He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Twenty

If it wasn't for the glass of wine I had before attempting this, I would not have gotten any further than the second beam I had to climb up. It turns out that although I can carry an enormous laundry bag full of dirty sheets up and down stairs all day long, I cannot cope with my own body weight. However, the buzz I had from the glass of fizz mixed with the anticipation I had to go speak to Zachery, gave my upper body strength an extra lease of life when I felt like I was going to be stuck in the walls for the rest of the night.

By the time I managed to get to the right floor, I felt as if I had been dragged through a hedge backwards. A very dusty hedge at that. What on earth do I look like right now? This is a new low even for me, Zachery has seen me in some states since he has been here, but this definitely has to top everything else. I'm pretty sure the amount of cobwebs in my hair right now make it look as if I have aged half a century in a matter of minutes. He is either going to laugh until he cries, or cry until he laughs.

I found myself crawling out of an air vent on Zachery's floor which I never really noticed existed until now. The guard came off the wall pretty easily so that I could stumble out with the little dignity I had left. As I jumped down I saw a cloud of dust leave my clothes as if I had just plumped up a pillow from a derelict house. I placed the vent guard back on the wall as well as I could without making any noise, and then turned round to head towards Zachery's room. I spun round on my heels and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight before me. There he was. Standing outside his door, watching me, trying to hold in laughter at my clumsy entrance and scattered appearance.

"You never fail to amaze me Audrey Rose, or amuse me." Zachery said whilst letting out a small laugh that he obviously could not contain any longer.

"That's right, let it all out. Do you even know what I have just gone through to get up here without being seen?" I said in my defence, trying to make him feel even a slight amount of guilt at laughing at me. It obviously wasn't working as I saw his eyes light up at the rhetorical question.

"I may not know what horrors you have just been through, my dear, however, I did hear you coming from inside my room. Did you fall? Or bang your head at all?" His eyes turned from humouring me, to some concern over what he suspected. I may have banged my head a few times on the way up, and lost my footing which led me to fall on the beam below me with an almighty thud, but I didn't have to admit this to him. Instead I just smiled sweetly to stop any further questioning. It was getting pretty late, so no one was wandering around the corridors which was a relief, so my plan did work in the big scheme of things. But now I actually had to speak to Zachery, which I couldn't risk doing out in the open. Not after what Jared said...

"Can we talk?" I asked whilst lingering my eyesight on to the door to his room, hoping he would understand my gesture and wouldn't make me say it plainly. He must of taken pity on me after grilling me over my unorthodox entrance, as he opened up his room door without any further prodding and lead the way in. Before I walked through the door I attempted to brush the majority of the dust off of myself so that I wouldn't ruin the carpet in his room, partially out of courtesy, mainly due to the fact I would be the one cleaning it up tomorrow.

He walked over to his sitting area and sat on the lavish chair that was the centre piece of his room, other than the beautiful four poster mahogany bed frame. He made himself comfortable whilst I went over myself, sitting on one of the more modest chairs opposite the one he was plastered into. I was still nervous talking to him. Not because of who he was any more, but because I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answers to my suspicions.

"So, Kitten. What do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?" Zachery started the ball rolling, not being one to beat around the bush, which is a trait I liked about him. I hated small talk and awkward silences. With him, neither of those things were something you had to worry about, which was such a relief as most of the people who come in to this hotel only know how to small talk with chambermaids. As soon as I ask something which is not revolved around the weather, or how their day has been, they get thrown off and stumble on their words. Then the awkward silence comes in. It's a vicious circle that I can only escape from with a few people who are close to me, one of them now being Zachery.

"I bumped into Jared the other evening in the hallway when I was on the way back to my room. He was drunk and began speaking to me. He was acting strange. It was like he was bitter. Or stupid. As I was trying to leave he said that I should be careful, as getting close to you is dangerous. And then when I saw him the next day once he was sober, he completely ignored me as if he hadn't interrogated me the night before. I'm starting to worry about the ball as well. I feel as if too many people are involved, and it could end very badly. I just need your input, to stop me panicking, really." I spoke without taking a breath, rushing to get all of my thoughts out before my brain told me to stop being silly. There is no way that after physically climbing the walls to get here, I was leaving without saying what I had to say.

"He did what?!" Zachery bellowed, obviously not impressed with Jared's accusations. "He has never said one word to me about the things going on, yet he feels it to be appropriate to try and scare you over them?"

"Remember, he was drunk. It may of just been an angry little dig, but I wanted to make you aware of it, as it did seem slightly strange." I said, trying to calm him down along with calming myself.

"Drunk or not, Audrey Rose, he has no right to speak to you like that." He said with hurt eyes.

"I'm just the chambermaid, I've heard much worse from rich and arrogant guests. Jared is a walk in the park in comparison." I tried to laugh to lighten the mood, as the atmosphere is here just turned very heavy very quickly.

"You may be a lot of things, but you most certainly are not just the chambermaid." Zachery said, looking at me piercingly with a serious expression on his face, as if there was something else he wanted to say. I looked back at him curiously, considering how to respond. But before I could conjure anything up, he blinked and turned his head away to ease the tension, apparently reading the awkward expression on my face.

"What does that mean in Duke terms..." I thought to myself whilst he seemed to compose himself.

"Regarding the ball, I understand your concerns, and I feel them too. But I can assure you I will look after you. I won't let whoever is doing this, hurt you. I just need to gain evidential proof so that I can get them... Taken care of." He said the last part cautiously, but with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. If I was a Duchess and had the power to get people 'taken care of' I would most certainly use that right.

"Thank you Zachery, but I can look after myself, I'll end up being the one to look after you if anything erupts." I winked at him jokingly as I began to feel more at ease with the upcoming situation. "We just need to attend this ball, act as if we are on a date, and wait to see who has a serious issue with me because of it, and we clamp down on them, correct?" I put bluntly.

Zachery chuckled lightly. "Yes, exactly that, Kitten."