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Authors: Kelly Varesio

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BOOK: Insperatus
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I understand,” he said quietly.

It’s just that…for a moment, your eyes make you almost seem—”

Blind?”
She huffed in anger of herself. That was exactly what she was going to say, but she tried to continue speaking more elegantly, returning the wrong answer. “I wasn’t going to say…You don’t look…”
He stifled a laugh and cleared his throat a second time. “It’s all right. People tell me that often as well, and I am, in a fashion—”

Oh, I’m sorry,” she murmured.
He clenched his teeth with his head down, as if he were hiding as much of his face as he could in shadow. Perhaps it was that he hated the fact that he was blind. Was that it? Or those subtle scars? But he had to be capable of seeing slightly because he had met her eyes.
Hoping that she would make him regain his composed bearing, she introduced herself. “I am Rein Pierson,” she said with delicacy. “I’ve just boarded—”

I know,” he replied quietly, his masculine, smoky voice deepened.
She paused at his quick words, but continued respectfully. “I’m from Teesdale, England. I cannot explain to you how much I’ve wanted to travel on a ship,” she said. “To the U.S.—”
He cut her short again, but this time he was perturbed. “T-to America? Who told you that?”
She felt a sudden chill engulf her. “I was told by two different men.”
He appeared to be pondering her words for a moment. “But…God. How long were you on the deck?”

Only for a short time.” She felt her eyebrows dip in question. “You saw me on the deck?”
He stammered in reply. “I saw…yes, and the small vessel you traveled on. But you’re also soaked, which is indication enough.”
She smiled kindly, nodding in acknowledgment. “I know; it’s raining ridiculously,” she said, looking down and holding out a heavy part of her dress and then dropping it with a squish. “And I am glad I found someone on this ship that is pleasant about my being drenched.”
He sighed, and she thought for a moment he didn’t like her remark. But she soon understood that he was partially ignoring her when she said that. He was thinking about something else.

The man who let you in,” he said gravely, looking at the floor to the side of him. “He’s wearing a white coat, queer eyes I understand you’ve noticed.” She spotted him pulling up his shirt collar closer to his neck as he was talking. “You mentioned I was not the only one you saw with an uncanny eye color.”

Yes,” she replied. “He led my friend and I into the ship from the deck, but—”

Did he give you anything?”

No, I only met him briefly on the way in.”
His temperament was becoming severe. “Please try to stay away from him. He does things…well, he isn’t a
well
man.”

Oh, I see.” Rein met his intense eyes as he looked up with his mouth firmly closed and then down again. “I don’t think I quite understand,” she said on a different subject. “If you are, in a fashion, blind, how did you…?”
He seemed to realize she wasn’t paying full attention to what he had been saying and sighed. “I am not really,
truly
blind,” he said with another puff of breath. “My vision is much different than your own. It isn’t…normal.”
Rein looked down as he spoke those last words. He wasn’t blind, but he saw differently? She wondered what he meant exactly but didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was.

Sir? May I ask; what is your name?”
He stood still and gazed at her hesitantly. “Traith. Traith Harker.”
She smiled. “It is nice to meet you, Mr. Harker,” she said with a delayed formal greeting. “You are not…ill, are you?” she asked with a casual gentleness, hoping that there was a reason for his extreme pallor.

No,” he said with a puzzled expression.

Then why are you so tense?” she asked with good intent. “Something must be the matter. If I can help in any way—”

I’m fine,” he hastily returned. “Thank you.” He glanced down at the key she had in her hand. “May I?” he asked with his voiced toned down and his manner again grave. His eyes were intently focused on the key, so she handed it to him without question. “Why are you down this corridor?” He asked almost inaudibly, nearly so that she thought he was speaking to himself. “Your key could not…” He suddenly stopped talking, and his eyes grew wide as he read the tiny number imprinted on the metal.

It does belong down here,” she replied, holding her parcel up a bit. “The woman at the front desk gave me a key for this hall specifically. Though I’m not sure why.” She looked down at the key he was holding. “She said I would need that chamber. It’s strange though, because I came with a friend, and we were not placed near one another.”

Who have you come with, Miss Pierson?” he questioned, standing still.

I am traveling with my friend, Saria Kendrick.”

You’ve not come with a male escort?”

Yes. My friend brought a butler from home to escort us,” she said. “He is escorting us both, but mainly her. I have no living relatives to assign me my own escort, other than my father, but he’s been away in the Queen’s service.”

Oh,” he said in a breath. “The…the
Queen
. Right.”
She knew she had made a curious expression at his words. “Yes,” she said, smiling. “Is there something odd about that?”
He shook his head and chuckled very lightly. “Forgive me,” he said, clearing his throat. “Never mind. What I said—”

But it is odd, isn’t it?” she asked, reverting back to the previous topic. “Odd that I am not with my friend?”
He didn’t reply, then, but continued to stare at her key.

What is it?” she finally asked with wonder about his reluctance to reply. “Am I not supposed to be down here?”

No…no, that isn’t it.” He handed her back the key. “My own chamber is—” he stopped himself quickly. “Your quarters are a few doors that way, to your left.”
He walked right past her without another word, the books in his hand no longer the target of his stare.
She turned and gazed at his back, but she couldn’t let him go. “Will I see you again?”
He stopped a moment, turning only his head. “Miss Pierson, I must warn you, if you don’t get to your room and change, you’ll catch a bloody chill in this hall. Do not linger, please.”
He smiled a bit more than he had all the other times. For a moment, his eyes were constant, and he was looking directly at her. By the time she had gotten a quick glimpse of his white teeth from his smile, he turned away. That smile, she remembered because it was friendlier than those she had yet seen from him. To her dismay, he was too far for her to see him well. He soon faded into the hall from which she had come initially.
Rein leant back on the wall of the corridor, raising and holding her parcel, cloak, and umbrella in her arms. She had just met a man like no other. Traith Harker. He seemed kind, unselfish…despite his wary looks and undecided manner. She felt like she could trust him, and she had no earthly explanation as to why. She had just met him, but a fluttering feeling tickled her when she thought of his face. Did she like him? She did. She knew she did, because for some unknown reason she felt different, even in that few minutes she was near him. Even at the age of twenty, she had not yet had a relationship with a man. She’d been avoiding them, perhaps, but even still…she had never seen a man that controlled her thoughts so. It was like he was trying to keep her safe, and she felt thawed in the cold corridor.
She still heard him walking, the sound of his footsteps clicking against the wooden floor. But then they stopped a moment. They hadn’t just faded; he had stopped. Was he going to come back? Then they began again.
She did wonder why he had stopped, but she had to stop thinking about him for the time being. It was late, and she was very tired. She turned and walked a few doors down until she came to her chamber: room 1237. She placed the key in the lock, turned it, and opened the door.

 

Chapter 5

 

As the door creaked inward, light from the chamber instantly lit up the gloomy hall. Rein walked forward in awe of the candlelit room. Someone had made it ready for a passenger, for her. It was not at all small, as she had thought, but very vast. There was a large bed in a long hollow in the wall to the left side. Black lace was layered below the mattress, and the sheets were black satin. The walls were painted a beautiful shade of red. It seemed as though the room, shrouded in dark décor, was meant for something sinister. Rein chuckled to herself in astonishment of the chamber, but something scratched at her; something struck her as unusual.
The peculiarity of the chamber made her think about it all: the man with no pupils, the eerie presence that seemed to linger on the ship, the dimness, the coldness of it…the sheer, colossal size of it. So far as she had seen, the only deck of the ship was located in the front where she and Saria had come in, leaving much space unaccounted for. The atrium was large, and so was her stateroom, but even if most of the other rooms were equally grand, there would still be space unaccounted for. Something else had to be taking up space in the vessel for it to be so enormous. It all seemed an impossible feat of building. She would have heard of the building of this ship somewhere, due to its amazing complexity of design and enormity. On top of it all, the luxurious ship was run on coal, with smoke stacks, which was barely fathomable.
She walked forward and, with a sigh, sat quietly at the foyer table. Despite the oddity of both the ship and its passengers, she found herself smiling. Security. She felt it, but she shook her head in disbelief. She knew better than to trust those feelings. She had felt secure with her father for a long time, but that proved to be wrong. What’s to say she wasn’t wrong about it this time?
She jumped quickly off of the chair when she remembered how wet she still was. Laying her cloak and bag on the wood beneath her, she bent over and untied her thin boots, slipping them off and setting them next to her on the floor. She undressed, sliding off her frozen gown and then her still-soaking, skin-sticking undergarments. With an unending shiver she was naked, and she quickly pulled out a chemise from her bag and threw it over her head, letting it fall down her body.
Her eyes went to the door as she reached for another gown from her suitcase. She had first seen him walking past that door, past the room she was in now.
His eyes; piercing, red eyes…
A most peculiar man, but so dashing! Not wearing modern attire, and, though he had to be close in age to her, his manner of speech and behavior seemed so old-fashioned. He was so pale, but so deeply intriguing! It was as if she needed to just watch him, just to absorb his motions and his speech. She wanted to see if he was always dressed in such an informal way. She wanted to see if he had any deeper emotions, as he seemed to conceal as many as he could.
She was so confused—she was never a girl to fall for someone. In fact, she had up until then doubted the feeling of love was real. Although she wasn’t
in
love
, a sudden feeling warmed her like a winter coat—one that was completely novel to her. Without even knowing that man, she yearned to, and that had never happened to her in her life.
But she tried to forget about him and her feelings because she knew he was one of many passengers on board, and the chances of anything forming were slim to none. Even still, with all her expectations, she was ecstatic. It was merely the beginning of a fairly long voyage; one she’d been dying to go on.
After taking a few minutes to hang her dresses up in the chamber wardrobe, Rein walked to the huge featherbed and fell upon it, breathing deep. Relaxing her tense and weary body, she ran her fingers through the silky covers. She felt safe; somehow, for some reason, with their only meeting having been a particularly odd one, she knew that the man she had just met would watch over her. Somehow his eyes would always be straying toward her on this ship, wherever she was.
She laughed at her instantaneous and inexplicable feelings. He was a complete stranger. She didn’t know who he was, where he came from, or what he was like, yet she trusted him.
She felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into the feather mattress, and her eyes slowly closed. In no more than a few minutes, she had drifted off into a much needed sleep.

 

Chapter 6

 

The moment Rein opened her eyes, she realized it was no longer night, but the next morning. Rays of sun were filtering through the porthole next to her bed, lighting up the dust particles that floated in the air. She was comfortably sunk into the luxurious bed. Yawning, she sat up, and then stood up sleepily to stretch, the swaying of the ship causing her to totter. She turned lethargically and looked at the large bed she had fallen asleep on. It was so comfortable that she nearly wanted to lie back down on it and sleep the day away.
But then the recall of last evening’s events shocked her to a complete awakening. She realized she had forgotten all about meeting Saria after unpacking. She had even managed to momentarily forget that she was on a ship, on the trip she had wanted to be on for so long.
BOOK: Insperatus
8.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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