Chapter 2 Cookies and Blood
EVEET -
Her white dress was fanned out wide around her, and her long white stockings were rubbing against the cold floor. Eveet’s bottom was tender, and they both sat open-legged on the hard floor in front of each other.
Luca’s dark pants and brown shirt were rumpled as he rubbed the side of his head, where they'd collided
When Luca looked over and saw who he ran into, he immediately leapt up and held out his hand for her.
“I’m sorry, Signorina Eveet, are you hurt?”
For some reason, every time he used her title, it made her angry, and after the pain of their collision, she couldn’t hide the tears that touched her eyes.
She took his hand and let him help her stand, but when Luca noticed that she hadn’t let go, he pulled away like he would get in trouble.
With a frown, she said, “I’m okay.” Then, trying to blink away the embarrassing tears, she finished with, “I was looking for you.”
Her words must have surprised him because his eyes grew big. “Don Sam asked me to fetch a maid.” He said defensively, as if it was his fault she couldn’t find him.
He looked behind her, then to the sides, like he was trying to make sure no one had heard him.
Ignoring his behavior, her heart sped fast as she pulled the bracelet out of her small pocket.
With something funny happening in her belly, she said, “I-I made this for you.”
He had turned at that point and was looking around the hallway once again, but at her words, his head jerked back and then down at her open palm.
“What is it?” His eyes were still wide, but now they were also bright with curiosity.
“It’s a bracelet.” Her tone was laced with excitement. “I made it for you.”
He stared at the bright threads, his little mouth opening slightly, but he didn’t move to take the offered gift.
Frustrated, Eveet moved closer to him and grabbed his hand again, but he pulled it back.
Pulling his eyes from the bracelet, he said, “I have to get the maid, or Don Sam won’t be happy.”
Undeterred, Eveet pressed on, “Then I’ll help you find her, but then will you promise to come back and play with me in my room? I have tea ready for us.”
Judianne was already waiting for them to come back.
He didn’t answer at first. Instead, he looked back down at the hand that held the bracelet before looking behind him again.
She’d dropped her hand to her side. “Luca!?” She whined his name at him.
More frustrated than she’d ever seen him before, he turned back to her and all but barked, “Fine!” As he reached out and snatched up the bracelet.
What’s wrong with him? He’d never treated her like this before. He’d always been patient and kind, if not quiet.
Her small lip pushed out in an uncontrolled pout, and she whispered, “Okay. Thank you.” Then they walked to the kitchen together.
It hadn’t taken long to find a maid to send to her father. As soon as the servants saw Eveet, they all jumped to see if she needed them.
Having sent the woman off to her father, both children made their way to her room. The entire time, Luca watched the shadows and corners of every hallway they moved through.
When they walked into the bedroom, she watched as Luca’s eyes once more grazed over every corner before landing on the small table and chairs that were placed beside the floor-to-ceiling window on the far side of the room.
It was where she had been sitting, watching the guests arrive.
“What’s wrong, Luca?” She was unable to contain her curiosity. Mother told her often that she asked questions she shouldn’t, but the look on his face bothered her.
He pulled his gaze from the room and over to her before he said, “Papa was talking on the way here. He said he didn’t like how the day felt, and he told me to stick close to your side until we leave.”
“How the day felt?” She murmured his words back to him.
“Papa is rarely wrong when he feels like this.” His little mouth was tight, and his eyes were fierce.
Not sure what to say, and uncomfortable with his responses, she grabbed his hand once more and dragged him to the tea set as she changed the subject.
“This is Judianne.“ She said as she pointed to a porcelain doll that was sitting in one of the small chairs.
“I was telling her about the boat ride that Baba took us on. Oh! And look!” She pulled him to the window. “This is where I saw you when you got here.”
Then she turned and grabbed him by the arms before moving him to a chair and pressing him into it.
“Now you can sit with Judianne while I get the cookies the chef made for me.”
Without waiting for his response, she moved to the counter against the side wall next to the bedroom door.
It took her a moment to rearrange the cookies how she wanted. They must have jostled when the maid brought them up. She was almost done when she heard an odd sound behind her, almost like a soft gasp.
Turning with the plate full of cookies in her hands, what she saw had the fine china slipping from her fingers and shattering against the hard floor at her feet. Cookies and crumbs exploded across the tile, and bits of ceramic bit into the material of her stockings. Some went deep enough to pull blood.
Her mind couldn’t understand what her eyes saw. She stared for a moment, trying to comprehend.
Before her lay a woman with beautifully short chestnut brown hair. Like an angel, it was fanned out around her head. She wore a yellow dress that hung loosely around her shoulders, and her shoes had a pretty white heel. She was on her stomach, and coming out of her back was a silver stiletto, the sunlight from the window catching the metal, causing it to glint.
It wasn’t until the thick pool of almost black blood touched Eveet’s tiny shoes that it registered in her mind that she was looking at her mother’s dead body.
As Eveet fainted, her body slumping against the counter that had held the cookies, she realized the scream echoing in her room was her own.