Calumbra 23 - Book 1: The Maid

32 - Cookbooks and Silly Lives

Tavit drummed his fingers on the table as he looked over his family sitting at it. Everyone was there, even Delaware, except for one person.
"Sullivan!" Tavit yelled, scaring Delaware.
Sullivan came in from the kitchen and walked over to his lord.
"Yes, sir?"
"Where the hell is my brother?"
"I... don't know. I did find it unusual that he had not come down for breakfast. Do you want me to go see what's wrong?"
"If you don't mind..."
Sullivan bowed as Tavit still sat at the head of the table, agitated.
"Tavit, please stop figiting." Delaware said.
"You are not my mother, Delaware." He snapped.
Delaware just sighed, wanting to eat more than anything. She usually wasn't so famished but she had washed all of her old maid uniforms that had been in storage way into the night and she even skipped dinner to get them all done. The delay was making her hungrier.
Sullivan finally came back and Tavit looked up at him.
"Well?"
"You won't believe this."
"What?"
"He says he's... not hungry."
Tavit blinked and then looked at July and Huntley. Everyone in the family knew that Trinidad was always and forever hungry and when he ate, he ate about three times as much as everyone else; which was one of the many reasons Tavit stopped having dinner parties at the manor. It was also why the maids had to buy more food than normal for the week when they went to the market because three meals worth of food was only one to Trinidad.
"Not hungry?" Tavit repeated.
"That's what he told me, milord."
"Have I missed something?" Delaware asked, the only one who did not know about Trinidad's eating habits.
"Uncle Trin eats like an elephant. He's never not hungry."
"I see... Would you like for me to see if I can get a little more out of him or at least get him to come down?"
"If you don't mind. I'm not having all of this food go to waste..." he grumbled.
"Well, I would suggest you go ahead and get started then." Delaware said, standing up and grabbed three scones in a very unladylike fashion. "I have a feeling this will take a bit and as you said, this food should not go to waste."
She stuffed almost half of one of the scones she had into her mouth as she walked toward the stairs. It was the best scone she'd ever had and would most likely be her last after the end of the week. She missed doing her duties as a maid, not liking the high treatment she had been receiving since she got back. She wasn't keen on the aristocratic lifestyle, not to say that she didn't live it up as an aristocrat once in her lifetime but she hated having to treat people a certain way and trying to keep men out of her skirts was annoying.
She turned the corner and went down the hall, going to Trinidad's room. She knocked on the door.
"Little One? Are you alright? I came to check on you."
She waited for a moment when the door opened a little and Trinidad's eye looked at her through the crack.
"What?" he said gruffly.
"Tavit is a little angry that you haven't come down to eat breakfast. I have a feeling it's the amount of food he had to have cooked because of your appetite?"
Trinidad just stared at her through the crack and then shut the door.
Delaware sighed, thinking that he was ignoring her, and went to turn around when the door opened back up and Trinidad's hand came out with a note. Delaware took it and read it.
Samson did something to me. He gave me something to supposedly help me get to sleep but I got dizzy and passed out. When I woke up, I'm been sick to my stomach and vomiting all morning. I shake violently as well and my mouth burns... it's as if he's poisoned me.
Delaware reread the note to make sure she had read it correctly and licked her lips in thought. It seemed as if things had escalated further than she gave time credit for.
"Trin, I need to take a look at you."
"No."
"Little One, this is very serious. You have mutant blood within you which makes you just like me. The only thing that can affect you anymore is anything with alchemy in it. You must let me see you."
Trinidad opened the door wider and Delaware walked in, noticing how dark the room was. She headed toward the sliver of light that the covered windows was letting in but she felt someone grabbed her arm harshly.
"No. Candle."
"Why?"
He placed his palm in her hand and the moved his fingers and pressed. It took Delaware a moment to realize he was signing into her hand and she thought about her letters. H... U... R... T...
"Oh, I see..." she said, understanding.
She soon felt Trinidad pushing a candlestick into her hand and lit his own match, lighting the wick. Delaware blinked at the flame and the held the candlestick up to see Trinidad in the light. When she finally saw his face, she had to keep from dropping the whole candle to the floor. She only nodded and pulled the candle away from his face.
"I see... You have definitely been affected with alchemy. This is what happens when people don't listen to me over the years... I told your father to throw away any books he may have found on alchemy; burn them if he must."
He hid them instead. Trinidad signed in the light of her candle.
"Of course he did, that stubborn fool... and now someone has gotten a hold of one and wielding like a child. Have you made any enemies since I've been gone?"
No but I don't think it was Samson who made it. I don't think he's smart enough.
"Oh, tosh, anyone can do alchemy if you can decode the books correctly... the hard part is decoding."
Either way, I doubt my brother would appreciate my appearance.
"I'll let Tavit know and do some snooping around to get to the bottom of this."
Just don't get killed again, alright?
Delaware smirked and blew out the candle.