Locked

Chapter Thirteen

Will waited at the gates for approval. He had brought the family carriage and was dressed to the nines. When, finally, he was allowed inside the gates, he made his way directly to the throne room. Will had sent word ahead of his wishes to meet with the Queen, being a duke they were taken more seriously than one would imagine. All he wanted was a second invitation to the ball. Will wanted to sprint up the grand golden staircase, but the menacing faces of the Queen's relatives stared down at him and he slowed.

As always, Will felt a little scared upon entering the white drawing room; he felt small and insignificant. He felt exposed and very aware of his place in this world – he wished Mulberry was here with him.

The Queen stood upon his arrival. Will knelt before her, kissed her hand gently, and then stood once more awaiting her instructions.

"Sit Your Grace, it will not do us any good if I'm looking up at you." She waved for him to take a seat across from her.

A butler rushed over to offer tea and biscuits – Will gently refused.

"Your Majesty," he began, "I am in need of a second invitation to the Autumn Ball." "Blunt aren't you?" She smiled.

Will shrugged helplessly; Victoria had always had a soft spot for him ever since his parents had died. His father had been one of her closest friends.

"Of course you may have a second invitation! I'm always happy to have more people in attendance." Queen Victoria waved a butler over – he held a pen and paper on a tray.

The Queen took the writing instruments and paused, "What is her name?" She smiled mischievously.

"I never said she was a woman."

"You didn't have to." She raised her eyebrows, waiting for the answer she wanted.

Will took a deep breath – he didn't like lying to the woman in charge of the entire British

Empire, but V wasn't exactly someone who would be accepted at a ball at Buckingham Palace. "Lady Violet Gibbrey" He said solidly, giving V the title she needed to enter, and the

anonymity of a last name no one had heard of.

Victoria wrote the name carefully on the invitation, curling the last letter artistically. "William, I do so support you being more social. You should bring your friend to tea next

Saturday."

Will thought that was the worst idea ever – bringing V to Buckingham? Where Gellentry could be there to recognize her? He had half a mind to refuse.

"I can see you're trying to refuse William." She said politely, "Which is why I am only giving you this invitation after you bring this girl for tea. Understood?"

Will respected the woman's ploy – it was the reason she had lasted so long in a man's world. "I accept." He said politely, even though they both knew he hated the palace and all its

politics.

"Good," The Queen placed the invitation back on the butler's tray, "Then I will see you and your lady friend in a few days' time."

Victoria stood, and so did Will. He bowed slightly, before making his exit out of the drawing room and down the grand staircase. He leaped quickly into the carriage; luckily, Mulberry was a proficient driver and was able to race them out of the palace gates before anyone else saw them.

Will did not want to meet the Duke of Westray – he wasn't sure if he would give him a good pounding or kill him.

• • • • • • • • • •

V sat in the south drawing room. She was hunched over the mahogany desk surrounded by an assortment of candles and lanterns. The curtains were pulled away to accommodate even more natural light. V wore a maroon day gown and her usual black walking shoes. Her hair was tied back into a rough French braid, allowing little strands of hair to fall into her face. On her nose, she wore the strangest set of spectacles. V had found them in the bottom drawer of a desk in her room. The specs resembled normal glasses, other than the abundance of cogs and wheels adorning the arms. Tiny levers allowed V to push numerous sets of glass in front of her eyes.

With this contraption, she could see even the tiniest details on the locket. Will found her like this, leaning over the locket as if she were performing surgery on a baby hummingbird. She had the tweezers and pins spread out across the desk and she was in the middle of attempting to slip a pin into the tiny crack of the closure, when a floorboard creaked. V jumped, sending pins

everywhere and the glassicals – Mrs. Mason's term – tumbling off her nose. "Will! I was so close!" she stood, glaring at him from the desk.

Will ambled over to the fallen locket. He picked it up, examined it, and then placed it on the desk. He placed the glassicals on his own nose, took a pin and tweezers in each hand, and set to work on the tiny device. V, having watched Will the entire time and wondering what could be more important than arguing with her as he always did, leaned in for a closer look. Will was busy slipping the tweezers into a tiny crack that appeared – running perpendicular to the opening.

After being poked and prodded for hours, the fall from the desk had cracked the golden

enclosure. A slight cracking noise told V he had done it. Will placed the locket carefully on the desk and lay the instruments aside. V pulled a lamp over to inspect the device under more light. Too nervous she would break something, V silently let Will handle the opening.

The locket looked almost exactly the same, except for a few dings here and there and the small crack that had allowed them to open it. But the lid of the locket was popped open a few millimetres – so small only a pin could slip through. Will slowly, and with the utmost care, pried the lid open. Underneath the intricate layer of golden swirls and precious stones, inside a locked cavity, lay a tiny tinted glass bottle with a cork topper. V stopped breathing – they had been right all along, this must be the poison and they had proof. Will gently pulled the bottle out with the tweezers; he laid it on the desk, and then set about removing the cork.

"Wait!" V interjected, "What if it's a gas?"

"I hardly think Gellentry would risk his own life with a gaseous poison." Will tapped the tinted glass with the tweezers. A tiny shadow sloshed around inside – liquid.

Will tried and tried, but as hard as he pulled and twisted, the cork would not budge.

"It's hopeless!" V threw her hands in the air and paced in front of the fire pit "We'll never stop him now!"

"We don't have to know what's in the bottle; we just need to make sure he doesn't get the bottle." Will began closing up the locket, minus the bottle of poison.

"What are you doing?" V asked.

"Making sure His Grace doesn't get the poison." Will pulled a small wooden box from a drawer. He wrapped the petite bottle in cloth and placed it in the box. Next, he put the box on the mantel piece above the fire.

Returning to V's side, he picked up the now closed locket and placed around V's neck as it had been ever since she had found it.

"Now even if he gets the locket – which he won't – he won't have the poison." Will smiled at her.

Before V could respond, a knock at the door interrupted. Mr. Mulberry entered. "Terribly sorry Master William, but supper is ready." And he left.

Will held out his hand for V, "Would you care to join me for a hearty meal?"

V smiled and rolled her eyes, he was being over the top. She placed her hand in his; maybe things were going back to normal after all.