The Watcher

“We have the rest of the evening to see who seduces who.” She giggled. Abruptly before her husband could kiss her, she raced through the door and threw herself onto the king-size bed dominating the bedchamber. She felt her clothes peel themselves from her body before she hit the mattress. She lay completely nude on the bed and watched intensely as her husband closed the door behind him and began approaching her. She focused her attention completely on her husband as his clothing fell to the floor before he had closed the distance between them. She lost herself in complete abandonment as his full erection impaled her. She thought only of him and his passionate embraces as they began to make love to each other. She gave herself completely to him.

“Darling, I have a very special present for you.” She whispered as he continued to thrust his engorged member into her body. She thought of the tie binding their rings together and gave to him a portion of her power of projection. She felt his very thoughts in her mind as he continued to make love to her. Her head seemed to be flooded with every sensation he was feeling and was sure the same was happening to her husband. She felt her body begin to quiver as her orgasm approached its release. She felt her hard nipples dig into his skin as her husband continued to thrust against her hips on top of her prone body, her legs remained locked around his waist.
“I love you.” She heard his voice in her head, as she looked deep into his eyes. “I can never love anyone else as much as I love you.”
“And I love you, Darling.” She projected back to him. “My special gift to you is that you may always know how I feel about you. You only have to think about me and you may know my every thought.”
“Natalie, how is this possible?” Her husband asked.
“James, close your eyes and think about me, just me.” She quietly whispered to him. “Hear and feel what ever you want to know about me. I no longer have secrets from you, nor can I hide them from you.”
“Natalie, I thank you for this gift, but there are times when I will need to concentrate on other things.” Her husband whispered inside her head.
“I will teach you how to control it, and the men’s sanctuary will give you space when you wish it.” She whispered back aloud.
“Hear what I am thinking right now, James.” She projected calmly to him as she concentrated her thoughts on her unborn daughter’s essence. “Can you feel her inside me, do you wish to tell her anything?”
“I will hold you and present you to you mother on the day you will be born.” She heard his voice in her head. Her body quivered as she felt her womb contract against his erection. She felt him release his seed and her body responded with an instantaneous orgasm. Her husband collapsed on top of her and they fell asleep instantly. They remained locked together as they slumbered.

She awoke several hours later. Her husband slept peacefully beside her. The sound of music filled her head. That was what had woken her from such a deep sleep. Music that was oddly familiar. The sound seemed to vibrate through the very walls of the hall.

“Cannons load and the valley, it thundered, while the guns lit up the night… then it rained and both sides wondered, who is wrong and who is right?…by the wall in silhouette standing through a flash of sudden light… with a smile he gives them pardon, leaves the dark and takes the light…when the field has become a garden, and the wall has stood the test… children play and the dogs run rampant… who would thought and who would guess?…”

The verse kept repeating itself over and over in her head. She donned a dressing robe over a nightshirt and left the bedchamber. She walked the passages of the halls for several minutes before the music seemed to have drawn her to the west wing. She felt the banister of the staircase and music seemed to emanate from within it as it spiralled up the wing’s tower entrance.

“Lady Robyn. Show yourself.” She commanded. Lady Robyn emerged from the shadows to the left side of the staircase.
“Mistress, you should not wander the halls alone at this hour.” Lady Robyn stated.
“She is not alone.” Spoke her driver softly from behind Lady Robyn. The sheathed relic of her station hung from her driver’s hip.
“I heard it too.” Her driver projected to only her. Her driver’s sudden appearance caught Lady Robyn off guard.
“Forgive me, Mistress, but only members of the black house should know the passage you emerged from.” Lady Robyn directed at her driver.
“There are a good many things we should not know, but we do.” She responded to Lady Robyn. “Escort us to your common room.”
“Please, Mistress. As I am still only a recruit that would be…” Lady Robyn began.
“Then I shall have to wake my cousin with out your assistance.” She interrupted Lady Robyn.
“Y-Yes, Mistress, Forgive me.” Lady Robyn replied meekly. “Follow me.” She followed Lady Robyn up the spiralling staircase into the west wing’s tower with her driver following barely a step behind her.
“If I recall the last time we entered this tower, we had our aunt close on our heels for several hours.” Her driver’s voice replied inside her head.
“And we’d have been in more trouble than we are now.” She stated. Did you feel eyes on us as we entered?”
“Aye. More than one person watches our ascent.” Her driver responded to her. At last they reached the common room doorway. Lady Robyn released the catch securing the hidden door and she stepped past the door’s portal. She completely ignored the members of the black house engaged in cleaning weapons to her right and proceeded to a bookcase to her left. She deftly removed the trigger book releasing the bookcase’s hidden doorway to the black house’s dormitories beyond. She walked straight past the black house members who now realised who had entered their common room, and were standing at attention, towards her cousin’s bedchamber. She found her cousin fast asleep with her husband, but gently woke her.
“Wake up cousin, forgive me for being so informal.” She spoke softly. Her cousin opened her eyes and instantly recognised her.
“In all my memory, there has never been a surprise inspection by the head of the family!” her cousin shouted raising a silent alarm to the entire dormitory.
“Stand down, Cousin!” She commanded. “I have need of your expertise. Meet me in your common room after you have dressed.” She left her cousin’s bedchamber to find the entire dormitory awake and standing at attention next to their respective dormitory room doors.
“Stand Down.” She softly commanded, and turned back towards the common room. Upon entering the common room she had to repeat herself once again for the members of the black house who had stood at attention after realising she had entered their common room.
“Lady Robyn. Sit with me please.” She softly commanded. Her driver sat next to her on the arm of her chair while Lady Robyn sat opposite her.
“I hope I have not caused you to be in too much trouble for this.” She spoke to Lady Robyn. “I shall make it clear to my cousin, that I commanded you to escort me here.”
“Thank you, Mistress.” Lady Robyn sighed with relief.
“I suggest recruit, you return to your station.” Her cousin commanded, while finishing securing her belt and entered the common room.
“Stay, Lady Robyn.” She countermanded as Lady Robyn had risen to resume her previous duty. “I am sure someone else can fill Lady Robyn’s duty station.
“Mistress, this is most irregular.” Her cousin stated.
“I agree, but I have need of your house’s expertise and Lady Robyn’s memory. So please indulge me, Cousin.” She spoke in an extremely soft tone, reminding her of her great grandmother, who often spoke in this manner to instantly gain a room’s attention. Everyone, whether occupied or not, seemed to be waiting eagerly to hear her announcement, for it must be important to have entered their common room at this hour of the morning. She recited the lyrics she had heard previously as though she was reciting them from a book. A quill scratched on parchment behind her as someone wrote everything down.
“Cousin, I believe that your house’s knowledge of the hall and grounds with Lady Robyn’s memory should be able to pinpoint the location we seek. I leave this matter to you to solve. Report to me your progress at breakfast.” She softly spoke.
“Aye, Ma’am.” Her cousin responded smartly. “Everyone! Up and at ‘em, we’ve got work to do!” As she turned to leave the common room, Lady Robyn spoke up.
“Mistress, we need not wake the whole house. I know exactly where the spot is, you are looking for.” Lady Robyn wept with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Lady Robyn, Please tell me where that place is.” She pleaded.
“It is near where I found you this morning.” Lady Robyn wept. “It is the spot my father was executed for betraying the family. It is also the same place where he was buried.
“Lady Robyn, your father never betrayed the family.” Her cousin spoke. “Yes, he was executed, but he chose to be killed so that the rest of the family, and your house would be spared.”
“That is not true, you were not there.” Lady Robyn wept loudly.
“Lady Robyn,” her driver softly spoke. “Your father concealed your mother and yourself along with the family’s annuity, and made it look to the other houses that he had stolen it, so as to keep the family from dividing. He saved us from ourselves.”
“Then it’s as my mother wrote, with a smile he gives them pardon, leaves the dark and takes the light…” I never understood what that meant until just now.” Lady Robyn stifled her tears.
“Someone is giving us all a reason to unite and find missing pieces of a bigger puzzle.” Her cousin concluded.
“Find what is hidden, report your findings at breakfast.” She stated and prepared to depart.
“Lady Robyn, you show strength and compassion for revealing your deepest shame.” She projected.
“I hope I am worthy of your trust.” Lady Robyn replied.
“We shall leave your house to its task.” She announced and her driver and herself departed the common room. The two women slid past a secret panel in the confusion following their departure and waited.
“Catherine, I have reason to believe there is a traitor in the family, and that person is manipulating others to do her bidding.” She projected. “I believe these missing pieces will give us a clue to make the traitor reveal…”
“What do you mean, they vanished!” her cousin’s voice rang out.
“But ma’am, they did not pass by. I swear!” she heard another voice.
“She’s going to be pissed at both of us.” Her driver projected to her.
“Even more than her mother was…” she interrupted.” The two women descended the tower via the hidden staircase. Upon reaching the bottom, they waited patiently to find Lady Robyn take up her previous post. With that moment they emerged from the shadows hiding the secret passage and strolled past Lady Robyn’s hiding spot.
“Please inform my cousin that I may one day tell her how the two of us evaded her mother.” She spoke aloud knowing full well that Lady Robyn would definitely enjoy reporting her last statement. The clock in the main hallway chimed four times as the two women headed towards the staircases.
“Did you want me to show you the passage now, or later this morning?” her driver asked politely.
“Later, I could use your help with opening a door in the library before we return to bed though.” She stated.
“A secret door in the Library that I didn’t know about?” her driver asked.
“I am allowed to keep some secrets too, you know.” She responded. The two women giggled together as they opened the door to the library.
“I need you to turn the great book’s stand…” she began.
“Counter-clockwise, I know this passage already, it does not lead to the passage you want me to show you.” Her driver interrupted.
“I was going to say clockwise, before you interrupted me.” She finished.
“Of course, there must be a second trigger book.” Her driver stated.
“There is indeed.” She stated. “On three, two, one.” Simultaneously she removed Gulliver’s Travels as her driver turned the great book’s stand. The bookcase swung open immediately.
“Close the bookcase open the other passageway. I shall meet you somewhere in the passages.” She stated.
“See you in a few minutes.” Her driver responded. She walked behind the open bookcase and her driver closed the bookcase behind her.
“Lumos!” she commanded and several torches lit themselves in the small chamber behind the bookcase. She made a mental note of where she was and proceeded into a small passage leading from the chamber. The passage ended abruptly against a stone face. She searched briefly for some kind of release catch and found none. Suddenly her foot caught on a loose stone in the floor.
“Clever, someone wanted this passage kept secret.” She whispered to herself, as the stone wall turned on a platter hidden in the floor and she felt herself being lowered into the floor. She found herself in a very musty chamber. Several crates stood off to one side. She surveyed the immediate area quickly as she stepped off the revolving platform. A stone next to her foot rose gently and became level with the floor.
“There’s my way back out.” She whispered to herself. She found what she’d been looking for. Opposite where she was standing was an empty open crate, which obviously had held the Grand Duchess’s portrait.
She moved her torch slightly and noticed a simple wooden door. The door swung easily on its hinges and she stepped into a dimly lit passage. She listened intently for a moment before stepping back inside the door and waited. She did not wait long before she heard the familiar chink of a sword in a scabbard. She stepped into the passage and found her driver staring back at her.
“I found it. So you’ve not broken your vow.” She stated firmly. “Want to help me find out what else is in the storeroom?”
“Definitely.” Her driver quipped back. Her driver surveyed the storage room for signs of where she’d entered from and finally gave up trying to locate a hidden door.
“Find it yet?” she stated as she had begun to examine several crates, which resembled storage boxes for weapons and ammunition.
“Tell me where it is! I wondered for years how ma’am had snuck up on us.” Her driver implored. She stepped on the stone in the floor and felt it move slightly. She stepped once more on the same spot and the stone began sinking as the platform descended from the ceiling. Her driver was astonished.
“I’d have never found that one. It must be very special or it would have never been hidden like that.” Her driver stated.
“I agree, this is here for a very specific reason. To hide something not meant to be easily found. That must also be why it’s a separate trigger book, to hide something very important.” She stated to her driver.
“Natalie, what was hidden behind the bookcase?” her driver asked.
“Nothing really important, just an empty chamber.” She answered.
“If the chamber is empty, then why is the passage to it so well hidden?” her driver asked.
“I think I know why.” She stated back. “This platform will return us up, but what if it rises to a second level?
“The Matriarch’s reception room is directly above the library, is it not?” her driver asked.
“That’s it!” she responded. “A hidden entrance to the reception room.”
“What if there is more than just one exit?” her driver enquired. “Remember the bedchamber panel?”
“Of course!” she noted. “We will need to investigate a little later. Did anyone see you enter those passages?”
“I was watched, but I was not sure who it was.” Her driver replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Let’s have some fun this afternoon.” She giggled.
“Want to lose someone do you?” Her driver asked.
“Not someone in particular, just someone I wish to catch following us.” She giggled back. “It might shed some light on who is intent on knowing our every move.”
“Sounds like fun, but I think I need to be pretending to be asleep when my husband wakes up, or he might suspect something.” Her driver stated calmly.
“So do I.” She replied. “James might be wondering where I am, and he’ll probably suspect I’m with you if we’re both not in bed when they wake up.” The two women stepped onto the platform and it lifted them back up to the library level. Her driver stepped off first and stepped directly onto the loose stone she’d tripped earlier. The platform began rising and her driver stepped back onto the platform.
“No time like the present to find out where this goes.” Her driver quipped. The platform rose to the second level silently and stopped. The two women alighted from the platform and it began descending back into the floor. The small alcove they stood in was located exactly centred along the wall of the reception room. The two women quickly crossed the reception room and gently opened the door.
“Just one staircase and we’ll be back in our bedrooms.” She stated, beginning to feel a little nervous.
“I’ll see you at breakfast.” Her driver quipped. Both women launched themselves silently up the staircase and raced down the deserted hallway. Their bedroom doors were directly across the hallway from each other. They glanced one last look at each other before they disappeared behind their respective doors.
“Don’t be late for breakfast.” She projected to her driver.
“I will meet you in the hallway and we can head down together.” Her driver replied in her head. Almost out of breath from sprinting down the hallway, she quickly composed herself before sliding back into bed with her husband. She noticed the familiar green glow she often saw when Ferule was nearby.
“Still awake, Ferule?” she projected.
“I should have known you would have been with Catherine.” Ferule’s voice replied inside her head.
“Ferule, I would like to know how you always seem to turn up when I have questions that I suspect only you know the answers to.” She projected back.
“You are so much like your ancestor.” Ferule’s voice replied once more.
“That’s what scares me.” She relied with her mind.
“The answers are coming.” Ferule replied inside her head once more. “Rest now, I have duties to begin before breakfast is served.”
“I love you, Ferule.” She whispered.
“And I, You, Mistress.” Ferule projected almost silently back to her, as she noticed the soft green glow fade from the room. She cuddled into her husband’s side and quickly drifted off to sleep.