by Tee, Marian
She was a very sensible person, after all, and prone to neither drama nor holding grudges. There was every possibility she would understand his reason for doing what he did. And it was not as if what he had done was tantamount to cheating on her. It wasn't like that in any way.
Tonight, the marquis decided finally. He would tell her tonight, make her understand, and after that, he would finally permit himself to bind them by blood.
Tonight, he thought again, and it was as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders...until a memory drifted insidiously in his mind, and the marquis was grimly reminded of the soul seer's words.
You meant well...but you'll still end up hurting her.
Mihail's jaw clenched.
Visions did not always come true, he told himself doggedly.
He would not hurt his heartkeeper.
He would not.
But the marquis was wrong.
IF THE MARQUIS' STRUGGLE that morning was internal in nature, for his heartkeeper it was the opposite. Wednesday classes typically began with a peaceful two hours in the library. Today, however...
Why were they wasting time glaring at her, Rhapsody wondered absently as she accepted a copy of the morning papers from the librarian before heading to the table she shared with Peyton and Emily.
Rhapsody frowned when she saw the day's headline. A tourist had apparently gone missing two days ago, with the woman last seen in Amstel Woods.
That was not good, she thought darkly. What if there was a connection between this new case and Mr. Walker's murder? What if her involvement were to come to light? She did not give a whit if her own reputation ended up besmirched, but it was another thing entirely if such a scandalous connection were to reflect ill on her Master.
She had half a mind to write to Lady Zari and ask her about it, but then she remembered her promise to the marquis...
Best not to take that road for now, Rhapsody thought. She would ask her Master about the case, and that should be the extent—-
"Devil take it," Peyton gasped as she dropped on the chair next to Rhapsody. "What is that?"
"That?"
But Peyton was already snapping her pocket mirror case open and hurriedly positioning it in front of her friend. "There!"
It was then Rhapsody saw the dark red bruise on the side of her neck. "Oh."
Peyton gaped. "Oh? That's all you have to say? Oh?" No wonder she had noticed an alarming number of girls glaring at Rhapsody upon entering the library. "You are wearing a man's mark, Rhapsody!"
Rhapsody's brows furrowed. "And?"
Peyton had an urge to start shaking some badly needed sense into her friend. "And everyone knows you are already Claimed!"
"Oh."
"Stop saying oh," Peyton nearly growled in her exasperation. "The other girls already hate you for being the marquis' 'Chosen One' in yesterday's class, and now this? Before this day is out, they will see to it that the whole Town knows of your wrongdoing—-"
"But I did not do anything wrong," Rhapsody argued.
"Then are you saying that's your Master's mark?" Peyton demanded. "That Your Master happens to be here with us—-"
"Well, yes—-" The words were out before Rhapsody realized what she was inadvertently admitting.
Peytton gasped.
And behind them...so did Emily, who not only looked stunned but furious as well.
Chapter Thirteen
Rhapsody secured a day pass from the school's registrar that afternoon, and after paying for the use of one of its carriages, she was quickly driven off to Bond Street, which as its name suggested, was a near-faithful replica of the shopping area of old.
While in the carriage, she mulled over Emily's strange reaction and wondered if the other girl also harbored feelings for the marquis. She would talk to Emily on the morrow, Rhapsody decided. Things like this often stood in the way of friendship so the sooner they spoke of it, the better.
Once in town, Rhapsody couldn't help making a little detour to buy a strawberry-flavored popsicle from a pink-themed stand before heading down to her favorite bookshop. Since she already knew what she wished to buy, it only took minutes to find the title she wished to gift her Master and have it wrapped prettily in gold paper with a red silk bow on top.
Upon stepping out of the shop, she heard someone call her name—-
"Lady Rhapsody?"
Whirling around, she was startled to find Lord Erou Damaschin grinning down at her. She had first met the golden-haired gentleman at her old school, and at that time, the nobleman-slash-enforcer had been madly in love with her friend Lady Zari.
"Good morning, Lord Damaschin."
"Are we not good enough friends to call each other by our names?" Erou teased.
A moment passed, and then Rhapsody said simply, "It is not proper." They were in Chalys after all, and Society here was much, much more conservative than it had been outside the kingdom.
Same old Rhapsody, Erou thought with amusement. It was nice to see that she remained frank as ever, but there were also things about her that had changed remarkably. She had always been beautiful, but more like a cold, porcelain doll. Now, however, Zari's friend looked more vibrant, with dark eyes that sparkled and alluring rosy lips that appeared as if they would only curve for the right man.
"Are you in the same school as Lady Zari's?" Although the official story was that Zari had been sent to boarding school in Switzerland, Erou's work as an enforcer made him privy to the truth, which was that Zari had been training hard to hone her skills as a soul seer.
He still carries a torch for her friend, Rhapsody thought. But out loud, all she said was, "I am a student of The Progressive."
"I see."
"And you, milord?" Rhapsody asked. "Are you here for work or pleasure?"
"I have an ongoing investigation in Sangre, and it has led me here."
Rhapsody nodded. That should do it, she thought. She had done as her Social Graces professors had taught her. When one engaged her in a conversation and asked questions, it was only polite to ask something in return. Now, she was free to leave—-
"Come join me for tea or coffee," Erou invited on a whim. "It would be nice to catch up."
Rhapsody's brows furrowed. This was not supposed to happen. But on the other hand, Lord Erou did mention about an investigation, and mayhaps this was a heaven-sent opportunity to kill two birds with one stone?
"Do you know anything about the missing tourist, milord?"
The question caught Erou off guard. "Why would you want to know about such matters?"
"That already answers my question," Rhapsody wisely interpreted. "Very well then, milord. I'd like to have tea with you if you could answer some questions..."
Over an hour had passed by the time Rhapsody climbed back into the school's carriage and was driven back to The Progressive. She had much to think about, after what Lord Erou had reluctantly disclosed.
Apparently, the papers hadn't everything right. While it was true the tourist - a Miss Geraldine Joyce from North Carolina - had been in Amstel Woods, it was not the last place she had been seen alive. From there, she had actually hired a hackney - something that no proper lady would risk, which was probably why it was not an angle the papers had considered - and was then seen being dropped off at Sixpence. It was the seediest part of town, one that locals avoided while at the same time attracting a constant influx of penny-pinching tourists.
She had lodgings in Sixpence Inn, Lord Erou had gone on to tell her, and was last seen by the manager taking the stairs to her room some minutes past supper time. But the next morning, the housekeeper had found the room empty, with no evidence of a struggle.
When the carriage came to a stop in front of the gates of the south tower, Rhapsody was surprised to have the door opened by none other than the marquis himself.
"Welcome back, milady." After helping his pet down, Mihail was about to ask where she had gone when he detected a rather undesirable scent clinging distastefully to her sk
in. A man. Even worse, a man who with a seeming obsession with the women of his family. First it had been Zari, his brother's heartkeeper, and now Rhapsody?
Rhapsody belatedly noticed the hardened expression on the marquis' face. "Master?"
"Is there anything you'd like to tell me, milady?" An icy black rage had started consuming him from within, and it controlled his thoughts and words. Even dictated the way his heart was thudding against his chest.
"There is a missing tourist—-"
"Aside from that."
"I bought you a gift—-"
"I don't give a damn if you bought me a fucking gift." It was like hearing another being speak using his own voice, his rage taking a life of its own. "So I am asking you one last time. Is there anything you wish to say?"
Rhapsody had a hard time thinking clearly. "You truly do not care that I bought you a gift?"
"Goddammit, Rhapsody."
Her heart threatened to break. It was only the second time he had called her name, but now...it didn't...it wasn't what it used to be.
"The g-gift—-" She stopped speaking when she saw the blaze of anger in the marquis' eyes.
The rage in him saw no reason. Why did she keep on harping about that fucking gift? Why wouldn't she just tell him she had been with Lord Erou? He hadn't thought to ask why she had suddenly needed to visit her therapist yesterday, but what if that boy was the reason? What if that was why she could not answer him now, knowing that heartkeeping forbade any words of dishonesty between them?
He felt like he was about to explode, and it was only when he actually started a threatening step towards his pet and saw Rhapsody flinch as if she believed he would hit her—-
NO!
It was like waking up from a nightmare, reality extinguishing the rage in a blinding instant, but in its ashes despair whipped out.
Was this, he realized sickly, how he would end up hurting her without meaning to?
Rhapsody was stunned when the marquis turned his back on her and began walking away.
"Master?"
She waited for him to look back. To return to her side. She waited the whole night just to see him again and know that things would be fine once more.
But he never did.
And it was then she knew.
This tremendous pain that couldn't be anything else...
This pain that came from nowhere to rip her world apart and have her heart break into pieces...
She knew now.
She had her answer.
But it was as Lady Aurora said, and Rhapsody wished with all her heart such a moment had never come.
Chapter Fourteen
Mihail watched Rhapsody's silhouette cross the curtained windows in his bedchamber as dawn painted over the last mile of darkness in the skies. He had spent the entire night in Amstel Woods, keeping the other patrol guards company while his gaze strayed every so often to the south tower. It had been almost two in the morning when she retired, and now she was up again a mere three hours later. Sleep was probably his pet's only indulgence, and so for her to rise even before the sun had reclaimed its throne...
He had hurt her unforgivably last night, Mihail thought bleakly.
It was almost as if his demon half had overtaken the soul that she had gifted him with, and he had lashed out with needleess cruelty. And he had not been able to stop, not even when he saw the pain that haunted her dark eyes and he saw her skin turn from ivory to something horribly pale.
Something was fucking wrong with him, and whatever it was, it would either drive Rhapsody away...or force him to stay out of her life.
He waited until she had left for her classes before coming up to shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes. On his way out, he spied the gift on the dresser, and he breathed hard. He unwrapped it carefully, and when he saw what it was...
The Art of Being A Pervert
Mihail closed his eyes. It was just like Rhapsody to mean well by giving him such a gift, and goddammit, he could not - would not - give her up without a fucking fight.
Before leaving the school, he was unable to resist the urge to check on him, needing to see - but wihout being seen - that she was indeed where she was supposed to be, and that was safe and unharmed within the school's walls. Eventually, he found her in the greenhouse with Peyton. Her friend was busy tending to several pots of cacti while Rhapsody had gloves up to her elbows while checking on a garden bed of poison ivy. She looked paler than usual, and his agitation grew even as the sight made his heart clench.
Something was fucking wrong.
And he had to do something before it was too late.
The thirty-minute carriage ride to the Baron of Woodmere's townhouse was reduced into ten with Mihail riding his horse in neckbreaking speed. After leaving instructions to the stable boy to have his mount watered, he swiftly ascended the steps and within moments was being escorted to the breakfast room.
"The Marquis of Sangre," the butler intoned.
"Milord, welcome..." The three Orpheline sisters, despite their visible surprise, greeted him pleasantly.
"How the hell did you know I was here?" Ilie Marcovici, the Marquis of Lunare, on the other hand, did not sound as welcoming, but this was belied by the wicked gleam in his silver eyes.
"It's nice to see you, too."
It was Mihail's usual dry tone, Ilie observed with a frown, but at the same time, it wasn't.
Soleil, too, noticed the weariness that outlined Mihail's chiseled features. Something must have happened, she told her husband through their blood bond.
Aurora straightened in her seat when the Marquis of Sangre turned to look at her. Uh-oh.
"May I speak with you in private? It is about Lady Norwood."
Ilie glanced at his heartkeeper. I never told you, did I? And I suppose your sister would not do so either.
Soleil blinked. Tell me what?
Ilie nodded at his sister-in-law's direction. Mihail's heartkeeper is one of Aurora's patients.
When Mihail saw the Marchioness of Lunare suddenly looking at him with wide-eyed curiosity, he shot her husband a glare. "Stop gossipping about me behind my back."
"You are right," Ilie drawled. "These things are more interesting when discussed in the open."
The words had his marchioness coughing to disguise her laughter while Mihail cursed him fluidly in Daemoniu.
"I believe you already know this, milord," Aurora said apologetically, "but I cannot speak of anything that Lady Norwood—-"
"It is not that," Mihail interrupted grimly. "I wish instead to ask you about heartkeeping. My sister Maricha tells me that you have recently been helping her with her research."
Aurora's expression cleared. "That, I can most assuredly give assistance to."
"We can be of help as well," Ilie offered. "You know this is true," he said innocently when he saw Mihail's scowl. "Soleil and I are still discovering new things about heartkeeping even now."
And so it was how Mihail ended up reluctantly recounting last night's events to two ladies and a gentleman, and of course just when he had reached the halfway point, Lady Fleur, the youngest of the Trois Belles Lames, arrived, and at the lady's insistence, Mihail found himself back at the beginning. This time, he made it as far as three-fourths of his story when it was the baron himself who walked in, and of course out of respect, Mihail recounted - hopefully for the last time - what recently transpired between him and his pet.
By the very end, Ilie, seeing that a muscle was already angrily ticking at Mihail's jaw, decided against his original intention to ask his friend to repeat the whole thing one last time.
He glanced at his heartkeeper instead, about to ask her thoughts through the blood bond—-
Blood bond...
The Marquis of Lunare jerked in his seat.
"What is it?" Mihail demanded, having recognized the look in his friend's eyes.
"The blood bond," Ilie said abruptly. "It might be the missing component in the heartkeeping process, and why you
r demon half is still able to assert itself."
Aurora frowned. "Maricha and I haven't read anything about blood bonds being a critical requirement, but it would make sense if it were."
"Ilie and Soleil share a blood bond, and—-" Fleur almost ended up throwing the Duke of Brimstone's name out loud but managed to catch herself in time just as five pairs of eyes swung to her in sharp warning.
Sorry, she mouthed wryly.
"Point still taken." Soleil, ever the protective oldest sister, quickly spoke up to smooth over the awkward silence that followed Fleur's near verbal mishap. She turned to her husband, asking, "Has anything similar happened to you in the past?"
Ilie shook his head. "We had a blood bond almost soon after I learned about you. Mihail, on the other hand, has had to live without it for years."
The baron had been studying the other marquis in thoughtful silence for a while now, and there was one thing which he could not help puzzle over. "Forgive me for asking this, milord, but why was it that you have not bonded with your heartkeeper by blood?"
"We had a misunderstanding two years ago," Mihail said edgily. "It made me realize that the least I could do for her was not to take for myself the privilege of reading her thoughts...if things did not work out."
The silence that followed Mihail's revelation was grim.
"Mihail." Ilie's voice was brooding. "Do you love her?"
Mihail's jaw clenched. "It is not something I have ever allowed myself to answer."
Aurora struggled to keep her shock from showing. Was the marquis even aware that was how Rhapsody thought of love as well? The girl couldn't even make herself say the word out loud, and it was the same for the marquis.
They were a perfect match without knowing it, and the more she thought of it, the more she saw of the subtle similarities between the two. Rhapsody's inability to smile and the marquis just not liking to smile, Rhapsody's trauma making her solemn round the clock and the marquis just naturally being grim as a reaper...