Another Chance with the Duke

Ch 2 Part 1

"You died?" Kirin asked, her brow wrinkled tightly. "What does that even mean?"

"It means," Evalynn squirmed, trying to free herself from Kirin's hands pinning her wrist to the table. "Exactly what I said." With a final push, Evalynn broke free and shoved Kirin away from her.

Since when has Kirin ever grabbed me like that?

It didn't matter. Evalynn turned away, ignoring Kirin's stunned face and, heading toward the nearest bookshelf. She ran her finger along the mix of fresh and worn book spines, clicking her tongue. There was no organization, but the books were at least real, which meant it was the best place to start looking for information on the kingdom. Even an atlas would be useful.

"Evalynn," Kirin muttered, hanging her head as she turned to Evalynn. "I'm sorry. That was out of line."

"It's fine. Just don't let it happen again. You're like a sister to me but that was taking it too far."

Long slender arms wrapped around Evalynn's shoulders, pulling the young lady backward into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry. It's not an excuse, but I've been having these strange thoughts since you spoke to your parents this morning that I can't make sense of."

Evalynn's cheeks flushed and she turned around to find Kirin's face inches away from hers. Kirin's face was just as red, and her breath was hot on Evalynn's cheek.

"What are you doing, Kirin?" Evalynn's throat felt dry and it was difficult for her to swallow. "Can you let me go?"

The maid shook her head, tears in her eyes as she pulled Evalynn closer to her and squeezed the young girl tighter. "I'm sorry, I know I'm being strange, but the horrible things I've been seeing happen to you in my mind are making it hard for me to think straight. Even now I feel like something is in my head, clawing through me and rearranging me."

"Horrible things? And your head hurts?"

Kirin nodded, releasing Evalynn and wiping her tears away with a handkerchief. She didn't say anything but took Evalynn's hands in hers. "I'll be fine, but even though it's fragmented, I somehow know… everything. He killed you, didn't he? Earl Taladin murdered you."

"Yes," Evalynn replied, her hands trembling at her sides. "I don't understand any of it, and it makes even less sense that you have memories, too. Mother and Father didn't seem to act any different."

"Is it possible that they're pretending not to know?"

"I don't think that's the case by how they were acting and we both know they terrible liars."

The two sighed heavily in concert. There were too many unknowns to make intelligent decisions, not to mention if Evalynn acted too out of character people would notice, creating even more issues.

"For now, let me help you find the books about the kingdom. We don't have much time until you're due to meet your mother."

Evalynn's stomach churned at the thought, but ignoring her mother's orders would just cause more unnecessary trouble. For now, she would have to play the submissive obedient daughter. Besides, she had months until Edgar was due to come for her. Plenty of time to come up with a plan.

***

The afternoon passed quickly and Evalynn was pleasantly surprised that she and Kirin had managed to find all the books related to the kingdom. In the end, they had only managed to scrounge up about a dozen books, half of which were severely outdated, but even then, those books had the value of providing the history of the kingdom. The most important books, though, were the lesson books that Evalynn had ignored as a child.

Growing up Evalynn had never paid much attention to any of her lessons other than the basic reading and math, music, and etiquette since that was all that had been expected by her parents. Her parents had hired her tutors, but they hadn't cared whether or not she actually learned anything which had resulted in Evalynn being severely undereducated for her age. This shortcoming had given her the image of a spoiled nobleman's daughter to the servants and commoners she encountered which had isolated her from any help she might have sought out since she had no value beyond her looks. It was only thanks to the uniqueness of her long wavy platinum hair and stormy gray eyes that she even existed to those around her. Without them, she doubted even Kenni would have noticed her.

"It's time."

Kirin's soft voice pulled Evalynn from the book she'd been reading and she looked over to the clock standing in front of the wall. There were five minutes left until the new hour, just enough time for her to make her way from the library down to the basement.

Sighing reluctantly, Evalynn pushed her chair back and stood, leaving the book she had been reading open on the table. She wanted to come back immediately after seeing her mother, though whether that would be possible was yet to be seen. Kirin would take care of it if it seemed like an issue anyway since Evalynn had asked her to stay in the library.

When she was younger, Kirin had followed her whenever she went to the basement, but as she had gotten older Evalynn had become more conscious of how hard it was for Kirin to have to listen to what her mother was doing to her outside the door. At first, Kirin had protested, and it wasn't until Evalynn threatened to dismiss Kirin entirely that Kirin stopped following her. Evalynn hated using her status around Kirin, but at times she was thankful for the difference in position. Kirin's obstinate personality was difficult to manage at times and it was the only way Evalynn could ever actually force Kirin to do something she didn't want to.

It's for the best. It was a miracle that she didn't kill Edgar in the past. But now that she has some of her memories from that life, what if she can't restrain herself? I might need to leave her here for her own sake if it seems that way… Gods I hate this.