The study felt colder the next morning. The heavy velvet curtains stayed drawn, and Eleanor sat at her uncle's desk, the letter still resting before her. Its words wouldn't stop circling her mind.
"There are truths hidden beneath these stones…"
She opened the desk drawers old documents, maps of the estate, faded ink, but nothing that spoke of secrets or her mother. Until, at the very back of the lowest drawer, her fingers brushed something metallic.
A small, ornate key.
It was old. Worn smooth. She turned it over in her palm. No label. No clue. But her heart thudded as if she'd just touched something sacred or dangerous.
*
She found Captain Ashford in the stables, saddling a black mare.
"I found a key," she said without preamble.
He looked up, frowning. "To what?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
He took it carefully, examining it. "This looks like one of the attic keys. There's a locked storage room in the north wing. Been closed for years."
Her pulse jumped. "Can you take me there?"
He hesitated, studying her. "If I do, you must understand whatever's inside, it was meant to be hidden."
"Then it's time it was seen.