Thank-you, my readers! Um, I know one of my genres is "humor". Well, this chapter doesn't exactly fit that. My apologies in advance. I'm thinking about changing the genres a little.
The rest of the afternoon left Mimi to her own devices, and that meant a dreary day of silence in Jacob's quarters. With Abe constantly about she could not find a moment to speak with Jacob about the murder. Perhaps it was just as well. The priest's words, even in memory, chilled Mimi and brought with them the weight of everything else wrong in her life. She had always liked rainy days, but this one wanted nothing more than to make her think when she had no desire to think. She was still a goose. Something terrible had happened to her father and Blake was unable to find him. Someone was dead and now buried in a nameless grave, no doubt. The Duke of the manor, His Madness, was a killer. She had been terrified and upset before, of course, but that simple trip to the market place had snagged something in her heart. Of the two people with whom she could speak, one was too busy for her and the other was who knew where.
And so she was left, a pathetic little bird, curled up in a blue armchair in a blue room under the window with blue curtains, staring at the rain and crying and feeling rather blue herself.
She had not expected this. Any of this. So this was the world? No traveler had mentioned that any of his stories in reality would be terrible. This new turn of her life was not fun, not entertaining… though the thought of Prince Matthias gave her pause. But even he represented a little less than an hour a night. He was a good man, of that she was certain. He had vowed to break her spell. Little good was that vow when Lavender had left no instruction.
It might have been just the rain, drizzly and dull, sliding down the glass that made her so miserable. The logical part of her mind admitted that much. Little things like that could affect a mood. But her heart still hurt.
But she had spent a few years as a servant. An hour passed, a portion of another, and Mimi finally began to fight the gloom. Get up, she told herself. She had done it before, morning after morning. Get up, start the fire, draw the water, cook, bake, make yourself useful.
She took a deep breath, stretched her wings, and flipped open the window. Maybe a little more rain would do her good.
She really needed to convince Jacob to leave the door to the hall open.
Any threat of thunder had passed, and for a moment she considered flying back home, finding her father and settling the score. She should have asked Blake for directions. The rain was the same as it had been at the window. She closed her eyes and imagined it was the rain she had always loved.
The grounds were not empty, despite the rain. She caught a gardener taking the opportunity to pull weeds from the muddy soil. A servant girl in the distance was at the well. The very well where Eugen had been murdered. Mimi shuddered. And yet the girl drew water, heaving the bucket over the stone wall and onto the ground before sitting down next to it with her knees in her chest.
The servant was Lucy.
At last the self-pitying ended. Lucy was the one with the broken heart, if that kiss had meant anything to her at all. Poor Lucy.
The rain drenched Mimi's feathers and she instinctively shook them, spraying water back into water. She stretched out her wings and took to the air. The rain did not mind, though the vastness of the air compared to that tiny room was shocking. Ten feet, twelve feet, and she returned for a landing.
Lucy didn't notice. The girl was frozen, eyes staring hard into nothing.
Mimi had never been around many women, besides Lavender. Were she human, would she be expected to do something for Lucy? She found herself wanting to say something, anything.
A squirrel darted through the grass, tail soggy and limp with rain.
Blake? She wondered.
The squirrel stopped almost a foot away from Lucy, who didn't notice that animal, either. The squirrel was as still as Lucy.
"Blake?" Mimi called. She probably should have said nothing. The moment his name was out she felt guilty.
The squirrel turned around. Yes, it was Blake. A smile on his furry face, he ran to her.
"Mimi," he said with forced cheer. "Good to see you out and about. Though I wouldn't recommend this weather. How are things?"
Ah, her tiny, brave champion! Checking on her well-being. If only there hadn't been that murder. "Um…"
"What's wrong with Lucy?" Blake asked.
"You know her name?" Mimi stared at Lucy, who still had yet to move. "Something… happened last night."
"To you?" Blake came closer to her. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Blake was trying to help. If a murder made the situation dangerous, it was best he knew. He said he knew this place. But the words were sticky and heavy in her throat. "There was a murder."
He didn't move.
"Someone was killed."
"That's the general definition of murder," he said softly.
Something was very wrong. Mimi could feel it. "I was in the kitchen with my friend Jacob. The servant boy came running in. He had found this man outside. Right there, by the well. He had been stabbed in the heart."
Blake was silent.
Why would he not say anything? She filled the silence with more words. "I saw him just that morning. Talking with Lucy. He—"
"What was his name?" Blake's words were not a question as much as a demand.
"His name?"
"Mimi, what was the man's name? Please. Did you hear it?"
"Eugen."
With that Blake was off, spinning in a blur and dashing off up a tree. He slid among the branches like he had been a squirrel his whole life. Maybe he had been. Maybe he wasn't under a spell.
"Blake!" Mimi called. She could see him clinging to the top of the tree. The branches moved ever so slightly in the rain. "Blake!"
Useless. She decided she would just leave. Somehow that was the worst reaction to the murder yet and she doubted he would be coming down soon. She turned.
"Mimi?"
She looked around to see Blake now on a lower branch. "I'm sorry. I just thought you would want to know."
He shook his head. "It's all right. Thank-you." His voice was oddly quiet.
"Though I must say I don't understand why—"
"I think I owe you an explanation."
A strong part of her screamed out that yes, he did owe her an explanation, that she had been curious about him since they had met.
"Eugen is—was—my elder brother."
It was Mimi's turn for silence.
Blake looked up at the clouds and sighed. "Let's go inside where it's dry."
She nodded, unable to think, and led the way back to the window. She had left it open and a small lake had formed on the windowsill. She splashed through it as she hopped down to the chair. Blake followed, though he chose to sit on the floor, tail curled around him.
"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't. Why would you know? I never said anything." He sighed again. "I guess I didn't want to bother you with my problems when you had yours."
"He was your brother. That's a bigger problem than any of mine."
Blake shrugged. "But you were the lady. You still are." He paused. "Do you know who did?"
"No. No one does."
"It happened about nine years ago," he said. "This building, these grounds… they belonged to my family."
Heaven has seen enough blood spilt over this land… he killed the last duke…
"My father was the duke here. Eugen and I were raised here. Eugen was to take the title. But my father had a relative, Silus. He was in line for the title, but only after me. We weren't prepared and Silus was sneaky. He had a few soldiers, assassins. They came and murdered my father and my mother. Eugen and I escaped that night, but we were separated. I was seventeen at the time, but I was scared. I hate to admit it, but I hadn't left the manor much and after a night like that…" He shuddered. "Then, outside the town, I met this woman."
"Lavender," Mimi whispered.
Blake nodded. "Lavender. Next thing I knew, I was as you see me now. She forced me to eat these roots..."
"Blake, I had no idea. I guessed she were under her spell, but I had no idea."
"I couldn't find Eugen. I stayed around the manor for a time. I didn't know where else to go. Servants fled for their own safety. Why Lucy's family returned, I don't know. She's the only one I've ever recognized here. They worked for us." His voice softened as he spoke. "I couldn't do anything as a squirrel. I'm sure you know the feeling. I was useless. I couldn't find my brother. So I hunted down Lavender. Make her change me back. That's when I realized you were in danger. I've seen her. She does it all the time. Capture them. Change them. The town, well, I guess it went on. Silus didn't bother them, much. They just accepted it. But Eugen… I didn't expect him to return. He shouldn't have. Silus probably found out he was here." His tiny paw became a fist.
"They buried Eugen," Mimi said. "At the church yard. The servants here told no one. They didn't want the Duke to know."
"Apparently he found out. Mimi, I hate to leave you when I just arrived but…"
"I understand. Go."
She watched him leave, scurrying out through the window.
The Duke. His Madness. He wasn't the rightful duke.
With Eugen dead, Blake was.