Page 39 of The Girl Who Fell Through Time
“I see.”
“I’ll be leaving Soren behind, should you need anything.”
“What?” says Soren, emerging from behind a pillar.
Dorian gives him a curt look, and he scowls and runs off. Selene can’t imagine what protection Soren will offer her that she won’t get from one of the other servants, butshe decides not to pry.
Dorian leaves shortly after. She’s left alone with the newspaper and not much else. She doesn’t often read the paper—the Duke would, and he’d tell her what he thought she ought to know—but she thumbs through it now, remembering headlines and snippets of news. Weddings are announced that she remembers attending. One of them will have a baby by the end of the year. Obituaries for people long dead. Opportunities for investments, reports on what’s going on in Ashvold…
She reads the entire thing cover to cover.
Nothing has changed but her.
She ponders again over the newspaper, tracing the date that should never have been printed twice—and wasn’t, and yet is. She knows about things that haven’t happened yet. Mostly courtly affairs, true, and nothing of real value, but perhaps there is some good she can do with that knowledge if she thinks hard enough. If Dorian went back in time, what would he do with that knowledge?
He’d ensure the villagers were well prepared for storms. He’d know the best time for harvests. He’d stop accidents from occuring, mistakes from being made.
But Dorian would have taken notice of these things the first time. Selene can’t think of anything that needs to be avoided apart from Ashvold’s invasion, and she’s done all she can there.
At least, she hopes she has.
She thumbs through every story in the paper, hoping for a spark of recognition,and, finally, she finds something. Calls for investors on a merchant ship called theDawnspire.Selene remembers the name because it’s a pretty one.
She remembers it sinking.
She doubts that there’s anything she can do to prevent that. Anyone with the power to affect such a change is never goingto listen to her. She does remember that a few of the Duke’s friends invested and lost some princely sums.
She recalls that one was very smug. He’d taken his chances with a small vessel,The Estella,which made a hefty profit due to the sinking of the other ship.
It’s a good investment, if someone needs to make money.
The ship’s departure isn’t far off. She’ll need to act quickly if she’s to invest in it. Dorian hasn’t given her an allowance yet, but that doesn’t matter. She brought her jewellery with her. She can sell something.
Thinking quickly for what feels like the first time in her life, Selene marches back to her bedroom and selects a piece to pawn. It takes her a little longer than she’d like to admit to select the piece she’s least fond of, even though she hopes to buy it back. Eventually, she settles on a simple sapphire ring, and marches down to the kitchens. Rookwood is already peeling potatoes for dinner, and Soren is assisting him. Ariella is nowhere to be seen.
“Rookwood, I was wondering if you could pawn a piece of jewellery for me,” Selene says swiftly, before her courage can wane.
Rookwood places down his knife, frowning. “Dorian will give you whatever you need if you just wait for his return—”
Selene bites her lip. She has no doubt that—somehow—Dorian will find the money, but he’s already done so much for her, and time is of the essence.
“This is time-sensitive,” she insists. “Please?”
Rookwood looks uncomfortable, but Soren shrugs. “Let her sell off her useless baubles if she wants, Rook. I’ll do it.”
Selene is reluctant to hand it over, now. She doubts that Soren will get a fair price for it, but she also doesn’t want to show her mistrust. “A-all right,” she says, disliking the waver in her voice.
Soren snatches it up without much care and storms out of the kitchen.
“Have I done something to offend him?” Selene asks.
Rookwood goes back to peeling his potatoes. “He’s used to things being a certain way,” is all he says. “He’ll warm up to you eventually, my lady.”
Selene hopes so. She isn’t used to being openly disliked. At the same time, she thinks she’d prefer someone be upfront about it than dislike her in the way the Duke had.
It is an awful thing, realising how someone you cared for secretly despises you, or was at least indifferent. But he must have hated her to do what he did.
She makes her excuses and returns to her room. It’s a gloomy day, and there’s little to do, so she finally writes back to her friends. She isn’t sure what to tell them about the Duke—she doesn’t even want to think about him—so she avoids him altogether. She sticks to the story that Dorian concocted, about reconnecting with him at his father’s funeral, and a secret friendship that blossomed into something more.
