grail of death and clockwork.

Chapter II

With tired, heavy eyes -emphasized by the dark bags underneath- Dakoda stares vacantly out of the large window to her right at the few natural hills which she was lucky enough to have inherited with her property. Absentmindedly, she pushes her food around her plate with her fork, letting out a hollow sigh she turns away from the scenery out the window and faces the excessively large dining table.

"Menachem, would you please bring me the morning paper?" She requests with a soft spoken and empty voice.
"Affirmative, Lady Cipher, Shall you be wanting more tea also?" The Mechanical maid enquirers. Looking down to the plate of eggs benedict in front of her Dakoda frowns. She pushes the plate away and shakes her head
"No, I haven't the appetite at the moment," She utters softly with a yawn. Menachem curtly nods then turning sharply she exits the room. Moments later the automaton maid returns with the morning news paper, placing it down onto the table in front of Dakoda, she picks up the plate of barely eaten eggs and Once again leaves Dakoda alone in the mildly warm room. staring down at the paper in front of her, Dakoda attempts to focus of the words which had currently all blurred together as her mind processes what she had been doing. With a groan she lays her head down on her arms as she is perched at the mahogany table.

"perhaps, I must sleep a little longer tonight," she yawns, sitting up she pulls a pair of spectacles out of the breast pocket of her chocolate brown bodice, sliding the thin metal frames onto her face she once again looks down at the paper in front of her. With a huff she rolls her eyes and then removes the frail spectacles, placing them down on the tabletop next to her she picks up the paper and stares at it.
With a determined hum she observes the headline."Body found!" intrigued and slightly fearful of what this possibly could mean Dakoda reads on, 'at exactly eight last night the the body of a so far unidentified man was found in the back alley of Herringford st, the victim was strung up from one of the over head steam pipes and it is suspected that they had intended on killing them self.' She reads. Placing the paper back down on the table she stares vacantly down at it.

"Menachem, ready the carriage. We are going to the Damarcus estate," She instructs, hearing no reply Dakoda turns in her seat to look behind her, biting her lip and pressing her nails into her skin she lets out and exaggerated groan as she realizes the maid had not yet returned from taking her plate back to the kitchen, in a fit of panic Dakoda pushes the paper of the table and in a rather un-ladylike fashion eruptly stands, the heavy wooden chair being pushed slightly by her as she stumbles away from it. she begins to pace the room her breaths becoming more frequent and irregular. Tears prick at her eyes as her gaze frantically scours the room around her. she backs into the very corner of the large room, caught in between a large vase of decorative flowers and an antique grandfather clock she presses her back to the red wallpapered wall and slides down it. her skirts bunching around her as she brings her legs up to her chest hugging them to her, she scrunches her eyes shut as her breathing starts to become difficult.

Dakoda hears the door of the dining room open and voices rush towards her, but they all sound as though they were talking to her while she was submerged in water, her whole body is shaking as she hyperventilates in the corner, making herself as small as possible. she feels a hand gently grab her shoulder and pull her into warmth.
"Shh, Its OK. everything is going to be alright, my dear," One of the voices tells her. Dakoda allows the hot tears to fall freely from her puffy, bloodshot, ivory green eyes as she slowly opens them. The world around her a blur from the cascading tears she hiccups as she locks her gaze onto the figure crouched next to her. With another small hiccup and sob the person timidly reaches out to lay a hand on Dakodas cheek, they use their thumb to carefully wipe the tears from her eyes.
"V...Virgil? your... your not dead?" she sobs quietly
"No, my dear, I am very much alive, you know my estate no-where near the same direction as Herringford street," Virgil states calmly as he pulls her into his embrace moving the hand which he had placed on Dakodas cheek, moving it to her hair as he hugs her.
"I promise you, my dear, that I would never be as cruel as to prematurely cause my own death," Virgil whispers into her ear. Dakodas breathing begins to even out as she calms down, she leans into Virgil's warmth
"Do not make a promise of which you can not keep, my dear," Dakoda sniffles pushing herself away from Virgil. She uses the palm of her hand to wipe away the remnants of her tears.
"Whatever do you mean by that, my dear?" Virgil queries, narrowing her eyes and standing up Dakoda huffs.