Coins and Daggers (22 page)

Ulric’s blood
immediately spiked to boiling temperature, all the feeling rushing
from his hands as Edwin’s voice rang out, “
Chastelle
?”

Snatching the blade from his friend’s hand,
Ulric slapped the handle firmly against the side of Dextrem’s head.
The man fell out cold against the wooden floor with a heavy thud.
“Let’s tie him up.” Ripping the remaining sheets from the bed,
Ulric made a firm knot around Dextrem’s feet while Edwin secured
his hands and mouth. “If Madame de Lucci is in Chastelle then she
bloody hell is nearer to Audelia than we are.”

Edwin cursed. “Then we have to go. Now.”

Ulric stumbled from the room, Edwin behind
him, as they quickly fled the building. He had strong faith and
trust that Gilgallon would protect Audelia well. But as he mounted
his horse and sent Gray into a speedy gallop, the apprehension
surging through his body felt very far from easing.

Twenty-three

The night was
cool and silent, and in her bedchamber was a lone flame, the candle
half burnt as she remained steadfast and determined to complete her
reading. Audelia rubbed her right eye, blinked and flipped one of
few remaining pages of the medicinal manuscript she had taken from
the library. She knew she was half asleep already but so much
knowledge...so many facts were now at her disposal and it almost
felt as if she could not get enough.

She had almost missed the knock on her door
several moments later, for it had come so softly and only once.
Glancing up, she looked in the direction of the door, catching the
still shadow beneath it. The door came once again and she released
a breath, relieved she had not been imagining things.

“
Is someone there?” she asked.

“
Uh, yes, Audelia. It is me. Lord
Dextrem. Uncle Dextrem, if you will. May I come in?”

Frowning slightly, she slid from beneath the
covers and reached for the candle. Why was he here?“Just a
moment.”

Pulling on a robe over her nightgown,
Audelia then opened the door to see His Lordship standing in the
hall. In his hands was a tray bearing two steaming mugs of tea.

“
I...could not sleep,” he said, chuckling
sadly. “And when I saw that you were up as well, I feared that
something might be troubling you.”

Audelia shook her head and smiled. “Not at
all. I...I was just finishing up some reading.”

Lord Dextrem stepped over the threshold and
Audelia moved aside to let him pass, closing the door
afterwards.

“
I’ve seen that you are very fond of
reading. You spend most of your time in the library and when you’re
not there, you are in here doing God knows what.” Lord Dextrem
chuckled and placed the tray on a table opposite the bed. “You must
know, Audelia, that we are family now and you need not be afraid to
speak to me about anything. Or my wife, for that matter.”

She shook her head. “I’m not afraid. Just
slowly adjusting, is all.”

His Lordship looked at her for a long time,
his gaze oddly unsettling and Audelia felt a shudder run up her
spine. She had not forgotten his surprising kiss only a few days
before and the fact that he was here, standing inside her bedroom
at nighttime, troubled her deeply.

“
My wife tells me that you are interested
in Medicine,” he said, taking a seat in the armchair nearer to the
bed. “That you have aspirations of...learning the related
skills.”

Joy immediately replaced some of her anxiety
and Audelia sat on the edge of her bed, smiling. “I do, Your
Lordship. I’ve been reading about it just now.” She gestured to the
manuscript on her pillow. “I am so fascinated by it all. Perhaps,
if given the chance, I will be able to help people one day.”

“
That is a grand ambition, dear.” His
Lordship reached for his tea and took a sip. “Surely, you must know
that while you are under our care there is nothing that you cannot
have.” He leaned forward in his chair and smiled. “Audelia, you are
our ward now. And we have the resources and connections to grant
you anything you wish.”

“
I know,” she said.

Lord Dextrem nodded and handed the other mug
to her. “Good. Because I want to ensure that you are comfortable
here at all times. We both do. Lady Dextrem is also very fond of
you and seeks to make you into the most cherished of young
ladies.”

Audelia smiled and sipped on the warm
beverage. “Thank you, Sir. That truly means a lot to me.”

Lord Dextrem nodded once more and eased to
his feet, only to sit right next to her. Audelia jumped, stunned by
the bold move and almost spilled her tea. She then felt his hand
clamp over her wrist, taking the cup from her hand.

“
Do not be frightened, Audelia,” he
whispered. “I do not mean to startle you but only to confide in
you.”

Her gaze flickered nervously between Lord
Dextrem’s and his firm grip. “A-About what, Sir?”

“
About us.”

The look in his eyes terrified Audelia and
she pulled on her hand, only to be pulled up hard against His
Lordship’s hard frame. She gasped, a thick lump of dread suddenly
clogging her throat. “Us?”

“
Yes. Us. Do you not remember
that...passionate kiss we shared, Audelia?”

Oh, she
remembered that kiss quite well but Audelia feared that they both
had very different recollections of the incident. There had not
been anything passionate about the moment and it most assuredly had
not been
shared
. Lord Dextrem
had accosted her in the sitting room and forced himself on her,
taking a kiss that was never to be his and that which had left very
horrible memories.

“
It was a mistake,” she uttered, shakily.
“It should not have happened, milord.”

“
Nonsense.” He moved his face closer, so
close his hot breath sent a rash of goosebumps crawling down
Audelia’s neck. “What you’d experienced was a man’s kiss, Audelia.
Had you ever been kissed before?”

She hadn’t but she saw no reason to answer
that. “You must release me. I beg it of you. Please, let me
go.”

“
I don’t think I can do that, Audelia.”
Lord Dextrem brushed his lips across her face and inhaled. “You
smell so refreshing. So...innocent.”

“
Please.” Tears welled up into her eyes
as she felt His Lordship’s hand moving up her side and to the
underside of her left breast. “Please don’t do this.”

Lord Dextrem released a pained groan, the
tip of his tongue licking against her cheek. “Do not make a sound.”
And her shove her down onto the bed, immediately using his weight
to hold her down.

“
No. No!” Panic struck Audelia as the
tears came streaming down her face. “Please! I’ll scream... I’ll
scream. I promise I will.”

His Lordship’s palm came slapping hard
across her face and Audelia cringed at the burning pain at the side
of her head. “I know you’re smarter than that, Audelia.” And he
reached for the dagger in his waist, holding it firmly at her
throat. “It’s amazing what us wealthy people can get away with,
wench. Do not test me.”

A
udelia eyes cracked
open, her heart racing as she rose from the horrible dream. The
horrible memory. Glancing about the room, she held a hand over her
heart, relieved that she still was, in fact, inside the library at
Chastelle Manor. Rising from the sofa where she had apparently
fallen asleep, she looked up to see Gilgallon still at the table,
studying the chess pieces. They had been playing nearly three hours
and she hardly remembered when she had fallen asleep...or how she
had ended up over here.

“You still won’t beat me,” she said.

The guard looked up sharply but returned his
gaze to the board a second later. “Show off.”

Audelia giggled. “How long have I been
sleeping?”

“Possibly a hour now.”

“Oh. Uh...Gilgallon?”

“Miss Rolfen?”

“I know Bryce--er, His Lordship said I am
not to leave the house but I fear that I feel a bit...dreary and in
need of a bit of fresh air.”

“His Lordship would not like if his command
is disobeyed, Miss.”

“I know. But you will be with me all the
time. Just a hour. Please.”

Gilgallon
glanced at her a moment and sighed. Perhaps one hour would not
hurt. “
One
hour,” he told her. “No
more.”

“Of course. I would like to pay Olearia a
visit too.”

“
Who
?”

“The young mare in the east stable.”

“Oh. Well. Let’s go then. The sooner we go,
the sooner we are to return back to the house.”

Audelia rose from her seat, smiling, and
left the room with Gilgallon hot on her heels. At least the guard
was loyal to his lord. She hadn’t seen such lengths of loyalty
before arriving at Chastelle Manor and she supposed such fidelity
much be something great to behold, and more especially to the one
receiving it.“How long have you been under His Lordship’s employ,
Gilgallon?” she asked as they reached the end of the foyer.

The guard glanced at her briefly, holding
the front door open for her to pass. “A very long time, Miss. Back
in the days of the late Lord Chastelle.”

“I hear he was a well-loved man,” she said,
moving down the steps and along the side of the gardens.

“Lord Viktor St. Rosso was not well-loved
for nothing, Miss. He was respectable, kind...approachable.”

Audelia nodded. “I suppose His Lordship must
be pleased to have had a father such as that.”

Gilgallon eyed Audelia a while, kicking a
side a couple rocks from the path. “His Lordship is a good man
also. He may... He might have lost his way for a while but he’s a
good man, Miss. I am as loyal to him as much as I had been loyal to
his father.”

Smiling to
herself, Audelia chuckled when they reached the stable. Inside,
they met up with Brutus, the jovial stable
man.

“Brutus.” Gilgallon nodded to the man and
looked around the stable. “I see you’ve managed to move the rest of
the mares.”

Running a hand over his rounded belly,
Brutus spat a piece of straw from the corner of his mouth and
grinned. “Yes, I did. Look at them beauties now.”

Audelia moved forward, looking at the
freshly painted stalls, low gentle neighs coming from behind them.
“How many are in here now?”

“Just eight, Miss.” Brutus rest his hands on
his hips and chuckled. “Nine more to go.”

“Amazing.” Moving slowly along the long
aisle between the stalls. Audelia smiled when the mares came
forward in their stalls, their heads protruding from the stall
doors. “They’re beautiful.” It wasn’t until she’d reached the sixth
stall on the right that she recognized Olearia. “You moved
her?”

Brutus cleared his throat and grinned. “I
sure did.” He pointed to a black mare who inhabited the second
stall on the left. “Had a little girl fight going on with this one
here.”

A loud crushing sound followed by a horse’s
whinny came from a distance and all three turned to glance at the
door. Audelia moved forward quickly. “What was that?”

“Sounds like a carriage. I’m not certain”
Gilgallon said, holding his hand up to still her. “Stay here with
Brutus while I take a look.”

“Maybe His Lordship has returned,” she said,
eager to see Ulric if he had. Eager to see that he had returned in
one piece and unhurt.

“His Lordship had not taken a carriage, Miss
Rolfen. Stay here and do not move a muscle.”

Audelia frowned as she watched Gilgallon
leave the stable house, a strange twinge lodging itself at the back
of her head. She paced back and forth along the aisle for a while,
nibbling on her nails as she did so. She glanced up to find Brutus
watching her, a questioning look on his face. Deciding to ignore
the man, she paced some more and then threw up her hands with
impatience.

“Perhaps, I should go see for myself.”

Brutus’ laughter rumbled deeply. “Take it
easy, will you Miss? Gilgallon hasn’t been gone for five
minutes.”

“You go take a look then.”

Scratching the back of his head, Brutus
screwed up his face in a child-like manner and shuffled his
feet.

“Just calm down, will you?” He then kicked
at a heap of straw next to him and settled down on it, patting his
stomach. “The man should be back any time now.”

Audelia
almost growled with frustration. Shooting the stable
man
a glare or two, she resumed her pacing again, her hand
checking for the dagger at her waist. Tapping her feet restlessly,
she glanced between the napping man and the door, her heart
thudding with worry and a twitch of fear. On tip toes, Audelia
slowly eased towards the door and peeked outside. Nothing seemed
amiss so she edged outside, her hand on the handle of her dagger as
she moved along the side of the stable house and rounded a corner.
Someone immediately stepped in her direct path and Audelia had
almost mistaken him for Gilgallon, had she not jerked her head up
in time.

Gasping, she immediately drew her dagger and
pointed it at the strange man. “Who are you?”

“Let us not make this any harder than it
needs to be, shall we?” The man’s thick speech reached her ears, a
smug grin on his face.

Audelia
swallowed tightly, darting a glance around them but saw no
one.
Dear God, where was
Gilgallon?
“Did the Madame
send you?”

The stranger
chuckled and reached out for her but Audelia swung, her blade
slitting a deep bloody wound across the man’s cheek.
“
Bloody
bitch
!”

Twenty-four