Page 6 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“Just... go sit outside until I call for you.”
“Very well.” She marched outside to the chair set aside for her, glad to be out of his company. It occurred to her she should have taken the lunch tray. She had nothing else to do. No matter. He’d ask her to remove it if it bothered him.
It was the first time in two years she could ever remember having nothing—actually nothing—to do. She was at complete loss of how to fill her time. She’d have to inquire about borrowing books from the library. She wasn’t sure it was open to staff, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. Much as she liked quiet, the solitude would soon drive her mad. She wasn’t used to it.
A footman, a tall young man with a head of dark, neat hair, stopped by after a while. “I’ve been sent to fetch a tray—”
Adeline stood up sharply. “I should have brought it down—”
He shook his head. “It’s no matter. It’s your first day.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was incompetent—”
He laughed. “I think it will take a lot more than that to get yourself called incompetent whilst caring for the Young Lord. Sit down. I’ll fetch the tray.”
He ducked into the room, returning after a short moment. “Saints above,” he said, “it’s spotless in there!”
“That is my job…”
“He usually doesn’t let anyone clean. Or makes them feel so uncomfortable they ask to be excused.”
“He’ll have to try harder with me.”
The man grinned. “Don’t let him hear that. He may like the challenge.”
He nodded curtly after her, and continued on his way.
Chapter Three: The Book
The Young Lord didn’t call for her until dinner time, and dismissed her shortly afterwards. Adeline returned to her room, hung up her uniform, and dressed in plain cotton frock for dinner. She helped the cook, a rotund, cheerful-looking woman by the name of Mrs Harper, set the table. One-by-one, the rest of the servants filed in. There were around a dozen of them at the table, although they hired additional day staff like gardeners during the summer months who flitted in and out, and bolstered their ranks with people from the village whenever the Duke was in residence.
“Is he often home?” Adeline asked, as politely as she could. “From what I heard, it’s been years since he was.”
“Aye,” said Mrs Minton sadly, “hasn’t been his home really since his wife passed. But sometimes his friends visit en route elsewhere, and once…” she lowered her voice, as if she were discussing some great secret, “Prince Alexei himself!”
Adeline emitted the gasp of surprise that was so clearly desired. It surprised her that the visit had been hush-hush, but it didn’t surprise her that the Prince had visited. He was the Duke’s nephew—Dimitri’s cousin.Notvisiting would probably have been stranger.
“I know,” Mrs Minton continued. “Quite the excitement. Wished he would have brought an entourage with him, but it was what it was.”
“I’dlovea proper royal visit,” sighed one of the other maids, a red-haired girl by the name of Posey. “Maybe a ball…”
A collective sigh went up from most of the room. Adeline had to admit she wouldn’t be averse to the finery, either, despite the work such an event would doubtless entail.
“Ah, well, maybe one day,” said Mrs Minton. “When the Duke returns, or the curse is broken.”
The room went quiet for a moment. “Do you think itcanbe broken?” Adeline asked. “I don’t know much about curses…”
“No one much does,” said the cerulean gentleman at the other end of the table. The scholar-in-residence, judging by his clothes. “My predecessor tried everything. Eventually both he and the Duke gave up trying. That was before my time. Now I’m no more than a glorified librarian.”
Adeline was about to ask him about access to books, but Mrs Minton cut across her.
“All curses must have a way of being broken,” she said. “Of this, I am certain. Mrs Harper, would you please pass the salt?”
It was a pleasant enough supper, and she was certainly made to feel welcome, even if it felt a little like sitting in on another family’s meal. Most of them had been at the estate their entire lives, taking over from their parents or older relatives. Only the scholar, Clarin, was new.
But it was a small staff, for a house as grand as this. She could tell from the empty spaces at the table and the numbers of disused rooms.
“There’s dozens of spaces in the attics,” Posey told her after dessert. “But when it became clear that the Duke had no plans of returning, that there’d be no more grand parties, one by one the servants left, or were deemed unnecessary, and we all slunk down here. Far too hot and stuffy in the attics.”
