I shrieked, almost losing my balance on the stone steps until someone grabbed my arm to steady me. My heart thumped in my ribcage at the near-miss, but the anger quickly overtook any fear that tried to settle itself in my body. Anyone who used those stairs knew not to stop by a door, especially in the dark.

"You should watch where you're going," a deep voice said with an amused tone. "These stairs are dangerous."

"Maybe you should—"

The door leading from the stairway to Lord Turner's study opened wider, flooding the small space with bright sunlight that momentarily rendered me blind. I blinked to adjust to the light. Jacob Turner stood before. He had a bruise on his right cheek and a small cut on his forehead. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised and the corner of his mouth upturned in a small smile. The same couldn't be said for Lord Turner.

A small fire burned behind his eyes. His lips were pressed into a thin line and he stood as though someone had placed a ruler down his shirt to keep his back straight. It was the look of a man whose day was already going badly and the discovery of his son and one of the servants hiding behind the door.

"Explain. Now." Lord Turner looked at me more than his son. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. Servants had been dismissed for less.

"She is on her way to the kitchens. We just bumped into each other. Quite literally." Jacob Turner laughed, as though the whole thing was one big joke.

"This is not funny, Jacob. In. Now."

"Now you want me in there? Ten minutes ago, you were desperate to keep me out."

"If you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one. Now get in."

"Another lecture. Excellent." Jacob Turner looked at me, the corner of his mouth still turned up in a smile despite what was no doubt coming his way. "Until we meet again."

He stepped through to Mr Turner's study, closing the door behind him and plunging me into darkness. I stared at the back of the wooden door, half annoyed and half in shock about my sudden encounter with the person everyone was determined to leave well enough alone. He certainly didn't seem like the scoundrel everyone made him out to be, but our meeting had hardly lasted five minutes.

How had he gone from storming through the house to hiding in the servant's stairwell and listening at doors? His actions hardly matched those of the countless rumours Martha had been telling me since I first arrived at the Turner household. Then again, I'd never been one to believe rumours.

I shook the thought from my head, determined not to think about it anymore. Throughout my time working for the Turners, I liked to keep myself in the shadows and do my job without drawing attention to myself. Even if Jacob Turner had taken the blame — rightly so — Mr Turner had seen my face and he was known for having a good memory.

The clanking sounds of pots and pans carried through the stairwell as I climbed down to the kitchen, hoping for a distraction from my meeting with Jacob Turner. His obnoxious laughter, the stupid smile on his face, and the blase way in which he behaved bugged me to no end. He may not have been the monster everyone made him out to be, but the arrogance of the man was something that needed to be studied.

"I was just about to come looking for you," Martha said when I stepped into the kitchen. "We heard someone shriek. I thought you might have fallen down the stairs or something."

"Mr Turner was lurking outside Lord Turner's study. I didn't see him and walked right into him."

"And you lived? Considering he has been on a rampage since he got here. You should count yourself lucky."

"Maybe not. Lord Turner saw me."

"What was he doing standing around in the dark, anyway?" Martha asked, ignoring my comment. She always thought I was too worried about being dismissed. "Usually he struts about as though he is more important than anyone else, his father included."

I shrugged. "Probably nothing good."

"Well, walking straight into him is certainly one way to meet him for the first time. Come and help me with these carrots or I'll be standing here all day."

Martha gestured to the small mountain of carrots scattered across the wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. Less than half had been peeled in the time it took me to light all the fires. She handed me a small knife and together we continued to peel the carrots, but my mind remained focused on Mr Turner and just why he had chosen to listen outside the door.

My knowledge of him, at least the knowledge I had heard from everyone else, was that he didn't shy away from confrontation and was more than willing to get into a fight if the opportunity presented itself. The bruise on his face confirmed that, and yet he listened at a door rather than barging his way inside. It certainly didn't fit the character he'd presented when the carriages first arrived several hours before.

Fate would have said that we were destined to meet so that I could be the one to get him to change his ways. Perhaps I could save him from himself before he drank himself into a stupor or fought his last fight. Fate, as always, would be wrong. That is why I fail to believe or accept that it was the cause of our meeting.

The mystery wasn't Jacob Turner. He was just along for the unfortunate ride.

An accidental meeting in an unexpected place would start the catalyst that no one saw coming. The twist in the tale that would change everything. Jacob Turner was about to change everything I knew and more, all because of an accident. 

~~~

First Published - February 20th, 2024