Chapter 12
ARIAH
Around the perimeter of the Beetlerum Estate grow enormous elm trees that I run to and hide behind, as I draw closer to the right wing.
I stop when two guards near one of several fountains emerge and start chatting yards away.
Gossiping about two people named Saffria and Issa, who conned a poor bloke out of hundreds of moinlings.
I don’t know if their actions were justified, but staying to hear the full story is not prudent, and I take advantage of their distraction and quietly continue through the trees.
Making my way towards the back of the estate, I vaguely make out a terrace with a large, vine infested wooden arbor. Underneath the arbor is a door, and above are several windows.
Good! I have multiple points of entry.
The windows on each level are dark, increasing my chances of the rooms being vacant.
The two guards are still standing yards away as they continue to chat with each other.
My mother had said there were three in total. I don’t see the other one and hope they are by the other wing of the house.
Quickly, I cross the yard of the estate and head straight for the arbor. Drawing my ring sword, I prepare to use it to help get the door open, but to my surprise, it’s already unlocked.
I suppose, given how rich the Beetlerums are, they live assured that no one is foolish enough to steal from them. I am either a fool about to fall into a trap or about to teach them a lesson to always lockup.
Slipping inside, I’m greeted with more darkness and a set of stairs.
Perfect. Up is where I need to go and this all feels a little too good to be true.
The first step creaks under my weight as I make my ascent. I pause until I feel comfortable enough and then take another step.
To enhance my stealth I move on to my tippy toes. I’m not sure if it’s actually helping, but I feel more relaxed, so I keep it up until I have ascended the first flight of stairs.
At the base of the second floor, I gaze out and see a lifeless and nearly lightless hall. The carpet runner crawls with a white light halfway down the corridor and then fades into absolute darkness.
Although, afraid someone will pop out of the dark, I continue up the stairs and make my way to the third floor which is identical to the second.
A musty scent wafts through the air, clinging with dust and the absence of life. Not necessarily the smell of death, but the lack of bodies that stay on this level and perhaps the limited cleaning attention it receives. It is a perfect place to hide valuable things.
I begin with the first door in the hall.
Of course, my mother could tell me how many guards, cooks, and servants there are, but not what room these documents are in.
Another test, I assume. If she knows about the papers, she certainly knows what room they are kept in.
Better yet, she could have nicked them herself.
But this is my last lesson, not that there have been many in the past week; but this is a chance to prove to her that I can handle this.
The first room has a small archway I pass under before reaching the door. My hand goes back and forth, contemplating if I should rush in or knock.
Why the hell would I knock? Just go in, Ariah.
I end up having a full-blown conversation with myself before I decide knocking is a dumb idea and summon the courage to open the door.
Gradually, the door swings back and, like the hall, there isn’t much light inside the room.
Straight ahead is a window, and the little light that creeps in reveals a hope chest set near the foot of the bed.
Immediately, I shut the door and move on to the next. This time I don’t argue with myself, and I open the door. The next room is like the first. There is a bed, but instead of a hope chest, there is a tiny rocking horse, along with a rocking chair near the window.
All I find are bedrooms, with the exception of one painting room, but it still isn’t the office my mother is referring to.
Of course, she could have helped me more by providing the exact location of the room instead of being ominous about it, but it’s useless to stress, I already have enough nerves coursing through me.
As I’m about to enter the seventh room on this floor, I hear footsteps traveling up the stairs, and I catch the faintest glimpse of candle light flickering against the wall before I tuck into the archway.
“Remember this is a secret for Morren.” It’s Luna’s voice, and I tuck farther into the wall between the door and hall. The last thing I need is for her to find me. “Just set it in the room and he’ll find it in the morning.”
We haven’t spoken since her wedding. I would have thought she would be traveling by now, enjoying time with her new husband, but maybe the plans changed.
The thought of him reminds me just how much his words bothered me at the wedding.
I wonder if he told Luna of my not-so-little threat if he misbehaves.
I would tell her about the incident myself, but I don’t want to taint their relationship, if there is even one at all.
Three bodies walk past me and I sink farther back into the shadows.
Luna stops midway, sniffing the air. “Strange.”
“Is something wrong with My Lady?” one of the voices asks from farther down the hall.
“Sandalwood, amber, and peonies,” she mumbles. My pits sweat knowing she is picking up the scent of the perfume my father has specially mixed for me. Without making a sound, and moving with the speed of sap down a tree, I get the door open and slip inside. “I thought I smelled something.”
“Only your husband and Sir Beetlerum come to this side of the house, ma’am. I’m sure it’s just cleaning scents left behind by the maids.”
“You’re probably right.” Luna turns to continue on and together they finish up what they were doing.
Waiting in the dark, I listen. I hear them go into one of the furthest rooms in the hall and then come out, walking back towards the staircase.
“Once he goes into his office, he’s going to be so surprised, ma’am,” another girl says as they pass the door I’m hidden behind. Her voice is almost childlike, and I can’t imagine she’s over the age of fifteen. Must be a servant assigned to Luna.
She does offer good insight though. If Morren’s office is all the way down the hall, then I would bet some moinlings his father’s isn’t far from it.
“Oh,” Luna says, as they hit the steps. “I forgot something. You two head back down and help with supper. Let the others know I’ll be there momentarily.”
“I can fetch it for you,” the younger one pleads.
“I got it. As I said, you two head back down.”
My heartbeat quickens. Why isn’t she leaving?
The sound of footsteps trail downstairs and then the hall falls silent.
Now would be the time to go for the study, but I know Luna is still around. Giving it a minute, I still don’t hear anything and wonder if she went back to Morren’s office.
Slow and steady, I create a gap in the doorway and peer out into the corridor. There is nothing in my line of sight. It doesn’t mean that Luna still isn’t on this floor. If I go now, then we could easily bump into each other.
A creaking noise sends me flying back, away from the door.
“Ariah?” Luna’s voice is cautious.
New rule, no more perfume while on assignment. Definite violation of the untraceable part, especially when you have a custom scent.
The door swings open and Luna comes in with a candle in hand. She sees me and jumps back, the candle falling and the flame grabbing hold of the tassels on the carpet.
“What’s wrong with you?” I shout as we both stomp to put the fire out.
“Ariah?” She scurries to what looks like a dresser and lights the candle once more before coming over and pulling the mask that I forgot was on, off my face. “What in the hell are you doing here? How did you even get in?”
“The back door was unlocked.”
She lowers the candle and examines my clothes. “What are you wearing?”
Had this been a task assigned by the Queen, I know what would be expected of me for being caught, and the thought makes me ill.
Thankfully, the Queen isn’t here, and neither is my mother.
Besides my family, Luna is the only person I would trust with my life.
With my family’s secret. Our honesty has fueled our friendship—lying now might destroy it all.
“Promise me you won’t say anything.” She nods without question, just as I would.
“Not even to Morren.” She nods again, a little more hesitantly this time, but it’s a nod nonetheless.
“I leave for the Queen’s court tomorrow.
” Her eyes and mouth widen, but I finish before she can interject.
“It’s a long story that I promise to tell you about when I have more time, but right now, I need to get into Sabbien’s office. Can you show me where it is?”
She stands there, reluctantly waiting, and I can’t fault her. If someone wearing a strange fox mask, lingering in the dark, asked for my help, I wouldn’t offer it either.
“Let’s go!” I’m right behind her as she charges down the hall—her candle flickering with the speed of her gait. “He keeps it locked.”
“No worries.” Instinctively, my hand goes for a needle in my pocket and I use it to twist the mechanism of the lock until I hear that beautiful click. It’s another useful skill my mother has taught me over the past few days.
Once unlocked, she stares at me, a million questions swim in her eyes, as she allows me to enter first.
Taking another candle near the entrance, she lights it and hands it over. “This is his office. An office he hates people going into, so hurry up.”
I plant a kiss on her forehead. “Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?”
“Well, anyone willing to kill someone who hurts me must love me.”
She hits me with the threat I gave Morren. “He told you about that?”
“He did.” She waits a minute before giving into a smile. “I laughed when he told me. I don’t think he liked that very much, but eventually I broke him down. He won’t be impolite to you anymore.”
“Thank you.” I give her hand a quick squeeze. “And you have my word that I will try to get along with him.”
She lets out a breath that seems like she’s been holding in for days. “Alright. What are we looking for?”
“Papers. Plans. Anything about Foxhead.” She heads off towards a table on the left and I take the desk. “My mother is convinced he has intentions of reconstructing Foxhead.”
“Can he do that?”
“You tell me. He’s your father-in-law.”
The desk is pristine, not a pen out of place and no papers. I find a journal, but it’s only filled with names and moinling amounts. Suspicious, but not what I’m looking for.
The drawers are the same, most are filled with random trinkets. Everything is perfectly organized. The only issue is there aren’t many papers. There are a few notebooks, but each is unused.
“Ariah.” Luna stays fixated on a sheet as she unfolds it before her.
“I think I found it.” I cross the room in three quick strides.
She holds out a map of Foxhead. “That’s your parent’s place.
” Luna points to a cottage that has been circled with red ink.
“That’s my parent’s shop and their home.
” Both are circled with the same ink. “What does this mean?”
Shaking my head, I reach for the other papers on the table. The top document is addressed to Queen Cayleen. The contents are too long to read now, but the last line is for her signature.
“I’m taking these.” I fold them as best as I can and shove them in the back of my pants.
“He’s going to know they are missing.” Luna cleans up what she’s touched.
“Good. Let him. I will give them to my mother so she can take a look, and she’ll sneak them back in.”
“Your mom?”
“Yeah, that’s part of the longer story. Now, what’s the fastest way out of here?”
It might be cheating having her show me, but I’ve been here too long.
Following her out, we don’t go back to the stairs at the end of the hall.
Instead, we run to the next room. She shuts the door behind me and then leads us to a wardrobe.
There are a few coats she shoves to the side and then she pounds on the top right corner.
The back of the wardrobe separates, allowing her to push it open, like a door.
“This path leads to stairs that will take you to the back gardens. No one really knows about this passageway, so you won’t get caught.”
“How do you know about it?” I move past her and take the candle that she holds out for me.
“Ummm…Morren showed me.” There is too much bashfulness in the reply.
“Yeah, what else has he shown you?” I tease, and then hold the light up to her face and she can barely keep eye contact. “So, Morren has been taking care of you.”
“Stop.” And there is no hiding her grin, even in near darkness. “He’s actually a really good man.”
I lean in close. “How good?”
Her smile still beams and she bites the corner of her lip. “Really good.”
We both laugh until we realize we’re meant to be quiet.
“I’ll write to you. I want to know everything. You take care of yourself.”
“Wait!” She tugs at my arm before I can pass through the door. “When do you leave?”
My eyes dart away before I whisper, “Tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow?” She hits me in the arm. “You were going to leave without saying anything?”
“You have just been so busy I thought it would be better to write to you once I got there.”
“Unacceptable.” She wraps her arms around me. “Once you get there, you better get to writing and don’t leave out a single detail. Be careful.”
Luna and I haven’t been apart for longer than a week since we were children. I want nothing more than to stay behind and have her tell me about what life is like for her now.
There is a fear of losing her. A chance that my role in her life has fallen a position or two. There is a strange wave of jealousy, and I can’t figure out if things will ever return to how they once were, or if they’re even supposed to.
We let go of each other’s embrace and I do everything I can to retain my tears. This isn’t a goodbye. I assuredly will be seeing her again, but there is an ache in not knowing when that will be.
With the papers tucked in my pants and a smooth exit down the clandestine staircase, out into an unoccupied garden, sneaking away isn’t as difficult as sneaking in.