Chapter 24
In which a letter is received
Words on a page can be full of guile. And they are impervious to Truth Discernment.
— from Lady Avely’s Guide to Guile and Peril
They were indeed back soon. Only five minutes later—thank God—Perry and Robert appeared once more by the window, stumbling apart. The red coats vanished, showing their rumpled clothes beneath. Robert’s face was startled, Perry’s triumphant.
Perry thrust out his hand, uncurling his fingers. In his palm was the crumpled form of a brown bat. Wooten blinked blearily up at them.
Judith sank down on the settee closest to the fire and spread her skirts out, gesturing for Perry to lay Wooten down upon them. As he did so, she tenderly laid Marigold’s lavender silk over the top of the furry body.
“Wooten Willoughby!” said Judith. “My dear bat, are you all right?”
Wooten’s eyes bulged at her.
“Do you remember me?” she added anxiously. “It’s Judith. Lady Judith Avely.”
Under the handkerchief, Wooten transformed, his bat head becoming human and protruding from the top. Black locks tangled around his long face, and his dark eyes were shadowed. His usually swarthy skin had a sickly undertone to it.
“Lady Avely,” he said dreamily. “I think I do, indeed, recall…”
Then he did something truly shocking. He cast the kerchief aside, stood up, and bowed to her, stark naked.
Judith drew a horrified breath. This was not the Wooten she knew. Hastily, she grabbed the silk again and draped it over his shoulders. “There, there. I apologise that we do not have your cape handy.”
“What cape?” said Wooten. “I do not need a cape.”
“Sunbeams!” uttered Marigold.
Wooten turned to look down his nose at Marigold. This he managed even though she was on the mantlepiece above him, so at least some of his character remained. “And who are you? I do not believe I have the pleasure of your acquaintance.”
“Um. I’m Miss Marigold Cultor.” She dropped a curtsy, also naked, and Judith momentarily closed her eyes in mortification.
“Good God.” Perry was aghast. “Mother, who are these vampiri? They’re worse than the French.”
“The French?” snapped Marigold, offended. “Are you comparing me to Yvette? I might abhor clothes, but at least I don’t tell bald-faced lies.”
Perry’s brow furrowed. “I would have thought my mother would have instilled better manners in you both by now.”
Wooten tossed the kerchief off and strolled off Judith’s leg. “I hardly think she can instill manners in me if I don’t know her.”
“You do know me,” Judith put a hand to her head. “I am a friend of the duke, who is your blood companion. And, may I say, you are ordinarily better dressed than this.”
“Ah, this duke!” said Wooten, ignoring her reproof.
“Miss Belfleur also chattered endlessly about him. Apparently, I saved his life, or his mind? Hard to believe when I don’t even know the fellow.
” Suddenly he sat down at the end of the settee.
“Oh, my head hurts.” He clutched at it and groaned.
Perry, nearby, hastily thrust his own handkerchief to cover the vampiri’s lap, a garish red one that looked as if it had been borrowed from a sailor. Wooten did not even blink at it.
Marigold leaned forward, concerned. “When was the last time you fed?”
“I’m not sure.” Wooten moaned again. “Miss Belfleur suggested I must feed from the duke, which I scarcely thought proper, and then she proffered a cow instead, which was hardly much better.”
Marigold snorted a laugh. “I hope you told the duke he was no better than a cow.” Then her expression sobered, and she glanced at Judith. “Wooten needs Musor blood. Then he might return to his usual insufferable self.”
Judith nodded and began rolling up her sleeves. “Do you mind if I…?” Then she stopped herself and turned to Perry. “Perry, be a good boy now, and feed Wooten.”
“Uh huh.” Perry crossed his arms. “I’ve been feeding half the roost, back on the Crescent. I’ve got nothing left to give.” At her shocked expression, he added, “Fine, not half. A few. And I’ll need to do so again when I return.”
Judith’s gaze shifted. “Robert? How about you?”
Robert had been standing behind Perry, looking rather betwattled himself. At this, he shook himself and asked, “Is it good etiquette? To feed a duke’s companion? Won’t I bond with him?”
“Perhaps a little,” allowed Judith, “but we are long past considerations of etiquette now.”
“Excuse me,” said Wooten grumpily. “Are you going to ask for my opinion on the matter? I think I’d rather a cow.”
Marigold snorted again, and Robert tried to look offended, but instead just looked relieved.
Perry let out a crack of laughter. “Well, there’s plenty of cows on Lanyon Isle, aren’t there, Mother?”
“Yes, but Wooten needs Musor blood, not bovine blood!”
Miss Onslow had been watching proceedings, agog. Now she spoke up, her voice firm. “May I offer myself? If that is not too forward of me?”
Judith turned to her in relief. “What a splendid idea. Wooten, surely you can bring yourself to bond with this lovely young lady, temporarily…?”
Wooten gave Miss Onslow a considering look. Everyone waited with bated breath for his judgment. Marigold held up a hand to forestall it. “For the love of God, don’t say that you’d prefer a cow, Wooten.”
Wooten sniffed, but appeared to concede the point, for he nodded. “Very well. She will do.”
“Miss Onslow will more than suffice with her gracious offer,” Judith corrected him hastily. “Thank you, Miss Onslow, that is very kind. Would you rather take him to a more private spot? Marigold can accompany you and give you some guidance on how the transaction is managed.”
“Yes, of course.” Miss Onslow stood up. “I’ll take him up to my room and see if I can make him a little nest.”
“An excellent idea.”
With no small measure of gratitude, Judith watched as Miss Onslow gathered up Wooten in the handkerchief and bore him from the room, with Marigold flapping reluctantly after them.
“Phew.” Perry leaned on the mantlepiece. “Thought you were going to foist him onto me.” Then he pushed himself off again and felt inside his coat. “Oh! I almost forgot! Miss Belfleur gave me a letter for you, Mother. It’s from the duke.”
“What?!” Judith leapt to her feet. “Give it to me at once, you dreadful boy!”
Perry held out a neatly rolled foolscap. She snatched it from him and hastily spread it out. It was crossed with a bold scrawl and signed with Dacian’s name at the end.
Heart in her mouth, she read it. The opening address made her shoulders droop with relief, but by the time she reached the end, she was blinking back tears and gritting her teeth.
Dear Judith,
Of course I remember you. I’m unlikely to forget someone seared on my memory at the age of twenty-two, when you condescended to dance with me at the Plunnow ball.
I remember how you arched your brows at the effrontery of a duke who dared to approach you.
You will say that I condescended to dance with you, but you know very well it was the other way around.
You must know by now that you have never been long out of my heart since then. Even abroad, even after what I thought had happened, I could not help but wish for your company again, and to lay my heart at your feet.
But, Judith, that does not mean I want you to rescue me now.
Please, I beg of you, do not entertain any foolish plans to somehow breach the walls of this fort.
I do not want you locked up in here with me.
Or I would like that very much—to have you alone with me, here—but we would not be alone, and the stone benches are not very comfortable.
I’d much rather wait until we have a castle at our disposal, then I may treat you properly as the circumstances require.
In the meantime, I will find a way out of here myself, so please do not risk your own neck, or any further allegations of treason.
I will come to Lanyon Castle when I can, after I have done what I must, for this grimly determined captain.
And I have an unexpected ally, who might yet lend me further help.
It is true, perhaps, that I owe the Crown a recompense for the wrong I have committed.
I would think that you’d be the first to say that my station does not excuse me; indeed it condemns me further.
And the captain has offered me a bargain: he will not tamper with my mind anymore if I will do this one thing for him, as much as I abhor it.
It will be like killing an eagle with a rock, but the captain seems convinced that it is necessary, and he is better informed than I.
You shall just have to wait, my dear. I know we have waited long enough—God, don’t I know it—but what is one more month after all these years?
Judith, if—when—I return, please marry me. Please forgive all my stupid mistakes and accept my hand, for I am already entirely yours.
I must only add that I am worried for Wooten. He is not himself. If you do visit Pendennis again, please convince him to go home with you. Yvette has custody of him to keep him safe, and they sleep in the barracks, but he remains rather confused.
Judith, my love, I may not see you again I will see you again, I swear it. I will return as soon as I possibly can. Please guard your own safety in the meanwhile, while I am unable to do it for you.
Yours, always,
Dacian.
Her heart seemed to be suspended within her. Marry him? She had not even considered the possibility, despite all her longing for him. How could he ask it of her now? And there was the rest of the missive, which quite undermined his declaration.
“Guard my safety?” she stuttered. “What about his safety? Does he really think I’m going to knit in a corner while he sails off to his death? I don’t think so.”
There was a silence. She looked up, belatedly remembering that she had an audience.
Robert shifted uncomfortably. Perry stared at her, open-mouthed.
“Good God, Mother, what’s come over you? How well do you know this duke, exactly?”
Robert coughed.