Blind Eyes Divine /Pandora Hearts\ Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Pandora's Box

The entrance hall was damp and dimly lit when Elizabeth pushed open the heavy wooden door. She was soaked to the skin from the torrential rain outside and her teeth soon began to chatter from the chill air. She felt her way up the grand staircase in the darkness, unlacing the ties of her gown. Wet petticoats and undergarments followed until she was shivering in a thin linen shift. A cold black revolver hung loosely in her right hand.

"Miss!" a scandalized voice called out of the darkness. "What are you doing?" A matronly woman rushed up to Elizabeth, her hand cupped around a flickering candle. She carried a convenient dressing robe on her arm. "You're soaked, Miss."

"Am I? I hadn't noticed," Elizabeth said dryly as the housekeeper draped the robe over her shoulders. "The carriage overturned in the mud."

The housekeeper gasped. This news shocked the falsely stern look on her face off, revealing her naturally stubborn expression that was dampened with worry. "Lorena and Edwin?" she asked breathlessly.

Elizabeth felt her heart twist. Lorena's betrayal only mattered because it had resulted in the death of the last of her family's old servants. The rest were just cronies sent by Pandora. "We'll have to hire a new coachman," she said callously. "Put the word out. Send a chambermaid to me in the morning." Elizabeth paused on her way to the Great Chamber. "That reminds me. Kate, Report any suspicious movements by the servants to me. Especially servants connected to my father."

Kate dipped her head. "Yes, Miss."

"Drop the obsequious act. That's not what Pandora sent you for."

She bobbed her head again but this time paired it with a grin. "Whatever you say, Miss."

Elizabeth opened the door to her father's bedchamber and smiled at Kate. "Good night," she said pointedly before stepping into the warm room and shutting the door firmly.

The large chamber was dimly lit and warmed by the small fire. Elizabeth blew gently on the dying flames and placed another log in the fireplace. The firelight gleamed off her hair, which was darkened to a honey color by the rain.

"Eliza?" The soft, feeble voice broke her heart, but Elizabeth kept the smile fixated on her face.

"Yes, Father," Elizabeth said, approaching the large bed. She knelt on the ground by the bedside and leaned forward so the weak blue eyes could focus on her face. "I'm back."

"Excellent. And the results?"

"Favorable."

"Excellent..."

Elizabeth reached out and took her father's hand. His skin was cool and dry and felt paper-thin. "Father? Have you been well?"

"Better. And you, Eliza? I trust you aren't over-working yourself?"

"No, Father. I'm fine."

"Good. Come closer, Eliza. Let me see you clearly." Andreas Nobel smiled contently. "Your mother would be proud. You grow more like her everyday."

Elizabeth knew that was a lie. Her mother had been a delicate brown-eyed brunette in her youth and had been growing rather fat in the last years of her life. Elizabeth, tall, slim, and blonde, was the opposite of her mother. But she only smiled. "Yes, Father."

The Marquis opened his mouth to speak, but a fit of coughing cut him off. When the coughing subsided, he fell back onto his pillows and let out a rattling breath. The sound of his wet, shallow breathing grew louder in the silence.

"Good night, Father." She kissed his forehead gently and left the room with a smile on her face.

In her own chambers, she placed the revolver on her desk and curled up on her bed. Elizabeth was exhausted—she'd been forced to walk nearly ten kilometers in the rain. Lorena's crazed expression flashed in the darkness when she closed her eyes, and the next thing she knew, sunlight was streaming through the curtains, and someone was knocking loudly on her door.

"Mmmpff," Elizabeth grumbled into her pillow.

The person at the door must have take that for "enter" or "come in" as a laughing blond man breezed in. "Eliza-liza," he crooned, tickling the doll that sat upon his shoulder. "Not up yet?"

Elizabeth yelped at the intrusion and leapt out of bed. "Kate!" she roared, grabbing the bed warmer from the dying embers in the fireplace and swinging it with all her might at Xerxes Break's head.

Kate rushed into the room. "Miss!" she exclaimed, but Kate calmed down when she saw the intruder was only Break.

"Get out, get out, get out!" Elizabeth ordered, losing control. She punctuated each word with a swipe of the metal bed warmer.

Break laughed, dodging the blows like he was dancing. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" he teased.

She dropped the bed warmer because it was too heavy and faced the still-dancing Break with a glare. "What are you doing here?"

"For an intelligent girl," Kate said indolently, draping a dressing robe over Elizabeth's nightdress, "you are surprisingly dull-witted, Miss."

"Can it," Elizabeth said between clenched teeth, still trying to burn Break with her eyes.

"Vulgar, too," the young woman noted. "Much too vulgar for a noble. You should start behaving according to your status, Miss."

"When the Nobel family is one of the Four Great Duke Houses, I will," she said haughtily.

Kate rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "When pigs fly, you mean."

"Don't be so rude, Kate..."

Elizabeth's mouth fell open. Imagine! Break defending her. But then Break waggled his fingers at the door and continued, "When guests come, you're supposed to serve tea."

Elizabeth sat herself on the bed as Kate left—the housekeeper was grinning, the audacity—and folded her arms tightly over her chest. "It's improper for you to be in my rooms without a chaperone," she said stiffly.

"Has the Nobel family already become one of the Four Duke Houses, then?" Break sat down without invitation and began playing with the tassels on the fancy throw rug.

He is just like a cat, Elizabeth noted, watching Break flit around her room and toy with various objects. No wonder Gilbert Nightray is so averse to even looking at Break. I wonder if his Chain is a cat—maybe a jaguar, she thought as Break began climbing to the top of the four poster bed. Elizabeth couldn't repress the giggles when the next thought occurred to her: It's a kitten! Sharon Rainsworth's loyal kitty!

"Something funny?" Break inquired, appearing in his usual uncanny way from underneath the bedskirts.

Elizabeth smiled down at him. "Only you."

The blond pulled himself out and brushed his clothes off. He was especially careful with the doll's elaborate dress. "It's so dusty under the there!" the doll said, and Break tapped it gently on the head with one finger.

"It's not nice to say the truth."

However... Elizabeth watched the seemingly life-less doll for a few more seconds. Perhaps that doll—Emilia or Emily or whatever—is his Chain. But do they even have such absurd toys in the Abyss? Elizabeth didn't have nearly enough knowledge about the Abyss to make any sort of conclusion, so she abandoned that train of thought. But while she was still thinking about Chains... "Has Pandora decided yet?" she asked. "About a contract for me," she prompted.

"Yes," said Break. "No."

She was startled by the directness of his answer. Elizabeth had expected a bit more verbal play, as was Break's habit. She was disappointed, too, but tried not to show it. "It's not as if they trust me enough to let me contract with a Chain. They fear me, I suppose."

"I get the feeling they aren't wrong to." He went on to warn, "Don't try to make an illegal contract," which was the second time he'd surprised her in mere minutes.

"Hope is still left in Pandora's box, then?"

Kate opened the door without knocking, looking annoyed. "How long will you two sit in this room? The tea has already been reheated twice!"

As they made their way to the study, Break murmured to her, "Tsktsk, to not call us for tea... You have low-class servants, Eliza-liza."

The young woman flicked Break an annoyed look. "Wasn't it you that sent them?" She settled herself in one of the cushioned chairs the servants had set up with the table. "But speaking of servants... I'll need some more."

"Is it about Lorena and Edwin? Kate mentioned something concerning a carriage—some sort of accident. Personally, I doubt that is the truth."

Elizabeth looked down, swallowing the bile that was rising in her mouth. Her smile faded. "Lorena was being controlled by Zwei. I had to kill her. "After a moment, Elizabeth added, "Edwin died when the carriage crashed."

"I understand."

The sound of Break dropping cubes of sugar into his tea echoed in the silence. Elizabeth stared at him. "Excuse me?"

He was smiling. "Of course, I expect compensation."

She returned his with her patently insincere smile. "In that case, how about I tell you something interesting?"

"I would prefer some cake, to be honest."

She sighed. "Kate, would you?"

"Yes, Miss."

Elizabeth contemplated her teacup. There was a small chip on its rim. "Hypothetically speaking, if an ambitious heiress were to meet an illegal contractor and, say, hire it, what do you think she would have the wretch do?"

"I would assume she would have the hypothetical contractor attack one of the duke houses. Now would this be a last-ditch attempt to destroy one of those houses or to test her new acquaintances?"

"I wouldn't presume to know."

"I sincerely hope no one would be killed. If such a thing were planned, someone might have to intervene."

"Ah, but the heiress might have planned for a couple of diversions, just in case that someone wanted to ruin her fun."

"What kind of diversions?"

"The usual. However, if someone were worried, there would be enough time for him to go and save the day. Unless, say, the potential savior were distracted by frivolous conversation and tea."

Break stood without warning, throwing the fine linen napkin onto the table. It landed on his cup. "I guess I should be leaving, then." He walked behind one of the rows of bookshelves and leaned back so only his face was visible. "I'll give your regards to Oz." He pulled one of the books out until his face was hidden.

Elizabeth sipped from her teacup and watched the dark stain on Break's discarded napkin spread. She heard the book thump onto the ground when Kate slammed the study door

"Miss?" Kate placed one of the two plates of cake in front of Elizabeth and refilled her tea. "What about Break...?"

Elizabeth took the second plate from Kate's hands and placed it next to hers. "We shouldn't waste such nice cake."

Kate had other ideas. She dug a silver fork into the slice of chocolate cake and took away nearly half the slice. She smiled at the taste. "You'll get fat, Miss."

"Never," Elizabeth vowed. "At least," she mused as she took another dainty bite, "not until the Nobel family joins the ranks of the Four Great Duke Houses."