Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling

Author:Kate Stradling [Stradling, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781947495050
Publisher: Eulalia Skye Press
Published: 2019-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

9

Suspicion Ignited

The manor house was quiet. Eugenie slipped inside and set her shoes and her cloak by the door. Her pulse thundered in her throat. Every inch past the fence posts had increased her paranoia, but surely she was in no danger here.

“Out for a walk?”

She started, barely stifling a shriek, and spun to find her stepmother at the top of the stairs. Marielle looked down at her with a question on her pretty face.

Act natural.

“Yes,” Eugenie said, her hand at her heart.

The woman descended like a queen, one hand upon the balustrade. The poise that Eugenie had always admired twisted from refinement into a sign of dominance. The fingers upon the wooden railing claimed ownership. Every step was the step of a master in her own house.

“You didn’t walk far, I hope,” Marielle said, a note of concern in her voice, “especially on a gray day like this. You know how delicate your health is.”

“Yes. I mean—I didn’t walk far.” Realizing that her stepmother may have seen her coming from the lane, she added, “I only went a little up the road.”

“And did you get rained on?”

Eugenie shrank from the woman’s piercing scrutiny and lied again. “Not very much.”

Marielle made an exasperated noise. “You know how dangerous it is for you to overexert yourself, and getting caught in a rainstorm is only going to make the stress on your body that much worse.”

This was a pattern Eugenie could easily navigate. Marielle fussed about her health on almost a daily basis. She’d always assumed it was her stepmother’s way of showing concern.

“I’m all right. I just needed some time outside. I’ve been in my workroom so much these past two weeks.”

“That’s my fault, I suppose,” said Marielle, rounding the newel post on her way toward the kitchen. She paused when she spied Eugenie’s tattered slippers by the door. “I never did ask: how did you manage to leave your shoes outside last night?”

Eugenie glanced to the footwear with a self-conscious swallow. “I went for a walk in the garden after you left and… uh… got too close to the pond, I guess. My shoes were soaked, so I left them outside, but then I forgot to bring them in.”

Her stepmother tipped her head in voiceless rebuke.

“I’m sorry.” The apology slipped breathless from Eugenie’s lips.

Marielle brushed it aside. “It’s no harm to me if you leave your shoes out in the cold and wet. But we should probably get you some new ones anyway. The bottoms of those are almost worn through, and the toes have completely lost their finish.”

“I don’t really go anywhere,” Eugenie said, as she always did when her stepmother mentioned the state of her footwear.

Marielle usually responded with an epithet—“You sweet child,” or some such endearment—but this time she only hummed.

The flat sound spiked Eugenie’s heart rate. “How was the masquerade last night?” she asked to change the subject.

Marielle started to answer, but the sound of a door upstairs interrupted her. Above, Florelle trudged into view with a wide yawn.

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