Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Genevieve was trapped in the dark. She panted, panicked, as her heart thundered in her ears.
Elspeth wasn’t in the dark—she couldn’t find her, couldn’t see even the faintest glimmer of light.
She fumbled over the dirt floor, felt along rough brick for any egress.
There was a door, a door—but no knob. She scrabbled at the closed door, trying to wedge her fingers into any crack to pry it open, tearing her gloves.
It hurt to swallow. The sides of her neck, her wrists, her shoulders throbbed.
Choking back a sob, she renewed her struggle as her arms trembled with effort.
She had to get the door open. She had to get out.
Then, from the dark—
“I do admire your tenacity, Genevieve. You never give up, do you?”
Hands seized her shoulders.
Sheer terror stopped her heart.
Genevieve tried to tear herself away from the grip, away from the fangs in her neck—
“Genevieve. Wake, dear heart.”
She opened her eyes with a violent start, recoiling away from the voice that called her.
Fear electrified her—so much so that she thought she felt the phantom hammering of her long-still heart.
Light bloomed. Kendrick replaced the glass on the lamp and sat back against the headboard.
Genevieve pressed a hand to her chest. There was no sound there.
She was not trapped in a grimy, lightless hole with her captor. She was here, with Kendrick. Her husband. She swallowed and pressed her hands to her face.
“Another nightmare?” Kendrick asked quietly.
She nodded. “It’s as though now I am finally allowing myself to be frightened of all that happened.”
“I don’t think it’s all that surprising that bad memories are surfacing, given Evangeline’s similar experience,” Kendrick said carefully.
Genevieve swallowed. “That must be it.” Apologetically, she said, “It feels so silly once I wake.”
“No, it isn’t.” Kendrick gathered her into his arms, holding her against his chest. She rested her head against his chest and sighed.
It had been nearly a week since they had circulated a five-thousand-pound reward among the inhabitants of the London Ossuary and its environs, asking for the location of or information related to the capture of Laurent.
While all remained alert, the active search had been put on hold for more important matters—solidifying their new rulership in the Ossuary and addressing the Ossuary’s long-ignored issues.
“No one is trying to kill you anymore,” Genevieve pointed out. “We’re winning people over with our works projects to clean out, furnish, and make the Ossuary livable. Those who dislike our changes aren’t resorting to Laurent’s brand of malice. He’s not a threat.”
“He’s not a political threat,” Kendrick corrected her.
“He’s not smart enough to hold the position of Ossuary rulership for himself.
But he is a threat to vampires with less power than he, and to humans he encounters, because he covets the latitude to exert control over others with impunity.
That’s what he liked so much about Rupert.
And he obtains that control through pain and fear and meanness.
So yes. He is a threat. And we will find him and deal with him as he deserves. ”
Genevieve held back a shudder, remembering the terror. “I’ve never understood how anyone could revel in callousness to such an extent.”
“Grendel hated the sound of harps.”
Genevieve lifted her head from his shoulder. “What?”
“Grendel attacked the Hall of Heorot because he hated the sound of the harps.”
Genevieve nodded in understanding. Laurent would lash out in a whirlwind of fury, simply because what they stood for enraged him.
She just wished the dreams and the scraps of memory from her time before her death would stop. Her grip tightened on Kendrick.
“Would a kiss help?” he asked in a voice like smoke.
She looked up at him through her lashes. “I don’t think it would hurt.”
His smile made the room take on a glow, just like the lamp.
He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers, sweetly.
A shiver traveled through Genevieve, but not one of fear this time.
Of delight. She reveled in the feeling of his beard against her cheek and against her palm, which she brought up to cup his jaw.
She had not realized how much she would like kissing. She had grown quite fond of it over the last week.
His hands traveled down her back and then lifted her into his lap. “This is better,” he said in a low voice.
“For what?” she asked, her voice thready.
“This.” He kissed her, his lips stroking across her own, coaxing them open. “Mmm.”
Mmm, Genevieve thought in return as he sipped at her lips, keeping the slow, drugging kisses sweet. Her toes curled in response.
Since their wedding, they had shared a bed and blood, but nothing more.
Genevieve liked the closeness of falling into dreams beside him—wanted it, in fact, because he made her feel brave enough to fall into dreams where she might meet some of her worst fears, and safe enough to go into his arms upon waking.
After the second such dream, Kendrick had offered to give her a knife to put under her pillow if it would make her feel more secure.
“Then I might stab you!” she had objected.
“Not unless your aim is much better than everyone else who has tried,” he had said, unconcerned.
“Oh, don’t tease!”
He never pressured her—only inquired if she was hungry at the close of the evening.
He always made it a point to feed while he was out, so she could feed from him.
He had said nothing more of them making their bond a real marriage.
But sometimes she thought about what it might be like, like tonight when tingles traveled all the way down to her toes and to other places.
She liked his strong arms about her. Liked his kisses more.
His kisses eventually relaxed her enough that the pull of the sun overhead, outside their darkened and protected bedchamber, was enough to make her drowsy once more.
“Sleepy?” he murmured in a rough voice.
“Mm-hmm.”
He blew out the lamp and slid them both under the coverlet again, her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair, careful of her neck, which still made her start if he touched it without warning.
They lay in the dark for a time before Genevieve lifted her head and asked, “Do you think having a group of vampires making lace will undercut human lacemakers?”
Silence.
“Is that what you were thinking about all this time?” he asked, sounding highly amused. “And here I thought I might have put some other thoughts in your head.”
“Well, I was worrying about it before we fell asleep. It seemed like a good way for some of the women in the Ossuary to earn a living if we provide them with the materials, like I did with Elspeth. But will we be undercutting the human market by selling less expensive lace?”
“Not if you’re inventing your own patterns. And you’re keeping humans from losing their eyesight to the lace.”
“All right. Thank you.” Genevieve relaxed and set her head back on his shoulder. After a moment, she added, “And you did put some other thoughts in my head. I’m…contemplating.”
“Mull those thoughts over as long as you like, my heart’s gleam,” Kendrick said. She could feel him smiling against her hair. “I’m just glad to know they’re there.”
Kendrick smiled in the dark as Genevieve relaxed into sleep. Being married agreed with him more than he’d ever imagined.
Every night before uhta, just before sunrise, they would return to Carmine House after their long night’s work and, after assuring themselves of the household’s comfort and safety, they would go to bed.
Nothing had happened in their bed yet except kissing, but every night, Genevieve fed from him before they surrendered to slumber.
Kendrick did not think any other pleasure could compare to knowing his wife was safe and well-fed and happy.
Kendrick stroked his hand over her hair again. She was happy now that she could finally throw herself into the changes for which she had longed for years, but she also pushed herself too hard. She needed her rest.
Genevieve had taken the bit in her teeth this week, beginning a census of the vampire population, evaluating who still had an active master bond and what was the health of the relationship.
Her rationale was that this would then allow them to set up committees for training young, newly turned vampires to control their urges, as well as connect makers with mentors and oversight.
Dominic had volunteered to provide some names he thought would be interested in mentoring, and Elspeth had begun working with Evangeline, making notes of what she and Genevieve had had to learn on their own.
Knowing where people resided would also be crucial if portions of the Ossuary were deemed unsafe and the inhabitants would need to be rehoused.
It would also allow them to take the temperature, as it was, of the vampires in London and which of them were dancing a little too close to the line of madness.
Kendrick had lifted the restrictions on the comings and goings of those who resided in the Ossuary and was brainstorming with Etienne what kind of focused efforts could be enacted to bring people back.
Every evening at dusk, they woke and dressed, taking some time to meet with the human members of Carmine House—of which there were more besides just Fletcher now.
Kendrick and Genevieve had gone to her friend Sally Blevins and offered her the housekeeper position at Carmine House, a paid position with rooms for herself and her children.
When Genevieve had hesitantly said that there were a few key conditions of the employment, Sally had said, “Miss Dryden—you could be holding bloomin’ orgies in the back garden, and I’d come keep house for you.”
“We are not going to be doing anything of the sort,” Genevieve had said firmly. “But it is rather…troublesome.” She had taken a deep breath and explained.
Kendrick had watched the woman’s face as Genevieve had laid the situation before her, and he had been inwardly impressed at how well she’d taken the news.
“Glory be,” Sally muttered. “Well, I always knew there was something a mite odd that a woman like you would be willing to look after the wee ones, but only after dark.” She sat and thought a moment. “So I’d run the house during the daylight?”
“Yes, and we are in the process of finding someone to manage the nights, so you would have all your evenings free. We would also ensure that Peter and Hannah had their own rooms and provide the food and clothing and salary for the human members of the household,” Genevieve said.
“Actually, one of our friends was a cook in her former life, and she is thrilled for the chance to make food people will actually eat again. Your position will be housekeeper, and you will be compensated accordingly. There have been…bad practices in the past. We want no one tempted to fall into old patterns. This is going to be a new start for everyone, and we begin as we mean to go on.”
Kendrick stirred. “And we have promised to keep you and the children safe. You have my word on it, ma’am. If at any point you feel unsafe or pestered by anyone, human or vampire, you have only to tell us, and we will take care of the matter.”
“Coo,” Sally said, blinking rapidly at Kendrick. “I can see why you married him, missus.” She had even blushed as Kendrick had smiled.
In the end, Sally had accepted the position, and they had moved her and the children into Carmine House without delay.
Fletcher had been delighted to have the younger children follow him and Wulfric around like ducklings, and Genevieve had informed Sally if she knew of anyone who would like a daytime maid or footman position who could be trusted, they would consider interviewing them, but until that time, Fletcher was ready and more than willing to run errands or do any small tasks that she might need.
Watching Genevieve interact with the humans, Kendrick believed his supposition about vampires and humans was right.
Genevieve did need her human circle just as much as she needed to make the Ossuary habitable.
He noticed it especially when vampires arrived at the cellar door, hat in hand for a petition or a hearing from their rulers, and they ushered them through the kitchen—which had quickly become the heart of the human portion of the house—on the way to the library to hear their requests.
And he could not deny that it made the house feel like a home, to have children’s footraces in the long back hallways and the smell of cookery in the kitchen.
So, every sunset when they woke, Genevieve listened to the children relay the goings-on of their day and spoke with Sally about the running of the house. Often the children would request a chapter of Sigestan as they ate their dinner.
He was always happy to oblige.
Houses becoming homes. The solitary settled into families. Small changes—but more to come. To show the Ossuary a better way to be.