Page 46 of Curse of Immortality
At first, she considered sneaking in through the servants’ door, but as she quietly walked down the hallway she heard the voices of women conversing. Sticking her head around the end wall she saw four servants in the kitchen, and she realized she’d have to walk past them to get to the rest of the house. Maeve was clever enough to know that she could never go unnoticed, especially not with her prestigious blue dress.
Quietly she made her way back outside and tried to think of another way in. That was when she noticed an open window on the second floor with curtains flapping in the wind. Her chest lifted in a sigh to prepare herself as she approached the tree that stood next to it.
Althea and Maeve had always loved to climb trees and they’d been skilled at it since they’d had to climb one every morning and night to get to and from the terrace where they’d slept. It was, however, much easier to climb a tree in bare feet and a thin summer dress than it was in the stiff shoes and heavy blue dress that Maeve was wearing.
When she nearly lost her balance, she managed to grab a branch above her head just in time to save her from falling. She took a deep breath and continued forward, but the further out she got, the more the branch was weighed down.
Still too far away from the window to reach for it, Maeve was considering her options. She wasn’t sure the branch would hold her weight or that she could jump this far. The sound of voices made her stiffen and look down to see two servant girls her age coming from the kitchen and into the servants’ area on the side of the house. Holding her breath, she hoped they wouldn’t notice her.
They were close enough that she could hear them gossip
“Well, all I’m saying is that if the lord invited me to his room as he did with Alice, I certainly wouldn’t protest,” one of the servant girls said in a flirtatious voice, which made the other giggle.
“I would happily settle for Mr. Thomas or Mr. Bradshaw.”
Maeve closed her eyes, wishing the women would stop simpering over men and get going with their chores inside. When they’d finally left, Maeve let out her breath and turned her attention to the open window. Resolutely, she stepped out a little farther and stretched out toward the window. But it was no use; she could not reach it. With a steadying breath, Maeve took another small step and heard the branch squeak under her. Bouncing down on her knees to get some strength only made the branch sway more. With her lips tightly knitted together, she lunged toward the open window just as the branch snapped in half from her weight. She held tightly onto the windowsill with the rest of her body dangling below the window.
Using both her hands she hoisted herself inside and considered herself lucky that no one had seen her clumsy entry into the quiet hallway.
Sitting up, Maeve questioned for a moment why someone with her powerful abilities had to humiliate herself in such a matter, but setting the house on fire hadn’t been a possibility when she needed Charles Fuji to cooperate with her.
Faint voices from down the hallway carried to where Maeve sat and made her pay attention. And then there were footsteps coming in her direction. With no more than a split moment to hide and with few options available, she was forced to hide behind the tall curtains. Quiet as a mouse, she watched the annoying butler walk by with his nose and gaze so high in the air that it kept him from noticing her feet sticking out under the curtains.
Once the sound of his footsteps was far enough gone, Maeve poked her head out to make sure the hallway was clear. Her instinct told her to go in the direction of the deep voices that sounded muffled as if they came from a different room. Walking as quickly and quietly as she could she hurried down the long hallway. With her gaze lifting to the ceiling it felt as tall as the church she had visited with her parents as a child. On the walls hung portraits that looked very old and showed people who had to be long dead. For some reason, they all had stiff lips and bored expressions.
Getting closer to the room with muffled voices, she found the door a little ajar and peeked inside. Three men sat around a table playing cards and drinking what looked to be whiskey. One had his back to her. Another she could see only in profile, but the third man sat in a way that made her see him clearly. If only she knew which one was Charles Fuji.
For a moment, she tried to think of what her first line would be when she walked inside the room, and rehearsed in her mind.You should really get friendlier butlers… no.She bit her lip.If you hate Zosia as much as I do, then we should work against her together.Maeve shook her head and bit her lip again. It was annoying that he had company and maybe she was better off waiting for his friends to leave. If she knew which of the rooms he slept in she could wait for him there and have a private conversation with him.
She was debating what to do when she heard a voice behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted the butler who had turned her away at the door. Marching toward her with his eyebrows lowered and his head dipped forward, he reminded her of a goat about to attack. She could run, but with a big heavy dress on she couldn’t move at her usual speed and where would she hide? Maeve chose another option and quickly burst through the door and slammed it shut with both hands as soon as she was inside. With extra energy rushing through her veins, she stood with her back to the door and her chest visibly rising and falling.
The intense stares from the three men in their leather chairs had Maeve forgetting every word she had planned to say.
Her gaze was drawn to the man in the middle. He was Charles. She could tell because the two others tensed and moved forward in their seat as if getting ready to protect him. Charles on the other hand leaned back with a relaxed and slightly intrigued smile.
With a dry mouth, she felt the door push against her back. The butler was doing his best to get in and hammered on the door.
Arching his brow, Charles suggested to Maeve, “Maybe you should step aside, miss.”
She complied and took a large step forward which resulted in the snobby butler almost tripping into the room. Quickly regaining his balance, he spoke with a face redder than a tomato from hurrying down the hallway. “My lord, I assure you it was not my doing that this woman has disturbed you, she must have sneaked in. I will escort her out immediately.”
Raising a palm to silence his butler, Charles angled his head and asked Maeve, “How did you get in here?”
“Are you Charles Fuji?” she asked to be sure. In her head she had expected an old and unattractive man, but Charles was anything but. She knew from Zosia that he had lived much longer than the oldest tree in the world, but to others he would appear to be a man around forty who took very good care of himself.
“Yes, I am.” He rose from his chair and looked Maeve up and down with authority radiating strongly from him and intelligence glimmering in his dark eyes. “Now, how did you get in here?”
“That’s not important. What you should be asking is how we can help each other,” Maeve said and raised her chin.
Charles groaned and walked toward the door prepared to escort Maeve out. “You’re not the first to offer me services I didn’t ask for, and although you are beyond the other women in beauty, I’m afraid I’m busy and not in need of your services currently.” He stopped and gave Maeve an evaluating look. “But perhaps if you come back tonight.”
Maeve’s eyes narrowed, confused as to what he was talking about, but she didn’t get a chance to respond before they were interrupted by one of his friends.
“Ah, come on now, Charles. It’s impolite to turn away a lady with a tempting offer. I wouldn’t mind entertaining her for a little while. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do.”
Maeve’s glance shifted to the man who had spoken. He looked to be in his mid-forties but if he was a Fader, he could be centuries old. His elegant clothes gave him a distinguished look, but his words and the scar on his neck told her he was no true gentleman.
“Leave us,” Charles dismissed the butler, who bowed and sent a last glare in Maeve’s direction before he left the room.
