The Deepest Night tsd-2

by Shana Abe

  Faces popped into view from behind the bars. Hands reaching up, fingers clawing, palms slapping at the doors. Voices keening, moaning—one man actually barking—all the prisoners feeding on the noise, an awful chorus of desperation bouncing against the barren walls.

  Westcliffe’s feet began to drag. Her skin had blanched, but I …

  Oh, I had seen all this before. I had lived this before.

  I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, tasting blood. There was a sound building up inside me, a hot hopeless pressure inside my throat, but I wasn’t going to moan back to these people. I wasn’t.

  A woman’s hand with dirty, chipped fingernails poked out from a window as my head went by. I ducked out of the way just in time, leaving her fingers to scratch at empty air.

  “Jeannie,” the woman shrieked, now her cheek pressed against the bars, one rolling eye. “At last! Come visit! Jeannie, Jeannie, where have you been all this while? Come visit your mother!”

  “Pay them no mind,” the doctor called from over his shoulder. “Pitiable, of course, but one does grow accustomed to the everyday sights and sounds of their sickness. They’ll quiet after we pass. Er—avoid the cell windows, please. Some of the younger children have a fair reach.”

  “Children,” repeated Westcliffe, still faint, but the good doctor had heard her.

  “Oh, yes,” he enthused. “At Richardson we utilize the most modern medicines and methods for every manner of patient. Weakness of the mind acknowledges no boundaries of age, and I’m pleased to say that neither do we. All who are in need are welcome here.”

  For the right price, I finished silently for him.

  Moor Gate, asylum of the indigent, hadn’t used nearly this much bleach.

  And that wasn’t the only difference, I soon saw. When the doctor unlocked the door to the duke’s cell, I had to stop in place and stare.

  Here, then, was the home part of Richardson Home. Here was the gracious space, the luxurious surroundings, a peer of the realm would expect. There were rugs and tables and chairs, a writing desk, a silk folding screen, and a hulking canopied bed done up in royal blue damask. There were even windows set up high along two walls, letting in the sun past the bars, something I’d never glimpsed once in my year spent in the bowels of Moor Gate.

  A fireplace held a crackling fire—no chill in here—and Reginald, Armand’s father, was seated before it in a smoking jacket with a blanket over his lap and a cup of something in his hands.

  His Grace took in the three of us at his door with an air of mild astonishment. Then he set the cup aside and rose to his feet.

  “Look, my lord,” said the doctor in a chipper tone. “Only look and see who has come to call on you.”

  “Yes,” said the duke. “How kind.”

  Mrs. Westcliffe slid an uncertain step toward him. “Your Grace.”

  “Irene.” A brief smile lifted his lips. For a heartbreaking instant he looked so like his handsome son. “Lovely to see you.”

  She sank into her curtsy, and I copied it. Reginald’s gaze jumped to mine.

  “Miss Jones. I am glad you’ve come.”

  I couldn’t think of a polite response to that—Blimey, I’m not!—so I only nodded.

  “Timothy,” said the duke, sounding abruptly like his old, imperious self, “we’ll need tea. Some of those scones with the currants in them, fresh ones. See to it, old boy.”

  “My lord, I don’t think—”

  “The ladies shall be perfectly fine in my care,” Reginald interrupted. “I can assure you of that.”

  “Yes,” agreed Westcliffe, forceful. “We shall be.”

  “Indubitably true, my dear woman! The Duke of Idylling is a model patient, a paragon of a patient. But I cannot—”

  “Do go,” I said, stepping in front of him, drawing his eyes to me. My voice slipped soft and smooth. “Go and see to the tea in the kitchens yourself.”

  There is another drákon Gift I’ve not mentioned yet, and like all the others, it’s one I hadn’t mastered in the least. Occasionally—rarely—I was able to induce people to do what I wanted simply by darkening the tenor of my voice. There were times I tried it and failed miserably; I ended up sounding like nothing more than a cheap fortune-teller at a carnival sideshow.

  But this time it worked. I hadn’t even meant to attempt it, but it had happened, and it worked.

  The duke’s physician offered me a few more squinty blinks, but they were slower now. Baffled.

  “Yes. I’ll … go to the kitchens.…”

  “Splendid,” said His Grace.

  I let them reunite with my back to them, hands clasped before me, studying the curtains that draped so stylishly from the canopy of the bed.

  I pretended I didn’t hear them at all.

  I pretended I didn’t hear the moans that still ricocheted down the hallway past the open door, and the woman weeping, “Jeannie, my Jeannie,” from behind the walls of her cell.

  “And now, Irene, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to Miss Jones.”

  I turned around. They were seated a nice proper distance from each other, the fire glowing between them.

  Westcliffe pursed her mouth.

  “Privately,” added the duke.

  “Well … I …”

  I looked at her. I said nothing.

  “Certainly.” She stood and went to the door. “I’ll wait here for the doctor to return, shall I?”

  I approached the empty chair. The duke lifted a hand to it—and there was Armand in him again, sweeping a hand at me in the forest to inspect the hole he’d dug.

  I settled gingerly against the cushions. The heat from the fire caressed the left side of my face and lit the right side of his, highlighting the deep hollow of his cheek, the sallow skin. Reddish glints danced in his lank brown hair.

  “I know what you are,” Reginald said quietly.

  I froze, then made myself relax back and cross my ankles.

  His Grace had never seen me as a dragon. Not only that, but Armand’s drákon blood had come from his mother’s side, and even she hadn’t known what she was. She’d died not knowing, so I didn’t see how Reginald suddenly could.

  “Oh?” I murmured.

  “Yes, Miss Jones. I do.”

  “If you mean that I am the very grateful recipient of your scholarship to Iverson, Your Grace, you are absolutely correct.”

  “Oh, you’re that as well. Indeed you are. But you’re far more than meets the eye, Miss Jones. Armand sees it, too, though he won’t speak of it. You are something … dangerous.”

  “Hardly.” I forced a stiff smile. “Just an ordinary girl.”

  “No, Eleanore. No. You’ve been sent here. Sent to me, sent to Armand. And now I am going to send you to Aubrey.”

  I let out a huff of surprise, but he wasn’t smiling back or even looking especially barmy. The lines of his face were drawn serious, his brown eyes glittering.

  I leaned in close so Westcliffe wouldn’t overhear.

  “Reginald, Aubrey is dead. Your eldest son is dead. His plane was shot down by the Germans this spring. Remember?”

  “That’s what we were told. That’s what the telegrams said.”

  “Yes.”

  “But the telegrams were wrong. They were all wrong, because Aubrey is alive. And you’re the beast that’s going to bring him back to me.”

  The beast.

  A chill prickled my skin, creeping over me despite the fire. Reginald never released me from his dreadful gaze.

  “That’s what he told me. That it will be up to you. Smoke-thing, winged-thing. Monster within.”

  “What?” I managed.

  “The boy in the stars. He speaks to me in my dreams, you know. Tells me things. You will be the one to find Aubrey. You must find him!”

  I’d risen from the chair. I hadn’t meant to, but like my voice changing, it had just happened, and now Westcliffe was watching us and the duke’s fragile grip on his composure was beginning to crumble.

/>   “Tell me you will!”

  I licked my dry lips. “Your Grace, I’m sorry, but I have no notion what—”

  “Do not lie to me, miss!” he thundered, leaping to his feet to tower over me, because all at once he was very tall, and I was very much not. He clapped his hands on my upper arms and gave me a wicked shake. “Do not lie, thing! I’ll not have it!”

  “Reginald!” Westcliffe was moving toward us, her skirts black wings flapping. “Reginald!”

  Everything seemed to slow. Westcliffe was slow, and the duke was slow, but one of his hands was clamped right on my injury and it hurt, so I cried out with my knees buckling and my own hand coming up to pry apart his fingers—

  And then Armand was there. Right there behind Westcliffe. Past her, and Reginald was pushed off me and Armand stood between us nearly as tall as his father, his fists knotted into the duke’s satin lapels.

  I stumbled back, knocked into the chair. Westcliffe caught me up and released me at once, both of us panting.

  “Don’t you hurt her!” Armand snarled. “Ever! Do you hear me?”

  “I—I had to tell her—”

  “You never hurt her, never again!” He shoved his father back, and Reginald didn’t fight it, didn’t do anything but sort of deflate, all the heat and anger and glittery conviction vanished, leaving him empty as a sack. He sagged back into his chair.

  “Good God.” He lifted a hand to his face, hiding his eyes. “Good God, no. I—I—I’m …”

  None of us moved. Beside me, Westcliffe stood brittle as glass. Armand had his back to us both, broad and tensed, his fists still clenched. He radiated menace.

  A random wild thought came to me, burrowed in: Here is the beast. Here he is.

  My arm lifted. I touched my palm to his shoulder blade, and even with his shirt and jacket between us, I felt an electric, snapping shock.

  “Armand. Mandy. I’m unharmed.”

  He rolled his shoulders to shuck me off, then threw me an unreadable glance.

  “My lord,” pleaded Westcliffe, her words trembling. “Lord Sherborne. He meant no ill.”

  “No,” the duke was muttering. “No, no, no …”

  Armand dropped to his knees before his father, bracing both hands against the arms of the chair to pin him in.

  “Reg. Listen to me. Are you listening?”

  “Yes …”

  “I’ve received news. A wire from the prime minister. I drove straight here as soon as I got it. It’s—it’s tremendous, wonderful news.” Armand’s voice was rough with emotion; he let out a shaky breath. “Aubrey is alive. He didn’t die. Dad, he’s alive.”

  The duke lifted his head. His hair had fallen forward and his cheeks were mottled. He flicked back the hair, scowled at his son, and brushed both hands down his crushed lapels.

  “That is precisely what I’ve been saying,” he announced peevishly. “Aubrey is alive and captured. And this thing here, this beast named Eleanore, is going to be the one who flies there and brings him home.”

  Like a puppet yanked upright by a single jerk of its strings, Armand was standing, staggering a few steps toward me. Our eyes locked. I didn’t know if my expression mirrored his, but I knew my insides did: disbelief, smothered guilt.

  That cold, budding fear.

  He looked from me to his father to Westcliffe, who had both hands knuckled against her mouth and really, truly appeared as if she might keel over.

  Armand tipped back his head and pinched his fingers over his eyes—just like his father had done. “Where the deuce is that wretched doctor, anyway?”

  “Kitchens,” I whispered. “Sorry.”

  Chapter 4

  There was no taking tea after that. There was a great deal of fussing from the doctor when he finally showed up, and Mrs. Westcliffe attempting valiantly to pull herself together, and Armand hanging back by me, ensuring that he stood between the duke and me no matter which of us moved.

  More doctors arrived, some nurses, everyone exclaiming over the news about Aubrey and worrying over Reginald’s “mild fit.” The tea service His Grace’s personal physician had carried into the cell sat forgotten on the side table by the door.

  I edged closer to it. I snatched a biscuit from a plate when no one was watching and ate it in one bite.

  Almost no one had been watching.

  “Shortbread,” noted Armand, and grabbed two more. “How reassuringly orthodox.” He handed me one, broke the other absently into pieces in his hand. His face was still strained and white.

  “Don’t destroy it.” I wiped at my lips. “Give it to me if you don’t want it.”

  His palm opened. The biscuit had gone to crumbs.

  “You’re bleeding,” he said quietly. “Your arm. The wound. I can smell the blood.”

  Of course he could. Dragon senses, supernaturally sharp. I could smell it, too, but my sleeve was loose enough that so far the blood didn’t show.

  I kept my voice as low as his. “It’s fine. Don’t say anything.”

  “Lora, it needs attention.”

  “Yes. Back at the school. First thing.”

  His mouth tightened. “Look—”

  “I’m not going to let these people touch me,” I whispered, vehement. “I’m not going to their medical chamber and I’m not letting them remove my blouse and I’m not letting them lay a finger on me, I don’t care if my arm festers and falls off, so kindly shut up.”

  Mrs. Westcliffe had recovered enough to notice us standing there, our heads together, my heated cheeks. She began to approach.

  “Only if you come to me tonight,” Armand said swiftly. “At Tranquility.”

  “Fine!”

  “Lord Sherborne—” the headmistress began.

  “No,” he cut in at once, turning to her. “I’m merely Lord Armand again.”

  She stopped before us, blinking. “Oh—yes! Forgive me. Lord Sherborne is—that is, I’m so pleased that your brother has regained his—er …” She flattened a hand against the base of her throat, then tried again. “Lord Armand, I fear our visit has overtaxed your father. Miss Jones and I should leave.”

  He gave her a short bow. “Allow me to drive you back to the school, ma’am.”

  Westcliffe and I exchanged a look; whatever our differences, we both knew how Armand drove. “A most chivalrous offer, my lord, but we couldn’t possibly—”

  “I insist. It’ll be faster than the train, and I could use the companionship.”

  ”Oh,” she said again, defeated, and summoned a smile. “Why, then, we accept. Naturally.”

  Outside the madhouse, back in the cool May air and a lemony, waning light, the lawn a sheared carpet spread before us, I waited for him to hand Westcliffe into the front seat of the auto before muttering, “The train has chocolates.”

  “Surely my company is sweet enough,” he muttered in return, and helped me up into the high, uncomfortable backseat.

  Armand’s motorcars tended to be roofless and very, very fast. We weren’t dressed for a drive in the open air, so his lordship had politely presented his duster to Mrs. Westcliffe, who had sense enough to accept it. I had her wrap and mine around me, but the wind was relentless, and the dust from passing horses and carriages even more so.

  Armand needed the driving goggles to see; Westcliffe and I squinted at the land flying by, the outskirts of Bath swiftly unspooling into fields of grain and flocks of sheep, dogs and hedges and farmhouses.

  It was quicker than the train. And it was noisy enough that I didn’t have to endure any uncomfortable questions from Westcliffe (yet), or even worry about holding up my end of a conversation. We’d have to shout to be heard, me most of all, and I had no doubt about how the headmistress of the Iverson School for Girls would feel about that.

  Automobiles clearly had not been designed with ladylike sensibilities in mind.

  So I sat back and held on to the strap fixed to the door, trying not to slide around too much, studying the sunset to our right, the intense red and pink of t
he clouds, thin streaky lines drawn just above the horizon. The stars beginning to kindle against the fading blue.

  Jesse, are you up there somewhere? Do you visit Reginald in his dreams, but not me?

  I swiped at my eyes with my free hand, smearing tears and grit.

  The auto slowed, slowed, then rolled to a halt at the side of the road. Armand pulled the brake, and Mrs. Westcliffe twisted to face him inquiringly. Her black hair looked frosted in dust.

  “I think perhaps we’ll pay a call on Dr. Hembry in the village before going all the way to the castle,” he said to her.

  “Oh?”

  “I believe Miss Jones has reinjured her arm.”

  They both looked back at me, and I looked down. The seam of my fitted white cuff had a wet, growing stain, crimson as the clouds.

  He waited for her in his bedroom.

  He would have chosen another room, but this was the only place in all the mansion he could be certain a servant wouldn’t enter without his express permission first. And it was the only place Eleanore had ever visited him before.

  As smoke. As her true self.

  Armand paced a circle from one end of the Turkish rug to the other, examining his surroundings for the hundredth time: the bed crisp and tidy, the cushions on the chairs straight, his dinner tray already taken away—minus the dessert he’d requested but kept for her. He’d already pulled all the curtains safely closed. A wineglass had been left on his desk, a gleam of Bordeaux at the bottom. He paused by it, uncertain. Should he have finished that? Should he have saved the bottle to offer her some? Did she even like wine?

  It seemed incredibly, deeply stupid that he didn’t know.

  But then the fire in the hearth popped and the log fell apart in a splendor of sparks, and Mandy found his gaze tugged to that and his regrets about the wine falling and dying with the light.

  He resumed pacing.

  The room was large and sparsely furnished. Years ago, because it’d been easy and because he could, he’d picked what furniture he’d liked from Tranquility’s other chambers and hauled them up, piece by piece, to his own. Aubrey’d thought it funny and Reginald had been too drunk to notice—all this time, and Mandy was fairly certain he still hadn’t sobered up enough to notice—so nothing matched, but that was fine.