9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
I fling my eyes open, my breathing heavy and my skin slick with sweat. Still staring at the ceiling, for a moment, I just enjoy the fact that my nightmare was just that — a nightmare.
Except for the sound, I think with a frown.
Because I can still hear that awfully loud, painfully slow grinding sound.
I push myself up and look around.
Ah. I’m in the prince’s wife’s new room.
For one long moment, I keep sitting in bed, my breathing returning to normal as I stare out onto the terrace in vague confusion. I know there’s something I’m supposed to do today, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of things.
The Library. Yes, I’m supposed to report for my first day as the Librarian and try to find a way to get out of this mess.
And there’s a part of me longing to get back to bed and just forget about everything for a day, but that’s not a part I’m willing to indulge.
So I get up and start getting dressed, when I hear this quiet, tentative knock on the door.
I freeze in place.
Didn’t Grimm say there were no servants here? Is that him then, standing outside my door? Nervousness takes a hold of me. What could he want?
“Just a moment, please,” I say, rushing to finish getting dressed.
Then I walk over to the door, unbolt it and crack it open, my eyebrows shooting up when I see a woman I don’t recognize, shyly looking at me with her hands clasped in front of her.
Relaxing, I open the door wider. “Yes?” I ask.
She does a quick little curtsy. “My apologies, Your Grace,” she starts in a voice that’s barely above a whisper, “I heard you were up, but you weren’t calling me in.”
I frown. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“I’m your lady’s maid, Your Grace,” she tells me, “I was sent by the Pied Piper to assist you.”
“Assist me with what?”
She blinks at me. “Getting dressed, Your Grace.”
I almost fail to stop myself from rolling my eyes. “I see,” I say with a smile. Then I step back to let her in. “Well, assist away.”
As I let her do her thing, I try to find consolation in the fact that this may very well be the last time I let people pressure me into getting dressed like a goddamn doll.
Luckily, my lady’s maid proves to be efficient. No more than ten minutes go by before she’s out the door. As soon as she’s gone, I grab my phone from under the pillow, hide it in my corset and leave the room.
First stop, the Library.
With determination in my step, I walk the empty hallway to the front door, finding it thrown wide open. I pause in the doorway, throwing a look over my shoulder.
I saw no sign of my ‘husband’ and that awful noise only seems to be getting louder. I frown. Should I notify someone about it?
Then it hits me. The lady’s maid didn’t even acknowledge it, meaning the noise must be nothing out of the ordinary.
I’d still love to know what it’s all about, but I’ve more pressing things to do than try to solve that particular mystery.
In fact, when I think about it, I hope I never do get the chance to solve it.
I walk out of the house and across the terrace. I throw a single exasperated look over the edge of the hill before I take a deep breath and start making my way down the damn steps.
By the time I’m back on solid ground, I’m ravenous. The impatience to finally set things in motion makes me try to dismiss the hunger, but when I get inside the castle, the first thing I notice is the smell coming from the cafeteria.
All my determination crumbles.
Despite the chatter signaling that it’s crowded, I walk straight into the cafeteria, my jaw dropping at the sight before me. I most definitely did not expect modern-day serving counters, but the room is nothing like the one I’m used to. It looks more like an old-fashioned restaurant, servants walking around pushing trolleys with food to students sitting at round wooden tables.
Well, don’t mind if I do.
But as soon as I start making my way to one of the few empty tables, the students spot me and the staring begins. It seems that everyone knows the face of the prince’s new wife.
Nope. I turn on my heel and leave the cafeteria.
*
The silence, familiarity and relative emptiness of the Library all bring instant comfort to me. I walk over to the Service Desk, wondering how exactly I should introduce myself, but the old man sitting behind it is already getting up.
A strong smell wafts up to me even before he gets near. I have to fight not make a face. Cabbage? Sour cabbage and something even more pungent.
“Ah, Your Grace,” he says in a bright yet shaky voice, “you’re here.”
There’s a touch of confusion on his face, as if he didn’t really expect me to come. Still, there’s warmth in his eyes, and I can do nothing but give him a smile. “Indeed I am.”
“Let us show you around.” And he motions for me to follow.
“No need,” I gently stop him. “I’ve already done that.”
I watch him raise his eyebrows at me. “Well, aren’t you an industrious one?”
I smile. “Show me how you process the loans and you can leave to get a second breakfast or an early lunch, if you so wish.”
He returns the smile and dips his head in a bow.
Within a couple of minutes, I’m behind the Service Desk, alone, starting to go through internal catalogs to find the books that might be of help to me.
I hear footfalls followed by a low, “Excuse me.”
I look up only to see the male student standing in front of the Desk close his mouth shut, obviously taken aback.
“Yes?” I ask.
“Um,” he starts, the look on his face turning vaguely hostile. “I think I can manage, Your Grace, but thank you anyway.”
Gods, I don’t know what the guy’s problem is, but I’m starting to really hate those two words. Your Grace…
I go back to my search, going through books on fae magic, nature of time and those that could have something to do with the Aurora.
*
I find nothing. Even in this time period, there are zero books on the Aurora, only useless resources on the nature of time that never mention any portals, and plenty of books on fae magic but none of them written for a fae who can’t actually do any of it.
Exhausted, I close the last book shut and run my hands down my face.
It’s just as I lower them back onto the Desk that my Plan B walks straight past me.
Johanna de Groot herself.
And sure, asking for her help includes telling her I’m from the future, which I’d normally want to spend a little more time preparing for, just in case she, you know, completely unexpectedly chooses not to believe me. But I already know what I need to say to convince her, and it’s not like I’m doing anyone any favors by prolonging this situation.
With that in mind, I get up and I rush to catch up with her, coming to block her way just as she passes the Runology section. “Professor de Groot,” I say with a smile, despite the cold way in which she quirks an eyebrow at me.
“Your Grace,” she murmurs, in a cordial but not exactly inviting way.
I blink at her. “I assure you,” I say with a low laugh, “there’s no need for such formalities.”
“As you wish, Lady Grimm ,” she replies, but the absence of change in her demeanor signals to me that I didn’t accomplish what I wanted, at all .
My eyebrows pull down. I hesitate.
“Is there something you wanted?” she asks.
Alright, here we go. “Actually… I understand we’ve never been introduced, but I was wondering if we could have a chat, in private? In your office, perhaps?”
“I’m a very busy woman, Lady Grimm. Absolutely no time for… chats.”
And with that, she disappears out of my view, leaving me standing there like a fool.
What did I do to deserve such coldness?
“Your Grace,” an unfamiliar voice sounds from behind my back.
That fucking title. “Yes?” I snap, collecting myself even before I turn to find a male servant bowing to me. “Apologies. Do go on.”
“You’re wanted in the princesses’ quarters.”
“What for, if I may ask?”
“It is the customary Friday family dinner, Your Grace.”
“I have work to do.”
He hesitates, but only for a second. “I’m afraid that the Pied Piper insists”
I let out a sigh. “Alright. I’ll be right there.”