity but did not engage any member of staff on friendlier terms other than her personal and business assistants.

To outsiders, she was cold and elitist but to those who served the Cassadine family, she was a welcome presence in the household. An equal for Mr. Cassadine and a companion for the lucrative business engagements he needed in order to clot the bleeding Cassadine dynasty. She knew the people involved and the role a wife played. She would save them all if only Mr. Cassadine allowed it.

He didn’t. There had been a few incidents and then she was gone.

She’d left just as defiantly as she came and now nearly 3 years later, she had returned, perhaps sensing the dark days of the Cassadine Empire once more.

“Dimitri,” she greeted with a nod. “I trust the path to the home has not been changed?”

He shook his head. “Mrs. Landsbury will greet you at the door.”

She paused. “Nikolas is not here?”

Dimitri shook his head slowly. “He left for the Quartermaine mansion early this morning. I don’t anticipate his return until dusk.”

She let out an irritated noise. “Call him. Inform him that he is needed back at Wyndemere immediately. I’ll let Mrs. Landsbury know we’ll be staying the evening.”

Dimitri’s ears pricked up. “We?”

His answer was met by tiny, clattering footfalls and he turned to see a nanny flanked by two young children walk toward him.

“Yes,” Lydia stated efficiently. “We. Myself, the children and my staff.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

It had not taken long for the news to fly around the island and before Lydia Karenin had allowed a maid to take her bag and coat, the house had mobilized and was buzzing with muted excitement. Lydia’s assistant had passed off the itinerary for what their stay would require. Servants moved about the East Wing efficiently, all remembering the precise likes and dislikes of the first Mrs. Nikolas Cassadine. Mrs. Landsbury had immediately taken charge and forbidden any member of staff from entering the Master’s private sitting area where the visiting party was now situated. She ruled the staff with a firm hand, but could not stifle the natural flow of anticipation over this sudden visit. It was best to simply contain Master Nikolas’s guests until his arrival. She surveyed the quiet group, her years of experience and poise preventing her from outright gawking. Small, handmade toys had been pulled from storage for the children to play with and appropriate treats had been brought up from the kitchen.

“Is everything to your liking Madame Karenin?” she queried. Lydia looked up from her spot on the floor. Despite her form fitting designer skirt, she managed to appear both graceful and at ease crawling about the floor and making silly noises with the carved wooden animals, much to the delight of the children. “Are the rooms ready?”

Mrs. Landsbury nodded. “When you are ready, I will show you where you and the children have been settled. All of your luggage has been brought up and unpacked to your instructions. If there is anything to your dissatisfaction, we will rectify it immediately.”

“I trust your judgment implicitly Mrs. Landsbury. I’m sure there will be no problems.”

It was a modest acknowledgment, but Lydia, trained since birth to choose her words carefully when complimenting the staff, knew that the eldery woman would be pleased.

“Nikolas is with Mrs. Cassadine now?” Lydia’s tone was deliberately frosty.

Mrs. Landsbury’s expression faltered ever so slightly. “Yes. He is on his way back to Wyndemere though. He should arrive shortly.”

Emily Cassadine. Although she could not dare to breathe her displeasure at who Master Nikolas had chosen as his second wife, she knew by heart all the things she and others disapproved of.

Master Nikolas consorting with a married woman. Openly courting a woman who awkwardly took her place as future lady of the house. Miss Campbell had been nervous and naďve as well, but had taken to her tutelage with relaxing aplomb and what she lacked in experience, she’d made up for in her welcoming warmth and confidence. The staff had taken to her almost immediately, especially the stable hands, who’d doted on her. Most importantly, she regarded the ways and means of Cassadine life seriously.

Mrs. Smith had been another story altogether. Unable, or unwilling to follow the traditions of the household that had been set in place for decades, she’d dismissed her personal assistant as ‘unnecessary’ and laughed off the formal lifestyle as ‘silly’. The staff had taken great offense to her flippancy. A steady decline in relations followed the wedding and when Mrs. Cassadine angrily took her things and left, most had hoped it was permanent.

Then there was the first Mrs. Cassadine.

Stalking the grounds with long, imposing strides, her flaming red hair flowing with the breeze that seemed to surround her at all hours.

Always angry but never rude. Reserving her ire for her husband only.

Mrs. Landsbury had seen Cassadines wives come and go and despite their varying differences, they all held a single common ability.

Grievance.

To not only wear it as though it were a fashionable accessory to an ensemble but to also dispense it with a most lethal precision.

This one was no different.

She was here to show Master Nikolas her grievance. The door to the room opened a crack and a guard nodded to Mrs. Landsbury.

She flicked her eyes to Ms. Karenin’s staff and with a firm nod to them, instructed them to leave the room. The nanny hesitated but Ms. Karenin waved her off with an assured smile. Clearly, this childcare giver was new.

Once the room had cleared, Mrs. Landsbury addressed her guests once more.

“Master Cassadine has arrived.”

Lydia turned her head to the sound of hurried footsteps moving down the corridor. He was anxious, but extremely irritated.

“Excellent. Show him in.”

Mrs. Cassadine had returned.

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