Chapter 25
In which a friend proves false
One’s perception does not always match reality, even if one is a Truth Discernor.
— from Lady Avely’s Guide to Guile and Peril
Judith gaped. She could be forgiven this unladylike response because she could barely believe the evidence of her eyes and ears.
“Miss Onslow hid the gun?” she uttered. “Miss Onslow shot at Ltn Greene?”
“It appears so.” Mrs Ulrich’s lips pursed. “Shall I throw her out of the castle, ma’am, or lock her up?”
“What? No!” Judith rubbed her forehead. She couldn’t understand it: Miss Onslow had helped her and befriended Robert and Wooten.
“Could she have hidden it for someone else? Or are we to understand that she was taking potshots at the lieutenant?” Judith looked up.
“Maybe she was hiding it for one of the twins. Is she friendly with either of them?”
At this juncture, Ghastagon, unhappy with no longer being the recipient of devoted attention, leapt off her lap. He stalked over to the window to claw at the telescope, clearly unimpressed that it occupied one of his daises.
Judith watched him, frowning. “Or Baron Quarles? Is Miss Onslow shielding the baron? I must say, I am confounded. I thought Miss Onslow was our friend: she has been helping us make plans to rescue the duke.”
Mrs Ulrich carefully wrapped up the gun again. Her expression was impassive. “You are a Truth Discernor, ma’am. Why don’t you ask her about it?”
This was an eminently reasonable suggestion.
“I will,” said Judith with determination, then she recalled that Miss Onslow was currently tasked with feeding and caring for Wooten.
Her shoulders caved again. “We shouldn’t disturb her at the moment.
She is looking after an injured vampiri and setting up a new bed for him. They might both be fast asleep by now.”
“What about the footmen, then?” suggested Mrs Ulrich. “I can pull them from their beds, and you can question them instead.”
Judith sighed. “It would be unfair to wake them.”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” said her housekeeper austerely, “there was an attempted murder today, and we’ve just discovered the weapon. I think you would be justified in asking some questions, no matter the hour of the day.”
Judith stared at the shrouded gun and sighed. “Very well. Bring them here. But return that to the gunroom first and lock it away. And stay close by. I don’t fancy a violent confrontation.”
Mrs Ulrich obliged, regally bearing the weapon away as if she held a platter of tea cakes.
When she returned twenty minutes later, she had only one footman thrust in front of her.
It was Kade, Judith fancied, by the ferocious scowl on his face.
Mrs Ulrich’s escort, it was clear, was forcible, with a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Kade’s long black hair was loose around his shoulders, and he was dressed in only a long nightshirt, which was white.
In fact, Judith realised with dawning surprise, Kade was not a boy at all. Kade was quite clearly female, her curves apparent under the pale shirt. She made an effort to fold her arms across her chest, but it did nothing to disguise what must ordinarily be bound underneath her footman’s livery.
Mrs Ulrich’s face was equally forbidding. “Ma’am,” she said grimly. “It appears that Kade is not who we thought he was. I found her like this. The other one was dead asleep, so I left him.”
The young woman in her grasp blinked back an angry tear, and Judith became aware that the housekeeper was also holding her in a Diplomacor spell, evocative of awful guilt.
It clawed at her own throat, a sense of utter remorse, but she could see Kade was fighting it with all her might, her jaw tight.
“Good Lord, Mrs Ulrich! Release her at once, in all ways!”
The housekeeper’s hand came off the girl’s shoulder, and with it, the guilt spell. Kade stumbled forward and righted herself. She stared defiantly at Judith, dashing the tear from her eye, shrugging the Diplomacy off angrily.
“Explain yourself, Kade,” said Judith calmly. “Or should I call you Kadee?”
“Kadee is my real name,” the girl replied sullenly. “But there’s nothing to explain. Why shouldn’t I be a footman? I might be a girl, but I’m just as capable as my brother.”
“I’m sure you are, but it is scarcely proper. Do your parents know about this charade?”
“My mother and father are dead. I have no place to live, so I applied for this position with Kynver. I am just as good as him. Please don’t send me away, ma’am.” Her expression was now pleading, under the mess of dark hair. “It is not easy to be a woman without protection or family.”
Judith bit her lip, sympathetic despite her annoyance at being deceived. “It is a risky secret. You might come into harm’s way if anyone discovered it.” She paused thoughtfully. “Did Sgt Finlay, perhaps, find it out?”
“No,” said Kadee sulkily. “He bragged about his acumen, but he didn’t know my secret. I swear it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He treated me the same as he ever did, with thoughtless condescension.” Kadee scowled. “If he knew I was a woman, he would have tried something. He was that sort.”
“That is exactly my point!”
“And my point is that he didn’t discover it.”
Judith trusted the truth in her voice. So Kadee had not killed Sgt Finlay to keep her secret. But perhaps someone else had. “And Miss Isla?” she asked, after a moment. “Does she know that you are a woman?”
Kadee dropped her gaze. “She does.”
That explained the dairymaid’s nervousness, and the odd lie in her voice when she spoke of Kade. “And,” Judith enquired delicately, “she still accepts your courtship?”
Kadee flushed pink. “That’s my concern, not yours.”
That seemed to be an answer in the affirmative.
Judith forbore to press the matter. Such relations were generally frowned upon, though she could not fault them herself.
It was their concern, not hers. Yet if Miss Isla had feared Kadee’s exposure—or the exposure of their relationship—she might have bashed Sgt Finlay on the head with a milk pail, after all.
Seeing Kadee’s pale face, however, Judith did not voice her suspicion about the girl’s lover.
“Well, I am glad that I know the truth now.” She tapped her finger against her chin.
“I suppose you may continue as you are for the moment, despite it being so unorthodox. We will discuss it again in a week, when I’ve dealt with some other more pressing matters. ”
Kadee’s head drooped in relief. “Thank you, ma’am. I’ll show that I’m fit for the position, I promise you. I am sorry to have deceived you. I felt I had no choice.”
Judith smiled and wearily nodded her dismissal. Kadee gave a short bow, then turned on her heel and strode out the room with a manly stride.
Mrs Ulrich watched her go with a disapproving frown. Judith sighed and sank back into her chair. “Goodness me, that certainly explains why she was washing in her room.”
The she shot up again. “Robert! Is he still with Perry? I must go to them!”
“I believe they are in the kitchen.” Mrs Ulrich paused wryly. “Mr Avely informed me that he was hungry.”
Judith stood, hastily retying the ribbons on her mobcap.
“Goodness, my wits have gone begging. Please take me there at once.” She paused and drew a breath.
“By the way, Mrs Ulrich, we have decided to abandon the plans for rescuing the duke tonight. It turns out that he wants to remain captured,” she finished bitterly and ignored the faint hint of sympathy that tweaked Mrs Ulrich’s brow.
Then, as they walked down the stairs, she irritably brushed off the tentative sense of calm that emanated from her housekeeper’s back.
It wasn’t a very good spell anyway. Mrs Ulrich was clearly out of practice with the gentler manifestations of her Gift.
She was far better at conjuring horrific doom and remorse.
This time, Judith was almost sure she could have found the way herself.
The labyrinthian corridors were starting to become familiar, and she had marked out various landmarks (a painting, a statue, a broken cornice) as clues for direction.
They made a quick journey down and found Perry and Robert sitting around the massive kitchen table.
Mrs Ulrich vanished into the cellars beyond, perhaps to pour herself a much-needed glass of ratafia, and to dismantle the spell she had reinstated there, now that it was no longer needed to distract Captain Drumpellier.
The two boys were ploughing through a bowl of peaches and plums, the stones littered around them. Judith spared a thought for the young cook who would find her stores decimated.
“Hello, Mother,” said Perry, once he had finished a juicy mouthful. “Robert went to Taunton! I didn’t know that Uncle Gerry had connections there.”
“Neither did I,” said Judith truthfully, and quickly changed the subject, for it had been the duke who placed Robert at Taunton. “You boys are going to give yourselves a stomachache.”
“Oh, but it’s delicious.”
She was surprised to see Robert still with Perry. “And what’s your excuse?” she queried, then answered herself. “I suppose young men don’t need an excuse to eat.”
Robert looked as if he was surprised to find himself there too. “The baron wandered into the Blue Drawing Room, so we thought we would leave. Perry dragged me down here.”
Perry grinned. “We needed refuelling after our military incursion.”
Judith frowned. “What was the baron doing lurking around so late at night?” It was well into the early hours by now. Though, she reflected, that may well be the best time to see planetary movements.
Perry shrugged. “He said something about Pollux and Castor. Bit of an odd fellow.”
Ah, the stars in the Gemini constellation. Judith sighed. She was too tired to worry further. “Well, it’s time for you to go back to your ship,” she said. “It is very late, and we all need to sleep.” She paused and drew a breath. “Can you return tomorrow night? Please, Perry?”