2025-01-17 19:19:20
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 790
By seven in the morning, every door in the east wing of the Tiffany house was locked, and nobody would tell the idiot why."What was the scream?" Alexander asked the cook innocently, at the kitchen door."What scream?" the cook snapped."At sunrise," he said patiently. "From the tower.""There wasn't any scream, Your Highness," she said, nervous. She didn't look at him. "You must have dreamed it.""Everybody dreamed it, then," Alexander said mildly. "The dogs dreamed it too. They were barking for an hour.""Breakfast's in the servants' hall," the cook said sharply, and shut the door in his face.Upstairs, behind the locked doors, he could hear the house running about in a panic: the doctor's car on the gravel at half past seven, Pauline's voice, sharp and low, and once, very clearly, Patricia's."That's impossible!" she shrieked.Felicia found him in the yard, in the grey morning light, feeding the hounds."Something's happened up there," she whispered. "The maids are crying. Madam Pa
Chapter 789
The grey car drove north along the coast road, rain streaming down its windows, the sea black on the left. In the back, Alexander changed out of the wet waiter's jacket into plain black clothes that fitted him exactly. A flat wooden box lay beside him."What's in it?" he asked."Your face, sir," the driver said flatly, without turning round. "Mr. Moss had it bought from a black market."Inside, on grey velvet, lay a mask of white porcelain: no mouth, two narrow slits for eyes, and a hairline crack across the brow mended with gold."Old," Alexander said softly."Three hundred years," the driver said, reading it off a card, dry as paper. "It belonged to a court physician who treated an empress and preferred not to be thanked.""Did the empress live?" Alexander asked, curious."To ninety. The physician was never identified." The driver put the card away. "Mr. Moss says he'd like both of those things to happen again."Alexander put the mask on. When he spoke again, his voice was lower and
Chapter 788
"Baroness," Alexander said politely. "May I ask you something?"Four hundred people held their breath under the three gold chandeliers.The Baroness put down her oyster fork. Beside her, Pauline's face went smooth and still, like a pond freezing."You may not," the Baroness said coldly. "Married-in men do not ask. You were told.""I was told," Alexander agreed, calm. "I'm asking anyway. It isn't for me.""Oh, he's asking, Mother!" Cordelia laughed, high and delighted. "At your birthday! In a waiter's jacket!""Be quiet, Cordelia," the Baroness snapped. She looked at him. "Well? You've stopped my quartet. Ask."He picked up one of the gold-edged cards that lay beside every plate.Under the menu, in curling letters, it said: The Tiffany Foundation: eighty years of care for the sick and the needy of the coast."Your foundation helps the sick," he said quietly. "It says so on every table. There's an old man on Harland. His name is Tom. He's seventy, and his heart is failing. The hospital
Chapter 787
The Grand Hotel's ballroom held four hundred people, and on the night of the Baroness Tiffany's eightieth birthday it held four hundred and twelve.Three gold chandeliers hung over a white marble floor. A string quartet played on a low stage, and at the head table, under the middle chandelier, the Baroness sat in black lace and pearls, small and straight, her white hair pinned so tightly it looked painful.Alexander arrived at the service door, because he wasn't allowed to use the front.Pauline was waiting for him there, tall, in dove grey, with something white folded over her arm."Put this on," she said coldly.He unfolded it. It was a short white waiter's jacket with brass buttons and the Grand Hotel's crest on the pocket."I'm a guest," he said, soft and puzzled."You're a married-in husband below the married-in husbands," Pauline said, smooth and cold as a menu. "There aren't enough chairs. There are, however, a great many trays." She handed it over with two fingers, as if it we
Chapter 786
"Thank you," Alexander said. "It's very clean."Preston stared at him. Then he laughed again, louder, and went away shaking his head.Felicia put the bags down. Her hands were trembling."We've both slept in worse," Alexander said. "Unpack. We're expected upstairs."The Baroness received him in the long drawing room, standing at the far end, by the fireplace.She was eighty, small and straight, with white hair pinned so tightly it looked painful and an ebony cane she clearly didn't need. She did not come forward or sit down. She let him walk the whole length of the carpet to her, past three sofas full of her family.Beside her, a tall woman in grey held a white card."My daughter Pauline," the Baroness said. "She'll explain how things are done.""Your Highness." Pauline didn't curtsy. She read from the card in a smooth, pleasant voice, the voice of someone reading a menu to a child."In this house, the women of the line sit at the head of the table. The married-in husbands sit below t
Chapter 785
The Treasury inquiry took one day.Two inspectors flew in from the capital on the morning plane, grim men with grey folders, and took statements all day in the harbour office."Name?""Ivo Brask. Fisherman.""Did the Comptroller order you not to touch the boats?" the inspector asked."He did. Loud. Twice.""And when the launch began to sink, did he rescind that order?""He shouted something," Ivo said. "Nobody had a pen."The van driver was next. "I read his order out over the loudspeaker," he said. "Twice round the harbour. Prison for anyone who touched a boat. I've got the paper here, sir. He signed it.""So the order was clear," the senior inspector said to Fennick. "Nobody was to touch a marked boat.""Very clear," Fennick said. "He said it to a thousand people. He said anyone. He said prison.""And the launch?""Forty years old, sir. The harbour master had condemned her twice.""I condemned her three times," the harbour master said. "It's in the log. Nobody in the capital ever re
You may also like
Secretly The Quadrillionaire's Heir
Viki West125.1K viewsMarcus Hamilton Trillionaire In Disguise
Emerald73.9K viewsRise Of The Disrespected Trillionaire Heir
Blaq83.9K viewsThe Consortium's Heir
Benjamin_Jnr1.7M viewsTHE INVISIBLE HEIR: $5 TRILLION EMPIRE
Joseph Testimony 237 viewsAFTER THE DIVORCE, I BECAME A BILLIONAIRE
FEE360 viewsThe Shadow Commander Returns
Stainless222 viewsAfter Three Years, the Mute Husband Speaks
Laurel257 views