The Bloodstained Key by Charity Rau

Author:Charity Rau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wonderstruck Books
Published: 2023-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

The next night, Marianna made another plan. She knew now more than ever she had to look at those cups. She would see they were ordinary cups, and she could rid herself of the terrifying thoughts that continued to plague her. She would have to sneak down to the kitchen in the dead of night. Betsy would be back tomorrow, so she had to do it tonight.

She had taken several books from the library, but it was as if fate was against her. She wanted to stay awake but couldn’t. Her body refused to cooperate, her eyes drooping despite her best efforts to keep them fully open. She caught herself falling asleep twice before the thud of her book hitting the floor woke her for a third time.

She stood and stretched before pacing around her room. Had it been long enough for all the servants to have gone to bed? She couldn’t tell. She knew some of them stayed up into the wee hours. But they had to sleep sometime.

The hall clock chimed. Three o’clock. Surely everyone was in bed by now. She sucked in a deep breath, steeling herself for the task ahead. She picked up her candle, cracked her door, and peered out.

Everything was silent and dark. She slipped into the hallway, pausing at the top of the stairs. Hearing nothing, she tiptoed downstairs and through the maze of hallways.

Inside the dining room, she slowed her pace, stopping before the swinging doors to the kitchen. She stood as close as she could to them without knocking them open, and made herself count to one hundred, while listening to see if anyone was on the other side. Still nothing but silence.

She pushed through and took in the room, ready to explain she was looking for a glass of water, but the kitchen was empty and clean. Nothing remained but the scent of freshly baked bread mingling with the smell of the roasted spiced vegetables which had been served at dinner.

She'd never seen the kitchen empty and had begun to believe it never would be. Silence and darkness made it eerie. The flickering flame of her candle cast a small circle of light that barely lit up a few feet in front of her. The rest of the kitchen was nothing but shadows. A huge, hulking one lurked in the corner.

Was that a man? Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. But it didn’t move. She took a hesitant step forward and nearly laughed at herself when she realized the shadow was merely the pantry cupboard.

She was being silly, and she had something to do. If she wasted time worrying about every harmless shadow, she’d get caught. The story Carrie had told her about the maid who’d been fired came back to her now. Dunsten couldn’t fire her, so what would he do to her if he caught her nosing around in here?

She shook those thoughts away and hurried to the corner where she’d seen the stepladder. Setting her candle onto the table, she grabbed hold of it and tugged.

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