Dane (31 page)

“Don‟t worry about all that. I fixed things with Signora Patrizzi,”

Odette announced proudly. “All gonna be well.”

“You spoke to his mother?” Eva rose slowly to face her. She put a hand to the dressing table to steady herself, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy.

“When? How?”

“Never you mind that. You gonna have what you want. Gonna wed your human. Have your own bebes. Won‟t need to go picking them off the streets.” Odette smiled and smoothed Eva‟s hair over her shoulders. Then her hands went lower, covering Eva‟s breasts.

Eva knocked her touch away and slid from her and the table.

Something strange was going on here. “Odette, that‟s inappropriate.”

Odette just shrugged and turned the silver brush in her hands, pulling long raven strands from it. Eva backed away from her, stumbling, her thoughts becoming confused. “What you said before, about my father‟s hair. How do you know his was dark?”

A faraway look entered Odette‟s eyes. “He was a handsome one, your father. Might as well tell you his name since Signora Patrizzi has it now. Angelo Sontine. Fantine thought I didn‟t see she was falling in love with him. I did, but I was too late in getting rid of him. Still, he had to be punished for putting you inside her. And I made sure he was.” A smile creased her lined face. “Used my gift on him. Had to do what‟s right for us. You understand, don‟t you?”Wrapping the long strands of Eva‟s hair around two fingers, she tucked them inside the little pouch she carried in her pocket.

“And now you think to use your gift—your powers—on me?”asked Eva, assuming Odette planned to make some sort of magic with the use of the strands.

“Already started on that, bebe. You stay quiet here in your bedchamber for a week or so. Give me time for to carry out some plans I‟ve made for Lord Satyr.”

Eva raised a shaking hand to her forehead, trying to think. “The chocolate you gave the girls and me. You laced it with one of your roots or spices, didn‟t you?”

Odette hooked an arm around her back. In spite of herself, Eva leaned heavily on her, feeling too drowsy to resist. “You just rest. Get this Satyr out of your head.”Gently, she led Eva to the bed, where she pulled back the covers for her and pushed her to lie next to Mimi and Lena, then tucked her in as if she were a child as well. “The three of you won‟t get up to any mischief in here. Won‟t even know I‟m gone. Odette will take care of everything.”

Eva sighed into her pillow, only vaguely aware of the sound of the door being locked from outside. By the time Odette‟s ungainly step was moving away down the hall, she was asleep.

Much later—though it seemed only minutes had passed—Lena and Mimi were tugging her awake and the late afternoon sun was already beginning to drop toward a pinkened horizon.

“Goodness! How long did we sleep?”Eva said, sitting up.

“All night and most of today,” said Lena. “When Odette left the garden just now, the gate squeaked and woke us.”

Odette. A chill slid over Eva. She could hardly believe what the woman had told her yesterday, but she did believe it, and it terrified her.

She had to get herself and the girls to safety before Odette returned.

“I need my toilet, but the door‟s locked,” said Mimi, hopping from one foot to the other.

Eva pointed toward the bathroom. “Use mine. And don‟t forget to wash your hands in the basin.”Sliding from the bed, she fought off her grogginess and went to brush her teeth at the basin in her room, then tried the door.

“It‟s locked, I told you,” Mimi called from the bathroom, sounding grumpy.

Eva found a hairpin and got on her knees, trying to pick the lock.

“What happened yesterday?”she asked Lena over her shoulder. “You didn‟t really wander off on your own, did you?”

“Odette said demons will get us if we tell,”Lena hedged.

“She can‟t conjure demons,” Eva assured her.

“I knew it!” Lena said in satisfaction. “She‟s just a mean old woman. Yesterday, she left us in the park and drove away with a fine lady in her carriage. We got cold, so we walked home.”

Eva gave her thin arm a quick squeeze, then went back to jiggling the lock. “I‟m sorry that happened and glad you‟re safe. Odette‟s unwell. I want you both to stay away from her from now on.” She tried not to think about her father and the fact that he‟d met his end by Odette‟s hand. Of how Fantine had waited all those years not knowing the true reason he hadn‟t come for her as he‟d promised. What misery Odette had caused!

How dare she think she‟d done it for their own good. She‟d been hurt by men herself, but no one had realized how it had twisted her. How could they have missed it all these years?

When the lock proved impossible, Eva began throwing on her clothes, her mind racing to formulate an escape plan. This room that had jailed her during Moonful had now become a far more terrifying prison.

“I‟m hungry,” Mimi complained, wandering out of the bathroom.

“I know. We need to find a way to get out of here,” said Eva. Going to the window, she opened it and leaned over its wrought-iron railing.

They‟d break their ankles or worse if they tried jumping.

“If you were Rapunzel, you could let down your hair,” said Mimi, reading her mind.

Eva turned from the railing and kissed the top of her head.

“Brilliant, Mimi!”

Lena brightened, immediately grasping the plan. “We can tie the bedsheets together.”

“And perhaps extend them with a dress or two,” added Eva. She ripped the sheets and coverlet off the bed and began knotting them into a makeshift rope by which they might descend. A half hour later, she tied one end of the rope to the railing and dropped the rest of it down until its far end dusted the asters in the garden.

Going quickly to her dressing table, Eva located her mother‟s journal and her silver hairbrush, and stuffed both in her pockets. Then she took a deep breath, gathering her courage. “I‟m going to go down first.

And then you‟ll follow me one at a time.”

“Like little monkeys,” said Mimi.

“Only quieter,” cautioned Lena. “In case she comes back.”

“Yes, we must all be very, very quiet,” Eva agreed.

“Like little monkey mice!” Mimi improvised in a squeaky, mouselike whisper.

“Exactly,”said Eva. “Be careful and remember to hold on tight. I‟ll wait for you below.” With that, she swung her leg over the railing and began a precarious, unskilled descent.

Sometime later, she breathed a sigh of relief as the three of them found themselves in the garden without mishap. But when they reached the iron gate, Lena hung back. “We can‟t go out in our nighties. And barefoot!”

“We have to,” said Mimi, sounding quite adult for once. “If we stay, Odette might come back and get us.”

“Vite!” Eva whispered. The gate gave a harsh squeal as they passed through it. Then they ran, the three of them scurrying toward the sunset.

“Where are we going?” Mimi whispered, sounding excited. To her, this seemed an adventure.

“To Dane‟s,” Eva decided, trying to sound confident. “Lord Satyr‟s.”

“Will he want us?”asked Lena, and it broke Eva‟s heart to hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“Yes,” Eva assured, praying it was true. But how they would get there was a mystery. When they passed a wagon already hitched to a horse and only awaiting its driver and passengers, Eva hesitated only briefly before motioning the girls to get in.

“We‟re stealing!” said Mimi, looking both scandalized and delighted.

“Only because we‟re in danger. We‟ll return it tomorrow, with an apology and payment for the use of it,” said Eva. “But hurry now, get in.

Monkey mice, remember?”

Miraculously, the owner of the wagon didn‟t hear them drive away, for no one pursued them. Several blocks later, they passed Pinot on foot, heading toward the townhouse.

“What‟s all this?” he said, leaping onto the wagon‟s tongue.

Eva eyed him, a little wary. Her foundations had been rocked by Odette‟s betrayal, and she wondered for a moment if she could trust him.

“Odette locked us up,” Mimi announced. “She‟s bad.”

“That‟s not news. That old lady is as rotten as spoiled fruit.” Pinot hopped onto the seat and took the reins from Eva. “Where are we going?”

As they made their way to the grove, Eva told him what had happened. His face turned grim and he gave a long, low whistle. It was dusk when they reached Aventine Hill and the grove.

Dane met them on the porch of his home, a questioning frown on his face. “What‟s happened?” he demanded. He looked masculine and capable, and the sight of him made Eva want to fall into his arms.

“Odette locked us in the bedchamber, but we escaped on the bedsheets and stole a wagon!” Mimi cackled gleefully.

Dane made a suitably impressed sound, but his frown deepened.

“Well, I‟m glad you had the good sense to come here afterward,” he told her, as he lifted each girl down.

“We don‟t have to go back?”Lena asked him.

“No, you don‟t have to go back,” said Dane. “Not ever.” Reaching for Eva, he lifted her easily from the wagon, his hands at her waist. An arrested expression came over his face and he paused, leaving her dangling in midair, her toes a few inches shy of the ground. Holding her weight seemed to cost him no effort as he searched her eyes with a ferocious concentration.

She cocked her head. “Is it all right that we‟ve come?”

“I‟ll see to the horses,” Pinot interrupted, after the strange silence stretched too long.

Dane lowered her against him and she slid to the ground. “Just so it‟s clear, I tried to see Alexa, but she has gone from Rome,” he informed her. “My letter breaking off our betrothal follows her now to Venice. She and I have no futher obligation between us. Do you understand?”

She nodded at the vehemence in his tone. Seeming satisfied at that, he turned away as if forgetting her. “There‟s lodging here for you as well,”

he told Pinot. “For as long as you like.” The two men‟s gazes met, and Pinot relaxed under the welcome he read in Dane‟s.

“That goes for all of you,” Dane announced, herding them inside.

“Come. Consider my home yours.”

Eva ushered the girls ahead of her, wishing he hadn‟t made promises in front of them that he might not be able to keep. They‟d been let down often enough by the adults in their lives. Once inside, Lena took Mimi‟s hand and they both studied the magnificent house uncertainly as they walked through. The front room was enormous, with a sweeping staircase and a chandelier that tinkled eerily as they moved past, disturbing the air. Gaslight hissed in lamps here and there, providing little in the way of illumination. All here was gloomy, appearing to have been untouched in a decade or more, with dust on every surface and grime on the windows. The furniture was covered with white dropcloths that made chairs, sofas, and tables appear to be ghostly figures.

“Is it haunted?” she heard Mimi whisper.

“No, just dirty,” Lena informed her practically and with little regard for Dane‟s feelings.

“Lord Satyr hasn‟t resided here very long,” Eva told them, hoping the girls hadn‟t embarrassed him, but curious about the house‟s condition herself. It had obviously once been beautiful and could be again with enough care.

“Can we sleep with you?”Mimi asked Eva, sounding a little nervous.

“Not tonight,” Dane replied in an unshakable tone. Eva looked at him, but he‟d glanced back at the girls. He had seemed preoccupied ever since he‟d lifted her down from the wagon, and it worried her. By showing up uninvited at this hour with her entourage, she hadn‟t given him much choice in whether to provide lodging. Did he wish they hadn‟t come? “I‟ll have the dryads ready rooms for everyone,” he said, and she was only slightly reassured.

“Dryads?” asked Mimi, immediately intrigued. “Like the tree spirits in the fairy books?”

Dane nodded. “They‟ve been working to bring my house to order, for as you and your sister noted with such candor, it has been neglected for years. Lucky for us, they began their labors in the sleeping quarters, so you‟ll have clean beds.”

Fortunately, the girls took to their ethereal nursemaids on sight, who in turn fussed over both of them in the maternal fashion common to such nymphs. Eva didn‟t question their presence in his home, for it had also been traditional in ElseWorld that landowners take in such creatures when the trees they inhabited reached the ends of their lives.

And so it was that less than thirty minutes after their arrival, Eva found herself alone with Dane in the shadowy corridor outside the girls‟

new bedchamber.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded, folding her against him.

Earlier she had tried to be strong for the girls‟ sake, but now worries burst out of her. “I‟ve learned something terrible. That Odette, my maidservant, killed my father, before I was born.”

His hand moved over her back in soothing circles and she felt his lips on her hair. “I‟m sorry, Eva.”

She nodded her cheek against his shirtfront. “There‟s more I‟m afraid, just as bad. Odette plans to do you harm. She went out this morning and locked us in the house.”

He curled a hand at her nape and drew back, bumping his forehead to hers. “You‟re safe here. With me.” She went on tiptoe and touched grateful lips to his. “Thank you, but your safety is more at issue.”

Something shifted in his face and he turned her, ushering her down the hall.

“Where are we going?”

“To my chamber, at the other side of the house where I can have you to myself.”

Sudden excitement bubbled in her, but she still worried for him.

“You must take this conspiracy against you seriously, Dane.”