Page 45 of Reflections of Silence

“Une souris.” He bowed.

Minette stared. “Monsieur,” she whispered, bobbing, never taking her eyes from him.

I looked between the two of them, but it was as if I wasn’t there, at all. I sent a quick apology toward the house at James, knowing that after this moment, his courtship with Minette may as we never have existed at all. After a moment I coughed and stepped back—right into the water.

Sinking to my knees with a cry, I flapped, swiveling around for anything to grasp. My knees encased in mud, I couldn’t move them, but continued to sink at an alarming rate. Spotting the jetty, I launched towards it, flailing.

My fingertips hit jagged edges of old wood but failed to grip anything substantial. The water closed around my chest when large hands grabbed both my arms and yanked meunceremoniously from the sludge with a disgusting slurping sound.

Mud puddled around me as Dolion deposited me on the jetty.

“Tuck your legs away,” he advised, staring into the swirling sludge.

I slipped my mud-clad feet beneath me, peering into the churning water. A pair of eyes rose from the swirling mess, then another. I stared, knowing what I was seeing but unable to look away.

“Are those?—”

“Yes,” Dolion helped Minette into the boat, murmuring something to her in French that I couldn’t hear.

He held out his hand to me as I rose gingerly, my mud-laden skirts sticking to my legs. Sigh, I hoisted them around my knees, stepping down into the small boat, conscious of the many eyes on us.

“This is safe?” I heard the doubt in my own voice.

Dolion jumped into the boat, rocking it. Water sloshed either side of the too-small craft, and I began to doubt my own sanity at the request to take us where I knew Sebastian would object.

Something beneath the waterline bumped the side of the boat. Minette squeaked, wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her head against my back. My gaze narrowed as Dolion withdrew a long pole encrusted with mud at one end from the side of the jetty.

I glared at the stone man. “That wasn’t necessary.”

“Fun, though.”

“Indeed.”

Silence fell as he lifted the pole. We skimmed across the surface for a time in silence, until light began to filter through the overhanging foliage, a golden glow lancing through long strands of moss that dangled over the water.

The bayou waters stilled around us; a mask of serenity cast over the many eyes that observed our passing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GISELLA

Dolion’s skin changed with the sun’s birth, the stone-like roughness disappearing into his usual, deep golden hues. Minette peered over my shoulder. I was glad he had added pants to his usual attire of nothingness, though I suspected clothes were optional for him.

Occasionally we passed a small, rough hut, situated back into the knot of trees and leaves, propped up on tall, roughhewn stilts as though it had grown there, not been built by human hands. No other boats or people were visible, and for all appearances, we were alone.

Dolion drew us into a short jetty, lifting Minette onto the planking in one hand. The structure looked older than the one at Sebastian’s estate, if such a thing were possible. He turned to me and put a knee out.

“Gisella. We may be friends, but I won’t wear mud for you.”

“Understandable.” I took his hand and launched with one boot from his knee to the jetty, landing with both feet on the solid surface.

Surprised I hadn’t tumbled through a rotten board, I exited the tenuous platform with haste, glad to have my feet on real ground. The forced memory of my time on the ship with Amy that Sebastian had brought back in the swamp witch’s house consumed me until a howl nearby halted my progress.

Minette bumped into me, clutching my sodden dress. Dolion passed us, lifting my maid around me. I raised an eyebrow which he ignored, setting her down between us. I noted how covered in mud she was, and hoped I could buy some fabric to replace her ruined dress.

Dolion tipped his head back and howled. Minette squeaked again, backing into me. I gripped her hand again as a cacophony of answering howls rose around us in a disjointed symphony Dolion alone seemed to understand.

“Is this usual?” I whispered in her ear.

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