by Edith Layton
“Nor should she. He may well have done. Life is short, and many husbands and wives are left alone after illness or accident befalls their partners. If he has not been married before, but only says so, then again, whom does he harm? Marriage is a sacred bond. He treats his present wife well, from what you say. She has no other complaint about him?”
“No, none,” Eve said.
“Then she is a fortunate woman. I suggest your friend return to her husband and only leave him if she feels his temperament is changing in any way to her danger or displeasure.”
“And their children?” she asked, leaning forward, clutching her hands together. “If she has them, that is to say. He wants to educate them in his ways.”
“A child’s education is the father’s choice,” he said gently. “You know that. Most children are sent away to be schooled by the age of eight anyway, so your friend can always campaign that he wait for that, or even ask if they can send the children to a place of her choice earlier. No one would think her presumptuous or incorrect, because it is the general practice among those of her class. But if she ever feels that her child is being wrongly tutored, it is her right to protest. If her husband loves her, he may see her reasons for it. If not, she may attempt to hire another tutor, more to her own liking. Many children have several tutors.”
“And what of his sister, who suffers from the same delusions?”
“Does she? Or is she merely trying to make trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Eve admitted.
“Keeping them apart would be a good thing, whichever it is,” the doctor said. “Introducing him to new friends and relatives would be beneficial too. In fact, I believe that the longer your friend is married to this gentleman, the more his delusions may fade away. Leaving him at this juncture is not a good solution. It might even exacerbate his problem by causing him to turn to his sister for comfort and friendship, and she, as you say, isn’t good for his state of mind.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” she said, rising, and smiling brilliantly. “You said just what I wanted to hear. I mean, just exactly what I want to tell my friend.”
That was why Eve was now standing with her bags in the hallway of her father’s town house, waiting for a carriage to come out of the stables to return to her home, and her love.
“I’m glad you’re doing this,” her father said, lacing his hands behind his back as he watched her preparing to go. “Lover’s spats are best mended with a kiss. That’s difficult by letter.” His smile faded. “But you came alone. That was dangerous. You must take a maid back with you.”
“No need,” she said. “I came with the Royal Mail, and I’ll be safe enough in your carriage with an outrider and the strong footman sitting with the driver on the way home. They’ve said you’ve already sent word ahead to a fine inn where we can stop for the night. Thank you for thinking of it. That’s far better than sitting awake through the night. All’s prepared. But I did think to ask Sherry if he wanted to come along. He seemed eager to speak with Aubrey again. I can’t find him. Where in the world is he?”
“I’ve no idea. I hear he was gone at dawn. Or he came in at dawn, and left soon after, I’m not quite sure. The boy is a whirlwind; he hardly ever touches down here for long these days. Here and there, here and gone again. I suppose he’s thinking of all the friends he’ll miss when he returns to University, and is trying to see them all before he goes. Do you want to wait for him?”
“I dare not,” she said. “The weather is cold and the ground is hard, perfect for travel, John Coachman says. So I must go straight away before rain or snow makes it a chore. Come visit me soon, Father. Come visit us soon, I mean. And again, thank you for all your help.”
“I didn’t do a thing,” he said, as he watched a footman carry out the last of her bags. “And you may come to visit with me, or stay with me, or live with me, anytime you wish. I only pray that you don’t feel the need to do the latter, but know that you’re always welcome to.”
She kissed his cheek. “I know, and I thank you. I’ll send a note back with the coach when I get safely home. Don’t worry about me. I think all will soon be mended. And if that whirlwind of a brother of mine returns anytime soon, tell him he’s always welcome to join us at Far Isle. As are you, Father. As are you.”
She sniffled back a tear, smiled at him, and hurried out and down the front stair to the coach, so she could start her journey home again.
Eve thought of all the ways she could explain her absence to Aubrey, all the way home to Far Isle. But when the door to the manor house opened, and she saw him standing there: unsmiling, sober, somber; looking like a demon, looking like a dark angel, looking like a deserted lover, she couldn’t think of a thing to say. It didn’t matter. He opened his arms wide, and seconds later she was in them. They looked at each other and kissed. And kissed again. And then it was Aubrey who spoke.
“Welcome home,” he said.
And then she wept.
“Don’t,” he said, holding her close and whispering in her ear. He drew back so he could look at her face. “Unless you’re ill, or hurting?”
She shook her head. “I’m sick thinking of how I left you, and ill at the thought of how I may have hurt your feelings.” She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know why you so readily forgive me. If I were you I’d be very angry at me and very hurt to boot.”
“I was,” he said in a low voice. “And then I realized that I’d told you some things that made you doubt me. They would have made anyone doubt, and be perhaps a little afraid. I should have thought of that, but I never told any other mortal before.”
She tried to conceal her wince as he said that.
“How can I blame you then? At least, you came home again. You trust me now, don’t you?
“I do,” she said, tears starting in her eyes, “with my heart and with my life. I wouldn’t have come back to you otherwise.”
“Welcome home again, and thank you,” he said, taking her hand tightly in his own. “So now come upstairs, bathe and change and then talk to me. Or talk to me while I help you bathe and change.”
She smiled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Getting your nice new kid gloves all wet,” he said, watching her. “I see you bought new ones. And that’s a new bonnet. Very attractive.”
“I bought a few new things,” she explained.
“Good,” he whispered, bending to put his lips at her ear again. “We’ll just idly mention that you went to London to buy some new clothing that you needed. That will stop the servant’s gossiping, as well as anyone else. I’m used to it. But I don’t want you plagued by so much as an inquiring look. Now, come. You must be chilled and travel weary, whatever you say.”
“I am, a bit,” she said, as she went up the stair with him.
He was as good as his word. Within moments, he had footmen bring a steaming tub to her dressing chamber. Eve’s maid had hurriedly helped her take off her gown. When she’d left, as had the footmen, Eve, wrapped in a towel, came into the dressing room. She saw the steaming tub of scented water, let out a long, satisfied sigh, and took Aubrey’s hand so she could step into it.
“I’ve made some modernizations here, but we must put in a proper bath now,” he grumbled as he watched her. “One with the sort of new plumbing they have in London. With water piped into the house, and out of it as well. This must seem primitive to you.”
“It seems delicious,” she said, sinking into the warm water, laying her head back on the rim of the tub, and closing her eyes.
He knelt at her side, and smiled at her. “You must be exhausted,” he said. “I’ll just stay until you’ve bathed, and then help you into bed.”
She opened her eyes and grinned at him. “You’d better help me more than that. It’s been a fortnight since I’ve seen you. I don’t know how much more deprivation I can take.”
He laughed, and reached for a sponge. “Then let me assist you now, so we can get to bed sooner. It�
�s seemed like a much longer time than that to me.”
He rolled up his sleeves, dipped the sponge into the water, lathered it with soap, and then slowly washed Eve’s arm. She offered him her other arm, and then her throat. She stretched like a cat under his hands. He laughed. “I can do better,” he purred. “But it wouldn’t do for me to get soaked, it’s you taking the bath.” He stopped, pulled off his shirt, and turned to her again.
He rubbed soap on the sponge and pumped it until it frothed with scented lather. Then he let the sponge drift over her body, gentle and lingeringly on her breasts, carefully moving over her stomach, asking her to move this way and that as he thoroughly caressed every other part of her. Soon, Eve’s eyes were half lidded, slumberous, but not with weariness, and Aubrey’s chest was as drenched as her body was.
“I think the water’s cooling,” he said in a husky voice, “so it’s time for you to get dry. Wouldn’t do for you to catch a chill.”
“No,” she agreed as she rose and stepped into the toweling he held out for her. “Yes,” she said as she came into his embrace. The towel served a dual purpose, drying them both as they stood and kissed.
He lifted her and carried her to their bed.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she whispered as they sank to the downy featherbed together. “I’ve yearned for this as well.”
He didn’t tell her again how much he’d missed her. He showed her until she was thoroughly convinced.
They lay together afterward, close and sated, and still not speaking. There was too much to say, and nothing at all to tell each other now.
They woke early, at sunrise. Eve turned to Aubrey, reveling in the sight of his inky hair on the white pillow, his long lashes closed over those sparkling mirrors of his eyes. It was as though he felt her stare. His eyes opened and he smiled. But he only kissed her lightly, and tucked her close to him again.
“Oh-o,” she said, wriggling against him, laughter in her voice. “Now that you’re an old married man, you don’t believe in greeting the dawn the way we used to do?”
“I thought that females in your condition didn’t feel well in the mornings,” he said.
She sat up abruptly. She stared down at him. “How did you know? I barely knew myself. Does it already show?” she asked with worry, looking down at her belly.
He laughed. “Nothing shows. But I know. I told you that there were things I could do that men couldn’t. That was one of the things I worried about when you left me. I knew you were safe, but I longed to be there to ensure it. I couldn’t be happier, Eve. I just could not be more pleased and grateful to you.”
But she didn’t relax. “Arianna told you,” she said flatly.
“Arianna?” he said, sitting up to face her. “I haven’t seen her since you left. I went to her at first, wondering if you’d gone with her as she asked you to do. That would have been disastrous. It terrified me. She means you no good, Eve. Not that she’d dare hurt you. But she’d confuse you if she could, and get you to desert me if you would.”
She knew he was upset by the way he was rhyming his words, and her stomach clenched. The doctor was right. The less he had to do with his sister, the less they so much as spoke of her, the better off he would be.
“She guessed about my condition,” Eve said, forcing herself to sound light-hearted. “Now, I know it’s true. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“More than that,” he said soberly. “Our son will be everything I ever wanted. My line will continue. In all my long life, I’ve never wanted anything so much.”
Her skin felt cold. She drew the coverlet up around her. “And that’s why you wanted me so much?”
His eyes were unreadable. Cold and bright, they surveyed her, and seemed again to stare into her soul. “I won’t lie to you. I never have done. Yes, that’s why I wanted you at first; you know that, in the hopes that you could bear me a son. But no, that’s not why I began to want you so very much more. Nor why I want you so much now. You know that too.”
“Do I?” she asked.
“You should.”
“Should I? What if our child is a girl? Or…not like you?”
“The child is a male. And I don’t know if he’s exactly like me, or you. It’s too soon to tell how much magic he possesses. But you conceived with me. And that means that you can do so again. I will have a child to carry on my line. My people will not be extinguished. So much as I love you, and that’s with my whole heart, this news is not just a miracle for me. It’s the answer to my people’s greatest desire. It means we will go on.”
“So I am to be a brood mare, after all? And I suppose Arianna was right?” she said recklessly, too upset to keep to her plans, mentioning his sister again. “And you intend to take him away when he’s old enough to be tutored in ways you think proper for a…a creature of your race?”
“All boys of your class are sent away to be tutored,” he said softly. “Whether their fathers be mortal or of the otherworld.”
“Not all boys,” she snapped, rising from the bed. “And certainly few whose fathers believe they are immortal.”
“We aren’t immortal,” he said patiently. “We live longer than you do. But we eventually die, and so we value life too. And the longer we stay in your world, the shorter our lives become.”
She frowned.
“That’s true. If we stay away from our world, we age as quickly as you do. That’s why I return again, and again.”
“You’ll leave me?”
“In time. Only for a time, each time. I must, Eve, or I’ll become mortal. That’s why our race is in such a perilous state. The temptations of your world are strong, and always have been. And the dangers grow stronger for us the longer we stay with you. These days we find that our lifetimes grow shorter because each century you invent more and more things that are toxic for us.”
She dragged in a deep painful breath. “So,” she said. “There is more I didn’t understand. I know you married me so I could bear you a son of your blood. And you said you intended to educate him in your world. And now it appears that you will leave me one day.”
“Or you can come with me and our son each time,” he said, rising from the bed, standing on the other side of it, and facing her. “You won’t gain years. But you won’t lose them, as I would in this world. And I’d see to it that you were happy.”
“With spells, and kisses, and lovemaking, and lies, and nonsense,” she said, head high. “I should have stayed in London. I should have stayed away. Why didn’t you tell me everything before this?”
“Would you have married me?”
She took in a harsh breath. “That,” she said, “doesn’t deserve an answer.”
She went into her dressing room, and didn’t leave until she heard that he’d left the bedchamber. And then she wept, and then she finally controlled herself. She rang for her maid and dressed. She had thinking to do. The tears could come again later. She knew they would.
When Eve came down to the breakfast parlor, she found Aubrey sitting there, scowling. He looked up at her.
“I’ve a note,” he said without preface, “from your father, by special messenger. Sherry, it appears, is missing. None of his friends have seen him for days. Your father wants to know if he’s here with us. I would have said no. Now I discover that he was seen here, on the road, just the other day. But he never came to visit, so the servants never mentioned it to me. He had a woman riding with him, one that they did recognize. But they see her so often they didn’t think it important to tell me.”
They stared at each other.
“Arianna,” Eve breathed.
He nodded. “So it would seem.”
“Then we must go to her, and find him,” Eve said, her hands clenching at her sides. “He can’t stay with her. He’s got to get back to school. I don’t trust her.”
“Nor I,” he said.
“Why does she want him?” Eve asked. “Only to distress me?”
He shook his head. “No.” He rose and wa
lked to her. He took her cold, clenched fists in his hands. His gaze was both sad and wise. “Think on, Eve. I know how she thinks, and if you consider it, so will you. It takes no special powers to realize what she’s after, what she wants from Sheridan.”
Eve’s eyes widened.
“Yes,” he said. “It only makes common sense. If I can get you with child, as I have been unable to do with any female of your people or my own for all these many years, then she must believe that Sheridan can provide her with a son too.”
“But he’s a boy,” she whispered.
“Man enough to father a babe. And he will grow older.”
“With her?” she asked in horror. “No, I won’t have it.”
“Nor I,” he said. “And yet…”
She snatched her hands from his clasp. “And yet you’d love it if she could have a child too? Even if it means ruining my brother’s life? He’s still a boy, but he’s constant, and highly moral. If he thinks he loves her, and even if he didn’t, he’s a man of honor. If he had a child with her, he’d stay with her forever. Now is not the time for that. He needs to grow up, get an education, and take his place in life. Not spend it with a madwoman, living in a mad fantasy.”
Aubrey stood still. “And so you believe everything I’ve said is fantasy?” he asked slowly. “I never considered that. By gods!” he said, staring at her, his eyes glittering. “You think I’m mad.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ve made my bed. I won’t let my brother make the same mistake. Take me to him please, now!”
“You think you can talk him into going home?”
“I must try,” she said. She looked up at him. “Aubrey, if you ever loved me, you must help me now.”
“If I ever loved you?” he asked in a peculiar voice.
“If you love me, or love your mission to your ‘people’ more,” she said, standing tall as she could, keeping her voice level and strong as she stared him in the eye. “Aubrey. Now is the time you must decide.”