Chapter Text
Kate woke up to sepia sky and the sound of rain.
She made her bed and changed into her maid uniform, preparing once again to fulfill the whims of her masters. Now with the servant around to share the burden, at least she had enough time to make herself a full bowl of porridge before she started.
She stood by the hallway, at the exact same spot where she first welcomed the servant. The signed contract had been taken away, leaving her no more chances to guess his name. Even though she had said she’d pay no mind, seeing him give her a rose completely unprompted - stolen from Mrs. Alexandra’s bouquet, no less - got her a tad bit interested.
Like clockwork, the servant entered. Kate nearly jumped from the look of his face: pale and lifeless, eye bags visible under shrunken hazel irises. His attire was more disheveled than usual, as though haphazardly put on at the realization that he’d woken up late. It all seemed far too familiar for her.
“You look pale, did you sleep at all?” she asked, voice laced with concern. Normally she would be wiping his face clean with her wetted handkerchief, but something told her that he would rather not be touched at the moment.
The servant didn’t answer her, staring ahead with his gaze empty. She took that as a cue to not question him any further.
“We have a busy day again,” she said with a sigh. “You need to wake Mr. William, he probably has a terrible hangover. Then, Mr. Aldous wants you to assist in hunting. And in the evening, Mrs. Alexandra wants her bath. But first, prepare some strong coffee for the gentlemen.”
As usual, he nodded and took off without a word. Kate was once again left alone with her own chores and the distracting thoughts that came with them.
She thought back about last night, about that moment during their night watch together. He’d talked to her. He’d spoken to her with a voice and actual words. She had never heard his voice before, not even when passing by him while he was around their masters. She didn’t even know if he’d ever spoken to them at all.
Truth be told, she hoped he hadn’t. The notion of her being the first person he’d ever talked to strangely delighted her, even if the specific content he’d said wasn’t for the faint of heart. It meant that he trusted her first and foremost, didn’t it? Or at least enough to confide in her with the things that distressed him? His voice… soft-spoken and shy, light and soothing like the water by the lake. It made her wonder if he could’ve been a singer in another life.
She dragged her mop through every corner of the first floor within an hour, the whole time occupied by nothing but her thoughts. She replayed the servant’s voice over and over again, relishing the rare sound that might or might not ever come out of his mouth again. And with that done she made her way upstairs, preparing for another round of-
No. Oh, no.
She dropped the mop and bucket to the ground, gently so as not to make any splashes. The last thing she wanted was to add another puddle on top of the blood already on the floor, with more still dripping down from the ceiling above. She looked back and forth between the soaked ceiling and the stained floor with a sigh, mentally cursing herself for not leaving this hellhole when she had the chance to.
The servant made his way up just as she was about to reach for her tools. Good, that meant she had someone else to help her with this mess.
“I wonder what happened last night,” she pondered to herself. The question was meant for him, too, but he might just be too shocked to reply. Though… he seemed less horrified by the blood itself and more by its presence, as though he didn’t want it to be there in the first place.
As though… he knew something she didn’t, which was never a good sign.
“You should stay out of the attic,” she said. To drill her warnings even further into his head, she caught a drip of blood in the palm of her hand, calm against his horrified expression, “You wouldn’t be the first servant to go missing.”
If her ears were not deceiving her, she heard a gulp coming out of him. Perfect, that should make him learn his lesson now. “Now, bring Mr. William his coffee. Door to the left.”
The servant obliged and did as he was told. She, too, continued on with her job, ignoring the flash of gold from his pocket that entered her peripheral vision.
First things first, she washed her hands clean from all the blood. The metallic smell from this thick, crimson liquid made her head spin from nausea, her gag reflex triggered repeatedly as she scrubbed her hands against the soap. She swore to herself that she’d never pull that stunt ever again, even if it did work to scare the servant just for a little.
Once the sink water had run clear, it was finally time to deal with the mess. Whatever was going on in the attic was not for her to investigate, so the best she could do was patch up the leak and clean up the blood right after. And with that she entered the staff room and exited with a whole host of household tools, ready to put her handiness skills to use.
The whole experience was excruciating. Kate couldn’t count how many times she had to stop herself from vomiting from all the blood and damp smell on the ceiling - clearly, the scarf she had wrapped around her nose did not help. But as a maid she forced herself to continue no matter how much it disgusted her. This should be nothing compared to the incident with Mr. William.
At times she couldn’t help but wonder who she was even doing this for, but those thoughts never lasted around long enough for her to seriously mull over.
Speaking of Mr. William, the servant exited his room just as she finished with the ceiling, now with the mop in her hand for the final clean-up. He came out with his eyes sunken even further into their sockets, gaze empty of any joy and life. It was at this point that she began to feel bad for the poor servant, even more so when a lot of the tasks he had to endure were from her orders to begin with. She almost wanted to trade places with him, only to remember that it meant she’d have to serve Mr. William and Mrs. Alexandra in person.
So instead she put on a strained smile and said: “The good thing is, this work keeps us distracted.” More blood dripped from the ceiling she’d just finished patching up, but she chose to ignore it for now. “Keep your head down and you might make it through the weekend.”
The servant blinked. She could sense his bewilderment from the slight twitch of his lips alone, which meant that he still had a long way to go in terms of tolerating this household.
“Help me clean the hallways,” she continued as usual. The task should make him busy enough to not take any more orders from their masters - it might be good for him to be away from them even just for a minute.
Practicing what she preached, Kate kept her head down and focused on the ground. She hated how much the blood had stained the wooden flooring, leaving behind a dark, suspicious looking spot that no amount of soap could wipe clean. Perhaps she could convince Mr. Aldous to change the floorboards at some point, provided he wasn’t so stingy when it came to necessary finances.
The lack of footsteps, and the absolute silence in the hallway she was standing, forced her to look up. The servant, confusingly enough, was still there, unmoving like a statue as he stared at the table. She couldn’t help but sigh in frustration.
“Why are you still here?” she approached him, partly just to see what was so interesting about the table. There was just her bag on it and nothing else.
“Kate?”
She flinched at the sound of her name, “What?”
He pointed at the bag, specifically where her name was sewn on, “Kate?”
She blinked herself out of her shock, and from there his question became clear, “Ah- yes, that is me. I’m Kate.”
He nodded, a small smile blooming on his pale, hollow face, “Kate.”
She did a small curtsy in response, to which he playfully bowed in return. They both chuckled at each other’s gesture.
“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten your name,” she said, rather embarrassingly. She hoped he wouldn’t take it as her lacking respect for her one and only colleague.
Luckily for Kate, the servant seemed fine with it. He raised a hand towards her and said: “Harvey.”
She took his hand in hers and shook, “Pleasure to meet you, Harvey.”
“Pleasure,” he replied back.
They continued standing like that for another minute.
“…Is there anything I can help you with?”
He pointed to the floor.
“Yes, I told you to-” and then it finally clicked, “right, you need something to clean the floors with. Apologies.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out the scrubber. A small postcard was dragged along and peeked out from the opening, just enough for some black scribbled lines to show.
“Here you go,” she handed him the tool, yet strangely enough he did not accept. His sight was entirely focused on the card instead.
“Oh, this? It’s from my brother,” she pulled out and unfolded the card. “He made an illustration of us. Isn’t he talented?”
The servant - no, Harvey, because he had a name - looked on in awe. She liked to interpret it as him being just as impressed as she’d been back then.
“He used to be a servant here just like you. In fact, he was the one who got the job for both of us,” she reminisced fondly. “We made for such a great team, but then…”
Kate frowned. Then he disappeared, she thought, her grip on the mop handle tightened, Mrs. Alexandra must’ve done something to hurt him.
She looked up only to be met with Harvey’s gaze, the way in which it pierced straight into her soul nearly frightened her. Regardless, she forced herself to continue, “He went missing, like every servant before him.”
Harvey’s shoulders slumped in response, eyes drooping with sadness, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she said quietly. “Let’s just… get on with our work, shall we?”
He looked like he wanted to say something more, hand raising as though wanting to give her some comfort. But alas he stopped himself, nodding to the command as he made his way downstairs.
Kate tried to shift her attention back to the floor. With the card tucked neatly back inside her bag, she no longer needed to think about her brother. A part of her wondered why she’d even brought it up when she clearly wasn’t ready to do so, and to Harvey, of all people. Harvey, the servant whose name she’d only just learned today. Harvey who seemed perpetually terrified by the household, who couldn’t dare speak up for himself even against a lowly maid like her. She could’ve told him to pretend their conversation had never happened and he might actually will himself into forgetting it.
With that said, however, she did enjoy their little interaction. He talked and responded to her, a proper dialogue between them this time around. He even chuckled and said her name out loud, the pitch and melody of his voice ringing nicely in her ear. Kate had to contain a smile as she recalled the sound over and over again, strangely giddy over such a small progress in their work relationship. Maybe the next time they meet she could give him a stroll around the garden, perhaps even show him where they keep all the beautiful flowers there, too.
This might be the first time Kate daydreamed her way through a tedious task. She took a moment to appreciate the now spotless floor, even more satisfying now that the damned ceiling had stopped dripping blood. With a huff of relief, she took the mop and bucket and prepared herself to head downstairs.
A distant cry sounded from the bathroom. She stopped dead on her tracks, her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach. The crying continued on. She didn’t dare turn around, every cell in her body telling her not to move. The crying became louder, painful and agonizing. She felt her stomach twist at the sound.
Her body shook all over. She lost her balance and dropped all her items to the floor, leaning against the wall for support then slowly sliding down with her back against it. She hugged her knees tightly and buried her face behind them, struggling to breathe as her eyes began to sting with tears. No, no, she thought to herself repeatedly, no no no no no-
She couldn’t tell why she was afraid. The blood never phased her, the ever-changing paintings didn’t annoy her all that much, and yet…
She soon heard footsteps heading to her direction, and from the stairs came the young servant. He stopped as soon as he saw her in such position, eyes widening in shock.
Swallowing all the mucus blocking her throat, she asked in the calmest way she could manage at the moment: “Do you hear the crying too? What is happening behind that door?”
Harvey looked to the bathroom door, then back to her. She looked back with equal parts fear and desperation. It was selfish of her to force him to do this, she knew, but she was far too distressed to deal with that dilemma at the moment.
Luckily for her, he understood. Harvey took on the task of peeking through that keyhole, lasting only for a few seconds before physically recoiling all of a sudden. She could tell from the way he panted that there was something wrong in there.
“What did you see?”
“Red cloak…”
“Wh- What??”
“Red cloak… The baby… It’s-”
“Servant, come to the balcony!”
Both of them jolted at the voice of Mr. Aldous, loud enough to be heard through a closed balcony door. Quick on his feet, Harvey ran towards the doors and opened them wide, immediately greeted with the sight of his master with a hunting rifle.
“Come down here! The hunt is on!”
He quickly looked to her, utterly concerned. She brushed him off and said: “It’s fine. Just go do your work.”
Harvey seemed hesitant to leave her, but alas it was his job to do so. And with that he climbed down the ladder and made his way towards the backyard.
Kate lingered to watch him go. She needed some fresh air from that scare anyway, taking in the scent of petrichor as it soothed her mind and soul. And soon enough she found the strength to return and move forward with her duties, leaving herself a mental note to avoid the bathroom for the time being.
She dared not question Harvey what he’d seen, nor would she try to investigate it herself. Just like she’d always said, it was better to just ignore the strange things.
— — — — —
The house decided that it wasn’t enough to scare her with an apparition, so it went ahead and sent in the true evil.
“Maid.”
Kate jolted at the voice, only daring to turn around halfway as she answered: “Yes, Mrs. Alexandra?”
“Where in the world is the servant?” the woman asked in that pompous voice of hers. Kate felt her skin crawl at the words.
“He’s helping Mr. Aldous with his hunt, madam, but he should be back soon.”
“Good,” she huffed, “I expect him to do the washing and help me with my bath.”
The young maid winced as she watched her master leave the room, her blood boiling at the godawful sight. There she went again, preying on young men who she considered beneath her. More than she ever before, Kate truly wished she knew how to keep Harvey away from that woman without costing him his job. She might even try taking on the bathing task in his place if she could, no matter how much it disgusted her to be in Mrs. Alexandra’s proximity.
And if that hadn’t been enough horror for her, she heard a baby’s cry again. A chill went down her spine as a burst of pain spread through her heart. She felt short of breath, hand already moving to grip the fabric of her dress. She couldn’t go through something like this again. Not in this house, not in view of her masters.
The crying got louder and louder, but with it came hurried footsteps also. Her anxiety was soon replaced with confusion as she saw the person making their way upstairs, staggering their way to the top with more items than their small frame could handle.
“Harvey?”
The person in question peeked through the pile of laundry on his right arm at the mention of his name. On his left was none other than baby James, the culprit behind all the crying. If she hadn’t been fearing for her life just seconds prior, she would’ve given Harvey a compliment or two for managing to hold both at once while going up the stairs.
But it seemed like he couldn’t hold on for any longer, so instead she reached out, “L- Let me take care of him.”
She took the crying baby and rocked him back and forth, freeing Harvey’s arm just in time for him to catch the falling clothes. The baby’s sobs slowly quieted down in her hold, now reduced to soft coos and whimpers.
“Where did you find him?” asked Kate, to which he quickly darted his eyes towards the dirty laundry. She felt a vein pop in her forehead at the answer.
“What kind of mother is she? I’ve always had my suspicions about her,” she said in annoyance. With the soothed baby on one of her arms, she pulled out his dirty diaper with the other and placed it over the pile Harvey was holding, “Please wash his diaper.”
The guy nodded and quickly made his way downstairs. She couldn’t blame him for going down that fast - the sheer rankness of that pile had been able to invade her nostrils even from a distance, let alone up close. Perhaps out of pity for the poor servant, she waited until she was sure he’d made it to the ground floor safely before taking the baby inside for a diaper change.
Admittedly, she had no experience changing a baby’s diaper. After all, she was employed specifically to be Mr. Aldous’ maid, a man with no children of his own. And neither did Mr. William and Mrs. Alexandra - the latter until this year, at least. Prior to them, she had never been employed specifically to watch over children, either; the families she’d used to work for usually had nannies hired separately for the job.
But Kate was always a fast learner, a skill picked up from months of surviving as a Vanderboom household staff. She managed to observe the folding of his diaper when she was unclothing him, now all she needed to do was replicate the same motions in reverse. So with a couple of wipes, a clothespin, and a piece of cloth, the baby was all nice and clean.
“All done,” she said in a playful voice. Baby James happily cooed in response.
Not once in her life had Kate ever considered getting married, let alone having children. Her social status certainly wouldn’t help her chances anytime soon, so at some point she subconsciously resigned herself to a lifetime of servitude. But the joyous laughter of baby James made her heart full, even more so when he wrapped his tiny little hand around her finger. She ran her thumb across his baby knuckles, grinning ear to ear. Moments of peace like this were few and far between, so she made sure to let herself relish it as much as she could.
“Beautiful boy,” she hummed. “Beautiful, beautiful boy.”
James let out a giggle, the cutest she’d ever heard.
“Oh, sweet baby boy. Does your mother treat you well?” she asked, obviously not expecting an answer. This was more so talking to herself than to him. “She’s far too cruel to you, leaving you in a pile of dirty laundry like that. If only you were raised somewhere else.”
She let her mind wander with that thought. In the deepest part of her heart, she just wanted to grab the boy and make a run far away from this house. She’d take Rustie, of course, and maybe she’d take Harvey with her too. The four of them under the same roof, free of any absurd commands. She would be a far better mother than Mrs. Alexandra ever was, even with her lack of parenting skills. She would learn and learn and learn just so she could give James the best life possible, so he would be raised with the love and care that every child should’ve unconditionally received from the people who birthed them.
As for Harvey, perhaps getting out of the servant role could help him open up more. He’d spoken only to her as far as she was concerned, and as of now they were having proper conversations with each other. She’d love to break him out of his shell. She’d love to know who he really was without the constraints of his contract, without the burden of fulfilling other people’s whims and having no time for his own. The real Harvey underneath the mask of obedience.
Settling James back to his basket, shaking her head at the family’s refusal to get him a crib as she did so, she returned to the hallway. She made it out just in time for Harvey to finish hanging all the washed laundry, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. They paused to look at each other, she smiled and he smiled back. He placed the basket down to wave at her before turning to the bathroom door.
Her smile immediately dropped. She’d almost forgotten he still had that task to be done.
“Wait!”
He whipped his head around to look at her.
“Um, I was thinking,” she tugged the fabric of her dress, her gaze averted from his, “perhaps I could help Mrs. Alexandra with the bathing?”
His eyebrows scrunched in confusion, “Wh- Why?”
“I just think… it is better for a woman to help her…” she resorted to that as an excuse, flimsy as it was, “because, um, you do need to, well…” Unable to say the word out loud from sheer embarrassment, she made a gesture that hopefully read ‘undress’. He nodded slowly, whether that meant he actually understood her or not was up to anyone’s guess.
“The point is, let me help her. You should get some rest,” she gave him a pat on the shoulder. It felt incredibly tense in her grasp, turning what was once an excuse into a legitimate promise.
Yet Harvey, as it turned out, had a bigger concern in mind, “But I thought… you don’t want to be… around her?”
Her breath hitched, any word that could come out of her mouth was suddenly caught dead in her throat. So he remembered her disdain for Mrs. Alexandra. He heard what she’d said once and took it to heart, using it now as a means to get her out of an uncomfortable situation. In any other circumstances she would owe him her whole life, and perhaps feel somewhat delighted that he was able to recall the smallest details in their conversations.
But she couldn’t be happy about it now. Not in this situation, not when Alexandra Vanderboom was involved.
“I know what I said, but please listen to me!” she held onto both of his shoulders and gave him a light shake. “You have to stay away from her, she’s-”
“Servant, I know you’re out there,” Alexandra herself, speaking of the devil, called out from the bathroom, “I am waiting for my bath!”
Harvey looked to the door, then back at his colleague. Kate held him still, pleading through her eyes for him to not come in. His lips parted ever so slightly as though wanting to say something of note, but at long last he faltered. Instead, he pushed her hands away with a whispered ‘sorry’ and turned to the bathroom door, opening it as fast as he could before disappearing inside like a ghost.
Kate watched as the door was closed in front of her face, as she took in the notion of losing another servant in the hands of the Vanderboom vixen. She stormed out with her throat closing on itself, eyes stung of salt water as her nails dug into the palm of her fisted hands. She hated how powerless she was against that woman. She hated the way Alexandra would always get what she wanted, trampling others under her heel as she did so. First her brother, and now Harvey. She wanted nothing more than to explode and take this damned place with her.
But since she was unable to do so, she turned her attention to what she’d always done best: cleaning. She cleaned and cleaned until the whole house was spotless. She cleaned until the rage had been scrubbed out of her, until the only thing left was a quiet, bubbling sense of anger that would soon rise again the moment that woman entered her vision. That evening she took her dinner and ate by herself in the servants’ room, with only Rustie by her side to provide comfort. She didn’t dare talk to Harvey at any point after that conversation, shame overwhelming her whenever she tried to do so. She decided it was better that way, for she might have lashed out at him for something he had no control over. He already had one insane woman on his case and he definitely did not need another one.
With Rustie, though, she knew she’d never hurt him. The whole time while she was eating, he made himself comfortable on her lap and snuggled against her chest, warm and loving enough to make the bitter food in her mouth somewhat more palatable. She smiled wearily as she stroked the ginger fur across his back, circling back to the head and chin to give her good boy lots of rubs.
“Oh, Rustie,” she sighed to herself, “when will things get better for us?”
The orange cat responded with a meow. Regardless of what he’d actually meant, the sound comforted her more than any words of the spoken language could ever do.
— — — — —
Night fell, and with it came rolling thunder.
Kate was on night watch duty by herself tonight. She scoured through every corner of the house, examining for anomalies until none was left. The red-cloaked figure Harvey mentioned several times had yet to be sighted thus far - not that she wanted to see it, anyway. And while she had absolute trust in his judgment, it had gotten to the point where she wondered if he was wholly sound of mind from the beginning.
Maybe one needed to be a little insane to voluntarily work for the Vanderboom family, and she saw herself slowly starting to fail in that regard.
Once she was sure that all the portraits looked normal and all the doors stopped opening themselves, it was time for bed. She needed one last stop at the servants’ room and so she made her way there as fast as she could. Almost too fast, apparently, as she narrowly avoided Harvey who was just exiting.
“Woah,” she abruptly stopped herself. The servant flinched and took a step back. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Hope I didn’t… scare you too much,” she said awkwardly.
Harvey shook his head with an awkward smile. Kate might even have heard a small chuckle if she’d strained her ears hard enough.
“Good, good.” A pause. “Are you… heading to bed now?”
He darted his eyes towards the hallway before giving her a nod. Something told her that he was lying, or at least wasn’t intending to sleep at the moment. Kate almost wanted to berate him if not for her own exhaustion taking over.
Not helped by Harvey being an absolute gentleman towards her, whose farewell bow almost made her heart flutter on the spot.
Charming, she thought, unable to help a smile on her face. Which reminded her…
“Wait!” she called out just as he was about to turn and leave. He stopped to hear her out.
“Um, so, you… did give Mrs. Alexandra a bath, right?”
He nodded slowly.
“Okay, um,” she struggled to get the words out, “did she, um, hurt you in any way?”
Harvey furrowed his brows, understandably baffled by her questions. Kate briefly thought of ditching the conversation altogether, but she forced herself to continue.
“Did Mrs. Alexandra do anything that made you uncomfortable? Did she say anything weird to you? Did she, um… force herself onto you in any way?”
Harvey shook his head, somewhat uncomfortable with her rather than the damned woman. It was when she knew she had no choice but to stop.
“I’ll take that as an answer, then,” she said with a sigh. “But… I just want you to know that… if need be, you can always talk to me. I know working here will drive you mad even for just three days, so…”
She directed her gaze to the floor, hoping that in some way, any way, her words had gotten through to Harvey. She could not read him, couldn’t even do so much as recognize what kind of emotion was presented on his face at any given moment. There really was no way to predict a person of few expressions and even fewer words; they could be holding a monologue inside their mind without even doing so much as blink.
Which was why it startled her when Harvey suddenly reached for her hand, dropping into her palm a tiny object. She opened it to reveal a necklace with a green gemstone, glimmering in what little light that was present in the servants’ room. She spun the pendant around her fingers in awe, observing each and every face that was meticulously cut into what was once a raw emerald. It was absolutely gorgeous… and far too expensive for a simple servant to own.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, almost breathlessly. He answered by giving her a peek inside his coat pocket, which was holding…
“Scissors from the bathroom? What do they have to-” it took her a few seconds to put two and two together, and from there her eyes widened in shock, “Don’t tell me…”
A corner of his mouth curl up into a sly smile, cheeky in contrast to her exasperated expression.
“Do you just steal from every single homeowner you serve?”
Harvey gave her a small shrug, “Only for you.”
Kate thought her heart had stopped for a moment. Not only did he just respond to her in words, which still caught her off guard even though she should’ve been used to it by now, but the answer he gave was also more outrageous than she could ever imagine. Just what did he mean by stealing for her specifically?
“Wh- Why? What’s all of this for?” she asked, and this time she demanded an answer. “Why me?”
Harvey, thankfully, was cooperative this time. “You can… sell it… get some money…” he let the phrases out one by one, an act that seemed like a huge struggle for him. “Get a better life… away from here…”
Her shoulders went slack. “Oh- Oh…” was all she could mutter, not even a proper word escaping from her lips when Harvey decided to bow out for the night.
“Goodnight, Kate,” was all he said before disappearing into the hallway, quiet as ever.
She didn’t know how long she’d stood there for. Drifting through the hallway like a ghost, she ended up back in her room before she knew it, snapped out of her stupor only by Rustie snuggling against her leg. She made sure to lock the door and close all the curtains before even daring to pull the precious gemstone out of her pocket, burying it deep inside her purse where its gleam could not shine through. Only then was she relaxed enough to at least not toss and turn through the night.
But even then, Kate couldn’t sleep, not just yet. Tomorrow would be the grand dinner, a nice little bow to tie up this mess of a family reunion. It would also be Harvey’s last day here, and once this was all over he’d move on and hopefully never look back. And then it would just be her again, alone in a near empty house. No more companion to talk to, no one else to share her struggles with.
Just a year ago it was her and her brother. She recalled the off-hours where they would find a corner unknown to their masters and start ranting about their issues, cathartically letting out all their pent up frustrations without a single ounce of judgment. She’d smiled and laughed so much back then and work seemed so much easier, too; it’d even made her wonder why the girls her age detested this line of work so much.
Now that she was alone, she finally understood. The empty feeling started way before her brother’s disappearance, when he began to get a bit too involved in the Vanderboom household and got in some kind of trouble with Mrs. Alexandra. The mere image of that woman in her head was already enough to make her shudder.
And then came Harvey, and all of a sudden she was smiling again. The rose, the call of her name, the playful bow in response to her curtsy. The way he remembered their brief conversations. She wanted more of him, selfish as it was. She wanted to know where he came from, what his aspirations were, and everything else in between. Mr. Aldous told her he was a good shot, could it mean he’d had hunting experience before? He stole from Mrs. Alexandra so effortlessly, could that have come from a brief life of poverty and desperation? He didn’t talk much and seemed to struggle with stringing full sentences, could it have tied to an event of significance in his formative years?
She wanted to learn more about him, to be his friend, his confidant. And she couldn’t do that while stuck in this house.
Against her better judgment, she lit a candle and settled to her desk. The black quill she’d used to sign her life away would now become the thing to grant her freedom.