She hadn’t been listening to what they were speaking lost in her thoughts and when she did she heard Lady Caroline tell one of her tales.
“….and then this woman whom I had trusted all those years tried to stab father! The nerve of the woman!”
“You can’t blame the woman for trying to stab him when he deserves to be stabbed,” Quill muttered under his breath.
“And what happened then?” Elliot asked amused.
“Father had her thrown to the brothel. A fit punishment,” she huffed.
“A servant has to be treated as a servant to show where they belong, else, they mistake it to be something else,” she heard Lord Alexander speak.
Hearing his words made her heart drop. For some reason it felt his words were directed towards her and those words hurt.
He lived in a different world, a world to which she didn’t belong. What happened two nights ago was a dream and this was the hard reality.
“Could I have more of that one?” Lady Caroline asked and Katie without noticing that the bowl was burning hot went to hold it with her bare hand, placing it next to Caroline and serving it to her.
Katie felt the burn on her hand and she wanted to yell out to push the pain away but she suppressed her emotions like the rest while picking up the tray of glasses filled with water keeping them on the table. As she went towards Lord Alexander this time she had her eyes lowered but her bottled up emotions since two days slipped out as a single drop of tear fell on the tray.
Lord Alexander’s hand reached for a glass. Embarrassed, she wiped the tear with her thumb on the tray.
Lady Caroline’s father had come to pick his beloved daughter after an hour and Quill had come to the shed searching for Katie to say his goodbyes.
“I am glad you had a good time in Valeria,” Katie said making him nod.
“And I am glad you were here to accompany me as my partner for the theater. Thank you,” he said and continued, “Please do come visit our town. I am sure you will find it to your liking. Lady Caroline and I live in different towns so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
It made her smile. He was a considerate man.
“Thank you very much for your invitation, Quill. If I do visit, I will surely drop by,” she replied, dropping ‘Mr. Travers’ as he had insisted.
“How about now?” he asked tilting his head.
“Now?” she asked surprised with his offer.
“Yes,” he confirmed, “You’re a maid here but if you come with me I will turn you into a lady in my house,” he said seriously and Katie felt at loss for words.
First she wondered if he was joking but the man didn’t seem like the type to joke around. Was he asking her hand in marriage?
“I am flattered by your offer but I have things to do and I…I…”
“He should be a lucky man who has the affections of a woman such as yourself,” he said when she couldn’t complete her sentence.
“I am sorry for not being able to return your feelings,” she said.
“Don’t be. Just remember that if you need a friend I’ll be there,” he said with a smile before leaving her standing outside the shed.
She stood there looking at him walk away, towards where the carriage waited. They hadn’t spent much time together but he had minded his business most of the times. The rapport they had shared that night at the theater was one of friendship.
Unlike his sister who looked down on people, he was polite not only to her but the rest of the staff in the mansion. If she could, she would have asked Lady Caroline to learn a thing or two from her sibling.
“I feel bad for the man.”
“Caviar, you scared me! Were you eavesdropping?” she asked him suspiciously.
“I was merely passing by when my ears decided to pick on your conversation,” he shrugged his shoulders, “You could have a better life from maid to an elite lady, you know that,” she heard him say beside her.
“By marrying him?”
“Yep, I have heard few things about him. Clean record when it comes to his affairs with women. I mean he takes one woman at one time instead of juggling many. You could have a happily-ever-after with a perfect Prince Charming,” he said moving his hands in the front as though he was riding his horse.
“Isn’t a marriage without love a compromise?”
“Most of the marriages these days are full of compromises and it isn’t that uncommon. No offense, but women marry men to improve their social status.”
“But I am not like them,” she said with her brows furrowed. She wished she could be that way, it would be easier to forget Alexander that way.
“No wonder the Lord is smitten by her,” he muttered under his breath.
“Did you say something?” Katie turned to face him.
“The guests are gone so it’s time to get back to work. Don’t slack now come on.”
Going back inside the mansion after storing and feeding the hay to the horses. Katie went up the attic as she had to bring down few boxes. The attic was situated at the back corner of the mansion, it was a little dark due to many objects and boxes hindering the light from passing through the windows.
As she searched through the boxes she heard something fall and turned around to see a brown cloth lying on the floor. Walking towards it she picked the cloth to place it on the box.
Did lizards and rats reside in this old attic? she wondered to herself.
Picking up the box she went down the stairs to place it down. Going back up again she found the brown cloth lying on the floor again.
It scared her now. She didn’t hear any rumors about ghosts existing in the mansion then was it her hallucination?
Pulling both the doors which had no latch, she began walking down the stairs and felt someone push her from behind leading her to miss her step and she slid down the stairs half way through.
“Ow!” she winced as she tried to stand up. She looked behind to see the door closed as she had left.
Not wanting to indulge in her curiosity she walked down the remaining stairs before picking up the box. Seeing one of the staff walking by she asked him to take it to the backyard. She wondered if a ghost did reside in the attic, it was the last place she would visit in the mansion but then she was positive that she felt someone’s hand push her back. It was her birthday yet she had been meeting up with unfortunate bad luck and she sighed.
Even Martin had refused to let her off work early telling that Lord Alexander had revised the rules and one of them included to be equitable to all the staff and gender when it came to following up with the rule. She had to notify him two days prior before she could take her time off.
She was about to go to her room when Lord Alexander asked her to get tea up to his study. One of the council member had visited him to discuss about the next proceedings in the council’s court.
It had been long since he had asked for her, not wanting to miss the opportunity to mend things she got the tea as soon as she could and made her way to his study with her knee that now throbbed with every step she took.
Knocking the door she got inside his study, walking as straight as she could, she placed the tray at the side of the table ready to prepare their tea to their preference but the Lord spoke,
“You can leave, Katie,” and just like that he dismissed her.
Alexander looked at her back as she wobbled so very slightly before disappearing behind the door. He could smell the fresh rusty metal in the air like a sweet scent.
With his brows furrowed he looked down at the white marbled floor to see a red drop on it which was undoubtedly blood.
“Mathias, these are the documents which I got it prepared and the ones that I have acquired. Why don’ you go through it while I make a quick errand,” the Lord said getting up from his seat and leaving his study.
Seeing that Katie was near the stairs talking to Daisy, he looked at her neck first which held no marks but neither did her arms. His eyes trailed down to notice a small wet patch that had formed on her dress near her knees.
Katie was talking Daisy about the cooks in her town when she lived back then in the south when she suddenly saw Lord Alexander walking towards them. Daisy gave a small bow when Lord Alexander came up to them, leaving them both alone there.
“Come with me,” he said not waiting for an answer and caught hold of Katie’s wrist as he took her to his room and then to his bathroom.
“Wait, Lord Alexander,” she protested as he pushed her dress up to see the wound but he caught her hands, “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I am doing?” he asked her before a mischievous grin appeared on his lips, “Thinking naughty are we, don’t worry I won’t do anything yet,” he said pushing her dress up to see a cut on her knee.
It felt like deja-vu all over again.
“I can clean it up,” she said flustered but he was having none of it.
“If you could, you would have aided for it which I don’t see. You are lucky to not have vampires who kill turn you into a dinner while you flaunt yourself as a walking meal. How clumsy are you,” he said pulling out the first aid box and cleaning the wound, “First you go burn your hand and now you hurt your leg.”
Despite his scoldings she sat there thinking how she had missed talking to him like this.
“Lord Alexander.”
“Hmm?”
“I…..” she didn’t know what to say mustering her words she said, “I-I didn’t mean it when I said I would sleep with Mr. Travers.”
“I know that, silly girl,” he said with smile he usually gave her, the one that was kind.
“If I didn’t know that the man would have already been resting in the coffin underground,” he said calmly while he tapped her leg to say he was done.
“Coffin?” she whispered, her eyes wide, “But he-” Alexander silenced her by placing his finger on her lips.
“I apologize for being rude for pushing you from the room but not for the words I spoke that night,” he said staring in to her eyes, “Don’t favor another man in my presence Katherine. It doesn’t sit well with me.”
And he pulled his hand away.
“I don’t understand,” she said looking a him with her doe eyes.
“It is true when they said envy brings out the worst in you,” he chuckled at the thought and took her hand which rested on her lap, “I want to steal away your smile so that it’s just for me and no one else to see. Unlike other women you are pure, an untainted soul has captivated me.”
“We are all wolves in a sheep’s clothing, to mingle in the society. And you just happened to catch one of the wolves attention. Won’t you be mine?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll take that as a yes then,” kissing the back of her hand with a smile he left the room.