The Princes Swords

Her Maid, In The Shadow

I breathed in the air, happy to be off the boat that had brought me to England and out of the carriage that had brought me to the Phantomhive Estate in the city. I stood on the steps of the house, looking up at it.

I had sent a letter ahead of time explaining to my brother that I would returning home, with Lady Redferne and Sophia accompanying me for the journey. I waited for Sophia to pay the man who had driven us, her holding both of our one bags a piece. The rest of my stuff had been sent ahead, and was already safely stored at the country Estate I was raised in. I knocked softly on the door, trusting that a servant would be by the door waiting for me.

There, in the doorway, stood a man I'd never seen before. He was tall and slim, with dark hair and bright amber eyes. Regardless of that, he wore a tail coat and I assumed he was the newly 'hired' butler Ciel hade gotten in the almost 2 years he'd been missing from home after the fire.

How you acquire a Butler whilst you were kidnapped was a question most would have. However, from the way he looked at me and Sophia, I already knew the answer.

Whoever the butler in front of me may be, he was definitely a demon.

"And, may I ask whom you are?" the demon butler said, lips curling up in a fake smile. I gave my own fake, tense smile. I knew I looked exactly like Ciel, and if rumor has it that the Phantomhive Estate is exactly as it used to be, then there are pictures of me and Ciel together.

"Who I am doesn't matter, I need to speak to Earl Ciel Phantomhive urgently," I spoke confidently, looking up at the butler and daring him to argue. He raised an eyebrow at me, but nonetheless opened the door and showed us in.

"Of course, ladies, right this way," he showed us through the house and up the stairs, to the drawing room. I knew the hallways well, even though we hardly resided at our manor in the city. I recognized the door to the drawing room from the end of the hallway, and smiled at the thought of seeing my brother again.

I had only seen him once after he returned from the dead. I'd returned home briefly from my studies in Paris to welcome him home, however, between our families and the Queen and Prince all demanding our undivided attention, we rarely saw each other. We both know very well that the other was alive, though, and that's all we had needed at the time.

The butler knocked on the door twice, before pushing open the door. The sitting room was exactly the same as I remember, nothing had been moved a single inch. Madame Red and Ciel sat together at a table, playing chess. The rest of the room was deserted.

"Excuse me, young master, but this young lady has requested to see you," the butler said, bowing slightly when Ciel turned to look at us. Madame Red's head snapped up and she found my eyes. My Aunt stood up suddenly, causing the chair she had been sitting in to fall over, and ran to me with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, my darling niece!" Madame Red exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back tightly, she may be a serial killer but she was also the women who took me in when my parents died. Plus, I couldn't let her know I knew what she was doing, or who she was. That wouldn't be good for me.

"Celina? I thought you'd be arriving tomorrow?" Ciel asked, carefully making his way to me. I smiled at my brother, drawing him into a hug. We held onto each other like we were the others life line for a few moments before composing ourselves and drawing back. We were really the only family we had left.

There was Madame Red, but she'd be dead within 3 days. There was also the Midfords, I suppose, but they rarely acted as if we existed at all. The only Midford who cared at all was Elizabeth, which made sense as she was Ciels fiancee. Our parents were dead. All we had left was each other, and even that was limited til the day our souls were taken by our respective demons.