Chapter 3

Ciel spent a large amount of time thinking over what Angela had said; days, in fact. No matter how many times he tried to tell himself that Angela was wrong and no matter how much he wanted to believe that Sebastian wasn't hiding anything important from him, what she had said installed a certain amount of doubt in his mind. What if Sebastian was hiding something from him?

His worrying had worsened his nightmares. Whenever he'd ask Sebastian to stay in his room until he fell asleep, he'd have dreams about the demon attacking him once he'd blown out the candles. And then there were new dreams that he couldn't understand it all. Sebastian would be standing or walking, normally by himself aside from a shadow that would follow him. He didn't know what the these dreams had to do with anything, but they'd be enough to disturb him out of his sleep, and he'd always find Sebastian still standing beside his bed.

Considering this, Ciel knew he couldn't go without talking about this with Sebastian any longer. He'd been driven to madness! But . . . what would he do if Sebastian was hiding vital information from him?

Bracing himself or whatever might happen, Ciel rang for his butler. In mere seconds, he heard the rhythm of Sebastian's shoes moving through the downstairs, up the staircase, down the hall towards the study's door where they stopped. The knob to the door turned and Sebastian stepped inside.

"Did you need something, sir?"

Ciel let out a small sigh, "I need to speak with you about something. Come in."

Sebastian nodded and closed the door behind them. He knew this was coming, and now it was time to face the music.

"About what Angela said the other day," Ciel began, "How much of that was true?"

Sebastian has gotten out of situations like this in other contracts before, but Ciel's contract was different. He had been specifically ordered not to lie to him. Now was no different.

"To think that blasted past knew what I was doing astounds me," he said, "but for her to say that I was hiding things from you, Master, seems to me a bit exaggerated. I found two things a few weeks ago that stood out prominently from the ruins of the old mansion."

Sebastian reached into a pocket in his tailcoat. Not only did he pull out the feather, but he also pulled out the burnt piece of carpeting that had been stained with blood.

"These."

Ciel scoffed as the items were placed on his desk in front of them.

"A dove's feather and burnt trash from the old mansion. Are you seriously trying to tell me that these contained some vital information that we couldn't pick up before?"

Sebastian nodded , "There's more to it than that. This isn't a dove's feather, it's a smaller feather from one of Angela's wings. It was caked in dirt and ashes when I first stumbled upon it, so the scent was heavily masked, but once I cleaned it off I was able to recognize her scent from when we were in Houndsworth."

"And . . . how is that linked to my parents' murders?"

Sebastian swallowed. He knew from here Ciel would grow angry at him, but there was no way for him to save himself now.

"The smell of the feather links in with the burnt bit of carpeting. The blood that's on it matches the scent of your parents, which I recognize well. The scent lingers in the rubble of the old mansion; in the wood, in the glass, in the roof tiles. It also lingers on your ring, because your father had worn it many times."

"Sebastian . . . Exactly what is it that you're trying to tell me?"

"What I'm trying to say is . . . the blood on that bit of carpeting doesn't smell entirely like your parents. Angela scent is there too; mixed in with the blood somehow."

"What does that mean?"

Sebastian let out a heavy sigh, "It means Angela had played a role in the fire and in the deaths of your parents. All angels are obsessed with purity, and the one that bears that obsession the strongest is Ashe Landers."

"The Queen's butler?"

"The Queen's butler and another angel that is closely affiliated with Angela; meaning that it was the Queen that ordered the destruction of your mansion, and she used Ashe to do it and Angela was the accomplice. All that information from just a feather and a bit of rubble."

Silence fell between them as Ciel struggled to absorb all that Sebastian was trying to tell him. The butler hadn't come right out and said it, but he knew.

"So . . . So Angela was telling the truth. You were hiding vital information from me!" Ciel stood up fast from his desk, "You, of all people, hid vital information from me. For over three weeks! Why did you do it? If you knew that this would help me achieve my revenge quicker, meaning you would also get your next meal quicker, why hold back?"

Sebastian grit his teeth and shame.

"You have to understand that these are not the first items I came across that I thought contained vital information. There were other things that I thought contained leads, looking into these items further, I realized that they didn't have any significance whatsoever. That's what I was doing with these clues, looking into them to see if the information was valid; otherwise you would have just been fueled by false hope."

Ciel snorted in annoyance, "And how does that explain why it took three damn weeks to decide if the information was valid or not? Normally, a task like that is no problem and you are able to figure it all out in a few minutes."

Sebastian looked away, "I do not have a good reason for that, sir."

Ciel wasn't known for snapping at Sebastian so easily. Alright, he was, but never this bad.

"Bloody hell, Sebastian! To think I trusted you. Then again, I suppose it serves me right for putting my trust into a demon!"

"Young master . . ."

"Shut up! Go crawl into a hole and die for all I care. I can't stand to see your face anymore. Leave! That's an order!"

Sebastian had no other choice but to comply. He gave a small bow and turned on his heel as he started towards the door. He only gave a small glance over her shoulder to Ciel before walking out.