Chapter 21 The Train Home
As morning turned into afternoon, the fog lifted and the tepid sun of Hallowsin appeared in the rugged blue sky.
The afterglow of the ball clung to Gravenmere Castle like a dream that refused to fade.
The servants were lively, and laughter filled the halls.
Outside, in front of the castle, noble families from across the realm boarded their carriages, assisted by footmen and drivers, to return home.
Considering her new engagement, Celise expected Old Blackwood to see them off in lieu of his son, but the steward met them instead at the front door.
Mr. Bernard Friza apologized profusely for the old duke, who had yet to recover from the night’s revelries.
Lord Dhastel shared a knowing laugh with the steward while Marcella fumed quietly in the background.
Celise buried her smile behind her bouquet.
“Don’t look so smug, you little chit,” Marcella snapped when she caught Celise’s smirk. “If you were a proper match for Lord Elias, the whole Blackwood tribe would be seeing you off. This is a huge disrespect to our family!”
“Now, now, Marcella, Old Blackwood is getting on in years, and we aren’t the only guests in attendance—” her father began.
“You’re the worst of all of them, Sebastian. I won’t deign to mention how I found you this morning. I am utterly disgusted.”
Her father flushed red and dropped his eyes, looking suitably cowed.
Heather and Katrina’s ears perked. Celise kept her eyes focused on the wallpaper, schooling her face to be utterly blank of expression.
Celise wondered what her father had gotten up to the night before and where Marcella had found him.
Then Marcella sailed past her like a battleship. The irate noblewoman passed by the butler, who was holding the door open for them, and down the front steps of the castle.
Luckily, no reporters stopped them on the brief walk from the castle’s front door to their carriages. Dasha handed up their luggage to the drivers. Her stepsisters climbed into the first carriage while her father and stepmother boarded a second one.
Celise lingered for a moment before climbing into the coach after her sisters.
Her eyes scanned the castle doors, the fountains and the hedgerows.
Several other families were settling into similar carriages up and down the drive.
She waited longer than necessary, hoping to catch sight of a familiar black-haired soldier in a decorated military jacket.
But Elias did not appear.
She tried to quell the creeping sense of dread within her. Marcella’s words were harsh, but something about them rang true. Did the Blackwood family truly not care about the engagement at all? She didn’t know what to think.
“What are you waiting for, Sluggy?” Katrina called to her. “You’ll make us late for the train.”
With a sigh, Celise pulled herself up into the polished wooden coach. The driver whistled to his team of horses and cracked his whip. Then the Dhastel family started on their way.
The two carriages would carry them from Gravenmere Castle down a long country road to the train station at Bloomheather Crossing, where a train would transport them to Castleberry City.
From there, they would switch trains to Sultan, then arrange a second coach to carry them to Windhaven Estate.
It would be a long and boring journey. Celise was not looking forward to sitting on hard wooden benches for the next two days.
She felt a bit out of sorts since leaving the infirmary: some weakness in her legs and a bit lightheaded, just as Dr. Forrest had warned.
Dasha was carrying her medicine in her carpetbag, and Celise would probably take it on the train.
Her bouquet resting in her lap, Celise gazed out the window as the carriage passed through the iron gates of Gravenmere Castle, which slowly disappeared behind a screen of tall maple trees.
She wondered if she would ever visit the Blackwood estate again.
The Starlight Dahlia was neatly hidden among the white roses in her bouquet; none of her sisters had mentioned it.
She hoped to get it safely home without their notice.
Dasha had wrapped the bouquet in a wet rag to keep the stems moist.
As the carriage rolled on, Katrina sulked while Heather reveled in memories of the ball. Dasha worked on a bit of sewing in her lap. Celise settled back against the hard wooden bench and prepared for a long and ponderous ride.
She was just drifting off to sleep when the carriage began to slow down. It seemed far too soon to have reached Bloomheather Crossing. She heard the driver call out and click to the horses. “Whoa now! Ease up, boys!”
“What’s going on?” Heather asked, confused, and turned to look out the window. Katrina also craned her neck, trying to see outside.
A patrol of mounted soldiers—each grim-faced in dark indigo uniforms—pulled up behind the carriage.
Celise craned her neck to see who it was.
The soldiers sat atop four brown steeds.
She counted two women and two men. With a start, she remembered them from the night before, gathered on the veranda with Kiran Kindale.
In the lead, mounted atop his stormy black stallion, Tempest, was a man she didn’t expect to see.
Celise’s breath caught.
In an instant, all of Marcella’s scathing words and Katrina’s jealous sneers vanished from her mind.
Lord Elias Blackwood was dressed in a long black greatcoat buttoned up to his neck in a conservative fashion.
His military medals flashed in the midafternoon sun.
His black hair fell across his brow in a careless tousle, as though he hadn’t bothered to comb it yet that morning.
A half-mask hid part of his face and the worst of his scars.
The high collar of his coat hid some of the damage along his neck, but when the wind blew, his malformed ear was impossible to ignore.
Elias’s eyes locked on hers through the window. Celise stared at him, frozen in her seat, unable to comprehend what was happening.
“My lady,” Dasha admonished. “Open the window; he wishes to speak to you!”
Hands shaking and fingers numb, Celise fumbled with the window’s latch on the coach door. It was stuck, and her grip strength suddenly seemed to be lacking. With a groan, Dasha reached past her and forced the window open with a firm shove.
Celise peeked outside like a guilty child.
“My lady,” Elias said. “An escort has been arranged for your family’s safe passage to the train station.”
“An escort?” Celise stuttered. “Is that necessary?”
“No less than four daemons were found on Gravenmere grounds last night,” Elias said, his gray eyes unreadable behind his mask. “I wish to ensure the safety of our guests—especially you, Lady Celise.”
“Oooh!” Heather cooed, as though the duke had just recited a love poem.
Katrina jabbed her younger sister with a pointed elbow.
Elias ignored the other girls in the carriage. His gaze remained fixed on Celise, stern and intense. Th-thump. She found her eyes sliding to his lips, remembering their brief embrace from the night before. She nodded and hiccuped, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.
Then she shrank back against her seat, her heart pounding, wondering at her reaction to his softly spoken words.
Katrina leaned toward the window, a wide smile on her face, and clapped her hands primly.
“How very gallant! We are honored to have the hero who defeated the Daemon King escort our carriage back to the train station. We will feel very safe along the way! Aren’t we so lucky, Celise?
Really, you should thank His Grace.” Katrina darted a little sneer at Celise across the box. “Where are your manners?”
Dasha looked horrified. Heather giggled into the back of her hand.
“Yes, thank you,” Celise managed. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Your Grace.”
Elias raised an eyebrow, his stern gaze falling upon Katrina, who smiled up at him brazenly. Then he looked at the bouquet of flowers in Celise’s lap. His eyes picked out the Starlight Dahlia. When his gaze returned to Celise’s own, a quiet smile hovered about his lips. She didn’t imagine it.
“Very good,” Elias said. “Let us continue on our way.” Then he tapped the side of the carriage, indicating the driver should continue down the road.
As the carriage pulled forward, Dasha closed the window with some difficulty. Then she sat back with a huff.
“Well, that was exciting!” the maid said, shooting a smile at Celise.
“He’s just . . . fulfilling his duty,” she replied, trying to deflect Katrina’s bitter scowl. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“You’re so modest,” Dasha teased.
Celise glanced down at her bouquet and refused to look up again.
Outside, the team of horses snorted, and their harnesses jingled in anticipation of the long ride.
With a low cry, the driver’s whip cracked, and the carriages creaked forward again.
With a gentle rocking motion, the Dhastel caravan continued its journey away from Gravenmere Castle through the acres of untamed countryside.
Celise kept her back pressed against the wooden bench, her heart thudding erratically in her chest. Her eyes met Katrina’s again, and she saw the open look of disgust on her sister’s face. No need to hide her loathing now that they were alone.
“Really, Sluggy, I can’t imagine you as a duchess,” her younger sister sneered. “You can’t even thank your betrothed for an escort of soldiers?”
Celise felt ashamed. She couldn’t argue with Katrina—she, too, was frustrated at her shyness. Elias deserved better.
She turned to stare resolutely out the window at the scenery, hoping to catch a glimpse of the soldiers riding next to their small procession.
Before long, the turrets of Gravenmere Castle faded behind them, becoming no more than a distant silhouette at the foot of the Grapevine Mountains.