Clockwork Countess (6 page)

CHAPTER SIX

W
inter
moonlight poured into the
tower
room
illuminating
a long table covered in a
dust sheet and two
smaller ones
also
shrouded under cloths
. 

Rowan
exhaled a
sigh of relief
.

             
T
here was no red-eyed M
inotaur there
waiting to t
ear
her to ribbons
.  N
o Blue Beard’s wives with their bloody
,
severed heads. 

More composed now, she stepped deeper into
the
chamber and curiously peeled bac
k the
sheet from the
table. 
A strange metal bed
shone cold in the moonlight, it
s disturbing iron
shackles
and chains hanging off the sides
. 

             
Placing her
candle
down
, Rowan
quickly unveiled
the other tables.  On one rested a set of
instruments she
recognized all to
o
well from her father's last days
, when she had taken him to
the
surgeon’s
for the futile o
peration she had given her last shillings for
.  Her skin crawled at the sight of the sharp
blades
.  

             
On the second table
lay out a vast
array
of gear works and cogs, aluminum
bellows and other
mechanical
contraptions she did not recognize. 

             
S
he reached out her hand to
wards
one of the clockwork pieces, when the sound of heavy footsteps
taking
the winding tower stairs two at a time made her
spring
back. 

             
Her eyes darted around the small chamber. 

             
There was nowhere to hide. 

             
A dark figure burst into the room.  He stopped and gaped, h
orror and
fury
at war in
his handsome face.
“Rowan
!
" he gasped.
"
Why are you
her
e
?”

             
She
poised for battle
,
and was about to reply
, when Roderick
marched forward and took her by the shoulders.  “I told you this room was
to
remain
locked!
I thought you understood that!
”

             
She shook her
head.
“I don’t understand anything about this place
,
or you
,
or your family
,
or even myself anymore!” s
he
shouted as she
pulled loose
from his
grasp
and pointed
accusingly
at the steel table.  “What on earth is this?”

             
He
turned
away
,
but not before she saw the look of pure grief etched into every line of his fac
e.  

             
“Oh, Roderick, what
ever it is,
tel
l me," she pleaded.
"
You must know you can trust me.  I don't want to go to London.  I
don’t
want
to leave here–
"

             
"Not want to leave here?" he said
,
incredulous.  "
Then
you must be as mad as the rest of us!  What in God's name could possibly make you want
to stay in this
w
retched place?  Y
ou've no friends, no amusements and you must endure us." 

             
"Could not
you
be my
friend
?" she asked
,
in a
trembling
voice.

             
"Oh Rowan," he pressed
his hand across his eyes
as if to block her out
.  "You deserve a far better
friend
than I can ever be to you."

             
She gently took his
hand
from his face
and stood
gazing
up at him in the
moonlight.  "I do not
believe that."

             
For
a moment they stood in the silver light,
t
he
i
r palms pressed together, looking into
each other
eyes with the uncanny knowing between them.  That
knowing
that they were each other
'
s,
if only...
.

             
Rowan turned her trembling lips up towards his and let the tips of her breasts press
against
his chest. 
A delicious shiver of anticipation went through her as her eyes slowly fluttered closed, waiting for his warm mouth to graze hers.

             
Roderick pu
lled away and moved
as far
from her as the small tower room would permit.
 
He
turned
his back to her and gazed
out
the narrow win
dow at the icy parkland below. 

             
Rowan opened her eyes in surprise. 
She could not
see his face
,
but even in the pale light
,
she
discerned
the
death grip
he had on
the
window
casement. 

             
"Do you remember when I met you at the train depot and I
told
you I understood you
r
grief because I had lost my own father
not
that
long ago?"
he asked.

             
Rowan nodded. 
"Yes,
I could tell you were sincere.  I think that is one of
the
reasons I..."
she trailed off embarrassed.

             
"That you gave yourself so willingly
to
me in
the
carriage
, when I behaved
like
such a boar.  Yes, I can imagine that," he said
with
his back still to her,
staring
out at the icy landscape.  "Well, as I said, I was
devastated
when I lost my father
,
and
almost frantic
with
worry about
what
would happen to the est
ate now that Edmund was
earl.  But
F
ather, though he could not
completely
get
around
the e
ntailment, was able to leave
control of the estate to my mother until Edmund reaches the age of 35."  He turned
briefly
back to Rowan with a grim smile.  "As you
said
,
we are on the dawn of a new century
and
the
solicitors
were able to do at least that."

             
Rowan frowned
.  "I
'm terribly sorry about your father,
but I
still
can not see
what
that has t
o do with this...this mystery of
yours
and why I must
leave
Heartwycke
."

             
Roderick was silent aga
in
, standing so still he looked
like
a marble statue in the pale light.  She was about to step forward, but as if sensing her intention
,
he tensed up and
took a pace back from the window into the shadows where
it
was
more difficult
to see his face.

             
"My mother was
also
heartbroken by my father's
death
.   She was so kind,
so tenderhearted..." he turned to Rowan and the ghost of a bitter laugh echoed out of his deep chest.  "Nothing
like
the
woman
you know
,
is it?"

             
Rowan
shook
her head and looked down.

             
"Well," he continued.  "I
had an even greater attachment to
my mother than
I had to
my father and when she grew ill
..." his voice tightened and he paused for a moment as if mastering himself.
"When she
grew
ill
, I was beside myself.  I prayed to
God
t
o save her, but when he did not
. 
I simply
couldn’t
let her go.  It was too soon after my father and I was appalled at
the idea of what would happen if Edmond finally had control over the
estate
––all the
people
who
count on
Heartw
yck
e
Park for the
ir
livelihood
, their homes
.
...
"

             
An odd feeling was
stirring
in
the pit of
Rowan's
stomach.  Had he said
God
had
not
saved the countess? 

             
If
that
was the case...
.
 

             
Rowan stared at the
metal
table, the
surgeon’s
instruments
and clockwork gears with dawning horror.

             
"
Roderick
..." her voice came out in a whisper.  "
What
have you done?"

             
H
is eyes were pleading
as he rushed on
.  "
I was still so young, and we had
been conducting experiments a
t Oxford in a secret laboratory––
I felt sure I could bring
her
back and no one need know
.  All I
could
see was how much I loved her and that I could save her from death."  A shudder ran through his large frame and he
turned
away again,
pressing
his brow
against
the
chilled
window frame
,
his voice
dropping
so low she
had
to strain to hear him
.

             
"
I gave her a clockwork heart and lungs. 
T
hen once she recovered
a
nd became…became what she is, w
hen I understood what had happened,
I
couldn’t destroy
her.  Couldn’t send her away––she was as she was because of me.
And
at least while she lives
, Edmond
can
not
properly
inherit.”