Chapter 355: Low
Lauden’s eyes only remained on Reubon and Arabella until Allegra made her appearance inside the hall again.
His eyes laser focused on that same birthmark he discovered moments prior, but new thoughts and theories sprouted in the background as he studied its exact shape and shade.
Ideas such as the color of her hair not matching enough to arouse suspicion. That of her eyes didn’t either.
When that yielded no result, he turned towards less obvious features like the shape of her face, skin tone and bone structure.
There were a few that peeked his curiosity, but nothing alarming.
Next, came memories from the previous gatherings at the Eleazars’ where Darrick showed interest in multiple entertainers.
He did spend quite a lot of time with Allegra, but not more than he had spent with Katherine or others.
For all the sifting and fumbling through his mind he did, Lauden had nothing to show for it.
She laughed with and beamed at her friends. Nothing to do with the cold glare she’d given him during their encounter, but did that truly mean anything?
"What is it with you tonight?" Lord Dragomir cut through the veil that kept Lauden in his own mind.
"Nothing, my Lord, I simply learned some saddening news, but nothing to fret too long about," the servant bowed his head.
"So, you’ve already found the time to mingle, I see," Darrick half asked, an odd smirk on him.
mingle was, of course, code for gathering intel. Surrounded by sharp eyes and ears, speaking freely was the last thing they wanted to do.
"Yes, well, I’ve learned that, very unfortunately, there’s been an incident here in the manor on the night of the spring equinox,"
"An incident?" the Lord raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance.
They, of course, knew that something had happened that night, but since all contact with their informants had been cut, no more news filtered through the walls.
"Yes, it appears one of their daytime staff members met a cruel fate," Lauden paused momentarily before adding, "We’ve seen her before. She worked at the gatherings we were conveyed to. A certain blonde with ocean blue eyes,"
"Dear Lord, that is indeed quite the tragedy," Dragomir maintained eye contact with his servant.
Through them, Lauden saw the veracity in some of his words. In a way, it was somewhat of a tragedy to him since he lost a pair of eyes within the Eleazar walls, but that was all it meant...
To Reubon, she was but a silly cow that stood at a convenient spot and even then, he still wouldn’t give her credit where it was due.
However, to Lauden, well... What did Edna really mean?
"The entertainer Allegra kindly shared the sad news with me,"
Lauden searched in Dragomir’s eyes for something, anything at all. A hint that he wasn’t going insane.
"Allegra has always been kind," the Lord nodded, "A bit aloof at times, but sweet. She only celebrated her first century less than three decades ago. She’s still quite young. I hope what happened didn’t rattle her,"
That was something, but also nothing at the same time. Dragomir knew the same amount about the other entertainers he’d interacted with.
"True that!" Lauden interjected, "Now that you mention it, Allegra wasn’t at the spring equinox due to one of her sisters falling severely ill and needing assistance. She... Must have seen it all, the poor thing," Lauden dragged some words while pressing on others.
"Right! Grace too was absent during the spring equinox. It must have been hard on them. I will make sure to offer my most sincere condolences and comfort the next time I sit down with them,"
Lauden wasn’t left with much again.
Not to mention, jumping through such hoops in order to communicate did not make it any easier.
But in any case, the pieces of the puzzle had begun to fall into place. With Katherine being sick and her two sisters staying behind to care for her.
According to Edna’s last messages, Katherine had attacked and killed Arabella, yet... There she stood in her wedding dress and Edna laid six feet under.
That must have meant, Arabella simply had a near death experience. Meanwhile, Katherine attacked again and that time around it was Edna that stood in her line of sight.
From afar, Katherine sat chit chatting with her little friends like nothing had happened.
It truly was mind boggling to believe she’d been released after causing such damage. After taking a life no less...
And to hold a wedding party only a few days after her demise and have her assailant attend... Did Edna mean that little to those people that they’d stoop so low?
"You are glaring," Lord Dragomir declared dryly.
"My apologies," he cleared his throat, "It appears, I got carried away,"
"Would you care to share or is it private?"
"I would prefer to keep my thoughts to myself for the time being. I mean no offense, of course," he bowed his head.
"None taken but try not to sulk. We already have our hands full with one downer already. I can’t handle two of you," Lord Dragomir’s eyes were on Reubon who’d finally let go of his daughter and was walking back to their table.
He looked... Well, unhappy would have been an understatement. He kept his shoulders straight and head high, but the tension around his jaw told it all.
"Did you finally convince her to return home with you?" Dragomir asked before Reubon even put his behind on the chair.
"Please, spare me the sarcasm," the man huffed.
Not much was said between them after that. Thankfully, the music filled the gaps and the many faces around them meant that there was more to stare at than each other for longer than necessary.
Lauden’s eyes couldn’t decide whether to land on Silas and Arabella or Katherine and her sisters.
Either way, a conversation with his Lord was needed. There was more to uncover but more importantly, there was going to be hell to pay.