Birds chirped loudly, their frenzied melody resounded for all to hear. Were they always so loud?
The question awakened his mind, and after a few minutes he opened the curtain on his eyes. The wide space of his room came into focus, shaded with no illumination, Alexus knew immediately no one had been in his room and the time was way past.
However, he mutely enjoyed the refreshing feeling of having a well deserved sleep. Slowly he crawled out from the covers and stretched but looked down in surprise that he was shirtless. He looked around the dim room till he found it lying on the floor next to a chair his trousers hung from.
Careful not to disturb the tranquillity of his space, he took a bath and dressed, choosing to wear only a waistcoat, for the first time he considered that the jacket might be a bit bulky.
Alexus made his way to a side of the mansion he'd been avoiding. The governess no longer insistently taught him daily, she had become lax over the year and he had given her a breath relieved to no longer be put through rigorous tutelage. Although he still saw her around the house here and there she could sometimes make him sit and tell him random things some of them had already been said before.
Porphura Hortensia.
As governess she did perfectly as she was paid to do but deeper the bonds went beyond payment. For any witch, she was the picture of a free spirit but the only reason she had settled into the lifestyle for the past six years was because of him, she had chosen him.
He knocked on her opened door before peaking into her office and was hit with heavy scented air. The curtains were closed and smoke wafted around coming from the being laid out on a sofa. The governess cradled a pipe on her fingertips with a hand, the other held a puzzle piece looking for where to land on the puzzle board.
She looked his way and purple shaded lips pulled into a smile, she held out the piece, he walked closer and took it. He looked at the puzzle with a few scanty pieces placed randomly. He knew the governess had an artistic skill to create new images from preexisting ones. With a wild guess of what she could be aiming for, he placed the piece towards the corner unnoticeable.
She saw through him. 'Baby you really need to be more creative.'
He scoffed in reply, taking the pipe she now offered. The smoke overtook his taste buds, it felt like chewing on flowers but no psycho-effects he guessed it was a medicinal blend.
'I guess whatever was here last night followed me from the Sterling manor.'
He sat on the fur carpet and leaned on the central table, took a few more puffs and returned the pipe to start talking about the new case.
'So yesterday morning, Gary was killed. I checked his house, whoever killed him also uses magic but magic so strong, it's stronger than mine judging from the indefinite distance it was casted. It might be enhanced by a creature, could be symbiotic or absorbed, because it's the creature who killed Gary'
Alexus searched through his pocket and brought out a vial, handing it over to her.
'I went to the lab, Gary had every last drop of pneuma taken. Normally, studies say the body will simply disintegrate into nothing. But the creature left its own pneuma remnants behind which is what still binds his body in shape.'
The governess uncorked the vial and sniffed the stopper showed no reaction and placed it back.
'Because I couldn't trace the pneuma to its source, it's left to have another victim and go from there but an alternative has opened up.
Miss Phura, did you know Gary was an assassin?'
Unperturbed, she thought about it. 'I guessed.'
Alexus sighed, he knew she'd never leave anything that could put him in danger unattended but she could have at least told him about having such a person in the house.
'Well, we can't rule out that it was revenge murder but that same morning, Gary had killed a woman. Definite social standing, and he took something from her.
We traced that she had gotten a brooch from her fiance lord of the Sterling manor. When we went to check on him, he was already under threat from Mowe.'
The governess's attention rose, she sat straighter.
'Mowe?'
'From his secretary's statement, Mowe contracted Ernold to do an excavation at the queen's tomb.'
A deep frown set into her features, surprised by what she was hearing.
'Their aim was to take just one thing from her tomb but they weren't successful. There's probably a curse and various magic death traps set inside because his secretary described that insanity had started to set in at a point the deeper they went in, and when they returned, it was shorter than the time they used to get that far.'
Alexus leaned forward staring intently at her face like it'll give him the answers he needed
'So they weren't successful and returned empty handed. Yet, Ernold still got it later. A brooch.'
The governess had long forgotten about the pipe and her mouth hung open, puzzled, and bewilderment set into her features.
'His secretary said he was chosen. If it was given to him the secretary would have said so but it chose him.'
She had sat fully straight on the sofa at this point, she exhaled softly, looking down at the carpet, and mental wheels gearing. After a moment she spoke.
'The queen learnt to use pneuma, it's not recorded how much she had mastered or how skilled she was. It's not impossible that she has imbued her jewellery with pneuma but...'
She shook her head lost in thought.
'I can't— a piece of jewellery moving on its own. Out her tomb? For what purpose is all of this?'
Alexus shrugged also in deep thought. 'Well there are cults for the queen all around, it's possible they've gotten over their head and are trying to bring her back.'
'Yes that's possible— but Mowe is not a stupid man. Why now, has he taken to the queen?'
He shrugged again. 'From what we were told he convinced Ernold that he was doing this for the benefit of the queen. He was quite taken with the idea that even after the jewel had fallen into his hands he had planned to negotiate for Mowe to let him in on his plan. He didn't fully know what Mowe was after either.'
The governess placed a hand to the side of her head and took a few puffs from the pipe. 'The thing that was here this morning...tell me, what did you dream of?'
Alexus felt his blood freeze thinking about the nightmare.
'I wasn't sure what time I fell asleep but in my dream I had woken up twelve past four. The cup you brought fell and broke, then the dogs started to bark and I went outside the moment I got there they ran away. I tried to go back inside but I felt my body stiffen.
I turned around, and on the grass there was something there. I picked it up— it was a brooch.'
His last words fell as a whisper and a shudder ran along his spine, recounting it as if he was living the moment again.
'Then?'
He looked up at her, returning to the moment.
'Nothing, I woke up when you touched me.'
He wondered if he should mention that he had women up to reality at the time he had dreamt of. The governess didn't miss the slight hesitation and arched a brow.
'Is there more?'
He bit his lip. 'No— it's...when you woke me up, the time was twelve past four.'
She leaned back on the sofa thinking, taking her time with the pipe. Alexus got lost in his thoughts, he was looking forward to a straight murder search and find but delving into a new part of the world he lived in wasn't appealing. The crows organisation had been around before he was born and it'd seem inevitable that he was going to get involved with a criminal organisation, but this wasn't the route he thought it'd take. He felt ill-prepared to face an organisation on such a scale and the mental attack was a different kind of blow.
The governess turning her pipe upside-down into the ashtray brought him out of his head.
'That thing that was inside the house was no man, no human should give off that energy, and the dogs were barking when they also felt its presence. I could say it was coming for you, the first time I yelled your name was in the corridor then it fled from my path, it didn't reach you so the dream you had must have been triggered.
A precognition, your spirit sensed danger and was given a divine warning.'
Alexus felt his grasp on the conversation slipping and sceptical about what he was hearing.
'You're the one who uses enchanted sensing, if anyone was supposed to get a precognition, shouldn't that be you?'
'Baby, I don't deal with creatures of the dark, although I've been using enchantments for protective spells against the unseen, I've never actually seen one, I thought I was just that good.'
'Ugh.' He rolled his eyes.
'If anything, you should have your eyes peeled for that brooch because that dream meant it will come into your possession. I'll deal with that thing, be careful at night, and I would like you to watch every step you make . If it gets too bad, you withdraw immediately, you hear me?'
Her tone became firm, eyes fixed on him, he looked away and blushed feeling like a kid in front of his mother.
'Yes, of course. By the way, where did you head off to this morning?'
'Ah, one of my sisters is in town. Ami, the one who married Pasquier. I think I told you about that, she was also inquiring about you but I wasn't sure if I invited her you'd be at home at that time.'
'Hm... I won't, tell her I said hi.'
He laid on the carpet, relieved the serious conversation was over but his mind was racing. Then he stood up suddenly, startling the governess.
'I still have some things to do before I go out this afternoon. I'll be in the study.'
She waved him away.
He remembered the journal and the secretary's words kept reeling in his mind. Ernold was chosen, how?
He opened the palmtop notebook and started to read careful to take note of names and addresses that appeared then he got to a particular page and Alexus was stunned.
Even though there were three more hours before his appointed meeting with Doran he headed out. Some fresh air would do him good. It's been a rough morning.