Chapter Seven

Nanny returned to the rooms around noon, pink-cheeked from the sun. Mira pretended not to see Anna show her the newspaper or their unhappy faces as they had a hurried, whispered conversation about it.

“The house is in decent repair, miss,” Nanny announced, once she’d put up her coat and hat and received a cup of hot tea. “It needs airing out and the furnishings are all from your mother’s day, but your Lord Father hired a groundskeeper to keep the exterior in order and check the inside of the building twice a year. I visited a service agency on my way back. They should send over a few girls for review by tomorrow. I asked them to send candidates for a charwoman and a cook for now. I have the agency’s crystal frequency now if you’d like to add any other positions.”

Mira nodded, comparing the number of bodies they had compared to the townhouse as described. The building was three stories and had once been her mother’s full-time residence, according to Nanny, so there ought to be room for live-in staff.

“I’ll make my decision once I’ve reviewed the staff quarters,” Mira said aloud.

“There’s a maid room in the central apartment,” Nanny explained with a nod. “I thought it might do for Anna, especially given current matters.” She paused to clear her throat. She was probably going to take a while to address Mira’s condition head on. “There’s a small dormitory in the basement that can house up to four if they don’t mind sharing rooms and a housekeeper’s suite on the main level near the kitchen that I thought I might take for myself.”

Mira wondered if she should have been surprised. Violet’s memories of the Lord Warden’s residence were of an imposing fortress surrounded by exquisite gardens with attached barracks, so Nanny’s idea of a ‘small, comfortable townhouse’ must be influenced by that.

With the matter of housing settled for now, Mira seriously considered heading back to bed for another nap–except a mirror set into the wall near the front entrance started to glow in a rainbow pulse.

Anna stood up and went over right away as Mira watched with interest. The mirror was, as she realized, not actually a mirror. It was a flat plane of iridescent glass set into a frame. Anna passed her hand over the surface and a face appeared on the pane.

Oh, so not glass then. That must be the crystal Anna had used to call the teaching hospital.

The face in the crystal pane was familiar and stimulated both Mira’s own memories and her inherited ones. She squinted at the glass as both sets combined to paint a vivid picture for her.

Lady Vesper Galadine Coventry didn’t appear in the first game. Maybe her role was expanded in the third game, but Mira would never find out now. Vesper first appeared in the initial story arc of ‘Lost Daughter 2’, but after that she stopped being accessible for conversation. The player could reliably find her in her office, but her only response was ‘I’m busy with work now, perhaps later?’ but, ‘later’ would never arrive.

As the oldest child, Vesper was her father’s direct heir. She had just finished university so she was in the process of establishing herself as the next Lady Warden of the Central Corridor. That meant serving the Crown Princess as her closest aide, which left her with little time for messy personal matters outside of an emergency, as Cecily would soon discover.

Vesper was five years older than Violet, which would make her twenty-four right now, and not even Violet had ever known for sure whether or not they got along. Violet remembered her as a quiet, severe young woman who was reliable and would take her side against outsiders, but not as a warm personality.

Anna had positioned her body between the frame and the room so Mira could hear, but not see her sister when she introduced herself.

“Lady Vesper Coventry calling for my sister.”

Nanny caught Anna’s gaze and shook her head, which was an interesting choice. Mira had already guessed that Vesper had no idea anything had happened to her sister–but if she was in town then why hadn’t Nanny known about it? Or called her? How deep was the divide between Violet and her family? Mira had thought for a second that all the assets they’d settled on her was a good sign and not a severance package, but maybe not.

“Forgive me, my Lady,” Anna said, tone unreadable and nothing like her normal good cheer. “My mistress is not available at this moment. May I take a message?”

“I’m aware that I am interrupting her honeymoon,” Vesper replied with an undercurrent of tension that did something to settle Mira’s uneasy feeling. Marriage seemed to be a more private affair in this world. Maybe she just didn’t want to disturb her sister during a big transition. “Please let her know that I would not ask if the circumstances were not extraordinary.”

Anna hesitated. “There is no honeymoon, my lady,” she replied at last. “The Fenby family reneged on Miss Violet’s arrangement. She had a bad shock and is still recovering.”

“What?” Vesper’s register rose sharply.

“The matter has been reported back to the Main House,” Anna continued. “We have not yet heard back from Miss Violet’s Lord Father.”

“I was traveling yesterday…” Vesper replied. She started to pace and Mira spotted part of a storefront behind her. It looked like a dressmaker’s shop and something started to itch in the back of her head, not where Violet’s memory lived, but in Mira’s own past experiences. However, she didn’t have an opportunity to really think about it because Vesper was still talking. “…and occupied by a meeting this morning. Is my sister well? Is she able to talk?”

Anna turned with some hesitation to check and, at Mira’s nod, lifted the crystal frame off the wall.