Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“ N o way.”
“Victor please!” I pleaded, pulling on his tailored jacket.
His groan vibrated through his chest before he cringed.
“Why do we need to see her? She gives me the chills. And not in a good way.” He all but shuddered at the thought of her.
“Dorian is harmless. I assure you.” My pleading gaze met his. I needed to turn up the charm. I battered my eyelids, a slight pout to my mouth. I probably looked ridiculous but it was what the girls in my novels did to sway their match in their favour.
Victor eyed me before gritting his teeth., the word fine grating through them.
“Oh Victor!” I gripped his shoulders. “Thank you!”
“Yeah. Yeah. Get in the carriage.” He waved me away. The hint of a smile playing across his face. I tugged at my lace cuff on my sleeve excitedly. Dorian would have the answers I just knew she would.
I tucked the book in my satchel before racing out the front door. An icy feeling ran through me. I turned to see Maaier standing in the hall, silently watching as I turned to leave. Irritation radiating from him even from this distance. I stood frozen to the spot, caught in his gaze. Victor brushed by him. Unphased by Maaier’s stature before taking my arm.
“Come along then. Let’s go visit this extremely odd friend of yours.” He bubbled.
“Sure,” I mumbled, my body feeling like lead as Victor gently pulled me toward the carriage outside. Looking back over my shoulder, Maaier met my gaze once more.
Dorian was outside in the garden as we approached. Tending to her final clippings of the season. Victor had distracted himself with a new study on life he found in Arthur’s personal library for the majority of our journey. I listened as he babbled on but continued to look out the window. What colour were trees? Were they red too? I imagined them as that shade. Almost laughing at how ridiculous it was.
Dorian greeted us warmly, her smile as bright as the sun now high in the sky.
“I had a feeling you would come see me today.” She held my cheeks in her dirt covered hands. Leaves and petals littered her knotted light hair. Light glistened in her eyes, pure joy she rarely sported. Just like the Dorian of old that I loved so dearly.
“I see you brought little old Daisy boy.” She teased a no doubt uncomfortable Victor who shifted behind me. The scent of soil and honey swirled from Dorian, her smile infectious.
“Come. I have a surprise for you.”
Dorian tugged me inside her house. Victor followed closely behind. The smell of dirt eased away, leaving room for something more sweet. More warm and comforting.
“Happy almost birthday!” She sang as she spun us toward her table. In the centre of the old wooden surface sat her gift. A homemade orange cake. The scent alone caused saliva to pool in my mouth, the thin pale icing dripped onto the plate.
“Dori! You shouldn’t have.” My cheeks warmed as Dorian pulled me close.
“I knew you would like it.” She winked, pulling me into her embrace. My chin resting on her bony shoulder.
“Almost birthday?” Victor questioned. I looked at him over Dorian’s shoulder. His perplexed expression sealed with a quirked brow.
“One month and fourteen days until she’s officially a spinster.” Dorian chirped before spinning to face him. “Daisy, be a dear and fetch me some marigolds from my garden.”
“I don’t know what they are, but sure,” He mumbled, shaking his head as he left us be.
Dorian’s expression darkened, her hand outstretched. “Give me the book.” Her fingers curled
“You amaze me.” I retrieved the book.
Dorian stormed toward the door, shouting “Not daffodils, Daisy boy. Marigolds.” To wherever Victor was beyond the entrance.
“Right.” She huffed as she sat down, urging me to do the same.
“You want me to study the book to find out why you are seeing things?”
“Yes.” I pleaded with my eyes.
Dorian cut the cake, nodding as she passed me the plate of delicious dessert. “Fine. But on one condition.”
“And that is?” I said through a mouthful of heavenly cake. The sweetness was like an explosion in my mouth.
“You keep him around. There is something about him I can’t quite figure out.”
I rolled my eyes. Of all the things for her not to know, of course it was Victor. But Dorian would figure that out surely.
My best friend's eyes glazed over. A sure sign she was seeing something beyond. I watched intently as her eyes flickered beneath her now closed eyelids. Her lashes fluttered. Her hands trembled on the table before her. Dorian’s breathing turned sharp and shallow. I watched as she experienced the vision. Just like I always had, with rapt fascination.
She scared the life out of me the first time. I had never forgotten how she looked that day. Haunted and hollow. The face of a girl who seen such a horror she couldn’t shake.
Her eyes snapped open. An annoyed yet infuriated expression marring her face. She mumbled a brief pardon before she stormed from the room.
“They are peonies. You silly fool.” Her tone shrill as she descended the hall.
I frowned at the thought of poor Victor copping the after effects of the vision. Dorian was often terrible to be around after a vision. The scenes often rendered her angry and sometimes violent, though she would never harm anyone. She just throws something in frustration and refuses to speak for days at a time. Whatever she had seen always troubled her deeply. I knew better than to question her. The last memory of the time I had pressed her caused a shudder to run through me.
The book lay on the table between where we had sat. I picked it up cautiously. As if the book were to come to life at any time and devour my hand. I opened to the middle page, the scent of old pages wafted to my nose. A scent I had so long desired and often craved. It was like no other comfort I had experienced. My eyes lingered on the top of the page. The chapter heading branded into my memory.
“The Mark of Death.” sat in curled text. As if someone had written the book themselves like a journal. I read on.
‘Whilst Death doesn’t usually make himself known to his victims until he comes to escort us away to the heavens we desire, there have been noted occasions where a man dressed in all black robes has been sighted watching his souls. As if fascinated by the way a human moves or lives their short life. But Death has oftentimes been said through legend that he is searching through these people for his soul. For the soul who always seems to evade him. The only thing the reaper craves more than death is life.’
The sound of footsteps pounding on the floor sent my frozen heart racing. Why was learning of this death persona having this effect on me? I was frozen to the bone.
“Vespera.” My name called through the hall. In a rush, I threw the book down on my lap.
I looked up to find Victor with petals riddled through his hair, now a matted mess on his head.
I smiled, biting back a laugh.
“You owe me big time for this.” He pointed a finger at me before moving to stand behind me.
Dorian entered not long after Victor’s hands met my shoulders. Her enraged expression fell the anger now replaced by what seemed like grief and hopelessness. The marigold’s dangling from her fingers.
I asked her what was wrong, rising from my chair. She swallowed thickly and pushed me back down.
Dorian’s voice shook as she apologised, sitting back in her chair. Her eyes flicked between me and the man behind me.
“We should go,” Victor said softly, his palm rotating on my shoulder like a caress.
Standing, I swept over to Dorain who was slicing the cake. My lips brushed against her forehead. I slipped the book on her lap.
“Read it when you feel able.”
Dorian’s large eyes met mine, shining with an onslaught of tears that I was certain she would shed when I left. It happened more frequently. Normally she would beg me to stay. To be with her. But today, she was different.
She remained silent as she passed me a plate full of cake slices. Her face now dim as her expression sombered.
“I’ll be back soon okay?” I whispered into her hair, running my hands through the locks of light silk. She nodded as her bottom lip trembled.
Victor watched the interaction, his head tilted to the side. Watching as Dorian took my hands, her eyes pleaded with mine. I wrapped my arms around her thin shoulders. Holding her tightly, I pressed a brief kiss to her petal covered hair.
Whatever it was that she had seen had deeply rattled her. The only question was, what had she seen that had affected her so?