Aristocrat | ✓

CHAPTER NINE

     I did come back to clean up after myself, but I elected out of remaining in the dining room and switched positions with Marie. When they were done eating, the group moved to the common room, and then to the west wing that Lord Evenus didn't allow anyone to venture to. I wondered what they were doing up there, but my curiosity was satisfied when I heard a harp and piano reverberate through the castle walls.

     "What are you doing with your ear pressed on the wall like that?"

     Marie's voice made me pull away from the wall before turning to look at her. I was at the foot of the stairs, just below the area with the lord's quarters above.

     Marie raised a brow at me, and I felt a need to explain myself. "I—"

     "Hush. Run along now," the older woman said, tapping my shoulder before walking past me and climbing up the stairs with the tray of filled wine glasses in her hands. I didn't until she was out of sight. I retreated to the Common room the Lord and his guests had left hours ago. The place was a mess, so I went about cleaning it up before taking a seat on one of the armchairs. Troy was in the Common room, taking a nap on the Lord's favorite settee.

     My eyes kept fluttering close and peeling open when a new song would start upstairs. I was flipping through a page in the book I had picked up when I heard a Low Tenor and Baritone voice sing along to a Latin hymn.

     My hands reached for the book in my lap before bringing it to my chest. My grip tightened as a third voice joined the singing. Deeper than the other two— bellowing. Shivers ran through me.

     The Lord did sing.

     I could pick his voice out of the rest, and even though I didn't understand what was being said it was a beautiful song. A smile made its way to my face, and Troy raised his head and looked up at the ceiling.

     "They're singing," I said to the dog, getting up from the armchair I was sitting on before walking over to the settee and taking a seat beside Troy. "I didn't know he sang so well," I muttered, running my hand through the dog's fur as memories of the small choir I had the opportunity to see when I went to the next town with my mother popped up. I spent the rest of the evening listening to them and humming along when I recognized the tune of a song. After a few hours, the singing stopped entirely, but I waited a bit to make sure that the songs wouldn't start up again.

     They didn't, and it was then I decided to get up and leave the common room. My guess told me that they had all retired for the night, which made sense. The halls had grown darker as the light from outside dimmed to a glossy blue. Marie had lit the candles in the hallway, providing a warm yellow glow that pierced the faded blue.

     I spent the next half hour cleaning about the castle. I fed Troy and retreated to my room to spend time with myself. The next few hours consisted of me stitching up holes in some of my clothes and humming the songs I had heard the trio sing while listening in from the common room. My eyes would flutter close as I would try to picture myself in the room as well. I didn't know what was behind the west wing doors, but now I knew there were instruments. Why would the lord want to keep a drawing-room secret? I didn't know.

     It became darker over time, and soon it was time for me to go and check up on the Lord for the night. I hesitated to leave my room as my face warmed up from the earlier encounter, I had with him and his guests. Some of the questions I had were answered there. It seemed the Lord liked to sleep around—Well, at least that was what I could gauge from the reaction from his friends. Maybe he wasn't as religious as reliant on God as I was? I wondered why that could be.

     With a few minutes of deliberating if I should go and check on the master, I decided to head upstairs. I left my bedroom chamber in a nightdress and an oil lamp. My hair bobbed around my face, still long and due for cutting. The Lord had asked me if I would like him to help, but he hadn't gotten the time to do that for me yet. The soles of my feet were cold against the wooden stairs. Winter might be drawing to a close, but the nights were still cold.