Chapter 27
JACOB
MAIER MANOR
Ipace the outer fence of the Maier manor as the sun sets and the lights in the house flicker to life, glowing like eyes pocked along the walls. He’s in there, Doctor Wissen, wooing Ella and probably solidifying his marriage proposal. I grasp my sword’s hilt tighter.
“I’m going to kill him,” I tell Wilhelm. “Murdering scoundrel.”
“We don’t know that he murdered his wives. If he’s truly a Forbidden—”
“He is. I saw the mark. It was faint, but when the light hit his neck, I could see it.”
“Then we’ll get his story and get rid of him the proper way,” Wilhelm says, then mutters under his breath, “If proper is what you’d call it. Come on. I’m starving for supper.”
Wilhelm has a point. I can’t prove he killed his wives, but something is wrong about him. I can feel it in my gut.
“Give me a piece of paper,” I demand. “And a quill.”
“Why must I be the responsible one? You should’ve brought your own writing kit.”
“Hurry.”
Sighing, Wilhelm digs through his satchel, withdrawing the parchment, quill, and ink. I scribble a note for Ella.
Ella,
We need to talk. It’s about the matter that concerned you last night. Meet me tonight. You know where and when.
Yours
I pause. Is it wise to write my name? I glance at the windows on the upper floor. They’re dark, so the dinner party must still be underway. I decide to keep it blank and fold it up.
“You’re going to meet her again?” Wilhelm chortles. “Truly, you’re smitten.”
I glower at him. “Go home and get yourself some food. I’m going to give this to their cook. Ella trusts her.”
“Fine, but if you get caught, I’m not coming to rescue you this time.”
I duck under the fence. A motion to my right catches my attention, onyx wings taking flight. It’s one of those ravens. Knowing my luck, they work for Dr. Wissen and are on their way to warn him. I withdraw my sword, steel disrupting the silence, and take off again.
As I round the garden hedges, sounds of laughter and talking escape from an open window.
My stomach twists. They’re having far too good a time.
Perhaps Wissen is a warlock and is bewitching Ella.
Shoving those thoughts aside, I steal along the stone walls until I come to the servants’ door and slip inside.
I creep down the hallway, following the scent of food until I reach the kitchen, bright and warm from the fire crackling happily in the hearth. At the table sits a plump, rosy-cheeked woman, humming a tune as she picks beans from their pods.
Before she can scream, I press a gloved hand over her mouth and hold up the letter.
“I need to ask you a favor,” I say, then slowly release my hand. “Give this to Ella. It’s important she gets it tonight. Can you do that for me?”
“You sneak in here like a thief and ask me for favors?” She snorts and continues cracking pea pods. “A lot of nerve you have.”
“More like desperation. Ella can’t marry Wissen. I need to warn her.”
Her hands freeze. I’ve gotten her attention. She eyes the letter. Noises erupt from the hallway, the clattering sound of footsteps.
“She will pay for tonight’s dinner!” a voice screeches. “No one crosses me. No one!”
“Hide!” the cook tells me, snatching my letter and tucking it into her pocket. “Under the table!”
A quick glance tells me there are only two ways out.
The door where the voices are coming from or the window that my shoulders will never fit through.
I scramble under the table while the cook slides the crate of potatoes and a basket of onions to hide me, so I’m firmly huddled up like the idiot I seem to have become.
At least Wilhelm isn’t here to see me and laugh.
The kitchen door bangs open. Peeking through the thin space between the potatoes and onions, I watch Frau von Maier swoop into the room, wearing a flowing gown of silver, hefting a plate in one hand and a knife in the other.
“How dare you?” she screeches, her hand gripping the knife as if she’s ready to use it on the cook. “Here I provide a job for you. I keep you over all the other servants I’ve let go, and this is what you give me in return! The most shameful dinner ever served in the land.”
The mistress drops the plate. It shatters across the wooden floor along with a roast, potatoes, and peas. Apparently, she didn’t like the dinner.
“I’m sorry, mistress.” The cook’s voice trembles. “I’ll make you another meal right away, that’s right. Just real quick-like.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Frau von Maier says with a growl.
Her lips snarl, and she raises her knife. Frantic, I go to push out of my hiding space and defend the cook, but Ella bursts into the room.
“No!” Ella screams, grabbing the mistress’s arm. “Please, leave her alone. This is my fault. I ruined the meal. She didn’t do anything.”
Frau von Maier slams the knife, point down, into the wooden table beside her so it remains upright. It wavers from the impact. I debate whether to reveal myself or wait and assess the situation. Wilhelm would tell me to wait.
“You will leave this house this instant,” Frau von Maier tells the cook. “A cook who cannot manage her kitchen is no cook of mine.”
“I’m sorry, Ella dear,” the cook says, her voice choked.
“No, it’s I who should be sorry.” Ella presses a hand to her mouth as if to hold back a sob. Tears trickle down her cheeks. “I should never have brought you into this.”
“Get out now or I’ll have one of the men haul you out,” Frau von Maier orders.
“Yes, mistress.” The cook shuffles across the kitchen, grabs her cloak hanging on the door peg, and leaves.
I clench my fists. There must be something I can do rather than hiding like a spineless toad. Yet coming out could ruin Ella’s reputation, so I remain where I’m at, seething.
“You!” The stepmother wags a thin finger at Ella.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done. You think you can outwit me?
You’re wrong. First, you can start by cleaning up this dish.
” She points to the broken plate on the floor.
“Then you’ll clean all the dinner dishes and scrub the pots.
From now on, you’ll take over the cook’s responsibilities.
And tonight, I won’t have you keeping me up all night with your wailing.
I’m moving your sleeping quarters to the room in the turret.
Maybe then I’ll finally get some peace.”
With that, she storms out of the kitchen, screaming for the servants to follow her to Ella’s room.
I lean my head against the crate, now fully understanding the situation Ella is in.
My troubles pale in comparison to what she’s going through.
Sobbing pulls me back to Ella. She collapses into a heap on the floor and starts picking up the plate’s fragments, one by one.
I shove aside the crate and scramble out. Ella gasps and drops the pieces in her hand.
“Ella, it’s me,” I say, hating how I must have scared her. Leaping out from behind a crate of onions is hardly the act of a knight in shining armor.
My chest aches at the sight of her. Soot smudging her dress, curls spilling loose from her braided crown like they gave up fighting. Every muscle in my body screams to pull her into my arms and kiss away her tears. Wilhelm is right. I’m smitten.
“Jacob?” She wipes her tears away and stands. “What are you doing here?”
I creep to the door, peek around the corner to make sure the hall is empty, and shut it, turning the lock.
“I came to warn you.”
“Warn me? By hiding under the table.” She shoots a pointed look at my hiding place. “With the onions.”
“Which are excellent for masking the smell of humans from wicked stepmothers. Highly recommended.”
She crosses her arms, my attempt at humor falling short. “You should leave. If my stepmother discovered you, she’d have you guillotined or placed in the stocks in the village square.”
“It’s Dr. Wissen.” I step closer to her, trying to ignore her intoxicating smell. “You can’t marry him. I think he’s murdered every one of his six wives.”
“Only half a dozen?” She grabs the broom and begins sweeping up the mess. “And here I thought there’d been more.”
“So you already knew.” I can’t hide my disappointment. I guess I wanted to be the one who came in and rescued her. Saved her from the monsters in her life. But seeing her pull herself back together, I see a strength in her that inspires me.
Bleeding stars, it makes me fall even harder for her.
“Yes, well I suspected,” she admits. “But I had no idea there were six. That’s why I tried to ruin dinner and the entire evening.
I was so determined to win the battle tonight and show him what a wretched wife I’d be.
But in the end, I got my dear cook fired.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wissen gave me this vile grin and handed me a disturbing box as an engagement gift.
That’s when I realized he meant to marry me no matter what. At all costs.”
“But why?” I pick up the knocked-over chair and start stacking the dishes.
“I could be wrong, but I think something happened between my mother and him.” She frowns and presses her hands on the tip of the broomstick, staring at the floor. “I think the scars on his face are courtesy of her.”
“She must have been a fighter, like you,” I say. “What you say makes sense. Now that she’s gone, he wants to have his revenge by using you. We won’t let him win.”
“We?”
I touch her cheek, rubbing away the smear of soot where a tear cut through the blackness. “Tonight. Come with me, and let’s discover the truth about who this doctor truly is. We’ll go to his house, gather the evidence, and produce it to the village constable.”
“You can’t be serious.” She backs away. “I can’t just run off with you. Besides, I have dishes, and apparently, I’m moving to the turret. Quite busy. No time for dalliances with handsome and mysterious men.”
She blushes then, like she hadn’t meant to say the last part.
“I do hope you’re referring to me,” I say in a low voice.
I inch closer to her. She steps backward until her spine is pressed against the wall.
I plant my palms on either side of her head, not to trap her, but to keep myself from doing something reckless.
Like tasting her lips. Or finding out if she’d melt against me the way I’ve been imagining since the moment we met.
Her breath hitches. I clamp an iron grip on myself, not sure how much longer I can resist her.
“Let me help you,” I finally say. “I’m an expert dishwasher. One of the perks of growing up a commoner.”
“Truly?” She smiles, and my heart—oh, she has no idea what she’s doing to me. “Fine,” she concedes, ducking away. “But you must stay hidden while I get the rest of the dinnerware from the table.”
“Your word is my command.”
A wisp of a smile ghosts her lips. We work for a good hour. Wilhelm will be giving me an earful when I get home, but I’d take a lifetime of lectures to spend an hour with her. We are on the last dishes when Ella cries out in pain and doubles over.
“Ella!” I grab her arms, searching her face. “What’s the matter? Sit down and rest.”
I guide her to the very chair the cook sat in.
“Please,” she says weakly. “You must go.”
“I’m not leaving you here in pain.” I wrap my palms around hers.
“I’m just tired.” She pulls away, and my heart rips a little. “How about this? You head home so I can recover from this wretched day, and I’ll come with you to Dr. Wissen’s house tomorrow night.”
I debate whether to go or not, the war in my chest pulling me in two. I want to respect her wishes, but it kills me to leave her like this.
“Don’t worry about me,” she says. “I’ll be fine. Please go.”
“If that’s what you want.” I drag myself away from her. “Meet me at your outer fence at midnight. Wear the color of shadows.”
I leave then, but every step I take away from her feels wrong.