Mr Night

𝟓𝟏| 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

-HER-

"Anyway, what did you say your last name was again?" Veronica asked me.

"Maynard," I answered.

"I suppose it's your father's last name?" She asked me. I fell silent for a while before finally speaking up, "Actually, it's my mother's maiden name,"

This certainly caught her interest. She tilted her head at a side and looked at me more keenly.

"Oh, that's an odd situation,"

I nodded and told her, "When I was born, my father insisted that I keep my mother's maiden name," I told her even though I wasn't myself sure why I was telling her that. This made her cock an eyebrow at me before running her eyes down my whole body.

"Hmmm," She hummed to herself as if she finally had understood something about me but what?

"If I am not wrong," I spoke up. I didn't notice it now but this struck me at that moment, "The huge pharmacy on Castrall lane is one of the Lockharts' business, right?"

She nodded and told me, "That's one of the stores under us,"

"So your husband trades Medicines?" I asked her and at this, she gave a short laugh.

"Something like that, yes," She smiled like a cat before sipping from her tea.

"Oh," I didn't have anything else to say for a while but there was this nagging question in my head and I was finding it hard to keep it to myself. "I suppose Mr Night is a very good acquaintance of Mr Lockhart," I commented.

"Yes, a very old acquaintance. As I had told you before, we all grew up together,"

"Your families must have been great friends,"

"Actually," she straightened up a bit, "He's part of our distant family. Don't ask me how, we are not sure ourselves. His lineage is an ancient one and there have been a few mixes here, combine that with the intensity of the travels that the Nights used to do..." She was staring past me with her unfocused eyes, deep in her thoughts or maybe in the past, "But yes, we are old acquittances," She added returning to the present.

"Interesting... It's easier to imagine flying waggons than Mr Night having a family," I commented and finished my tea. At this, she burst out laughing.

"Your humour is impeccable but I understand what you mean to say. He had a falling out with his family due to his twin brother when he was 17—"

"Ophelia!" Romulus' voice echoed outside the parlour, interrupting Veronica. "We need to leave, now,"

I wanted to yell at him for interrupting Veronica while she was starting to give me something more precious than the gem hanging around my neck and tucked into my corset. I turned to Veronica but she was already getting up.

"Oh, it's a shame he's leaving already. I would have loved to have you for longer but regardless, my gates are always open for you. I'd be very much delighted to have you as my guest again," she told me while walking me back to the hallway where Romulus was waiting for me, seeming to be in a rush.

He bid the Lockhart family goodbye in a record-breaking time before almost dragging me out of there.

"Did Veronica say something to you?" He hissed, dragging me through the garden. I was anticipating something like this already but the question in itself surprised me. The first thing that I was expecting him to do was interrogate me to see if I had breathed a word to Veronica about him holding me captive.

He was really acting strange tonight but judging by the things that Veronica was starting to tell me, I think it was graver his reputation being tarnished for keeping a maiden girl captive in his house.

"Why? Are you scared that I might find out something about your family or past?" I joked and this got him spinning on his wheel and looking at me so darkly.

"What did she tell you?" He demanded. His voice sounded a tone deeper for some reason. I couldn't see his face in the dark but the rim of his irises glowed in the dark.

"She didn't tell me anything," I partially lied to him. He stood there for a moment, looking at me in the dark. I had a feeling that he could see well regardless of the darkness. When he seemed to be convinced that I was saying the truth, he turned around and resumed dragging me out of the Lockhart's estate.

A familiar carriage was already waiting for us outside with a very familiar driver. Surprisingly he was in one piece and under the light of the lantern, he looked as good as new and as pale as a ghost.

"Filth!" I gasped but Romulus was already opening the door of the carriage. When I didn't take the initiative to get inside first, he held my waist and put me on the carriage. I cursed him under my breath while I took a seat. He shut the door behind him and the carriage was already rolling.

"What's the matter with you tonight?" I asked him as he busied himself with staring out of the window and getting lost in his thoughts for the ride back to his house. "You seem to be all over the place,"

This made his head snap at me.

"What do you mean?" He demanded.

"I meant to say you seem to be short on patience today," I told him, slumping deeper into my seat. He didn't say anything for a while. While we were halfway back, he finally seemed to remember.

"Did you tell Veronica anything?" He asked.

"Oh, she knows everything by now," I told him and this instantly made him go tense. He made a sound at the back of his throat which sounded like a growl. "Ophelia," He warned me.

"No," I pouted and looked out of the window. It was a dark night. Filth was already driving through the woods.

"So, did you talk to Mr Lockhart about what happened tonight?" I asked him sincerely this time, "since he is like a family to you?"

"Who told you that?"

"Oh, Veronica told me that your family was an ancient one and they used to move a lot due to which there were a few mixes here and there," I quoted her. He remained silent.

"What else she told you?"

"Nothing more," I lied. "So, did you ask Mr Lockhart for help? Were they really Godwick's men?" I continued to ask him.

"Can't say,"

"So what are you going to do now? Was the shipment really that important?"

"It was more important than anything, Ophelia," He spoke up with so much intensity all of a sudden.

"What was in it? Some kind of new machinery? Nut and bolts embedded with diamonds or—"

"Nothing you could ever guess," He told me curtly.

"Then tell me, what was in it?" I asked him but he wouldn't do that either. The only information that I had about that shipment was that it had something of the utmost value to Romulus and he was willing to put himself in dangerous situations just to get that.

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked him. The carriage had come to a stop abruptly. I noticed that we were finally back. As he opened the door and helped me out, he answered my last question darkly, "I'll hunt down whoever has it and make them pay a hefty price for daring to lay eyes on my property,"

With that, he disappeared in LEVEL 1.