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Daphne Luckenbill was so full of nervous energy, she could hardly contain it. The past hour had been a whirlwind of emotions and revelations. She had gone into the parlor hoping for a companion like herself- and came out with the responsibility of finding out where two dead girls were being kept.
Daphne tapped her foot on the bottom of the carriage she was riding home in, making it shake ever so slightly. It reminded her of something Silas would do.
Silas- oh Silas-
She knew she should be thinking about the girls, her plans to unearth their whereabouts and all that, but Silas.
Daphne had never met anyone else like her. Someone who understood the feeling of your body telling your story wrong. She remembered the soft touch of his hands, the look in his eyes when he realized something about her that only a boy-born-girl could understand. And his movements- the flapping of his hands, the pacing; his mind worked in a way she’d never seen before. It infuriated her that people called him ‘sick’.
The carriage came to a stop in front of the sprawling Luckenbill estate.
“Hop on out, boy.” Said the carriage driver.
She winced at the use of ‘boy’, but got out with a nod of thanks. If it was Silas instead of herself, he would be delighted. She wished it was him.
What was the use of a mansion if only two people lived there? Father was always shut up in his study, and Daphne mostly stayed in her room reading poetry. Maybe it was a blessing, though. Lately, she’d been wanting to spend as little time in Father’s company as possible.
Hoping against hope her father wouldn’t hear her enter the house, she fiddled with the key and slowly opened the door. After a lifetime of exploring the manor, she knew all the nooks and crannies; all the places to hide things and be hidden.
She had made it halfway up the stairs when- “Edward? Is that you?”
Shit.
From the hallway Father emerged, his soft purple vest buttoned up to his neck and his trousers bulging with constrained fat. “How did your meeting with that Gloria girl go?”
His name is Silas.
Daphne swallowed hard. “It went well, Father. She’s lovely.” Lord Luckenbill smiled, his lips twisting up and a little too far. “Wonderful, wonderful. I trust you have made your intentions clear with her?”
“...What do you mean?”
“To marry. Produce offspring. Of course she remembered you from your meeting at the gala, or is she a little…” He tapped his head and laughed. Sick. Crazy, he meant.
Not funny. That’s not funny that’s not funny don’t joke about Silas like that.
“Just don’t have too much fun with her before you marry, boy. You’re a viscount’s son, and it wouldn’t do to get her pregnant before the wedding. Although I know how hard that must be, given she’s a very beautiful woman.” He chuckled and clapped her on the back, like they were sharing a laugh.
Daphne wanted to scream.
“What do you say we go hunting tomorrow?” The viscount brushed wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers, like after touching Daphne he had to rid himself of whatever invisible sickness she had that made her such a disappointment.
“Teach you to man up and learn how to shoot things. The Speaker Society expects you to start joining our bi-annual hunts soon.”
Father had taken her on trips like that before. The moment she tried to shoot the lovely deer 10 feet in front of her, she lost her nerve and dropped the rifle- scaring the deer off. Her father had grumbled under his breath about “raising a pansy of a boy” and took off after it.
“No, father. I would like to visit Gloria again, and lay out the proper terms of our soon-to-be marriage.”
Feed him his own bullshit until he chokes.
The viscount nodded solemnly, a bit annoyed. “Yes, yes. You may. I will be out on a hunting trip of my own with some officials. Don’t make any trouble, boy.”
He said it jokingly, but Daphne knew better.
As he left, she ascended the stairs as fast as she could and burst into her room. She grabbed the notebook she kept hidden in her cabinet full of her thoughts and feelings, and a quill.
She set her ink pen and paper out in front of her and dipped the tip in the ink.
Alright, Daphne.
Time to find those missing girls.