Prelude (Underworld Lucian Fanfiction)

43 - Chapter XLIII: A Hole in the Ground

December 17, 1899. Two weeks later.

It was the night before her leave-taking. Her dresses and skirts hanging from the wardrobe, her stockings and petticoats set aside for warmer attire—the clothes Allegra had made for her, her coat and boots on the floor, and a pair of woollen blankets folded for colder nights. All her books, save the memory journal, were to be left in the room and although her lessons would continue in the catacombs, Rena would bring such things only for the time in which they were required.

Little else to do now but wait, her evening and midnight taken up by most of the second book, the Jules Verne novel, A Journey to the Interior of the Earth. She had not paid much attention to it in the past weeks, but the subject felt closer given the task ahead of her. The hours taking her into the first chapter, but the language creating a barrier. Only a few words sticking out from the rest...and her interest piqued when, upon growing impatient with the speed, she began to skip through the words only to find a name in Icelandic. Something she could read. Finally.

The knock upon the door causing her to look up.

Allegra.

She closed the book and stood, folding her arms around the tome, adjusting her veil before she called out. "Come in." Hesitation over giving orders to one who had been so good to her. She waited patiently, readying herself to greet...only to close her eyes in slight exasperation as the door opened; a slight exhale as she resumed her seat, the book opening before she had even dropped into the chair. "I thought you were Allegra."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He was dressed impeccably. The beard trimmed, the hair recently cut. His evening attire consisting of a dark suit, the white collar set in contrast to the necktie. Silk, loosely-tied, yet maintaining an air of precision. If her estimation of time was correct—gauged only by the brief gnawing in her stomach—then he appeared to be on his way to dinner. He nodded to himself, hands behind his back, and then gave a cursory smile. "I trust you are well this evening?"

"As well as can be expected," she replied, eyeing him from her chair. He was acting suspicious. He had knocked on the door for perhaps the first time since their acquaintance...he was not in the midst of pulling off his collar, and after two weeks, he still appeared to be sober.

He nodded as though he truly had been concerned, and then, with a casual hand, indicated the door. "Care for a stroll?"

Her veil managed to catch most of what ended up being a dry cough followed by a mild period of choking on spit. She swallowed. "What?"

"A stroll, Reinette. It involves the legs." He was holding a walking stick. "You understand, we will not go far...however I do have a few...things...I wish to show you before you descend into the interior of the earth." He said the last words in English. A subtle reminder. He could see what she was reading.

She did not put the book down. She did not trust this situation. He might put her in another cage. Lock her up somewhere. Trick her into doing...something. He was not to be trusted. "I've had enough of blindfolds, Lyosha."

"No blindfold."

Blood damn him.

She put the book down. "A trick?"

"No trick." He was remarkably focused this evening. Usually his fingers moving, his feet pacing, his attention taken by all but the one in front of him. "Merely a truce...for one night before you leave us for the underground. There will be no talk of memories, no mention of anything that causes you distress." He held an arm out. "Will you come?"