Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
SIX
Mrs. Brogan was delighted with my biscuits, proclaimed them the best she’d ever tasted, demanded the recipe, which I promised to write down, and then began serving them. I was walked directly to Mr. Gaffney, the house steward’s man, and he had me sign the register over biscuits and jam. Returning to Mrs. Brogan, when I heard her cough, I recommended some peppermint tea and honey. She agreed to try, and when I returned, we sat and talked about the tarts I would make the following day, and she said that yes, her throat felt better and thanked me profusely. I was then directed to return to the kitchen, as many more biscuits were needed.
I baked for another couple of hours until Constance returned, flushed and beaming, and reported that Mr. Corey had cut her a wide berth all evening, and had not even glanced her way when they passed in the hallway.
“All the blessings on you, Xander. I will light a candle in church for you on Sunday.”
“I appreciate that.”
When I was given leave to go to my chambers, a young man showed me the way. There were two of us in a small ten-by-ten room, on cots, and when he told me he was going to have a drink with some others, I wished him a good night.
I was supposed to take a bath—a nightshirt and a uniform for the following day had been delivered to my room—but instead, I slipped out and, sticking to the shadows, moved from one floor to the next, making my way across the long hallway that connected the servants’ wing to the main part of the mansion.
The basement was where the cooking was done and where all the food and drinks were sent up from. The first floor held an enormous ballroom, several sitting rooms, the library, a room full of sculptures and jewels, another of exotic taxidermized animals, and one filled with a trove of archaic weapons. I spotted Giles in the ballroom, dancing with a stunning woman draped in crimson brocade. I studied him from the shadows, moving through, pleased he couldn’t sense me. It was strange to see him changed from earlier in the night. There was gray at his temples, lines on his face, and the tawny gold skin that ran through our line seemed to be a dusty pallor on him. I had to wonder at the change. He’d been so certain Corvus could sustain him, and I didn’t doubt that. But perhaps what he’d felt had been Corvus with its guardian. I would love to ask him, to know the answer, but I was not stupid enough to challenge a hedge-rider.
Climbing the stairs, I found that the second floor belonged solely to Giles. His bedroom, game room, parlor, tapestries, and paintings, treasures I was certain had been collected over the centuries that he could now display. I would have preferred to miss any and all of his personal stash, but the way the stairs were designed, there was not one steep set of stairs rising up four floors, but instead they were broken up at each level. I was forced to traverse his suite of rooms to ascend. This meant seeing his entire funhouse before getting to where I wanted to go.
When I reached the third floor, I realized how bone-tired I was. The perpetual darkness was grating on me, I’d eaten hours ago, I was used to drinking so much more water, as well as tea, and I was still not clean. But the important part was reaching Lorne. I was beyond caring about anything else.
Exactly as Constance had described, when I walked to the left, after what felt like an endless trek, I arrived at ornately gilded double doors. I was not even remotely surprised that they were locked—Giles would have wanted him shut in. When I knocked, there was no answer. After a moment, though, I noticed a gold key dangling from a silk cord on the wall on the left. It hung from the foot of what I was guessing was a solid gold cherub.
I was betting that more than one person had reached for that key, but when I called my power to me and brushed the glamour away, the key showed its true color, a deep, almost pulsing crimson, reminiscent of Giles’s dance partner and the color of her dress. I wondered who she was, and at her power.
I suspected that as soon as I used the key, Giles would be alerted, but the lure of my husband was too great. Blowing on the key, I watched it turn bright white, then a deep azure blue, and finally the plain iron that it was. I slipped it into the lock, opened the door, stepped inside, and then locked it behind me.