Chapter 14
I’ve only been in Carcen a couple of days, and with Luc and I needing to move into the chateau in order to fulfill the will, I get Henry and André to start work on anything they can while the heating system is being designed. I make my way—or more like stomp my way—down to confront Madeline at the Bureau du Conseil. The next time Luc decides to ambush me, I’m going to be better equipped. A few people wave at me as I make my way through Rue du Marché. Odd. I wave back, making the growl on my lips seem less menacing. Does this mean the town has decided I’m no longer a random tourist?
“Hi, Aurora,” Madeline greets, a giant smile pulling at her lips as I walk into the Bureau office. She holds up a finger before disappearing behind a door and popping out in front of me.
I sidestep her open arms. “Did you tell Luc I was at the chateau?” I ask, eyes narrowing.
She cocks her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“The chateau. Did you tell him I was going to fix it up?” My nostrils flare and I dig my nails into the soft skin in the palms of my hands. While to Madeline I seem angry, I’m actually really hurt. I want to rub the small hole that has seemingly formed in my chest, but I keep my fa?ade in place. When she came to the chateau, I thought it was because she liked me, and potentially wanted to start a friendship. But now? I feel used.
She lowers her arms to her side. “No, I didn’t tell him anything. Why do you ask?”
“Because I got a visit from Luc trying to kick me out and Arthur telling me we have to stay. And it all happened after you showed up. By the way, thank you for telling me Luc was Jean-Luc.” My lips thin.
“I thought you realized.” The tips of her ears turn pink. Of course I didn’t make the connection; I didn’t think the first person I would meet in town would be the guy I just so happened to co-inherit a chateau with. “But as for the chateau, I am genuinely happy you are staying and you’re going to fix it up, why would I send Arthur to kick you out?” Her brows draw down.
“No, Arthur told me I have to live in the thing. Luc told me I have to leave,” I correct.
“This is a small town, Aurora, we don’t get many new people, and I am really enjoying having you here. I kind of enjoy having a dancing partner. I certainly wouldn’t tell Luc to kick you out. But that is such a Luc thing to do.” She shakes her head and gives a sarcastic laugh. “I’ve been friends with Luc for a long time. As much as that chateau means a lot to him, I’m sensing it might mean a lot to you too. I kind of think it’s nice that you’re challenging him. Most women just fall to his feet, which can get annoying.”
“Tell me about it,” I breathe, rolling my eyes.
“Why don’t you make him work a little harder for it, you know, do some things to piss him off a bit.” Her eyebrows wiggle.
“Like what?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know, he’s pretty easy to piss off, push him in the moat or something.”
“Ew, the sewage drains into the moat.”
“Exactly.” She smirks. That pulls a bark of laughter from my chest, because now I have every intention of doing just that. Maybe pushing him in the moat might not be enough to get him to let me run the chateau on my own, but I think I might be able to come up with a few ideas to get him to leave.
“Can you tell me anything about Chateau des éveillés? Was Louis Monet the last person to live in it?” I ask. If I need to come up with ways to get the chateau from Luc’s grasp, I need to get inventive, and a haunted chateau might be the perfect key.
“Ah, yes, you have questions. Carcen has documents dating back to the twelfth century. But I can tell you the answer to this one. Yes, Louis was the last person to live in your chateau.”
I nod. “I never really got the chance to know my father, he died when I was a teenager, but I would like to get to know the place he called home once upon a time.”
Madeline reaches a hand out and squeezes mine. “Well, then let’s go look at the archives.” She beckons me to follow her. “Carcen is deeply rooted in tradition,” Madeline continues talking as she leads me through the door behind the reception and into a small room. She stops in front of a metal door hidden next to a bookcase and turns back to look at me, excitement reverberating off her. “Are you ready?”
“Yes?” It comes out more as a question, my mind whirling with what is on the other side of the door.
Madeline’s hand reaches for the circular dial. She uses all her energy pushing the metal wheel down until it gives a creak and heaves, loosening up. “Phew, that never gets any easier.” With the door unlocked, she gives another pull. The smell of stale air and moldy walls escapes like thick tendrils from the door opening. Madeline leans over and flicks the toggle of the switch on the wall. A naked blub coming down from the roof on a single black cable illuminates a set of plywood stairs.
I gulp; I didn’t have a fear of heights, but small, tight, enclosed spaces were a different story.
“Come.” Madeline smiles as she descends the stairs.
I take a deep, steadying breath before stepping over the threshold, following Madeline’s steps. The deeper we go, the tighter the stairwell becomes, and the harder the stagnant air is to breathe. The exposed brickwork has chisel marks and is uneven, handmade, and laid by skilled workmen. At the bottom step, the narrowed stairwell opens into an underground cave, illuminated by the golden hue of light protruding from the walls. I feel like I’m in some sort of underground treasure trove. This is what it must be like under the Smithsonian.
“Wow,” I mutter, my breath in short pants from a mixture of low oxygen and awe. I can’t believe what is underneath the Bureau du Conseil is, for all intents and purposes, a secret city.
“Underneath many of these old buildings there are underground passages; they were used as hiding places during the seven-year war with Prussia and Britain. The archives are just over here.” Madeline threads her elbow through mine and leads us farther into the cave.
“It must have taken a lifetime to read through all these documents.” I could only imagine these archived files would be a historian’s version of the Golden City, a chance for them to fill in missing blanks in history, reinforce theories, and find lost information.
“There is a lot of information down here; family trees, birth certificates, marriage licenses, autopsy reports. Some documents we have date back to 1380.”
“Autopsy reports?” I couldn’t keep the shock from my tone to hear that such a thing would be kept.
“What can I say, our town loves the morbid side of humanity. Halloween here is fabulous.”
“That’s so cool.” I quirk an eyebrow and smile at her. Halloween also happens to be my favorite holiday, so it’s kind of cool that the town takes it so seriously.
Madeline sniggers. “I think most museums do possess the original documents of notable names and famous figures who have been autopsied. The people in Carcen who have been autopsied are dukes, noblemen, and past town mayors. The cholera outbreak of 1850 kept the local physician very busy.”
“A museum would kill to have that kind of information.” My eyes widen.
“Yes, they probably would. But this information is the root of Carcen; it belongs to the soil, the sun, and the clouds.”
“Is that why Luc wants the chateau so badly?” I ask, thinking it’s the perfect opportunity to slide in the whole I know you’re working with him line.
“Because of the cholera outbreak?” Madeline’s face pinches and shudders. If that’s his reason for wanting the chateau, we are definitely on two different playing fields. Here I was wanting to make a nice, cozy bed-and-breakfast, maybe hold some painting classes, and Luc wants it as a shrine to some of the darkest times in Carcen’s history. You really do know how to pick them, Rory.
“No.” I lightly slap her arm. “Because the chateau is the heart of Carcen.”
“That is true. The chateau holds a special place in the town’s history.” Madeline blows out a breath. “Luc loves the chateau, probably as much as you. He has been trying to take over as owner for the last few years. He did everything he could to convince Louis to let him buy it off him, but the old man wouldn’t budge. Kept telling him when he passed, then the chateau would start its new life.”
Even while Louis was still alive, Luc was trying to get the chateau? I guess I’m really lucky that Timothé found me, then. That thought only annoys me, probably more than it should, and hearing that Luc wants the chateau because it means something to him just made this whole game more dangerous.
“From the start to present, Chateau des éveillés history in pages.” Madeline motions to the boxes. A weight settles on my chest. This could be my opportunity to find out more about my dad’s family.
“The last person to live in Chateau des éveillés was Louis Monet until his passing,” she recites all the information, as if Madeline is absorbing my family history through osmosis.
“I am impressed, you know so much about everything.”
Madeline’s head falls back, and she starts laughing. “I should hope I know the basic information of who is alive and dead in my town.”
“Wait, your town?” I stare at her in shock.
“Yes. I’m the town mayor, youngest to ever be voted in.” It dawns on me why she is so passionate about Carcen, and why she worries about what my plans are for the chateau.
Madeline helps me collect some documents, the original plan from Chateau des éveillés when it was signed off in 1764 by the architect Pierre Terreaux as Duke Fran?ois Monet and his wife Adeline’s new primary residents, a gift commissioned by King Louis XV. The dim lighting made it hard for me to see, but having Madeline there to translate made learning about the chateau easier.
“Ahhh…the document I have been looking for,” Madeline announces as she finds a piece of paper. “I thought you might like this.” She hands the piece of paper to me. I inhale sharply. Even though it is in French, I’m able to read my family tree. In 1766, Duke Fran?ois Monet and Adeline had their first child, Fran?ois Monet II. They had two more in the following years, one who passed away in infancy. Over a two-hundred-year span, the ten generations of the Monet family tree have been outlined, all the way up to the last generation to carry the last name. The last surviving relatives of Duke Fran?ois Monet and Adeline with the esteemed last name was my great-uncle Louis. My grandmother, Celly, Louis Monet’s youngest sister, had my dad. But they weren’t included in the document because they were Allards and not Monets.
“It would be my pleasure to include your name on the family tree.” Madeline rests a hand on mine, and only then do I realize I’m shaking. “As the new owner of Chateau des éveillés, you now join history.”
With a sheen of unshed tears, my glassy eyes look up at Madeline. “Thank you,” I whisper, breathless, my throat dry, overcome with emotion. I’ve never felt more connected to my father and to this town. My whole life I’ve grown up with this giant missing link, and it’s all of a sudden being filled out. My whole body tingles. It solidifies how much more I want to stay here, to create a life, and I don’t care who is standing in my way.
“Can I…” I clear my throat, searching for the right words. “Can I have a copy of this?” I ask her. I can already imagine exactly where this was going to go. On the back wall in the kitchen, I’m going to spread my artistic wings and emblazon my family tree for everyone to see.
“Yes, of course. Welcome to Carcen.”
I smile at her. A small part of me feels like I’d been missing this place my whole life, I just never knew it.