by Unknown
Virginie started running back to the castle as if all the demons in the world were after her and Kalaan took off after her, calling her name. If he had been a man, he could have caught up with her in no time, but in Catherine’s skin and clothes, it was impossible! The volume and length of her dress hindered the movement of her legs and her high-heeled boots prevented her from running without twisting an ankle.
The husky ran ahead so he commanded the dog to stop the young woman, but rather than follow her, Skedaddle turned off onto a track that led straight to the village.
“Skedaddle, come here!” Kalaan shouted, but he was wasting his breath.
“Catherine!” his mother called out to him as he reached her and Isabelle.
They both stopped in their tracks, highly disconcerted by the sight of an extremely upset Virginie racing past them as if she hadn’t seen them.
“What happened? Did you tell her everything?” Isabelle asked, pale with worry.
“No, but she saw the blood on my dress and shoes, and when I took her hand something incredible happened.”
“What blood?” Amélie asked, as her trembling hands went straight to her heart in horror. Oh! What a blunder! Kalaan admonished himself for letting that out.
“The sheep, mother. I will explain everything later, but for now the two of you should return to the castle. I must find Virginie as quickly as possible.”
“Come, mother.” Isabelle took Amélie, who was very distressed, by the arm and led her back home.
Kalaan entered the castle by the French windows and went through the sitting room, into the hall and up the stairs to Virginie’s room, but she wasn’t there. He searched the building from top to bottom, and asked all the servants if they had seen the young marchioness, but the answer was always negative. So, he left and went back towards the longhouse hoping she’d thought to find him back there, him, Kalaan as the man he wouldn’t be for another hour or so.
On the way, just as he passed an old, condemned well, he heard Clovis call out to him. And the butler’s words petrified him.
“Monsieur? My lord? Is that you?”
Clovis was standing behind Kalaan who closed his eyes and breathed deeply to calm down before turning to face the old butler’s sharp eyes.
“Yes, it is indeed you, in the appearance of a woman.” Clovis murmured.
“You’re imagining things my friend!” Kalaan tried to make light of the situation, by exaggerating his falsetto voice and batting his eyelashes.
“Your secret is safe with me, Monsieur. I am now and always have been on your side, as I was with your father before you. You speak and act in the same manner as he does, because you are he. You are Kalaan Phoebus, Count of Croz.”
“Yes, I am,” the young man sighed as he ran his hand through his disheveled hair. “But if you tell anyone, I’ll…”
“Cut out my tongue and feed it to the pigs? Yes, I know all your threats, for having heard them hundreds of times ever since you were knee high to a grasshopper.”
“Clovis!” Kalaan protested with a whine in his voice and pouting at the old man.
“But that, that pout is something new. I must admit I prefer you as a man.” The butler grumbled and turned his head to avoid having to watch Kalaan simper.
“How did you find out, by the way? Did my crew tell you? Did one of them spill the beans after emptying the barrels of chouchenn[67] at Rachel’s Inn?”
“No, I have eyes in my head ears to hear and my mind is as sharp as ever, my lord!” Clovis answered indignantly. “Maden never had a cousin, so there was never a Catherine either to visit the isle. Diogenes was the name of your first dog, you know all the servants’ names and you slap me on the shoulder just as you always have. You are just as arrogant and rude as ever; and I would like to add you were not nice with Madame Amélie that first meal, eating with your hands and…”
“Clovis,” growled Kalaan, stamping his foot with impatience.
“Please, let me finish Monsieur! Oh yes, and there was the statue of the Holy Virgin. Only the Croz family knows it holds brandy, one of your father’s jokes. It often made you laugh when you were a child. Then, your gloves at night and the mark on your hand during the day and the husky that you subdued as only Kalaan can do. He follows you everywhere, be you Catherine or the count. Your appearance is of no importance to him. He recognizes you either way. The other evening I was in the entrance hall, but you didn’t notice me. And watching you go out into the night fog with the dog at your heels, I knew you were Kalaan.”
“You would make an excellent policeman, Clovis.” Kalaan congratulated him admiringly.
“My lord, I am lucky to have been born into a family of druids. I know quite a bit about magic. That’s what this is, isn’t it? You are under a spell, right? An evil spell?”
“I beg your pardon?”Kalaan couldn’t believe his ears!
Clovis was savoring the moment and even dared to laugh at his master’s bewilderment.“I may have been in your family’s service since my childhood, but one thing not many people know is that I am Jaouen’s brother.”
“I need a drink!”
“I should never have turned my back on the druid religion. I could have understood what happened and been able to help you sooner. I have lost the gift of seeing auras. But I still sense things and know when something is not as it should be.”
“Very well Clovis. So, please help me find the Marchioness of Macy. She is in great danger. We must also keep an eye on Darius, for he is a nefarious being!”
“Yes Monsieur! I thought as much Monsieur!”
Kalaan turned away shaking his head in surprise, but happy to have a new ally at his side. He continued on his way to the longhouse but, before he got too far, asked over his shoulder, “You wouldn’t by any chance have a remedy for curses, would you? Because your brother is proving to be quite useless when it comes to finding a potion that will free me from this one.”
“No, my lord. I only know how to make good herbal teas.” Clovis replied chuckling. As soon as Catherine-Kalaan was out of sight he continued in a kind voice, “You may come out from your hiding place now, Mademoiselle Virginie.”
In response he heard a little squeak and a sniffle. Then, from behind the well, the young and lovely marchioness appeared, in a sorry state. Her clothing was wrinkled and mud-stained, her long disheveled copper hair was flowing free around her shoulders, her nose was red from being rubbed and her eyes were stained with tears.
“Clovis, you knew I was there?” When she finally spoke it was a relief for the old man who feared she suffered an emotional shock. “Am I insane?”
“Yes, mademoiselle, I knew and I felt it would be good to learn the truth together. And no, neither of us is crazy,” he added smiling with some familiarity as he handed her a handkerchief, which she used to wipe her face and blow her nose loudly.
“That scallywag had no need of a curse to alienate people. ‘Tis innate in him. It is time for you to join him at the longhouse, and if I might suggest, you would do well to make him suffer a little. Give him a good fright, as he did you. Bring the rascal down a notch or two, if you see what I mean.”
“You can be sure I will do just that,” Virginie replied, and she started walking in direction of the longhouse, unsteadily at first. Then as she recovered her spirits, little by little her pace increased and she felt anger rise inside her. She clenched her fists and began striding towards the longhouse. Blast that man! She was going to make him pay!
Chapter 18
Retribution
As Virginie arrived at the longhouse she came face to face with Catherine who was just leaving. They stood there gazing at each other for a moment Virginie, raging with anger and Catherine, gratefully reassured to have finally found Virginie.
“Ginny!” Catherine exclaimed in her high-pitched voice. She tried to embrace her friend.
“Not here, inside!” Virginie spoke harshly while gracefully avoiding Catherine’s arms and entered the house.
Catherine, somewhat unsettled by the young woman’s tone, frowned, then quickly looked around and followed her inside, closing the door behind her. Virginie was standing across the room by the fireplace, with her back to the door. Her long copper hair was flowing freely down her back towards the floor. When she leaned over to pick up a log from a wicker basket nearby and throw it into the fire a myriad of sparks went flying.
“Ginny! You’ll ruin your dress!” Catherine exclaimed taking a step forward.
“No more than it already is,” she replied, crossing her arms, with her back still to Catherine.
Catherine stopped and shook her head. She decided it was preferable to use gentle tactics to try to appease Virginie, who, far from being in shock as she expected was instead very tense and angered. Catherine wanted to understand why.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you with all that blood on my clothing,” she said in a low, soft voice.
Virginie showed no sign of reacting to her friend’s attempt, and remained motionless in front of the fire as the dancing flames lit her hair, turning it to gold.
Catherine continued, “It was a sheep, Ginny. The blood belonged to an animal, no man died.”
“Nevertheless, there was a death.” She answered coldly. “You tried to hide what really happened from me, didn’t you?”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” Catherine took another step forward.
“Don’t play innocent with me! I know everything.” Virginie’s words struck Catherine with full force and her heart skipped a beat.
“What do you know?” she asked, holding her breath.
Virginie, her back still to Catherine, smiled and decided the time had come to teach Kalaan a good lesson, if it really was him, in the form of a woman. She still found it hard to believe and yet there were all the similarities and the conversation she’d overheard between Clovis and the ‘cousin.’ She simply had to know for certain and to do that she had to get him back to the wall and carefully outwit him.
“I know that Kalaan told you about our conversation concerning Darius Borgas. He wanted you to know everything, most likely to help protect me.”
“And? Go on.”
“You now know that this man is a murderer. The sheep… all that blood… Is that how poor Georges Maltinard left this world?”
“Yes,” Catherine replied, almost inaudibly. “But you needn’t...” She wanted to continue, but Virginie stopped her with a movement of her hand.
“Stay where you are!” she ordered before taking a deep breath and turning to look at her, with her beautiful blue-gray eyes.
Catherine was disturbed by the quiet strength and self-assurance Virginie seemed to have. Something was different with her; all her fear seemed to have disappeared. Although Catherine preferred to see her friend this way, she could tell something was not quite right. A little alarm bell was going off in her head.
“Catherine, I want you to disobey Kalaan and keep a good distance between you and Darius, because… I care too much for you and don’t want to lose you as well,” confessed the young marchioness, nervously clasping her hands.
“Oh, I do too,” murmured Catherine, who was trying to understand what Virginie really wanted to say.
“Not because I see you as a friend,” Virginie insisted, “But because I love you.”
The wildcat suddenly turned white, blinked and her jaw dropped in astonishment. He — that is to say Catherine – must have looked absolutely ridiculous, but then, given the situation, how could she not?
“What did you just say?” she whined, not recognizing her voice, which was much shriller than usual.
Virginie clicked her tongue in irritation. “If you keep interrupting me it will be difficult to tell you everything! Catherine,” she continued, stressing each word. “I love you and I am hopelessly attracted to you! I realize that now and I don’t want to hide my feelings anymore, nor my yearning for you.”
“You… you… love Catherine?” she almost barked the question, clenching her fists. Her sister’s words, spoken the night they watched over Virginie came back to her.
That was when the marchioness of Macy confessed to Isabelle her attraction for the second cousin! But what about him? What about their night of lovemaking?
“There you go again!” Virginie said impatiently, hiding her pleasure at seeing Catherine-Kalaan react so strongly. She continued to pretend she was irate. “Yes, I love you and I want to shout it from the rooftops for the rest of my days! And if I’m telling you now, ‘tis because I know you have the same feelings for me. How could it be otherwise? We quiver whenever we touch. Our bodies come alive and burn with a special fire when we barely brush against each other. Like earlier today, when you took my hand, you cannot deny it! I know it shook you as much as it did me. There was a wave of raw desire that swept through both of us.”
“Ginny!” Catherine protested. The young woman’s words were so heart wrenching, she wanted to plug her ears.
Where did he, the count, stand in all this? Apparently indifferent to the torment she was causing, Virginie continued her confession, with feverish passion.
“I know I love you, especially now that I have made love… with your cousin.”
“What?” Catherine almost suffocated with the murderous rage she felt growing inside her.
Virginie couldn’t help but notice this, but felt she had to play this game through to the bitter end.
“You mustn’t be hurt that I gave myself to him! It won’t happen again, I swear. But doing it helped me understand one very important thing, that you are the only person in the world for me! Oh, yes... a woman can love another with great passion... I am living proof, my Catherine... my lady pirate.”
Suddenly, seeing the anger in Catherine’s beautiful face, Virginie was afraid she might have gone too far.
“If I understand properly, you are saying that you slept with me… with Kalaan, just to be sure of your feelings for... Blast it all!”
Virginie jumped at this violent outburst. She had obviously gone past the point of no return and was now in the danger zone. The wildcat had turned into a true fury! Despite the uncomfortable atmosphere, Virginie didn’t show her fear, and adopted an attitude of instead acted repentant.
“Please, my dearest, don’t be angry. Your reaction moves me and it comforts me to know I was not mistaken. We are bound together,” she murmured softly, all the while holding back her nervous laughter.
Catherine was suffocating with anger or frustration and could not find anything to say. Virginie continued courageously and slowly walked towards her, swaying her hips provocatively. Now was the time to going for the kill.
“Kiss me, Catherine,” she whispered languidly. “I’m dying to feel your hands on my skin, your warm sensual lips on mine. Teach me how to make love to a woman.”
“You want me to show you? Just you wait and I’ll show you!” Catherine spouted. What she really wanted to do was to give Virginie a good kick in the rear end.
Virginie, seeing the wildcat jump in her direction, let out a little scream and ran to the other side of the table. Heavens! This little game of hers had gone too far and she realized it now. She only wanted to teach Kalaan a lesson, but was it really him? Because, if it wasn’t, she’d just made a fool of herself and would have to face the wrath of Catherine! Don’t worry, given his reaction, it’s definitely him, a little voice in her head told her.
“In other words, Kalaan was simply a dalliance, is that what you’re saying?” Catherine shouted, running around the table, trying unsuccessfully to catch Virginie who was far more agile.
“I assure you my love; it’s nothing to swoon over!”
“Arghh!” Catherine shouted again and lifting her petticoats, jumped on the bench then onto the tabletop and finally jumped on Virginie, who, completely overwhelmed by the situation, giggled nervously.
She barely managed to avoid Catherine, letting out a little scream, but a second later couldn’t avoid the casca
de of lace on her petticoats, tripped on them and fell flat on her face.
“Ouch!”she gasped as she landed, nose to the floor and Catherine lying on top of her almost crushing her, making it difficult to breathe.
Thinking she might have hurt Ginny, Catherine rolled over without completely letting go and asked,“Did I hurt you?”
“Oh, my love, you could never hurt me.” Virginie lied, gritting her teeth through the pain. She thought she might have two or three broken ribs.
“Ahhhh!” Catherine shrieked, hitting the floor with her fist. “I am not…!”
Virginie took advantage of Catherine’s distress and sudden silence at almost admitting the truth, to roll over and sit up holding her side. She slowly started to breathe normally again and the pain dissipated. She couldn’t hold Kalaan’s reaction against him. She had pushed him to the limit and probably would have reacted the same way had the roles been reversed.
“You are…?” she asked, encouragingly, sincerely hopeful.
Catherine sat up too, though not as gracefully, legs sticking out from under her skirt and hands flat on the floor.
“You’ll learn soon enough,” she said under her breath, a bitter smile forming on her face. Looking out the window, she could see the evening darkness drawing in. The next minute she smiled maliciously and whispered, “In a few minutes it will be night, ma kariadez, and then you will learn what it is to be in the arms of a woman.”
Kalaan was doubly cursed! First, he had to put up with being a young lady during the day, and second, his soulmate had fallen in love with that abomination!
He suddenly felt broken, destroyed, empty— Virginie was like all the other women he’d encountered one day or had in his bed. They were all liars and frivolous creatures. Imagine, she hadn’t hesitated to give him her virginity only to be sure that she didn’t find him attractive, that it was really Catherine she wanted! Kalaan was furious. She wanted her ‘lady pirate?’ She was going to get her!