Marienne's life was completely undone when her village went up in flames. Badly burned and her eyesight lost, she awakes in a strange place, with no knowledge of how she arrived there. Her savior was the enigmatic and alluring Victor, the Lord of Az...
Author's Note: This one's going up a little late, but I'm so happy to have it going up! This is one of my favorite chapters to have written. Feels good to be getting something I truly love out there. I have to admit, a lot of the chapters I've written I haven't been perfectly happy with. This one on the other hand...I absolutely love. I hope you guys love it too. It's a bit of a long one, so I hope you guys are strapped in for the ride! Don't forget to get yourself a drink and maybe a snack, and take a break if you need it. <3. I can't wait to see your thoughts on this one.
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In the morning, everything seemed perfectly normal in the castle, but there was a certain edge to the air around the staff. I assumed most already knew what had occurred the night before, but no one seemed likely to talk about it. Even Amelia shook her head when I began questioning her about it. "Things like this are better left unspoken, until they can be resolved cleanly, Marienne." Reluctant to dredge up the events myself, I chose to let it go.
Tea was served in the garden, as was quickly becoming a habit of mine. It seemed Victor enjoyed the morning sun nearly as much as I did. "The sun here is not nearly as intense as it was back home in Italy, but it will do." He smiled at me over his tea, and leaned back comfortably into his chair. "Perhaps we will visit sometime. I would like for you to see my homeland."
I set my cup down, and brushed a few stray crumbs off of my skirts. "Oh, I think that would be lovely, Victor. After everything that has happened, I could use a vacation." I chuckled, dispelling the threat that seemed to loom in every crevice of the castle's mortared walls. It could only be held off so long, however. The voice I had heard in my head last night still gnawed on the back of my mind. I caught myself glancing over my shoulder, as if I expected someone to be there, but that was plainly ridiculous. Of course, each time I looked, no one was there.
Dinner, however, was going to prove to be quite difficult. Victor had already cautioned me against directly accusing Valentina of the crimes we suspected. We simply lacked proof, and all it would succeed in doing would be to warn her that we were suspicious of her, and make her crafty and unlikely to let a precious secret slip.
There was no way to ignore Tumas' absence at the table, and Valentina was quick to both acknowledge it, and brush it off. "It's a shame Tumas' found he could not stay. I would have liked to see him off, but alas, he was always a little flighty. Too bad. I was beginning to grow attached to him." She sipped calmly on her glass of wine, and that was the last Tumas' was ever spoken of in my presence. I couldn't say I was particularly upset about that.
