She literally froze when his voice reached her ears and she stopped in mid-motion, turned to face him and then raised an eyebrow towards her hairline. Leister had only put on boxers and thrown on a bathrobe. Anger stood in his handsome features as he studied her, observing exactly what she was doing.
"What am I doing here?" she then asked, feigned boredom as the mere sight of him made anger crawl through her veins and her magic hum furiously. This asshole was lucky she wasn't tearing him to pieces. Blushes of anger spread across his pale skin, leaving him with ugly marks as he angrily pointed his finger at her.
"Yes! This is my office! Someone like you has no business there!" he exclaimed angrily and his other hand clenched into a fist, trembling with anger. She cocked her head slightly to one side, folded her arms under her chest and used her magic to make the contents of the safe disappear into one of the pockets. At the same time, she caused one of the thick, heavy curtains to detach itself from its anchorage and creep along the ceiling towards him. Her lips twisted into a mocking smile.
"I'm still married to you and I'm only taking documents that are important so you can't destroy them. Who knows what I might find?" she said, still smiling. Oh how she would like to strangle him for his treachery. But that wouldn't get her anywhere, nor would it be a real solution to her problems.
"You fucking incompetent bitch!" he roared and magic spread noticeably through the room. The temperature dropped several degrees and a fine layer of ice began to spread across the floor and walls. Now both eyebrows moved towards her hairline and she snorted, then waved her hand and the fabric curtain followed her movement, wrapping itself frantically around her soon-to-be ex-husband and then flying to the ceiling. He hung in the thick fabric like a doll and looked shocked as her lips twitched at his ridiculously perplexed expression, but she wasn't going to burst out laughing, no matter how amusing this might be. She silently put a tightening telekinetic spell on the fabric to keep Leister hanging on for the next 6 hours, she just couldn't help it, and then waved him off with a mischievous cold smile.
"Well then, have another wonderful day. Have fun up there on the ceiling," she giggled and left the office as he snapped.
"YOU LOUSY, DIRTY, MONEY-GRUBBING PIECE OF SCUM! AS SOON AS I COME DOWN HERE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN TROUBLE! I WILL CUT YOU INTO STRIPS YOU THIRD CLASS-!" she let the door crash shut thunderously, putting an end to his angry roar. The bags continued to fly after her like dogs faithfully following their mistress and she stepped into the large entrance hall after a few minutes. The butler stood waiting beside her numerous suitcases and bowed elegantly at a 90° angle and then straightened up again. His look was troubled as he eyed her and he just looked as if he had aged 10 years. His dark, black hair had already turned grey at the base and his skin was wrinkled, but he had still held up well. Nevertheless, the numerous wrinkles of laughter around his eyes and mouth suggested that in private he was a rather cheerful person who laughed a lot, even if she had mostly met him here in a rather reserved manner.
"My lady ..." he began, but was interrupted by her.
"Ralph please. I will not stay in any house where my husband has cheated on me," she added and he nodded as his gaze turned dark and disgusted.
"It has been my honour to be of service to you and I truly wish the Master were .... if you'll pardon my choice of words, not such a horny wimp," he said and her eyes widened before she got her features back under control. Then her lips twisted into a smile. Normally Ralph held back his personal opinion. At least towards her.
"Should you resign your position with him, you can always apply at my house," she said, knowing that her family would be thrilled to hire a capable and, above all, loyal butler with enough sense of his own. Most domestic servants were too shy or grovelling and didn't speak their minds openly, but Ralph had just done that. And she appreciated that sort of thing.
"Is my family's driver here already?" she asked and Ralph the butler nodded.
"Yes, my lady. He arrived a few minutes ago. But I didn't want to leave your luggage unattended," he said and made an elegant hand gesture towards said luggage. She just nodded slightly and shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't worry, no one here could touch my things. I had put a protective barrier over it. But thank you for the precaution anyway," she replied, lifting the spell and the suitcases rose into the air at her command. The wide double doors opened and sunlight flooded into the large entrance hall. As Ralph had said, a limousine was parked in front of the house. The sunlight reflected off on the black car finish and she stepped out into the fresh spring air as her entourage of suitcases followed her. She eyed the car for a bit, wondering if everything would fit inside, when another vehicle, in this case an up-armoured Range Rover, parked behind the limousine. Almost simultaneously, a driver got out of each of the two cars. Sheena smiled and the doors of both cars opened. Without either of the men even getting a chance to fold down the bench seats in the Range Rover to make more room, she used her magic to make room and then sorted the suitcases and bags into the large vehicle as if she were playing Tetris. When the car seemed almost ready to burst, she closed the doors again and locked them except for the driver's door, who also immediately got back in and waited. Then she packed the rest of the suitcases and bags into the armoured black limousine and turned to Ralph again.
"Thank you again, Ralph. You have always been very caring, even though I only married into the Jamesson family," she replied, smiling. The butler bowed his head respectfully.
"It has been my honour and always will be. You have been a very good mistress," he said as he straightened up and Sheena got into the car and closed the door. The driver also got in and they started moving. Sheena sat back and pulled out her mobile phone. She hadn't received any new messages and called up the high society news to see if there might already be gossip concerning her or her family. You never knew with the Jamessons. However, she didn't find anything interesting and since the ride would take a good 10 minutes more, she opened Solitaire on her phone and started playing out of boredom.
The ride dragged on a bit, but they eventually arrived. Sheena leaned forward and looked out the side window of the armoured limousine when it stopped and her eyes fell on a Victorian mansion. At least, it was built in that style, even if it was twice as big as the normal mansions of the period. A large and well-kept front garden stretched a good 1km in front of the mansion and a road led up to the path of the mansion. Countless flowers and slender trees and fruit bushes grew in a planned "chaos" and 4 gardeners tended to all these plants daily. Her lips twisted into a slight smile. Normally Sheena didn't wait for doors to be held open for her or to be helped out of a car, she normally did her own thing, but here she was on her family's property. And so she deactivated the screen on her phone, put it in her clutch and waited for the driver to get out and open the door of the car for her. She got out, made sure to move gracefully and let him help her out of the car. Then she activated her magic again with a wave of her finger and let the two bags from Leister's office fly behind her.
"Please take all the suitcases to the entrance hall, the staff will then take care of bringing it to my room," she said in a polite voice, though her face was devoid of any emotion. The driver nodded and bowed slightly to her and she started moving, striding along the wide path to the entrance portal of the white-painted mansion. It was in the usual style, had tall windows and the wide balconies were supported by slender columns. She let her gaze wander for a moment, enjoying the absence of street noise. The gentle song of birds reached her ears and she inhaled deeply the scent of flowers and fresh air, feeling how these surroundings immediately alleviated her stress. Then she started moving and the heels of her high heels clicked on the marble slabs that led from the vehicle park to the wide, curved stairs of the main entrance. She knew they were already expecting her, which was why she didn't really wait until they opened the door for her. Something she didn't have to do either, then as soon as she walked towards the door, both door wings opened and two house servants bowed to her. She smiled politely and nodded to them as she stepped past them, her bags continuing to fly behind her. While it was warm outside, it was pleasantly cool inside. Sunlight fell through the tall windows and lit up the entrance hall. The floor was parquet and they had covered the walls with warm cherry wood. A wide, curved staircase led to the upper floor.
"Sheena. What are you doing here?" Before she could take another step, however, a voice she hadn't heard in a long time reached her ear and she turned her head towards the owner of that voice. Pain flamed through her heart when she saw her mother's slender figure and smiled politely but reservedly. Unlike her, she had blood-red, waist-length hair that fell in careful curls down her back and ruby eyes gleamed above high cheekbones, framed by dark lashes. Her mother wore a black knee-length dress and high heels as she eyed her, but as soon as Sheena looked directly at her, her mother averted her eyes.
"Shouldn't you be with that ... Jamesson?",she asked, her voice cool, controlled as she made every effort not to look at her daughter. As always, her mother's behaviour pained her, but Sheena had learned early on that asking her mother about it would do no good. On the contrary. She closed herself off, withdrew and avoided her daughter even more than before. No one in her family talked about the reasons for this, but Sheena was no fool. She assumed it must have something to do with her father, especially since her mother was not married and had avoided high society after she was born. And because of that, she had never really tried to get to the bottom of it. It wasn't that her family treated her badly. Not in the slightest. Her grandparents, her aunts and uncles as well as her cousins loved her and they had always supported her. And so she just smiled as she tossed a strand of hair over her shoulder.
"He cheated on me with a maid and had the audacity to ask for a divorce. So I packed my bags, took all the papers with me and came back home," she said, looking searchingly at her mother. She only nodded and then turned away completely and disappeared into the depths of the estate, her hips swaying slightly while walking. Sheena sighed softly and suppressed the urge to rub her chest to ease the ache in her heart. Then a clearing of the throat reached her ears and she turned her attention to her grandfather's butler.
"Your grandfather is expecting you, my lady," he said and she nodded, then strode to the stairs, followed the steps up and made her way to her grandfather and the patriarch of the Levyn family.
1km = 0,621371 miles