I apologize for the delay and the length of this chapter. Life has gotten busy. With Camp Nano coming up, I am prepping myself to do a LOT of editing. But just so my lovely readers know, this story is also a part of my camp project.

I am going to try to keep updating at the very least, a chapter a week, though I hope for more.

Again, my apologies!

Alanna

I resumed my morning meal and watched Sebastian as he watched me, the things I chose. He really was quite spectacular. Performing his job perfectly, if with a touch of insolence. I could live with that.

I smiled. I could live with it, yes. For now.

Breakfast finished, he helped me to dress before clearing away the remaining food.

"When you have finished here, please meet me in the study. I need to find out exactly what has been going on in my… hiatus."

"As you wish."

He had tried to get me to care about what was going on in the outside world for many months. However, I had chosen to wallow in my self-pity. But seeing that face… Knowing that he was out there, free to wonder around, free to steal happiness from others. Well, that was like a dash of cold water to the face. Accomplishing when even Sebastian could not.

I felt alive, for the first time in a very long time. And while it may have been for a deadly purpose, my steps were light as I hurried to the study.

Revenge. A dish best served cold.

Indeed it would be.

I wondered if he even remembered me. I would make sure he did before I did to him what he did to me.

Sebastian

My studies of the morning finished, I now knew what she preferred to eat. I knew what it took to rouse her. To put life in the beautiful face.

I stopped. Why would I consider her beautiful? Could one's meal be considered beautiful? Of course it could. Aesthetics were just as important to meals as the taste of the food itself.

Though she may appear lovely now, I couldn't let that take away from the promise of payment.

I also had to be honest with myself. The idea of the game being set in motion excited me as well. One step closer to the goal.

The months of waiting for her hideous wounds to heal, those on the outside, had let the inner ones fester. But now she was ready to start healing those.

I gathered her journal with the appointments she rarely bothered to attend. There was no judgment on my part. Those that knew she lived were few, and the more they stayed away from the manor, the easier it was to keep that ruse.

But know, she wanted to strip away that lie. In order to draw out her attackers, she would re-enter life.

Teach her how to take a life. I would, but I would also be prepared to step in should my presence become necessary.

I found her in the chair behind the desk. Her back was to me and she was staring out over the garden again.

"It there something amiss in the shrubbery, my Lady?" I asked, approaching the desk.

"No, Sebastian. But you know that, don't you?" She turned toward me and the smile was still entrancing. "How bored you must be, in this monotonous country life. To attend the gardens yourself, you must truly be at wits end."

"No, mistress. I find enough to keep me occupied. It's easy when there is only you and I. Always something to do."

"Mmm." Was her answer. I couldn't begin to guess what was going on behind her eyes. This was a day of firsts and I wasn't going to learn anything by making assumptions. Patience was what this situation called for. "Be that as it may, it is a new day. Things will be different soon. I have already told you that I would like for you to hire people. Whoever is needed to make this place run smoothly."

"I have already been considering individuals. When do you need them?"

"As soon as possible." She held out her hand for the journal.

For the next hour, we pored over the entries. Appointments kept and skipped. Finally, she arrived on a guest list for her first event in over a year.

"Sebastian." She called to me as I was about to leave the room.

"Yes, my Lady?" I turned back to look at her.

"I need a dressmaker."

Finally, something other than black. This, more than anything, proved how serious she was.

It was with some reverence that I knelt. "Yes, my Lady."

Alanna

After he left, I spent some time considering the past year. While I could think it recuperating, much of it was also remembering what I had lost. Remembering and trying to forget.

My husband, the one with hidden vices. The payment of those vices came through me. I would have been happy to have given money for the payment, had I but known. Payment given and then him, my once beloved, sent to a clinic to be cured of the devils that rode him.

How had his addiction started? How had I not noticed? There were some things that were evident, a shortened temper, some nights spent in London. Those grew more and more frequent, and silly me, thinking he was working so hard. Stress. That was what I had decided to be the shortened temper.

Then there was that last argument. The slap that I could still feel. I was nagging him, he said. Wouldn't I shut up, for heaven's sake? When did I become such a burden?

And there I was, cowering on the floor is utter shock. My dear, dear Louis, standing over me, trembling in his rage. I prayed he wouldn't hit me again, or, if he did, please not my swollen belly. Our unborn babe didn't deserve his wrath.

I watched, as his fury dissipated and there he stood, grief-stricken.

He fled into the night, leaving me a confused mother-to-be. What happened to our life? What happened to him?

It was with that sense of confusion that I followed him later that night to our London townhouse.

And that was where it happened.

With a shake, I brought myself back to the present.

Yes, I was a coward then. No longer.

I would practice what Sebastian taught me. I would become the best pupil. Though, he was my secret weapon. Should I fail, he would succeed.

It was in our contract.

Sebastian

Finding servants was going to prove difficult, unless I left the manor. And while she seemed to be coming around, I wasn't sure if she was ready for that step.

No matter. I would simply leave tonight, after she fell asleep. She never called me after she turned in for the evening. But I would still need to hurry. This was a day of many new things.

I would simply go to London and visit a friend that could recruit for me and send the prospects to me to interview.

Easy, for a butler of my caliber.

That problem dealt with, I turned my attention to the servant's quarters. I took pleasure in the dusting and changing of linens. I would finally have things to oversee, people to command. People to kill.

I briefly wondered if their names were already written in the Book of the Dead? Would it be Grell to come collect their Cinematic Records? He would be a familiar face, but was I ready to deal with his 'affections' again?

Though I had to admit, he would be better than Will. That reaper was much to uptight.

Oh dear, I had been sidetracked by my thoughts.

With a stern talking to, I resumed making the quarters livable.