Chapter 398: Bothers and secrets
Only the warmth of the sheets greeted her upon awaking, but not that of a body.
Silas was nowhere in the room when Arabella opened her eyes the very next morning.
The sky spoke through its colors and told her the time. Basically, she was bright and quite early.
The young woman did not drag her feet around, quickly freshened up and got dressed. By the time she finished, there was more than an hour ahead of her before day two of the interviews began.
Her gown stopped near the ankles, ensuring none of the fabric touched the ground while ambling the manor.
Where to go? That question remained unanswered for a good moment. The last thing Arabella wanted was to disturb someone else’s sleep.
And so, her attention turned to her inner voice. Thoughts and memories of, namely, the previous day as well as night for that matter.
There were many things that demanded her focus, but the one among them she wished to poke and prod at was the part where Silas told her that the means to help Erik without harming their family was on the table. They only needed discussing it.
He had shut down her idea so fast, she believed he’d tossed the topic behind him to never pick up again.
Was her suggestion that bad it deterred him from even trying at that moment?
Then again, it was the first business affair she was being trusted with... Perhaps Arabella was never cut out for it from the get-go.
Perhaps, she should just refrain from trying to fix things, throw whatever solution her mind tricked her into believing it had down the bottom of a bin and forget it ever grazed her.
Sticking to the script that was provided and staying in that lane should be the answer. It was better that way.
After all, what did she know about holding a business together or leading people?
Upon walking by Ada’s room for the... Second time, Arabella wasn’t surprised as much as she was delighted to hear the twittering and giggling of feminine voices coming from behind the door.
Without putting much thought into it, her hand knocked on the wood before reaching for the knob.
"Yes? Come in!" Ada’s voice blared.
"Good morning to you, girls" Arabella smiled meekly at Ada and Abigail who sat in front of a breakfast table.
"Good morning to you as well, my La-" Abigail stood off her chair and prepared to curtsy before seeing the look on Arabella and Ada.
She cleared her throat and slowly sat back down, her cheeks flaring red.
It was Ada who cut the awkward moment short with a hearty giggle, "Morning to you as well. I didn’t think I’d see you this early,"
"Oh... I felt like taking a walk around the manor," she picked a chair and sat with them.
"Did you take your breakfast already?" Ada leaned a little forward as though her words would reach her friend better if the distance was an inch or two shorter.
"No, I am not that hungry," Arabella shook her head and pushed something she wanted a smile, but it looked nothing like the ones her face usually displayed.
"Is everything alright?" Ada’s brows furrowed.
"Yes! Yes, of course! Why would things not be fine?" Arabella let out a strained chuckle that only exposed more of her true state of mind.
Her eyes landed on the breadbasket in front of her and stayed there until Abigail’s voice came along, "Well, I should go do what... I said I would... Do then," she sprung into a standing position a tad too quickly.
"What? So soon?" Arabella straightened her stance, her eyes opening wide, following Abigail’s figure.
"Well, I have been here for quite a while, actually and I needed to tend to something in any case," Abigail giggled fumblingly.
"Yes, she needs to go talk to...uhhm yes," Ada did not help clear the confusion.
Both women had turned shifty all of the sudden as if they had been discussing a secret Arabella wasn’t supposed to hear.
"I am sorry, did I interrupt you? You don’t have to leave. I will if-"
"No!" Ada’s hand gripped Arabella’s wrist and pulled her back down to her chair.
"What is happening?" the young woman still looked between Ada and the door well after Abigail had disappeared behind it.
"How about you tell me what is happening with you?" Ada looked her straight in the eyes and blinked only when necessary.
"I... What do you mean? Nothing is going on," Arabella pushed an awkward chuckle, hoping to smoothen the ripples.
However, it did nothing to change the expression on Ada who returned nothing but a shut, dead pan expression.
"Out with it! Something is clearly bothering you,"
Finally, Ada turned away and picked the muffin that lay on her plate.
Seeing that she wasn’t budging, Arabella sighed a long one and got comfortable in her chair. There was no running away from that conversation it seemed.
Instead, she looked at her own lap where her fingers twiddled each other, "There is a boy among the tributes that isn’t of age and thus cannot be auctioned," she murmured.
In response, Ada exhaled loudly, placed her food back on the nearest dish and looked up at her friend, "Why am I not surprised?"
"Well, neither was I, not really, but... You know how it is there. They are holding his family over his head and if we send him back...," Arabella trailed off, a distant look in her eyes.
"He is not in a very enviable spot, is he?" Ada kept both hands on the table and just stared at them while thinking, "What will you do about it?"
"I don’t know," Arabella said dryly.
"What do you mean you don’t know? You are now in charge of the tributes as much the Lady was," Ada’s upper body swayed to further face Arabella as though it would make communication easier.
"In charge...," Arabella scoffed.
"Oh, I do not like the sound of that," the brunette shook her head, "Not one bit,"