Sleeping Engagement

VII. Departure

A Trilby.

Edmund Trilby did not only share the same name as Osmond Trilby, but he had been spending quite a good amount of time with the man suspected of his murder as well. It was too much of a coincidence.

By mid-afternoon, Margaret found herself sitting on a bench not far away from Tori and Wittlock, still utterly confused of the murder case and the sudden appearance of another Trilby.

She had thought—and mayhap the League believed so as well—that Osmond Trilby's death was a political one. After all, the suspect was a head of the Men of Courts. Yet Edmund Trilby was too young to be associated with anything political, leading Margaret to believe that the cause of the murder could very well be close at home.

This might turn out to be a challenging case, considering the family Osmond Trilby belonged to.

She knew of the Trilbys. They were among the families who went down to build the Town centuries past, making them one of the oldest and influential families. Townspeople considered them still to be powerful, despite being rather odd. They very rarely engaged in social affairs, selecting only the most extravagant of balls to attend to. They hid their children until they were old and capable enough, probably to keep them safe. Their preference led even the richest gentries to believe that the Trilbys thought themselves too high in society to mingle with just anyone. They kept to themselves and any surrounding scandals were hushed.

Dark and mysterious gossips had been whispered about them, but none was proven to be true thus far. There were whispers of dungeons where they punished their servants—and even their own; stories of changing their names so they could spread their influence and power. There were even ghost stories to scare the children. Such stories were still told with enthusiasm and no one cared whether they may be true or not. The Trilbys were the epitome of a good scary story. The most recent one was, of course, the one that involved Belinda Carrington and her sister, Julia.

Belinda had been banished out of Willowfair many years ago after a big scandal here in Theobald. Julia went on to marry Noah Trilby, elevating the Carrington family status in society. But a few years ago, Belinda escaped from where she was banished and returned to Willowfair. Things went insane from there and the varied stories were a little confusing. To this day, it was unclear what truly happened. Even Calan Haverston, her mentor, whose brother eventually married Belinda, could not say much about the matter. Margaret only knew enough because Belinda, after the horrors that happened to her, worked for the Everards as the twins' governess. And all she was willing to say during her short time with them, before McKenzie Haverston came and swept her off her feet, was that Julia killed their mother and tried to do the same to her. Her sister was pregnant when the Guards captured her, and was persecuted after giving birth.

The Town was not nearly as curious as to why Julia wanted Belinda dead as they were to what happened to Julia's child after she was hanged. The Trilbys never made any attempt to explain themselves, nor did Noah Trilby.

Margaret was aware that Belinda tried to gain custody of the child after she married McKenzie Haverston. And it was in vain. Not a soul had seen the child. The Trilbys had kept it to themselves like how they did with most of their personal lives. Their ghosts and demons, their ugly truths.

She wondered now how many secrets the Trilbys hide. How many children could they be hiding? What was Edmund Trilby's relationship to the Prime Minster? And how did he know Cole Devitt?

She knew little of Osmond Trilby. He was brought to power simply because of his name, that's for certain. He was a widower. Noah Trilby was his younger brother.

Margaret sighed. She should look more into the Trilbys.

***

"Margaret Everard asked for my name," Edmund Trilby informed him, face even paler than it usually was. "I thought it wise to provide the truth."