Chapter 320: Scheming teams
As Arabella drew away, Silas was able to turn his focus on his mother.
"Why wasn’t I informed about any of this?" he crouched down to get an even deeper look into Edna’s dull eyes.
Exorbitante and crazed, allowing him a glimpse into the kind of image she got to see last.
Going down towards her neck, the bruising and tearing was more than obvious. Those purple and bluish marks left on her were a testament as to the sort of treatment Edna got in her final moments. The rips around the center of the marks must have been the reason for all the blood.
"Clear traces of strangulation," Persephone brushed off his previous question to make that remark.
"Why wasn’t I informed?" he pressed harder on the letters that time around.
"Because you would have reacted in a way that would have gone against the plan I had in mind,"
"Was this what you had in mind, mother?" he spared her not a glance.
"This is exactly what I expected you to do had I told you what she’d done,"
"I have yet to hear about what she’s actually done," by then, his knuckles had already turned white from clenching his fists.
"Come now, Silas," she tilted her head, earning her that exhausted look all mothers had when asking a question they already knew the answer to, "I am sure you’ve had your suspicion about her. I am sure your fiance has had her suspicion this whole time but never dared voice her thoughts on the matter,"
"Why am I only hearing about all of this now?"
Persephone’s eyes opened wide momentarily, "Are you telling me you’ve never distrusted Edna?"
"Of course I had my grievances with her but... I would have never imagined...," he looked away.
"If I remember correctly, you even went out of your way to interrogate her," Persephone neared him and towered over Edna’s face.
"I did," he gave one slow nod, "And it yielded nothing,"
The rest of their conversation was carried in Persephone’s room. Right in front of the confiscated items from Edna’s room.
"What are these for?" he asked.
"Well now, we may never find out," the Lady sighed and plopped her weight on a nearby chair.
"You did say you had proof of her involvement in what happened the previous night," Silas twiddled with one of the sheer vials that harbored unknown liquids.
"I caught her in an obvious lie," she pushed yet another sigh, "She was the one to drug Grace and Allegra for Katherine to go loose,"
"That would entail she had a hand in Katherine’s condition," he raised an eyebrow.
"It is safe to assume that from now," Persephone picked up the piece of parchment that Edna kept so close to her body, "But there was room to get more information out of her,"
"Who do you suspect now?"
"As of now, I am fumbling in the dark," she took a deep breath, "I simply wanted to know who pulled the strings behind her. We both know she isn’t smart enough to concoct such an elaborate plan on her own or at the very least, to have the motivation to act,"
"The Mirari alone would have motivated her," he shook his head, "But for the other part, I am not so sure,"
"When is Morgana coming back from her job?"
"The letter from her practice did not specify that," he walked towards the balcony doors that allowed moonlight to shine through, "But why do you need to know that?"
"I’d like her to assess this piece right here," Persephone waved the parchment between her fingers, "I have the suspicion this will lead us to whoever puppeteered our little friend,"
"Why?"
"She held it near and dearly to her heart. Voluntarily or otherwise, it says a lot about how she felt on the matter,"
Both kept their tongues still in their mouths after that. Neither had a thing to add, but eventually, the silence turned too constricting to ignore.
"Who do you think it was?" he looked straight at the piece in her hand.
"Truthfully? I am betting on the other scheming dream team a few hours away from us," she smirked.
"If you’re speaking of Dragomir and Sterling...,"
"Of course I mean those! Who else would I be talking about?" She stood up at once.
"That would mean it has been going on for over a month, right under our noses,"
Silas had the habit of gritting his teeth while doing his very best to keep that fact to himself. He was never good at keeping it a secret, but his mother never pointed it out to him either.
"I am afraid so," another pause followed, "But it stands. Katherine’s symptoms coincide with poisoning and none of the tests done on her have revealed anything which leaves us with the only other option,"
"I should have taken care of her case the first time she caused problems,"
"Don’t huff and puff about what’s already behind us now,"
There was no more huffing and puffing done about it. Silas wasn’t the type to mope around. Not in front of others, at least.
"What do you suggest we do about it then?" she asked.
"Are you sure you want to trust me with that call?" he turned to face her, "Edna is already dead, but after finding out what she did, I’d like to bring her back just so I can kill her with my bare hands,"
"I’d also like to know who killed her," her eyes drifted away.
"It must have been either Grace or Allegra. Either way, I won’t hold it against them, nor will I do anything about it,"
"I’d like them to find out about Edna’s death," her smirk returned.
"Dragomir and Sterling?"
"None other than them," she chuckled, "If they set her up for this then they should know that she was found out,"
Silas did not argue, despite wanting nothing but to barge in there and rip their heads off.
Deep down, however, he knew better than to act without thinking things through.
Arabella’s well being still depended on him and how he handled things from then on.