I'm attempting to have this story finished this week... partly because I'm getting married this Saturday. =D
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the confrontation scene in here. I feel like I just have a bunch of people wandering around. Any suggestions?
The kitchen was empty. No innocent wandering souls sneaking in, and Mimi bitterly imagined a manor-wide fear of Prince Matthias. Just as well. Jacob paused in the doorway, quietly observing the room. For a moment Mimi thought he would say something, but the moment ended soon enough and he was on the other side of the room examining knives for the preferred cut or whatever mattered to cooks. Mimi's first concern was what he intended on doing with that knife once he saw Prince Matthias and the second was that she didn't care.
"This one will do," he said at last, holding up a blade that struck Mimi as more suited to chopping vegetables than anything. "Now I just need to…" His voice faded behind Michael's loud gasp from the doorway.
"Your Lordship." Michael's eyes were downcast, his voice humble as he spoke with all the reverence expected of a servant.
The Duke stood just outside the kitchen, somehow much more impressive than the last time Mimi had seen him. Fine clothing and the light of day were good for him, and the fury on his face almost sent Mimi into an awkward curtsey and mention of His Lordship. Not His Madness. It was all she could do to remember this man was an imposter, but when the thought arrived it was strong. She gritted her teeth and took a step closer to Michael. She just didn't trust Jacob with a vegetable knife.
His Madness did not strike her as crazy as gossip had suggested. For all the soft luxury that had clearly occupied him for the past few years he appeared as ruthless as the man who had slaughtered an entire family. His mouth was set in a firm frown and his fists were clenched.
"You," he all but whispered.
"Sir—" Michael began.
The Duke did not appear to hear him. His eyes were on Jacob. There was of course no recognition, just anger and something that just might have been fear. "I heard a rumor. Who are you?"
Jacob did not flinch, though the hand with the knife dropped to his side. "No one of your concern."
Only of enough concern to have executed.
"You returned!" The Duke shouted suddenly, stepping with force into the kitchen. "You were all supposed to be dead! It was supposed to be over." With that came the same madness he had shown that night in his chambers, an insane fear of memories. "You can't be here."
"We all know who you are," Michael said. "Everyone in this building knows exactly what you are and what you did."
The Duke did not so much as look at him.
Jacob lifted the knife, face calm. "Don't come any closer."
The Duke stopped short. "Leave this place. It's mine. My title."
"The Prince wants your title," Mimi said.
The Duke looked at her for the first time, confusion mixed with curiosity. "The Prince is my honored guest. The duchy is mine, no one else's. My bloodline…"
"The Prince doesn't care," Jacob said.
"He plans to have you arrested." Mimi spoke almost wildly. What were they hoping for? The alliance of His Madness? "He wants this land for his own."
"The Prince would never—" the Duke began.
"He would." The knife twisted around and around in Jacob's hand. What was he thinking? What was it like being in the same room with the person who had wanted him beheaded over food?
The Duke's face went red. "Guards!"
Mimi should have expected His Madness wouldn't have been unaccompanied. As fast she could she slipped past the Duke, past a startled Michael, and into the hall. There the guards were already moving at call. They looked at her with only the most mild of interest until she stopped in front of them.
"The Duke is in danger," she said flatly. "He sent me. Go to the library. There is a plot against the Duke. Prince Matthias is involved." Hopefully there would be some internal conflict between loyalty to the Duke and the higher authority of the Prince. Anything that would get them out of the way.
It worked.
"You're certain of this?" one guard asked.
Mimi nodded. It felt good to be giving instructions. "We have to go now. The Duke demands the intruder be dealt with."
Walking to the library was a rush. Mimi's heart pounded with every step, and a small part of her mind was blissfully thinking this was the most excitement she had ever been through. Nothing like this had ever happened at home. In no time at all she and the guards were at the library door. An already open library door.
Guards had already discovered the problem. In the center of the room, making himself the most important feature, was Prince Matthias, a triumphant smile etched across his bleeding face—Mimi suspected a broken nose, and that would serve him right. He held Lucy's hands behind her back. She looked confused and terrified… but mostly she looked at Blake. He stared back at her, restrained by a guard. Another one had Wilhelm. From the looks of things it had all happened only minutes before.
They were only minutes too late.
Prince Matthias gave an impressively realistic sigh of relief. "You heard. Thank heavens, you heard. These men here, they have a plot against the Duke. They want him dead. This man…" He pointed his free hand at Blake. "This man is planning to kill him and take over."
"That's a lie!" Mimi shouted.
But all attention was on Prince Matthias.
Mimi closed her eyes. It was only a matter of seconds before Matthias would blame her, too. A spell. But she knew too few, nothing remotely impressive. She had left too soon. She should have made her father teach her everything he knew before she had attempted something so foolhardy as running away. There had to be something…
For all she knew, it was the precarious balance of a pile of books somewhere and she was just as useless at magic as she had always thought. But books collapsed to the floor, and Matthias jerked around.
"The Duke knows about you!" Mimi shouted. "We told him everything."
After that, she didn't know what she was doing. The door was open, she had yet to be accused of anything, and perhaps running away was her new reaction. She turned and fled.
Matthias was right after her. She heard the sound of his footsteps, of people being shoved aside, and his desperate call for her to stop. She ran faster. If earlier were any sign of speed, she needed all she could.
Then she saw him. Jacob rounding the corner ahead, still holding that stupid vegetable knife. Michael followed him, expression hard to read beyond a steady smile. And with them, face still red with anger, was the Duke. Something good had happened there. Maybe the Duke had listened.
It still didn't change what he had done.
Mimi skidded to a stop.
"Mimi, wait, you can't—" Matthias' voice broke off. Through the corner of her eye Mimi could see him stopping as well, his eyes wide at the sight of the Duke. His chest rose once for breath before he spoke. "Silus."
Mimi wondered how much she should appreciate the in-between position she was in.
"That's him," Jacob said simply.
The Duke stared wildly at Matthias. "Why are you here?" He asked like a child would ask.
"As your guest, of course." Matthias tried to speak smoothly, but Mimi could hear the quiver of fear in his voice.
"You want me arrested." The Duke pushed Jacob aside as he moved close to Matthias.
Mimi quietly moved to the side of the hall.
"Silus, I don't know what you have heard—"
"They said you wanted me arrested!" The Duke screamed as he gestured wildly at Jacob and Michael. "That you would say I was wrong for punishing my own servants, that I did wrong, that I should not be here!"
A smile slowly spread over Jacob's face.
Any pretense Matthias held vanished. "My father would not approve of your actions. Beheading servants."
"I don't care what the King thinks. I've kept this duchy. It is mine. No one can take it."
"It's not yours." The fear was gone. Matthias strode forward, ever so much a prince. "I know what you've done. Everyone in this city knows what you have done. Your claim to this title was too far away to wait for. You had everyone in this house killed."
The Duke smiled. It looked strange on his face, out of place, and Mimi finally saw the man capable of doing what he had done. "And your father did nothing."
"I don't care what my father didn't do. This is about what I am doing. You murdered the real duke—"
"So did you." Mimi put her eyes straight on Matthias. Oh, how she hated him. Every new moment she spent in his presence she hated him more. "You killed Eugen. He was supposed to be here. Not either of you."
The Duke laughed, a deep, full laugh. "So you killed as well."
The next few moments were a rush of motion. The Duke with impressive skill grabbed for the knife in Jacob's hand. Jacob twisted away, and the knife fell to the floor. Matthias moved fast, and his hand touched the knife as Jacob's did. Matthias' hand was quicker.
"You did this!" Matthias hissed as he pulled the knife to him. "You did all of this."
He swung the knife. Jacob darted to the side. Matthias turned to follow him. A flash of metal, a choke of pain…
The Duke collapsed to the floor, knife in his side.
Mimi swallowed back a scream of her own.
Jacob stood against the wall, eyes on Matthias, who could only stare in horror at the body on the floor.
And behind them were the guards who had followed the Prince. Guards who had seen everything.