Beastly Beauty

Twenty-Four

Lady Rafe, flinching, trembling, constantly looking behind herself, clutched Lady Espidra’s arm.

“The little wretch. She’s searching for her sisters. Of course she is. We have to find her before she finds them. They’re stronger together, you know they are. They—”

“Stop jabbering, you dolt, and look for her!” Espidra snapped, shaking her off. “She’s probably hidden herself in some dark hole like the filthy little rat that she is.”

Espidra was carrying a silver-topped walking stick; she poked it viciously under furniture and into corners as she spoke.

Rafe, whimpering, looked behind a door. Then she pushed aside a pair of dusty draperies, gulping spasmodically. “It’s all h-h-his fault, the thief’s. I j-j-just know it.”

Espidra’s frown deepened. Rafe was right; the thief had something to do with this. Too much had happened since his arrival—the disappearance of the master key, the child’s sudden liberation—to be mere coincidence.

He’d upset the balance of things in a way that no other visitor to the castle ever had. He disarmed Arabella. Engaged her. Challenged her. His influence would have to be curbed. Permanently. Espidra had given him back his letter, after steaming it open. She hoped the urgency he must be feeling would lead him to do something rash. Something stupid. Like getting himself killed.

Both he and the child were threats to the order Espidra had imposed, and she did not take kindly to threats. She knew that Arabella had long ago stopped wanting things she couldn’t have. Or had she? Was there still some small secret part of her that had not given up?

In the early days, Arabella had yearned for the girl, keeping her always at her side. But then the girl started to come and go, like a beautiful butterfly—here one moment, carried off by the breeze the next—and the days without her were torture for Arabella.

Espidra saw this. She, more than any of the other court ladies, saw her mistress’s torment.

As the years passed, as visitors came to the castle and left it again, the child’s absences grew longer. But no matter how long she stayed away, Arabella always welcomed her back with open arms, covering her with kisses, making her promise that she would never leave. The vicious little liar broke her promises, though, over and over. And when she left, Arabella would lie in her bed for days, facing the wall, refusing to eat or speak.

Espidra was the only one Arabella would allow near her then. She was the one who sat next to Arabella through the long, dark hours, stroking her brow. She was the one who persuaded Arabella that it was better to do without the child than to have her heart broken again and again. It had taken her time to poison Arabella against the child, but once that had been accomplished, it had been easy to persuade her to lock the girl away.

Once she was gone, Espidra had raised up the ladies she favored—Rega, Iglut, and Hesma among them—and had banished the ones she did not.

Espidra and Rafe continued their search now, moving from a music room to a portrait gallery, opening cabinets, ripping sheets off furniture, until they finally found themselves in a corridor with other members of the court.

“The little wretch is not in the north wing. I searched every inch of it,” Iglut said. She sat down on a chair, kicked a slipper off, and rubbed her foot. “I can’t believe you made us search the whole castle, Espidra. I’m exhausted. My back hurts. I’m cold. You have no consideration. None at all. In fact, you—”

“Where are the others?” Espidra demanded, cutting her off.

“LaJoyuse and Sadindi are still searching,” Iglut replied.

“And Rega?”

“She’s in the south wing. I heard furniture breaking, so I didn’t get too close.”

“The girl will find the others before any of you find her!” Espidra shouted, enraged. “She’ll set them free! She won’t stop until she does!”

“Don’t chide us, Espidra,” Hesma shot back. “This is your fault. You should have been more vigilant. More conscientious. You were foolish and lazy. You should have anticipated—”

“Oh, do shut up, Hesma,” Lady Elge said. “Our little escapee is just a foolish child. We’ll find her before too long. There’s no cause for worry.” She smiled, showing a mouthful of crooked teeth. “Let’s keep looking, why don’t we?” she added, leading the others out of the room.

As soon as they were gone, Espidra began poking in corners again. Elge was wrong. There was every cause for worry.

In all the world, there was only one who could best her, only one who could defeat her.

That treacherous wretch of a girl.