“Rosa, are you sure you are all right?” Vera sat her down and put a cup of tea in her hands.
“I’ll be fine. I need to wake up a bit, but I will get it together. I’m a little off with the faeries is all.” Rosa smiled encouragingly. Don’t think of the faeries, Rosa prompted herself as the Queen’s laughter rolled through her troubled mind.
“Stay down here and help Vera out,” Cecily said, patting her arm uneasily, unsure of how to comfort her. “I’ll get Julie to assist me with the rooms today.”
Rosa spent the day trying not to hurt herself or get in everyone else’s way. She sliced her fingers twice while chopping vegetables, her soufflés would not rise, and her pies would’ve been burnt if Vera hadn’t saved them in the nick of time. She cleaned the kitchen because Vera wouldn’t trust her with the cooking after that. She couldn’t ruin anything important if she held a scrubbing brush and not a spoon.
The cuts in hands stung as she scrubbed the flecked marble benches with lemon juice and bicarbonate soda. She tried to help organize the serving dishes and ended up dropping a crystal urn, smashing it to a thousand pieces on the tiles.
Rosa couldn’t remember a day this bad in the kitchens since her first days at culinary school when she dropped a plate of soup on an instructor. That was the day the other students starting calling her Nigella, the name annoying her until it became an everyday endearment.
That evening, Rosa watched from the kitchen windows as expensive cars parked and elegantly dressed men and women were escorted into the house.
“Okay, Rosamund, I need you to go find Cecily and let her know everything is ready when she is,” Vera instructed, “and then go home and go to bed. You have been hopeless today. I know something is bothering you so work it out. Tomorrow is a new day.”
The party was being held in the large dining rooms on the south side of the third floor. Music was vibrating through the walls accompanied by laughter and the clinking of glasses. The guests had already gone in, so Rosa took the opportunity to signal to Art, one of the waiters to get his attention. He held up one finger in her direction as Lily and Pearl came to take drinks off his tray.
They looked like stunning birds of prey. Lily was dressed in a deep red silk that set off her dark coloring and Pearl was in gray and silver. With uncanny bad luck, they looked up and saw her in her disheveled and exhausted state. Pearl said something to Lily, and they laughed before turning back to their guests.
Art hurried over, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, tell Cecily that downstairs is ready when Eli is. There were no extra girls, so I had to come find her.”
“Okay, I will let her know. Get out of here, Rosa. You look dead on your feet.” He smiled encouragingly before disappearing back into the rooms.
Rosa hurried down the corridors and was about to step into the passages when she changed her mind and headed for the empty rooms in the northern wing. The noise of the party was a distant murmur, and Rosa let her first quiet of the day envelope her.
She sat on a bench chair at the end of the four-poster bed and stared at the painting of Balthasar Senior. She’d read the final letter to Jane over and over again. That their relationship ended with a death and not a wedding was too heartbreaking. Rosa buried her head in her hands.
“Rough day?” a voice asked.
“You could say that,” she replied with a flinch.
Rosa looked sideways through her fingers at Balthasar standing in the doorway, dressed in a well-cut suit and dark blue shirt. He sat down on the chair next to her, and she caught the scent of his aftershave. He smelled as good as he looked, which did not help her in the slightest. For some reason, she wanted to hug him and have him tell her she was going to be all right. You really are starting to lose it, Rosamund.
“Can I ask what you are doing all the way back here?” he asked softly.
“Hiding. Thought that was obvious.” Rosa pulled her hair out of its tie and ran her hands through it irritably. “What are you doing back here?”
“Hiding as well, for the most part,” he admitted as his eyes followed her movements. “I heard Lily and Pearl sniggering, and I saw you looked upset.”
“Why do you care if I’m upset?” Rosa asked defensively. “I’m a servant and a pretty rubbish one at that. I have messed up more times today than I can remember.”
She didn’t know why she was even admitting that or why she sounded so defensive. Balthasar was the only one who had been polite to her, after all. She thought of their late night sandwiches and swore softly.
“I’m…I’m sorry. Really. I have had the worst day on next to no sleep. I tend to turn into a bit of bitch when I don’t get my eight hours. Eli’s book gave me crazy nightmares and being back in this place is bringing up a lot of things I’d rather not remember.” She glanced once more at the picture, “He looks a lot like you, you know?”
“I have been told.”
“You are surrounded by all of these family portraits all the time. Do you ever wonder what they were like? What kind of lives they had?”
Balthasar looked up at the picture, his eyes going sad for a moment, “There is a lot of history in this house. Sometimes, I feel trapped by the ghosts in it.”
“I know the feeling,” Rosa muttered. “The Wylts have always served the Vanes, it is our honor, and it is our duty.”
“That sounds very final, and as I said the other night, rather untrue. Where did you hear it anyway?” Balthasar asked curiously.
“It was something that was drummed into me when I was a kid. It doesn’t matter now,” she said as she got back to her feet. “You really should get back to the party. You’re the one hosting it after all.”
“Lily and Eli will do the job admirably. Pearl has already disappeared to make sure things are run with precision. I’m hoping Saul can stop himself from getting into trouble, even if it’s only for one night,” Balthasar said as they walked back into the hallway. “Are you sure you are going to be all right?”
“Better than all right. I get to go home and go to bed, but you have to go and be charming to people you don’t seem to like,” she grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m sure you can manage it.”
“I’ll try. You have a pleasant evening, Miss Wylt.”
Rosa ducked back into the passageway, shutting the door behind her. She never thought she would find herself liking a Vane, but maybe she and Balthasar could end up being friends one day. She hurried back down the stairs and was about to open the door to the kitchen when she heard Pearl and Cecily’s voices.
“This is an important night, slave. I don’t want to see any sight of that daughter of yours upstairs again. Do you hear me?” Pearl demanded. Rosa watched her standing over Cecily through the crack in the door. One long white finger was pointing in her face as her other hand gripped her mother’s shoulder. Rosa’s hands tightened into angry fists.
“Yes, Lady Pearl, I promise,” Cecily answered in a distant voice that held none of its usual fire.
“Good, that girl is causing enough problems as it is, let alone embarrassing us in front of our friends.”
“Yes, Lady Pearl, I understand. Is there any other way I can serve you?”
“Well, now that you mention it, don’t scream.”
Rosa watched in horror as Pearl’s beautiful face twisted, her mouth opening. Her sharp white teeth lengthened before sinking into the folds of Cecily’s soft neck. Rosa put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming, tears running down her face. When Pearl was done, Cecily brought out a handkerchief and dabbed at Pearl’s plump lips.
“Thank you, Cecily,” she said, her eyes turning from a dark red to their natural pale gray. “Now, you are going to forget I was here and that you ever saw me. You are not to tell Eli even if he asks you. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, Lady Pearl, I promise.”
“Good,” Pearl said, releasing the grip on her shoulder. “Now carry that tray of refreshments upstairs. They were running out.”
Rosa watched them leave before she scrambled out of the passage, through the kitchen, and out the back door.
The freezing air battered her as she ran across the lawn, her mind crashing around her. Dogs were barking in the distance, and she ran faster. She slammed and bolted the gate behind her before she tripped on the wet flagstones.
“Oh God, oh God,” Rosa muttered as she climbed back to her feet, pulled the house key from under the mat and tried to keep her fingers from shaking as she pushed the key into the lock. Something rustled in the garden, and she looked around, ready to fight off monsters. There wasn’t anything there, but the dark garden sparked a memory.
A few days beforehand, Balthasar had put his hand on her shoulder when he warned her about the dogs in the same manner that Pearl had done with her mother. Rosa pulled out her necklace, gripping it tightly. The way he had looked at it…
“Damn it! Come on,” Rosa hurried again with the key, getting it right this time and she pushed her way inside. She slid the dead bolts shut and braced herself against the wall to stop herself from falling over. She was pale and shaking in the reflection of the hall mirror. The gypsy’s words came flooding back to her; it is not called Blood Lake for nothing.
Did her mother know what was happening to her? Did she know what they were? Rosa looked at the pendant, studying the face and angel wings around it. The gypsy had said it would protect her. She found her phone and tried not to cry in frustration as the internet took forever to load. She searched through pages of symbols of protection from every race she could think of until she found it. It was a six-winged seraph that in Judaic texts, protected the throne of God and were one of the highest choirs of angels. Whatever it did, it stopped the Vanes from brainwashing her, and she wasn’t going to go anywhere without it.
Rosa got in the shower and scrubbed herself trying to wash away the revulsion she was feeling. She climbed out when the water went cold and pulled her heavy robe around her. She felt like she couldn’t get warm enough as she banked her fire high and lit it.
Through her window she could see the lights shining from the upstairs rooms, people dancing and laughing through the curtains. Unexpectedly, she looked down at the leather bound book on her bedside table. The prince in the story had drunk the Queen’s blood, and he had escaped into this world.
“Get it together, it’s just a story,” Rosa said out loud, gripping her head. Until she had seen Pearl tonight, she would have told you that vampires were a story too.
The Wylts have always served the Vanes. Had they known what they had been serving this whole time? She thought of the chests upstairs. If they did know, there was only one way to find out. As she was changing into her pajamas, her eyes locked onto the portraits. Rosa sat down on the floor and tried to fight air into her lungs as Balthasar’s steady gaze looked back at her. The man she had been dreaming about was not as dead as she had thought.
***
Lily closed her eyes as Pearl brushed out her long, dark hair. It was a small thing that her progeny liked to do for her. Pearl was not the most affectionate of people, but she always treated Lily as if she was made of glass, as if she was the precious one in the family.
“What are you thinking about?” Lily asked, “I can feel that something is annoying you.”
“Of course I’m annoyed, how can you be so calm?” Pearl sat down on the seat next to her. “Blackfox got sloppy and far too bold. What a waste of time he was!”
“It’s a setback, but he did not betray us before my brother took his head. Lucky for us, my darling, otherwise he would be taking ours right now.” Lily took her hand and kissed it. “You are young and impatient.”
“I also love you and want to see you sitting in your rightful place. Balthasar is not interested in the crown. It would suit him poorly. Eli needs to stop looking at Balthasar as an heir only because he has a cock. You were born a noble, Lily, in a time when it meant something.”
At times, Lily had regretted telling Pearl about her royal blood, but she had needed a confidant after being alone for so long. She had told her of how Eli had saved her from a brutal raping during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and how he had raised her as a daughter before finally turning her. She was his first-born, and for hundreds of years, all they had was each other. She was his only and most beloved daughter.
“You forget Balthasar was also born noble,” Lily pointed out.
“The Medicis were bankers. Being rich is not the same as nobility. He was an unknown bastard who got lucky.” Pearl clenched her white fists. “I don’t like that Eli overlooked you as soon as he found Balthasar.”
“And I love you for being so defensive of me,” Lily touched her cheek. “Blackfox failed us, but we can make other allies to remove my brother. He is usually his worst enemy, and he has a shaky relationship with Eli at best. We will work this out.”
“What about the girl?” Pearl asked, innocently twirling the bracelet on her wrist. “Could we use Rosa to get him out of favor?”
“I don’t think he’s interested. God, I haven’t seen him interested in anyone for two hundred years. The last one was too traumatic,” Lily said, feeling an old ache in her chest that she had thought long gone. Jane.
“Ha! I saw them walking together the other afternoon. I have never seen him look at someone like that.”
“He was probably just being polite to her,” Lily said irritably. “She’s a Wylt, off limits even to him. They are important to Eli and Balthasar liked her father. If you touch a Wylt, even I couldn’t save you from their wrath. You would be signing your death warrant.”
Pearl smiled innocently. “Who said we would have to touch her?”
***
Rosa spent the night trying to find the oldest recollections by her family. How had they come to serve the Vanes anyway? Had they known what they were? There was so much stuff in the cramped attic that she had given in to her exhaustion and gone to bed. She couldn’t handle another sleepless night.
Once again, she dreamed of Balthasar. She was not afraid in the dream. He’d never made her feel afraid. Then the dream changed to Pearl standing over Cecily’s dead body, her white dressed streaked with blood as she laughed.
The Wylts have always served the Vanes. They have always been good to us. It is an honor. Her father’s words were running over and over like a tune in the back of her mind. She dreamt of playing in Eli’s library as he drank blood from a glass and told her stories of faraway kingdoms. She wasn’t afraid of what he was, her childish heart enjoying his attention.
Rosa woke in the morning feeling calmer but still determined to find out the truth. From the random notes scattered throughout journals, the Vanes had always treated the Wylts well, not so much a part of the servant class but friends who chose to work for them. They had also known exactly what the Vanes were, which were Unseelie princes who had created a family for themselves in a new world using old magic.
Rosa found the whole agreement between the families confusing. Why the Wylts? Rosa had not been the only one that had been sent away to be educated either. They had always returned to Gwaed Lyn and decided to stay. The Vanes had never let anything bad happen to them. So why was Pearl hurting her mother? Cecily had always respected Eli Vane immensely, so why was he allowing it? Maybe he doesn’t know, she thought as she stood in the kitchen watching the procession of cars disappearing in the early morning light.
There would be a hell of a mess upstairs to clean up, and if Cecily were unwell, she would be relying on Rosa. Could she tell her mother what she had seen? Their relationship wasn’t close enough to have the trust needed for Cecily to believe her. Rosa straightened. If her mother looked the least bit poorly again, then she would go straight to Eli and tell him what she had seen. She’d threaten to expose them all if it was what was needed to get Pearl to stop.
Rosa made sure her necklace was tucked out of sight before she stepped out into the morning. She was passing through the line of oaks when she spotted Balthasar at the front of the
house engaged in seeing guests off in the cars. He looked her way and waved shyly. Rosa turned her head away quickly, her face burning. She walked faster, almost knocking Jenny over in her desperation to get out of sight. The knowledge that he was the same man who had written such beautiful letters, that had loved and grieved so deeply, was enough to make Rosa want to crawl into a dark corner and hide. She’d been crushing on him without even realizing it. He had caught her staring longingly at his portrait the night before. How could she ever face him again?
“Morning!” she said all too happily. “Sorting the mess upstairs today are we? Excellent.” She smiled at Belinda. “Cleaning stuff is upstairs?”
“Ah, yes. Are you okay this morning?” Belinda asked.
“Super. I had a great night’s sleep. All keen to get into it.” She hurried up the stairs in the passageways, doing her best not to hear any voices in the hallways. She checked both ways for any Vanes before hurrying out and down to the ballroom. Cecily was clearing dishes off the tables and placing them into a large plastic tub.
“Morning Rosa,” she said and smiled nervously when Rosa kissed her cheek. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Ready for the day,” she reassured. “Here, let me fix your collar.” Rosa pretended to be straightening her hair from under her dress as she searched for a bite mark. There was nothing, just the light shade of a bruise. “What’s on the agenda today?”
“We need to clean this ballroom of last night’s party, then start plans on how we are going to decorate it for the ball in a few weeks.”
“A ball! I didn’t think people still had those, even rich people.” Rosa took the tub from her, walking behind Cecily as she filled it. They stacked them neatly near the doors so that the other servants could collect them for cleaning.
Cecily asked her about London, studying, her friends and life in general. Rosa tried to be open for once and not angry with her. She remembered loving her mother when she was a child. She used to be like her shadow and never wanted to apart from her. That was what made the betrayal of being sent away so much worse. What had happened after Dad had died? If the trip to Gwaed Lyn provided her with nothing else, that was the one question she wanted an answer to.
Wylt: Book One The Blood Lake Chronicles Page 8