Chapter Thirteen
MINA
I thought about the painting and its fate throughout my trip back to Paris. A vampire-free trip, thanks to Marius, but one still fraught with fears and anxieties.
“Repeat after me,” Marius insisted before I left him to report back to my godfather. “I will not get involved in any of Gordon’s deals.”
“I will not get involved in any of Gordon’s deals,” I echoed sullenly.
“I will not do any favors for him, no matter how innocent they seem,” Marius went on.
I echoed that too, partly through gritted teeth.
Marius was right, but I hated the situation.
Really hated it to the point that it consumed me.
I wanted to find a buyer for The Tower of Blue Horses — someone who would do the right thing.
I wanted to trust my godfather again. I wanted to live my life without worrying about criminals, vampires, and unseen enemies.
On the plus side, seeing the painting made me feel closer to my father. We’d always been close, but he hadn’t lived long enough for us to talk as adults. Now, an entire conversation played out in my soul. A dialogue about art, ownership, and sharing, as well as principles, risk, and responsibility.
My father, I knew, would urge me to act on principle and make sure that painting found its way into good hands.
My mother would tell me principles didn’t pay bills and that I could find plenty of responsibility closer to home — like at the chateau.
Mom and Marius won out. I reported to Gordon and hopped on a train to Burgundy the very next morning. The same familiar landscape blurred by, and many of the same thoughts occupied my mind.
Marius escorted me all the way home, but he turned around and headed back to Paris after a short, private powwow with Roux and Bene.
He was hell-bent on hunting down Szabo and Etienne, or whoever had sent the threatening message with the photo.
His plans for returning to the chateau were vague, though.
So vague, I worried he might never return.
He didn’t even accept a ride to the nearest train station. Not from me, at least. Roux drove him.
“Seriously?” I gaped, seeing him off at the front steps.
“It’s better this way,” Marius said, a little hoarsely.
Better in what way? I wanted to scream.
I thought he might leave without a further word, but he cupped my face and kissed me, soft as a whisper, hinting at deep — and deeply hidden — emotions.
When Roux revved the van in a none-too-subtle hint, it took everything I had not to cling to Marius. But a meek little groupie, I was not. I could be strong when I wanted.
I just chose not to at that particular moment.
Please don’t go, I nearly begged, though I managed to croak, “See you soon?” instead.
The hesitation before his nod killed me.
“As soon as possible,” was all he said, making me really want to cling to him.
When he drew away, I closed my eyes, listening to his shoes scuff over the stairs, then the van door shutting.
I listened for a long time after the sound of wheels over gravel faded.
Then I stepped inside without risking so much as a glance down the driveway.
If I did, I might be tempted to run after him, and there was no dignity in that.
“Coffee?” Bene offered quietly.
I sighed and looked around the vast entrance hallway. The carpet runner up the center of the stairs was torn and faded. The massive chandelier was made up of hundreds of crystals, and each desperately needed cleaning. The ceiling molding was just as dingy, and that was thirty feet up.
I started calculating the price of scaffolding, cleaning, and new carpeting, but just thinking about it made me despair.
“Coffee and cake?” Bene tried, doing his best to cheer me.
My heart wasn’t in it, but hey. Cake was good for the soul, and my soul definitely needed it.
* * *
“So, how was Paris?” Bene asked, taking the seat opposite mine in the drawing room.
I took in the peaceful, leafy view out the huge rear windows, so different from any scene in London or Paris.
“Fine.” I sipped my coffee. “Gordon sends his regards.”
Bene snorted. “He did not.”
No, but it seemed like the polite thing to say.
I looked around. “Where’s Henrik?”
He shrugged. “No sign of him since…er…”
“Since he attacked me?” I filled in, then grunted, not all politely, “Good.”
Bene smiled, but his eyes didn’t sparkle with humor the way they usually did. We spent the next few minutes in silence — silence so profound, it practically echoed through the empty rooms of the chateau.
Minutes later, I sighed and spoke my mind. “I liked it better when you were all here.”
He nodded quietly. “I liked it better too.”
As we lapsed back into silence, I rued the decisions I’d made. Did I really want to kick Bene, Roux, and Marius out of the chateau? Or should I accept reality, host the police championships, and move on with my life?
I found myself clenching my fists, telling myself to fight like hell for the man I loved — and for my friends. They’d always come through for me when it really counted, but they had a way of letting me down when it came to countless smaller things.
My mood changed gears. Clem, in contrast, brought me cake, tore up parking tickets, and generally treated me like a goddess. Wasn’t friendship a better foundation for a strong relationship than raw passion?
I sighed again. Maybe if I focused on renovations for a few days, things would fall into place. I just hoped they wouldn’t plunge into an abyss.
“More coffee?” Bene offered.
“Please.” I set my mug in front of him.
The morning had been chilly, so I’d started with my hoodie zipped tight. As the coffee warmed me up, I unzipped the hoodie a few inches.
Bene glanced up briefly, then did a double take, splattering coffee over the table as he stared at my neck.
Crap. Had Marius given me a hickey that night we’d gotten all hot and heavy in Paris?
“Dammit,” he muttered, grabbing a napkin to blot the spill, though he peeked at me several more times.
I zipped my sweatshirt high and hid behind my coffee cup.
Bene gulped down his own refill, then stood abruptly. “Gotta go, sorry. Work calls.”
I watched him go, unsettled. Bene only ever rushed to meals. What had gotten into him?
I touched my neck, then shook my head and finished my own coffee. I had a chateau to fix, and progress wouldn’t be made sitting around feeling sorry for myself.
* * *
I walked around the house, reviewing where I’d left off on various tasks.
I started in the ballroom, where I was sure I’d only scraped paint from two of the floor-to-ceiling windows and stripped wallpaper from one corner.
But I found all five windows scraped, sanded, and primed, along with two walls free of wallpaper.
I continued upstairs, where I’d tested how time-consuming it would be to remove hopelessly outdated bathroom tiles. And, oh. The walls were bare. Two big boxes stood in a corner, one with rubble, another with carefully stacked tiles and remnants.
Wow. Roux and Bene hadn’t been lazing around while I’d been away.
Next, I wandered through the dining room, where I’d fought an ongoing battle to keep the area free of half-filled mugs, dirty plates, and used silverware. Now, it was spotless.
I swallowed hard, looking around.
Madame Picard had left a dinner of coq au vin, and Roux, Bene, and I shared it that evening in silence. They kept peeking at my neck, and I kept cursing the hickey Marius had given me. I hadn’t been able to spot it in a mirror, but I could feel the warmth emanating from it.
We sat in the dining room, a vast, empty space that crowded in from every direction, all the more so when I pictured eating alone once everyone moved out. Was that really what I wanted?
“Thank you,” I murmured at some point. “For the ballroom. For the bathroom tiles. For everything.”
Roux kept his eyes on his plate. Bene shrugged. “Must have been the house elves.”
Ha. Lion- and tiger-size house elves, no doubt.
“Well, the elves accomplished a lot, and I’m grateful.”
Bene looked at Roux, who nodded.
“The elves were wondering what to do next — more wallpaper or the other bathrooms?” Bene asked.
Guilt washed over me. Did I really want to terminate our contact early and get them in trouble?
My voice was a little shaky when I replied. “Either would be great. Thank you.”
Roux nodded silently, then motioned to Bene. “Pass the pepper.”
Bene huffed. “I’ll tell Madame Picard.”
Roux’s eyes took on an offended glow. “Pass the goddamn pepper.” He snatched it from Bene’s hand, then muttered, “If you tell Madame Picard, I’ll kill you.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or groan. A girl ought to watch what she wished for.
A week passed without a word from Marius — and not a lot of words from Bene or Roux either.
Leaving the ballroom to them, I took measurements for new fixtures in the upstairs bathrooms. Sunlight streamed through the windows in the adjoining room — Marius’s room, technically — drawing me toward it.
I gazed out, catching a glimpse of a tiger moving smoothly across the lawn before blending into the shadows of the forest.
I looked the other way, spotting a lion sunning himself on the patio. With a faint smile, I looked into the sky, half expecting to see a dragon.
Then I frowned, and my heart ached, because Marius was gone.
I stood there for a long time, thinking about him. Us. The Tower of Blue Horses. Wishing I could take action — any action — on any of those things.
Then I looked around, despairing at all the work awaiting me. This was just one room in a huge chateau. How would I ever get it all done?
My eyes caught on the wall beside one window — a big, blank space perfect for a painting. Like The Tower of Blue Horses, for example. But who was I kidding?