by A. W. Exley
"I'm sorry," I said to Charlotte.
"You bit me!" Louise spat at her mother, struggling to free herself. Elizabeth let her go, and Louise shot to the other side of the room, one hand over the small wound with its tiny droplet of blood.
"What is going on? Mother, what is happening?" Charlotte's gaze flew around the room, trying to make sense of the wailing.
Father pushed himself up in bed. The movement drew my eye, but I had to stay focused on the two in front of me. I didn't know if Elizabeth could infect Louise at such an early state in her transformation, but what I saw pass through her eyes made me shudder.
"Henry. Take Charlotte to the kitchen and keep her there." I kept my voice low. It was time to dispel some of the panic swirling in the room. There were things that needed to be discussed.
He nodded, and Charlotte renewed her struggles and demands to know why everyone had been screaming.
Louise took her hand away from her neck and stared at the smear of blood and then glared at her mother. "What is going on, I demand to know." With her superior tone, she would do well as a queen vermin, but that was never my intention.
"Elizabeth was trying to suffocate father with a pillow. I stopped her, but not before father slashed her arm with a knife." I gestured to the gash running down her forearm.
Her eyes widened, and then she scoffed. "You expect me to believe the vegetable moved? You're mad. No court will ever believe a vindictive servant over us." She stepped backwards, closer to her mother.
"That's not all. I wrapped a rag around the cut, one I used last night slaying the vermin." The words dropped like bombs. It took long seconds for them to fall and then explode. Or perhaps longer, as Louise just frowned and stared at her mother.
"The polluted rag has infected her."
"You'll turn into one of them!" The hand flew to her neck and she started to moan. "You bit me. You filthy piece of undead scum, you bit me!" Her knees crumpled and she dropped to the floor, a low moan coming from her chest.
"I am no filthy vermin," Elizabeth spat at the creature at her feet. "I will be a queen." She stared at her arm. The cut had closed over itself already, but left a blue-black stain on her skin that seemed to grow and pulse with each beat of her heart.
I struggled with what to say. I sought to destroy her, but never meant to do it like this. "I cannot help you. I am sorry this has happened, all I can do now is give you a head start."
Louise continued to whimper, while Elizabeth contemplated her future. She pulled her spine up and met my gaze. "I could stay here and make you all my servants. Perhaps this will be my new palace." She swept her arms wide as her top lip pulled back.
I shook my head. "The War Office will hunt you, they want to capture a queen to study. Other vermin will be attracted to you, and your acolytes will soon heed your silent call."
Until last night, I would have cowered before her, but no more. I pulled the katana free of its scabbard. "Or I could have your head removed from your body before you took two steps. You chose."
She froze and held her position. I gestured to her arm. "You have a few days at most, perhaps less. With each turn their blood becomes more potent, and that was from their queen. You must feel it within you."
Elizabeth, ever the survivor, made a decision and kicked Louise. "Get up. We have to get out of here."
As much as she had tormented me for the last five years, I never intended to turn either of them into vermin. I swallowed guilt and bile as Louise lifted a tear stained face. The wailing turned to a low keening in her throat as she cried, "no, no, no," over and over.
"I don't know if Louise is infected. You can stay here, we will watch you." It was the best I could offer her, a quick death if she did turn. "If you are free of the virus, you are welcome to live under my roof and abide by my rules."
Louise barked in laughter. "I would rather take my chances with my mother than be reliant on your pity. I am no servant, I am the daughter of a queen."
Elizabeth grabbed her daughter's arm, hauling her to her feet. Her gaze hardened as it met mine. "If you have truly made me their queen, I can assure you, I will rule and I will command my people."
Well, that was a problem I would have to worry about another day. Preferably after a long, hot soak in the tub. The two women left the bedroom, heads held high as though events unfolded to their exact plans and not random chance. I didn't follow. I became lost in the image of step-mother presiding over an army of vermin, her bloated body issuing commands as she wrestled for control of first England, and then the world.
Blasted acting on instinct. Perhaps I should have paused and thought through my actions first. In saving the carpet from bloodstains, I had just created a problem that would need to be dealt with at some point in the future, and probably with the might of the War Office and the army providing backup.
Father rustled the bedding, and I remembered he had struggled to throw off his wife and then been silent witness to her downfall. A smile came to my lips as I saw him sit up, his movement slow and ponderous, but he moved of his own volition.
"Welcome home," I said as I smoothed out the blankets and repositioned his pillow. "Quite a bit has happened in your absence." My heart soared to see the glimmer of life in his tired gaze. There was still a long road to recovery to tread, but he had taken that first step. I took his hand, and laid my cheek against his warm touch. "I have missed you so much."
A hand touched my head and I couldn't stop the tears that rolled down my face. We sat like that for several minutes until his hand fell away. Looking up, I found him fast asleep. His chest rose and fell with each deep breath. I crept from the room and headed down to the kitchen.
Alice and Magda stood at the bench, looking out the window. They turned on hearing my steps.
"What on earth happened up there?" Alice said, eyes wide. "Henry said Sir Jeffrey moved and that they are both gone for good."
I blew out a sigh. "Quite a lot. Elizabeth tried to suffocate father—"
Both women gasped, Magda put a hand over her mouth.
"—and he's all right." I reassured them. How much more to tell? That I had sentenced my step-mother and step-sister to a living death? Might skip over that bit. "Elizabeth and Louise are out of our lives."
Magda's chest heaved. "About bloody time. I think we'll have a celebratory dinner tonight, in honour of Sir Jeffrey's return." She bustled around the kitchen, pulling down books and looking up recipes. She showed her love for our family in her food, and despite some unfortunate events, we had a very real one to be grateful for.
Alice wiped her hands on her apron and cast another glance out the window. "Right then, I'm going to go strip their beds, and you can move back into your proper room." She waggled a finger at me.
"But I would miss you, Alice. What about our chats?"
She laughed. "We shall have them in comfort, curled up by the fire in the front parlour."
She had a point. With the other two gone, we could reclaim the house and turn it back into the welcoming home it had once been.
"I need to see to Charlotte." The plight of my other step-sister pressed on my mind. I had just torn her mother and sister from her.
I found her outside in the yard, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Louise and Elizabeth walk down the road. Their voices rose and fell as they argued over where to go. I didn't want to know. I had condemned them, and needed time before I had to act as their executioner. I just hoped they left Somerset before they turned.
"I can't stay here," she said to me, without her gaze ever moving from her mother and sibling. "They are my family, and now I am alone."
This pained me the most, stabbing through my chest with the force of my own blade. Out of the three of them, I always had a sense of what could have been with Charlotte. Under different circumstances, she might have been a true sister to me. "I'm so sorry, Charlotte. I hope you one day believe me. I never meant for things to come to this."
She nodded. "Perhaps, one d
ay." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I cannot stay, and yet have nowhere to go."
"What of Hubert?" I had to ask, they wrote letters back and forth, and certainly step-mother planned for them to marry.
"I wrote to him because mother instructed me to. He seems nice enough on paper, but we have little in common and I have never met him. I cannot throw myself on his mercy." Her gaze stayed on the now empty road.
Inspiration hits at the weirdest times, watching her cry for all she had lost, I knew exactly where she should go. I gestured to Henry. "Get the motorcar, take Charlotte to the manse."
She turned at that, and frowned at me. "You think I should seek counsel with Father Mason?"
I laid a hand on her shoulder. "No, I think you should stay there. Tell him Mrs Mason hired you as housekeeper, to look after him and the house while she is absent."
"Mrs Mason is dead." The frown stayed put between her brows.
The whole village knew that, except for one man who clung to the days before the pandemic. They were both lost, perhaps they could both find their way. "Father Mason is yet to accept that fact. He's a good man, Charlotte. I think you could help each other."
The motorcar stopped next to us, and she stared, her face reflected back at her in the high gloss of the red paint. I hoped she would take my advice, and I didn't realise I had held my breath until she nodded. I let out a deep sigh.
She climbed into the car, staring straight ahead as Henry took the wheel. I hope he resisted the urge to run Elizabeth and Louise over as they wandered the lanes. Their fate was in their own hands now.
Chapter Twenty Five
I sat in the yard for a long time, staring off into the distance, but not seeing anything. Lost in the maze of my own thoughts. Eventually, I found my way out of my reverie, and stuck my head in the kitchen door.
"I'm going for a ride, I need to clear my head."
I wasn't sure if Magda heard me. She sung under her breath as she mixed something in a bowl while simultaneously instructing Alice, who was doing something arcane to a chicken. Alice looked up and waved the large knife in her hand, before grabbing the unfortunate chook by one leg.
I saddled up the patient mare, put my foot in the stirrup, and once settled, we headed across the fields. My mind rioted with all that happened over the last day and night. We took out a nest, but still didn't understand the capabilities of a queen. Her whispered words gnawed at me. Need more, not enough yet.
What would they do with Elizabeth in charge? The shudder ran through my body despite the heat of the summer sun. My actions were a stone thrown into a deep pond and the ripples would reach far and wide. I headed to my favourite glade.
No matter what happened elsewhere in the world, I believed this stand of oak and beech would remain unchanged until the end of time. The trees were ancient. Runes carved in their thick bark had embraced the marks as part of themselves, and added raised layers around them over the decades. With their spreading limbs, they were my sentinels who would watch over me while I calmed the inner turmoil.
The mare nodded in the sun and I drew the katana. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the form. I made each movement precise, my entire focus on controlling my muscles and the weight of the blade in my hand. The tumultuous events of the previous twenty-four hours faded to the background, harmonising my mind with the rustle of leaves and the twitter of birdsong.
Until there came the crack of a twig under a heavy tread, and I spun with my arm extended and opened my eyes. Seth stood before me, a smile on his lips. He held up one hand, holding a pair of sparkling diamante and bead encrusted shoes. He ignored the blade at his neck.
"I wonder if you could help me, miss? I'm looking for the young woman who fits these magical shoes. You see, she quite captivated me last night, but she left my ball in quite a hurry, leaving behind these."
"All you have are a pair of shoes to find her?" I smiled, but kept the blade close to his flesh.
The smile spread wider. From behind his back he withdrew his other hand, clutching the waterfall beaded dress. "She also left behind her dress."
"Given she must be roaming the countryside naked, I would imagine she would be fairly easy to find."
"I would take her naked, in a fine dress, or clothed as a boy." His gaze heated me, and I had to look away. "Dance with me, Ella." He placed the dress and shoes on the ground and held out his hand.
There was no ragtime band here to accompany us, just the sound of nature. "I'll dance with you." I returned his smile and moved my blade, but only to tap the sabre at his side. "Good to see you've learned about wandering around the woods with just a pistol."
He drew his sword and we took our positions for a strange dance. Katana against sabre; two weapons not designed to clash against one another. He wasn't bad with a sword, but it was obvious that like most aristocrats, he had been taught the noble art of fencing. Father taught me to fence as soon as I learned to walk, and I wondered how well matched we would be at that sport with much lighter foils in our hands. My limbs warmed as I thought what favour the winner could demand of the loser. Which reminded me, I hadn't set any forfeit before we began this match.
We stalked each other. Each thrust met with parry, or a turned blade. The sweet noise of steel became a chime through the air. Then his blade ran down mine until the hilts clashed. He reached out and took my hand, pulling me hard against his chest. He threw his sword to the ground, his other hand cupped my neck, and his fingers tangled in my hair as he kissed me. Our tongues danced and parried as fiercely as our blades. This was no gentle act. This was a fierce kiss of a man claiming a woman he desperately wanted.
I pressed myself closer to him and cursed the clothing that separated us. My mind screamed for skin against skin, to know his touch everywhere as he set me alight. My heartbeat became a frantic tattoo against my chest as my knees weakened. How did he wield such magic over my senses?
He pulled back a fraction, his eyes shone as his gaze searched my face. "Marry me, Ella."
My heart clenched even as my stomach somersaulted. I wouldn't deny I had it bad for the duke, and for the first time last night the word love sprang to my mind. But it was so novel and entirely unmapped territory for me. I had just landed on the shore of this unchartered land, and needed time to explore and take my bearings. Seth's touch made my head spin, and rational thought struggled in the maelstrom. I needed to answer before sensation overwhelmed, and my body answered before my brain was prepared.
"No."
"What?" He nearly dropped me, his arms falling from under me for an instant, before he caught me and set me down at arm's length. Confusion furrowed his brow. "So that's it, we're over? You're not even going to give us a chance?" Pain flitted behind his eyes, but he shoved it aside. His jaw tightened.
"Oh, no! I'm not saying that. You just dropped an enormous, life-changing question on me, and I need time. I need to know you first. Every single thing about you." I grinned, licking my lips. Then I dropped the blade and wrapped both hands in the front of his shirt, pulling his head back to mine. His breath whispered over my lips. My toes curled in my boots as I thought about his promise of more explosive evenings to come, this was definitely an area that needed a thorough investigation.
I reached up to him until only a hair's width separated us.
"This," I said, "is only the beginning of our story."
A question from me to you…
I've been asked about the possibility of a sequel. I don't know – what do you think?
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About A. W. Exley
Books and writing have always been an enormous part of my life. I survived school b
y hiding out in the library, with several thousand fictional characters for company. At university, I overcame the boredom of studying accountancy by squeezing in Egyptology papers and learning to read hieroglyphics.
Today, I writes historical novels with a fantasy or steampunk twist. I lives in rural New Zealand surrounded by an assortment of weird and wonderful equines, felines, canine and homicidal chickens.
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