She weaved among the ladders, noting their rungs were coated in gold and they’d only two feet on the floor. How they remained upright without any support was a mysterious enchantment in itself; they weren’t supported by anything at the top.
She had two days left. Two days in which to gather everything she needed to furnish the room and complete her contract. She knew she could do it. Really, though, she had no other choice. She needed to supply Merridon with her receipts for reimbursement, and she couldn’t very well do that if she imagined them all into existence. It would be a very long night, and a very long day tomorrow. So much would need transported—oh.
“Damn itall.” Alora, realizing her mistake, slapped her palm against her mouth. She’d not meant to speak aloud. She glanced around, but everyone was too high and too concentrated to pay her unattached voice any mind. For the first time, she was thankful for the strange corridor and its inability to echo.
She would need the irritable horses and the blasted, stupid wagon, and a driver for it all. Damn Merridon and his cumbersome rules! Now she must search out the crotchety Madam Feebledire again and have yet another joyous interaction where she’d be made to feel like an insect being swatted.
Alora headed toward the nearest door hidden beneath stairs, Door Three, to remove her coat, when she saw the subject of her chagrin step from the shadow. Madam Feebledire appeared more resigned than usual, her fierce countenance replaced with something more akin to weariness. She moved toward the mansion’s entrance, where Alora thought she would leave. However, the head of management paused there, and with adeep sigh, pivoted to her right. Madam Feebledire knocked three times upon Door Zero.
The door swung in, and Alora heard, “Marshall. I think we need to speak of your son.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alora only just managed to maneuver her way into Door Zero before the door closed with a resoundingclick. For all the world, it felt like a padlock had been secured from the outside. She tried not to dwell on it.
Her heart beat wild as a hummingbird’s, and she tried to keep her breaths silent. Still, she thought surely they could hear both. Merridon sat at his customary place behind the desk, his legs stretched out before him, and his head leaned back. He spared one glance toward the door, where Alora now stood, and away again. His eyes trained upon the ceiling, he threw a weathered ball into the air and caught it. Over and over again.
“Which son, Patrice?”
Alora’s eyes welled before she could quell it.
“Don’t take that long-suffering tone with me, Brother. You don’t seem to remember most of the time that it is due to my responsibilities that Opulence runs so smoothly.” When Merridon only scoffed, she continued, “It’s William. Andanother transgression against Miss Pennigrim, I’ve come to find out.”
The ball fell to the floor, and Merridon swung upright. “Against Miss Pennigrim? What has he done now?”
Alora’s mouth fell wider than it had already been since Madam Feebledire’s use of the word ‘brother’. There was concern in her tone, and it sounded genuine.What in the world?
“He attacked her while she was working behind Door Twenty-five. It seems as though he held certain aspirations for the two of them, which she didn’t reciprocate. Anyway, she struck him. He has a nasty head wound to go along with what his brother bestowed upon him, and his nose is cracked.”
“Did he now…” Merridon trailed off, his thumb and finger tracing the curve of his mustache. The silence stretched, one in which Alora didn’t dare breathe, certain they’d hear her. “Send the healer to him.”
“He’s already been.”
Merridon curled his lip as if offended by her forthright thinking, but he didn’t admonish her for it. “Fine. I will speak to him once he’s rested. Miss Pennigrim is without a doubt a strong, young woman, and quite a burgeoning success. I hope she is well. See to it that she understands no further harm shall come to her while upon Opulence’s grounds. Even though they’re far more temperamental as of late. How that god-awful wind happened, I’d love to know.”
Even Madam Feebledire appeared caught off guard by Merridon’s praise. She blinked at him slowly, the wrinkle between her eyes growing more pronounced with time. “I will see to it,” she said, at last. “As for the wind, the old man is probably dead now. That one who enchanted the estate. We will have to find another to fix the problem or adjust.” Madam Feebledire turned toward the door, which Alora panicked overand immediately lurched away from. But the older woman turned back.
“Marshall,” she began. “About Miss Pennigrim—”
“That’senough, Patrice,” spat Merridon, with a fierceness that startled Madam Feebledire and Alora, both. “See that it’s done. All of it.”
Madam Feebledire allowed herself a loud huff, but nothing more, as she spun back toward the door and threw it open. Alora had chosen the wrong side and was nearly struck by it. She rushed to catch up with the head of management when she swept through the doorway. The door closed all on its own at their backs.
“That insufferable man,” muttered Madam Feebledire. “He thinks he can manage me like a lowly employee? I am his elder bysix years.I used to change his soiled drawers. And now I am the one ordered about like a child? I thinknot.” She paused in the great hall, turning first one way and then the other. “Where has that girl gotten to? I swear, if I have to search the place for her… If I so much as find her with a toe outside of where it should…”
A cold sweat formed on Alora’s palms. She ran to the front door, and while Madam Feebledire made to continue down into the depths of the corridor, Alora opened it, closed it, and took off her coat, all in a breath.
“Madam Feebledire,” she said. “I’ve a request.”
The woman jolted before turning on her heel. “Devil take me, girl. Where did you come from?”
Alora’s brow dipped in false befuddlement. “From just outside, of course. I’ve finished for the day and was only making sure I had everything accounted for. But I require transportation again. Tomorrow, in fact.”
Madam Feebledire nodded at this, her mind clearly occupied by other things. “Fine. I’ll arrange it. Leave me the name of the shop outside of which to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
“Another thing, Miss Pennigrim.”
