Chapter 188: Behind Familiar Faces
When morning came, Ruelle left for the Slaters’ mansion in a carriage. The mansion looked the same as always and when they arrived at the door, Lord Azriel was waiting.
"Mr. and Mrs. Belmont. Ruelle." His eyes shifted to Hailey. "I see you found your second daughter."
Hailey blinked and Mrs. Belmont frowned at once. The older woman was quick to correct, "That isn’t Caroline. It is Ruelle’s friend from Sexton."
Ruelle barely listened as she asked, "Is Lucian here?"
"He hasn’t returned since last morning," Lord Azriel responded. "There was a sighting of tracks and drops of blood trails found near Hullemwood yesterday. Most of the officers and Lucian have gone on a trail to find it. They won’t be back until tomorrow or later."
Ruelle’s eyes swept the entrance. Even Dane was nowhere in sight.
Lord Azriel suggested to everyone, "Why don’t you have some tea before leaving?" and then turned to Ruelle and said, "A letter arrived for you this morning. Maude must have left it in your room."
A letter? "I’ll get it." She didn’t wait as she hurried up the stairs, her steps quick against the polished wood.
The moment Ruelle disappeared up the stairs, the two guards moved to follow. Before they could take more than a step, Maude appeared in front of them. Her hands were folded neatly before her, but the look in her eyes stopped them faster than a weapon might have.
"Guards are not permitted in a lady’s chambers."
One of the men straightened and replied, "We were ordered to keep her safe."
"This is the Slaters’ mansion. I will attend to Miss Belmont myself. Unless you mean to ignore the rules of this house and insult the lord you are standing under," Maude’s eyes were sharp, and she finally followed Ruelle.
Below, the Belmonts were led away for tea. By the time Maude reached Ruelle’s room, the door was already shut. She knocked once before entering.
Ruelle stood by the window with a letter in her hand. The paper was already opened and a small smile rested on her lips.
’Dear Ruelle,
Your letter reached me, and not long after so did the news of your wedding. I am glad to hear that you have found someone you wish to share your life with. More than that, I am glad it is by your own choice. I cannot wait to see you.
I wish I could be there sooner, but I will make it in time for the wedding. And if you still wish it, I would be honoured to walk you down the aisle.
Take care of yourself until then.
With love,
Your cousin, Lachlan.’
"The letter arrived last night, Miss Ruelle," Maude answered promptly. "I also need to inform you that the seamstress sent word that some of your clothes have been prepared and asked you to drop by the shop tomorrow to check the fittings."
Seeing they were alone, Ruelle glanced towards the corridor before lowering her voice. The guards had stayed behind, but she could still hear the faint murmur of footsteps below.
"Maude," Ruelle’s voice came out lower than she meant it to, barely more than breath. She stepped closer, close enough to smell the faint lavender of the woman’s apron. "I need you to get word to Lucian. Yesterday, I overheard my father speaking with Minister Sylvan." The names felt heavier leaving her mouth than they had in her head. "They mentioned bringing Lucian’s corruption back."
For the first time since she had known the housekeeper, Maude’s expression shifted. Only slightly, but enough.
When she heard footsteps approach from the corridor, Maude replied,
"I will let him know once I find his location and let the lord know about it."
Before Ruelle could thank the woman, her stepmother appeared at the door and quickly looked around as if to catch Lucian in here.
"Would you like to get your dress prepared for the wedding, Mother?" Ruelle asked her stepmother.
To a person outside, Ruelle’s words were nothing but considerate. But Mrs. Belmont’s face tightened. Her daughter was missing, and now she was expected to fuss over another daughter’s wedding.
"I will have Mr. Dove adjust some time to accommodate her," Maude gave a bow.
When Ruelle and Mrs. Belmont joined her father, she noticed he had barely touched the tea that had been prepared for him as if it were laced with something. After sharing a few more pleasantries, they climbed inside the carriage and left.
On the way, Mrs. Belmont muttered, "This brings back memories when we first visited the place." She then shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it.
"I don’t know what you see in him," Mr. Belmont’s words were directed at Ruelle. "He burned us alive in the house."
"Because you were living in his house," Ruelle’s words were soft but they landed to strike a nerve with her father. "At the very least, he is better than the man you and Mother chose for Caroline."
Silence filled the carriage except for the sound of the carriage wheels moving against the ground and the hooves of the horses. For once Mrs. Belmont stayed quiet because she did end up attaching the killer to her daughter and she couldn’t complain about what she had done.
"You think Lucian is better than Ezekiel?" Mr. Belmont asked, surprise flickering across his face.
"Yes," Ruelle didn’t hesitate with her response. "And I don’t think I am the only one," and with those words, her eyes moved to her mother.
Mrs. Belmont let out an exasperated sigh. She pressed her lips together before finally saying,
"It’s not as though I favour either of them. But at least one of them isn’t setting up his own wife to take the fall for his sins." Her voice dropped at the end with regret, "Ezekiel... we should never have let him near this family."
Mr. Belmont didn’t comment on it and instead simply looked outside the carriage window.
Remembering something, Mrs. Belmont straightened in her seat. Her eyes widened and she turned to her husband before speaking, "We should visit Imogen. We didn’t send a word to her since we left two nights ago. I don’t want her to be worried."
Imogen was Megan Belmont’s older sister, who had let the couple stay when they had nowhere else to go. She lived in Fallmount which was a town away from Brackenville.
"I won’t be able to visit, as I need to head to the courthouse. The minister summoned me," Mr. Belmont replied.
"Is it to get your statement?" Mrs. Belmont asked and her husband shook his head.
"Yes," came the curt response.
Mr. Belmont got down at the road that led to the courthouse, leaving the rest of them in the carriage. The ride continued for some time before it finally stopped in front of Mrs. Belmont’s sister’s house.
The door opened and Mrs. Belmont’s sister stepped out, her eyes going first to the carriage.
"Did your husband finally win some money?" The woman asked, eyeing the polished carriage and the coachman dressed far better than anyone who belonged there.
"No," Mrs. Belmont replied with slight regret. "We are only borrowing it for a while." Her sister clicked her tongue, unimpressed. Then her eyes slid to Ruelle but only for a second before she looked away.
Ruelle was used to it. In time, she had learned to ignore the woman the same way the woman ignored her.
"Tell me, how are things going?" the woman asked as she led Mrs. Belmont inside.
Ruelle followed after them, but only for a few steps. The moment their backs were turned, she caught Hailey’s hand and quietly slipped out through the back door.
"Where are we going?" Hailey asked, glancing over her shoulder where the guards still stood posted at the front of the house, unaware. They hurried down the narrow back street instead.
"Somewhere the guards can’t follow," Ruelle said, pulling her scarf tighter around herself. She added as they took a turn the corner. "It’s an old book house."
"A book house?" Hailey blinked.
"The owner used to like collecting odd books," Ruelle explained as they hurried through the street. "Books no one wants. Failed journals, old war records, half-burnt family diaries, maps of places that don’t exist. Sometimes when a scholar dies, their books end up there too."
Excitement seemed to gleam in Hailey’s eyes and she then asked, "How do you know about this place?"
Ruelle’s footsteps came to a pause and she said, "I noticed the same symbol in a book I found at King Septimus’ castle. It reminded me of this place. Caroline once hid here when we were children."
When they finally arrived at the place which looked like any other house beside it, Hailey looked around while Ruelle knocked on the door. It wasn’t obvious, but the flower pots were arranged to form a star, and one wouldn’t know if they weren’t seeking it.
"You really have some keen eyes to notice any symbol here," Hailey muttered as her eyes caught sight of a broken pot.
When the door finally opened, Ruelle and Hailey stared at the old woman, who stared right back at her.
"It is you..." Ruelle murmured with her gaze on the woman they had met at the fair. The fortune teller!
"Lady," Hailey stepped forward. "You said I was going to marry a wealthy man. How long am I going to wait?"
The old woman simply stared before she remarked, "I don’t know what you are talking about. You must have mistaken me for someone else. What do you want?"
"I am looking for a book that might be here..." Ruelle let the woman know, noticing the person purse her lips, before she finally said,
"Come in."
And while Ruelle stepped inside the house, taking in the darkened walls, not far from the courthouse, Mr. Belmont made his way through the frozen forest. It was a side of the forest no one came to, and with the weather being cold, people preferred to stay inside. He continued to walk until he caught sight of a person there, waiting for him.
"You are late." Ezekiel, who was leaning against a tree, straightened himself.
"I have a wife and a daughter to cater to," Mr. Belmont stopped next to another tree. "How did it go at the courthouse?"
"They suspect you, but I tried to do my best in evading the officer. But suspicion without proof means little," a laughter escaped from the younger man before he rolled his eyes. "By the way, the officers have already found the vampires’ bodies hanging in the middle of the town and there’s chaos. Marjorie and the others are already at work. Also... I know who killed your father-in-law."
"Who is it?"
"Dane Slater. He’s been snooping around, looking for answers on it."
Ezekiel had found Harold’s body by chance when he wandered deeper into the forest. Rage had consumed him after seeing the way the Slater boy had touched Ruelle in front of him.
The muscle in his cheek twitched. Instead of leaving the body where it was, he had used it. A dead man was useful, especially one related to Ruelle. Harold Belmont had ruined enough between him and Ruelle while alive. Even dead, Harold Belmont was still making things difficult.
Ezekiel could still remember the feel of Ruelle in his arms from the day before. She was warm and smelled sweet. And she felt like she was his.
"How long do you plan to keep up the charade?" asked the man wearing Ezekiel’s face.
Ezekiel, now in Harold Belmont’s skin, adjusted the cuffs at his wrist. Clicking his tongue, he replied, "It won’t take long. There are still things that need to be done." He added, "And I wanted to be gentle with her."
But her words from earlier in the carriage still lingered. She condemned a man who hid his sins behind kindness and preferred a man who wore cruelty proudly. Ezekiel’s eyes darkened. Perhaps he had been wrong, as softness had never been what Ruelle wanted.
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