Elliot could hear the hushed work of the house staff. Groggy in bed, he turned over. He hoped for just a few more moments of rest before the workday began. Just as he felt himself returning to his dream, a knock was at his door.
Why couldn't I be happier living on the street?
He wondered as he tossed his thin sheet from his body. He cleaned his face with cold semi-clear water and dressed just as a second knock echoed through his room.
It had a window that let in the soft blue light from the rising sun. He laid his sheet neatly across the lumpy mattress. Looking around to note everything was in its place, he finally opened his door, to which he had a key.
Upon opening it, he was greeted by a familiar face. Unfortunately, he did not know yet if it was friendly.
"Lady Jane." He acknowledged.
She eyed him as he joined her in the hall. Jane has always reflected a face he was certain he made when he came across a difficult word in his collection of books. Books, given to them by their mistress. Whenever Eleanora gifted Jane a book, Elliot would receive the same.
She cleared her throat. "She would like to ensure you delivered the letter?"
Elliot nodded and yawned. Jane was the one asking.
"I personally delivered it, the day following. Just as she requested." That was three weeks ago, he wasn't certain what the letter contained, but he had some idea when Jane had asked him to steal one of the Valet's personal letters.
Elliot too became anxious. Something should have happened by now, yet it had been eerily quiet. Eleanora and Robert worked together politely during the day. Some nights Eleanora would disappear. Robert would leave for extended periods, but it seemed to be related to what he and Eleanora whispered about.
What concerned Elliot with each passing day Mary became more ashen.
After the incident with the Valet, Mary and Elliot had become kindred spirits. But he could do little to help her. The Valet hadn't stopped his behavior toward her. Even with Eleanora personally indicating to the Valet, she knew what he was doing.
Even as a Duchess, Eleanora never gained the respect she deserved. Elliot hands fisted.
He had a few frustrating encounters with the Valet, but nothing compared to what he heard of the women in the house.
How could this go on for so long? How could he let this happen?
When they first moved into the house, it seemed that Mary was trying to seduce Robert to gain a spot as a mistress. Something Eleanora hypocritically hated. It had become clear, this was a ploy to keep the Valet away. Not an attempt to seduce Robert.
One night they discussed the deeply unsettling scheme that unfolded in the depths of the estate. They meet in Eleanora's room, after a visit to the Palace.
Eleanora leaned back in her chair. Dressed in a robe with her long hair undone. When she arrived she looked energetic and bright. Now her mouth was hard as she stared at the floor.
"It seems there is much of court life I have missed." She said absently after Janes debrief.
"It seems after the Master's first wife died, the Valet took on managing the house. Robert seems to have completely missed the signs of abuse." Jane reiterated cautiously.
Eleanora raised her eyebrows with skepticism, her attention on the carpet. "Or willfully ignored them."
Elliot nodded, they had only been here for a short time and all three of them had discovered the scandal.
The Valet, Jonas, had created a pattern of using his rank in the house to pressure women into a sexual relationship with him. When he was done with them or concerned about drawing attention, he would "discover" a better position for them in another house. It seemed unlikely Robert could miss the constant change in staff.
"Jonas took advantage of Robert's grief. Some of the oldest staff indicated there was a year when they saw Robert only once and even they didn't understand the constant loss of staff." Jane paused.
"They ignored it" Elliot announced. "You do not work with someone the way we do," Elliot used his mangled arm to point at himself and Jane. "and miss the signs of what he did."
Eleanora's expression had become haunted.
Jane nodded grimly. "I suspect you are right, what ever the case Jonas is clever. Robert did take notice it seems. Not what we know, but he did frequently ask about the staff who entered his employment and then swiftly disappeared. It seems he even asked to give the staff a raise to entice them to stay."
Eleanora nodded absently.
A silence settled over them. Eleanora's eyes shifted as she tried to calculate a strategy.
"Snakes in my garden and my house," Eleanora muttered under her breath.
"Could you simply tell your husband?" Jane suggested.
Eleanora sighed as she heaved herself from the seat. "No. We need to handle this."
Elliot had to ask. "Are you worried he will not believe you?"
Eleanora smiled sadly. "No, I am certain he would. This would be a deep betrayal. I fear it will be worse coming from his new wife," She hesitated. " or at least worse coming from a wife like me."
Resolve returned to her eyes. "The letter I had sent was to William. I suspect since I did what he needed, I can call upon him for some aid. We just have to wait."
"But" Elliot objected.
Jane cut him a look indicating he did not question Eleanora. That didn't stop him. "He will ruin Mary if we wait." He rebuked
Eleanora's eyes softened as she looked at Elliot. Determination in his eyes. "We will be rid of him. Jane will try to stop his advances toward Mary. But we do this cautiously." He did not look satisfied. "I promise." She added.
Elliot clung to this promise. However, it became increasingly difficult to keep Mary in high spirits. Jane had tried to keep Mary near her. Most days it worked and Mary was her clucking self, but somedays, she did not speak.
Jane snapped at Elliot. "Will you please help Cook today? He requested Mary, but I would rather keep her with my round of services." Elliot agreed. Eleanora had suddenly decided to go shopping, all three would be gone for the day.
"I will go to the kitchen now and tell Mary." Elliot offered.
When Elliot entered the kitchen he could hear Cook's booming voice gently prodding Mary. "My dear girl, you look so sullen. Not even my angelic face can get you to smile?" He stopped his attempts when Elliot entered. "Young master, maybe you can help me cheer young Mary. Not even my tales of me hiding from my Pa will help. I even told the best one about hiding on an anthill to avoid a proper whipping."
Elliot smiled politely. Mary's shoulders were hunched over as she cut potatoes for the breaking of fast. Her red eyes focused on the task.
"Unfortunately we will both be unable to try. Mary as been requested by Jane to help Eleanora on a shopping trip." Elliot informed as he used his good hand to take over chopping. "I will be your replacement. As long as your satisfied with me working a little slower young Mary?"
Cook waved away his concern. "Having a young master is an excellent replacement."
Elliot shook his head, a smile still on his face. "I am no one's master. Just a lowly stable boy."
Chef waved his cooking utensil in disagreement. "Our Mistress is a cold woman, she is the things the church weaves into our nightmares." He then pointed at Elliot. "She looks at you with a warmth I have never seen." Cook returned to his own task.
Elliot began to chop vegetables one-handed. The sound of bubbling liquid and harsh chopping filled the silence for some time. Until Mary asked a question. "Why does she have such a fondness for you?"
Elliot could tell Cook's ear perked up. It seemed to be the question that everyone was too fearful to ask. Eleanora did not expect less from him, she held all the staff equally. He had to admit she was much colder to them than Robert. None could say her tactics were inefficient, Robert himself acknowledged the change in house standards for the better.
Elliot chewed on his lip. He did not want to undermine Eleanora, but Cook and Mary were the only friends he made in this place. He wanted them to understand Eleanora, especially since she was working so hard to protect them all.
"She found me." He whispered. He looked up to see Mary's brow creased in confusion. "In Ireland"
Mary's eyes slightly widened.
"I was born from the two most selfish people in this world. My father was a nobleman who chased numerous women. He had little to do with my torture, rather it was his insatiable appetite that caused my mother to have me, and then neglect me." Elliot's hands trembled slightly. "My mother was obsessed with keeping my fathers attention, and she was too daft to realize she could never keep it. Initially, she just ignored me. She spent enough coin to ensure I survived. Her hope was to use me to bind him to her. But when she realized she wouldn't be his one and only. She blamed me," His breath hitched. "and she punished me for it."
"Punished" Mary paled.
Elliot slowly lifted his mangled arm. "I was five. It only got worse from there."
Mary gapped at him. While Cook gave him the dignity to not turn.
"She began to court other men to make my father jealous. She feared that men would never want to be with a woman who birthed a deformed child. While she created her own disgrace, her solution was to lock me away in a closet. Leave me in there for hours." Elliot could smell the stale dark space if he closed his eyes. He spent three years in a room he could scarcely spread his arms in. "It became her favorite way to be rid of me."
"No one objected?" Mary fumed.
"My father did not care much for me, he had other children. The house staff that did object were fired, and she lied to the new ones, saying I was a miserable child of the devil. So they allowed it to happen. I think they also heard she removed the old staff and feared retribution for defending me." He finished cutting the potatoes and pulled the tomatoes next.
He continued. " She would become angry when I cried out to be released. Her ire was better than accepting the dark inhabitance. I continued to cry until my force would become hours, in the hopes anyone would listen. No one came. I would hear new and old voices pass me by. I still do not know what she would tell her guest, but it worked, they ignored me." He hesitated and smiled. "Until Eleanora visited. She still would not tell me what my mother said or why she was there. But I could tell she was different with just the sound of her voice. Everyone else had this jingle carefree tone to their talk as if they danced in the clouds. But she was grounded, her voice stern, and her footsteps moved with purpose ignoring every objection until she stood at my door."
Elliot could bath in the warmth he felt when he heard her demand. "Open this door now." Her cool unwavering tone indicated she would not leave until she discovered the soft whimpers coming from the closet.
"What she found was a dirty deformed child, I barely spoke a proper word. I imagine I looked like the animal my mother thought I was, but Eleanora embraced me and removed me from that house swiftly. Never a question of where I was going." He finished not willing to share their story further.
Eleanora had bathed him herself that first day and for a solid week, she watched him sleep away a perpetual fever. His throat tightened at the one clear memory of her crying softly. She was unaware he was awake and she had slept little herself, afraid he would die of neglect. Her body shook furiously as she clasped her hand together, she prayed for him to survive under her care. She also prayed for a swift and painful death to every single person who passed his door and ignored his cries. "Let their arms be pulled from their sockets and their guts spilled into a fire before they enter oblivion with no life after."
He cleared his throat and stared Mary straight in the eye. "She is not a warm woman, but she is fierce. Evil should fear her might." He promised to Mary.
Her eyes seemed to understand. She nodded.
"I couldn't agree more," A voice said from behind them.
Robert emerged from the hall. Elliot wasn't sure how much he heard from the shadows. Robert never truly saw Elliot, Robert's eyes always showed indifference. But Elliot thought he say a flicker of respect.
Robert broke the stunned silence. "Mary I think my wife is ready to leave if you would join her." She nodded and escaped up the hall. "Cook, would you mind if I borrowed Elliot?"
"Young master is free to go." he waved from his still bubbling stove. Never once showing his response to the tale.
Elliot followed Robert silently. Passing the various curious stares from the staff they passed. But where was Jonas?
They finally arrived at the master's bedroom. Robert ushered him in.
Elliot couldn't wait for the formality of Robert to speak first. "May I ask what his grace would like to discuss? I apologize if you became uncomfortable with my story." He started.
Robert offered a hand of reassurance. "Your story is your own, and not to be censored." He hesitated. "I appreciate your candor with the staff, especially those two, if they respect Eleanora a little more, the rest will follow. I however have a question for you." He indicated for Elliot to sit down with him near the unlit fireplace.
Elliot had never been here. The room was unnecessarily large. But not overdone. Simple and functional was Elliots first thought.
Not so different from my own room.
"What do you think of this room?" Robert interrupted Elliot's processing.
Elliot shrugged his indifference.
Robert smiled at the boy's genuine response. "I would like for you to become my Valet."
Elliot was startled. "That is what you wished to ask me?"
Robert shook his head. "No. I would like to offer you the job. But It depends on how you answer this next question." Robert paused.
"Ask."
"Was Eleanora the one to gather the evidence against Jonas and his rapes of the staff?" Robert adjured.
"Yes." Elliot replied without hesitation. He knew Eleanora wanted Robert to think he discovered it on his own. Elliot still wasn't sure why, but it was clear by the grief in his eyes he still would have felt responsible.
Robert did not speak for a long time. He sat and processed.
Then suddenly asked, "I would like to offer you the position."
"I am quite young." Elliot raised both arms. "Limited too."
Robert ignored his cautions and continued to wait for acceptance.
"What has happened to the Valet?" Elliot asked, afraid to make a commitment without speaking to Eleanora first.
Robert wiped his hand down his face in exhaustion. "I had him arrested last night. I received a letter two weeks ago from a colleague inquiring why my Valet offered to send new staff to his estate. Especially with the words "well worn" to describe her."Â Robert closed his eyes in shame. "I would have been rid of him sooner, but I needed to investigate myself. Truthfully, I hoped to offer an apology to the women."
"Did they accept?" Elliot was skeptical
"They did, but I suspect it was to be polite. Regardless, I had Jonas arrested." Robert stood from his seat to move to a table with wine. "I fear, however, the charges will not be rape."
Elliot was confused. Eleanora had taught him rape was forcing sex on a person, and that dishonored the woman. It also caused irrevocable harm on her mind and her reputation. Robert answered as though he read his mind. "Unfortunately, women run the risk of being unable to marry suitable men or being shamed despite being victims," Robert grunted in disgust. "The courts are inconsistent and I will not see these women tortured to receive no justice."
Robert poured himself a drink.
Elliot thought that was a fair assessment. "What will he go to jail for?"
Robert took a sip. "Treason"
Elliot was impressed. "He will be found guilty?"
"I suspect he already hangs from the gallows."Â Robert drained his glass and contemplated the empty glass. "I also suspect that was Eleanora's plan all along."
Elliot thought on it for a moment. "I suspect you are right"