Page 104 of Tales of a Monstrous Heart
Canthorp’s mouth fell open, Lovell looked stunned and Lord Percy considered me as nothing more than an insect beneath his boot.
‘I assumed that was why you stopped providing provisions for Paxton Fields? With the moving of the borderlands?’ I pushed further than I knew was smart, just enjoying his eyes narrowing.
‘I see everyone had the same idea,’ Lord Fairfax announced, breaking the tension as he approached slowly, his leg seeming to pain him as he joined our gathering. ‘You’ve fallen right back into step with society, Lord Blackthorn. We feared we’d lost you to your investigations forever.’
‘It must be exhausting chasing the same ghosts and finding nothing,’ Lord Percy drawled, anger still simmering in his gaze.
‘You should be chasing women, not ghosts. I’m sure the ladies have missed a bachelor as strapping as yourself, Blackthorn.’ Canthorp laughed, his nervous gaze flicking in my direction.
I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Thankfully a servant stepped forward to disrupt the odious conversation.
‘My lord,’ he said, dropping into an overly low bow, holding out a letter. ‘A message for you.’
The deep burgundy letter caught my eye, the wax seal holding a golden hue. The same that Emrys had received that first day when he’d shown me the study.
I wanted to catch Emrys’s reaction, but something passed over Lord Percy’s expression that stopped me as he reached out to take it from the servant, quickly stuffing it into hispocket as Canthorp continued to witter, drawing most of the gathering’s attention to him, even the horrid Lord Percy’s.
‘Don’t stare too hard, they’ll know you know something,’ came a whisper to my ear. It was Thean at my other side, smiling around the rim of another glass of wine.
Suspicious that they knew what was going on and who the letter was from, I turned to give them my full attention.
‘I thought you were looking for a drink?’ I asked under my breath.
‘I got distracted.’ They shrugged, ‘besides, it appears you’re the entertainment.’
There was a sharpness to their gaze as it focused on something beyond me. I turned to see Emrys watching us both, his expression guarded, and I had a strange feeling I was in the centre of a very different game. Emrys’s energy brushing my skin like tendrils of icy smoke with his annoyance, as if I’d caused some great disturbance within him.
Thankfully, a bell rang, and a servant announced that dinner was served.
‘Come, Miss Woodrow.’ Thean held out their arm, proclaiming too loudly for me to refuse as I slipped my own into theirs. Their head ducked ever so slightly to whisper in my ear. ‘Let us see how monsters entertain themselves.’
Chapter Thirty
I was wrong when I thought the ruins of Fairfax Manor held my worst nightmares. This dinner was another one. There was no William and no Alma to reassure me.
Emrys was across from me, but it felt like a world away. Especially when his mask of indifference had slipped into place, a tightness to his lips that told me he’d rather be anywhere else but here. My finger ran over small holes in the discolured white tablecloth as the candlelight cut through the chipped crystal glasses.
I’d put us in this situation, and I was still struggling to see how we were going to get out of it.
Emrys’s familiarity with the people at this table was another concern. Despite his reclusive lifestyle, I’d forgotten his position before the wars. I suppose I’d convinced myself it didn’t matter. I’d learnt long ago there was a duality to this world.
Good people did bad things for better outcomes, but would I be so forgiving if it wasn’t Emrys?
‘How delighted we are to have your company for a whole evening, Lord Blackthorn.’ One of the older ladies seated close to Emrys grinned. With her modest red ballgown, with ears adorned with fey sapphires from the eastlands and over-powdered grey hair. ‘What blessed creatures we must be.’
The table began to laugh, an air of amusement I found sinister.
‘How blessed indeed.’ Smiled Lady Lovell, who was sat next to Emrys, leaning forward to take his arm with familiarity.
I kept my expression blank, conscious of Thean’s amusement from a few places away, as they sipped another wine and reclined impolitely – ignoring the old man next to them.
I let my gaze fall on my silverware as the soup was served, only to instantly regret that decision. The silver was intricately decorated, but the handles were bright white, glistening like stone, but I could see the different hues. They were made from bone. Valeks were the only creatures whose skeletons were stained by their magic. The fracture marks through the bone like expensive marble, adding to their sacred nature, and here they were using them as decoration.
Repulsion rolled through me as I glanced next to me to see the mortal man in that seat had a normal set of cutlery, and so did the one the other side. It was a game, and I’d been foolish enough not to anticipate it.
Making me eat with the bones of monsters they deemed me no better than.
Torments from Daunton came back to me vividly. How my food would burn my tongue with excess salt, my cutlery blunted to make me seem like an animal. So thirsty I’d have no choice but to drink the sour water they gave me.
