Authors: Kelly Varesio

Insperatus (6 page)

BOOK: Insperatus

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“
Just him, over there,” Saria answered. “His name is Edgar Johan. He keeps his distance, though. It’s so very kind of him to give us room.”

Rein closed her eyes and shook her head. How much more blunt could she have been, asking in a second question if he was married?

Then Rein saw, out of the corner of her eye, a lady jump backward as if she was hit by something. Her insulted shout made both Rein and Saria turn completely. The woman had her hands out by her sides with steam nearly coming out her ears.

“
Traith Harker!” the lady screamed, frustrated. “Run into me one more time!”

Rein flinched in surprise.

Traith Harker was nowhere in sight.

“
Isn’t that the man you were talking about?” Saria asked. “What did he do? Point him out!”

“
He…he isn’t there,” Rein murmured.

Saria looked shocked with a laugh. “What? That lady must be silly and yelled out the wrong name or something, then.”

Rein turned and looked at Romanoff, who was shaking his head with a grin. As Saria turned back to face the Frenchman in conversation, Rein found herself still trying to figure out why the woman had yelled Harker’s name as if he actually had run into her. Concerned, and with her head partially down, Rein noticed how Romanoff was looking at Saria with a most tender expression.

“
Interesting,” he said. “Well neither of you know of a woman called—” He suddenly coughed and jerked in his seat. Looking over his shoulder again with a shocked chuckle, he shook his head and quieted. “N-never mind.”

Rein’s heart sank in alarm when she saw something more in Romanoff’s large smile. Two of his upper teeth were very strange; they were actually pointed.

“
I’ll be right back,” Rein spoke very clearly but softly, thinking, hoping that it was just a coincidence. But that accident? What about the accident Mr. Harker had mentioned? That excuse was wearing out, although Mr. Romanoff’s eyes were brown, the first set that weren’t odd in color.

“
Where are you planning on going, Rein?” Saria asked.

“
I have a question for the woman at the desk. About my chamber.”

Romanoff had begun to say something as she stood to leave when suddenly he stumbled up and stopped his slur of a word. He closed his mouth quickly. She thought for a moment that he stood to her leave, but it looked more as if he had been pushed out of his seat. His head swung around, but still, no one was there. He said something under his breath as if he was talking to someone else.

Rein watched him with puzzlement and a sigh but left with a nod of her head. He was too busy mingling with the invisible person behind him.

As she walked away, she heard him clear his throat and begin talking with Saria again, a bit more intimately. She was obviously trying to win him over. She did that with most garish men. That being known, there was no need to stay and chat. She was terribly hungry, and she knew now that Saria was going to be preoccupied, so she didn’t even bother asking her to eat. But her desire to find Harker was becoming fiercer. She knew he knew more about this ship than met the eye, and she had a right to know why he was so concerned for her when he had no idea who she even was.

Walking toward the corner desk, Rein addressed the stewardess. “Ma’am? Excuse me, good afternoon. Could you possibly advise me as to where Mr. Harker is staying?”

Rein was shocked at what she had just asked. It had slipped her mouth, like thoughts spilling over. She had meant to ask about her room and why each ones décor was different…but she realized that perhaps she only wanted to ask Mr. Harker about things and not the stewardess.

The stewardess’s bleak face stayed stiffened. “
Traith
Harker?”

Rein paused and stuttered a moment. “I…is there another?”

“
Oh, no.”

Relief struck her; at least he was alone on the ship. But it was odd how mechanical the woman still seemed in her speech.

“
No,” the stewardess continued. “There is most definitely not another. But he isn’t asked for often. He most definitely is not asked for often.”

“
Why not?” Rein asked; she was confused about why the lady was degrading him so.

The stewardess’s eyes met and burned into her own. “You do not know him well, do you?”

Rein shook her head. “I do not. I’ve only met him once.”

“
He is the rebel of this ship. Different from the others. He is forced to stay on this ship, so he avoids us,” she added.

Rein felt her eyes widen, and she hoped it didn’t look as obvious as it felt.

“
But,” the lady sighed, “to answer your question: his chamber is two doors down from yours, further into the hall.”

Rein’s heart skipped a beat in excitement. If she couldn’t find him lingering about the ship, she could knock on his chamber door. But it would take the courage of God for her to do something like that.

“
But he wouldn’t be in there now,” the lady continued after a pause. “The captain ordered a meeting with him and a few others. You probably will not catch him today.”

Disappointment tore her. “A meeting with the captain? He is the man with the white eyes, correct?”

“
White eyes? Yes…” The stewardess words slurred.

“
What is their meeting about?”

“
That I do not know.” The stewardess did not move a muscle, as if she were connected to strings like a marionette, and her face was without expression.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Rein saw a blur of a man headed toward the door behind her, the one leading to the deck. But the blur appeared out of nowhere.

Spinning her head, she caught a quick glimpse of the man, and realized that it was Mr. Harker. His hand was the last thing she saw, slamming the iron door closed.

She quickly thanked the stewardess and walked near to the café. She could not follow him; he was meeting with the captain, wasn’t he? But he had acted like he hated…

And he was forced to be on this ship?

She felt herself curving toward the entrance door, when Romanoff walked in front of her with Saria close behind. “You saw Traith?” he said, making her stop walking. “He is headed to the private drawing room for wine with the captain. I am going, and I’m taking Saria. You are coming?”

“
I…I wasn’t,” Rein replied politely. “How can you bring Saria and me to this meeting without invitation?”

“
Oh, I’m sure you two will be welcome, dear girl.”

“
Come on, Rein!” Saria said with excitement. “We’ll have fun. I told Edgar we’d just be down the stairs, and he said it was fine that we be alone as long as he was aware of where we were.”

“
Come with me,” the gentleman said as he turned to the entrance door that led to the deck.

Rein was secretly itching to attend this gathering; she would see Traith Harker. But the same puzzling thought kept ringing in her mind:
why would he go?

Had he been lying to her about the illness of the captain? It was beginning to seem so because the captain seemed friendly and because no madman could be in charge of a ship.

But Traith Harker seemed protective. Not, perhaps, friendly, but as the stewardess said, he was not accepted…or he did not accept. Had he been forced onto the ship? And for what purpose would he lie to her about the captain’s illness or the danger of being around him? He had seemed rather loathing of the captain, so why would he go? In a few moments, she surely would have to learn the answer to at least one of her many questions.

Chapter 8

Rein followed Romanoff and Saria out the entrance door, into the cedar hall, and out the door that led to the deck. The weather was dreary and threatening to rain again, and the bitterness in the air made her stomach ill. The saltiness she smelled and tasted were horrible.

Romanoff walked over to a protruding door and opened it. Rein and Saria followed him down a long stairwell into the bottom of the ship. Rein studied her surroundings well as Romanoff made an immediate right, avoiding a dark hallway, which led elsewhere, and entered through another.

There was a large opening in the front of the room, and Rein peered forward and saw Mr. Romanoff greet the captain and take a seat near the fire at the end of the hall. He sat at a small table large enough for only six people, but it seemed cozy enough. Standing momentarily, the captain shook hands with Romanoff and reclaimed his seat at the end of the table. Rein smiled as the two people greeted each other. She felt much unrest, in an eager way, when she noticed Harker sitting at the other end of the table, the side away from the warmth of the fire.

She was exhilarated to see that he was as handsome under good light as she had thought. His muscular chin and jaw and strong but subtle nose were illuminated under a sconce’s glow, and his red eyes, nearly closed, seemed faded. His shaggy hair was a dark brown, and it matched his unshaven face. But the bristles on his face were nearly unnoticeable, about as unnoticeable as his scars. He was wearing a dark waistcoat with his collar high and covering him entirely so she couldn’t see what his clothing was like.

Harker gave a small smile to Romanoff, acknowledging the fact that they were indeed acquainted, but she inferred from his informal greeting that he was not happy to be there. He didn’t seem happy to see her, either; his face grew quickly solemn, and his previously sleepy eyes widened fully when he saw her; their brightness shone. He nodded to her but didn’t make much eye contact afterward. What was he thinking about?

“
Ah, Romanoff!” The captain exclaimed, finally, after examining Rein and Saria. “You brought guests! ‘Tis fortunate that I brought extra wine glasses, just in case!”

“
I thought I was told there were to be no guests,” stated Harker quietly.

Rein bit her bottom lip in a sort of sudden shock at his retort, beginning to feel as though she’d jumped to conclusions about him much too fast.

“
Traith, this young lady told me she has already had the privilege of meeting you,” Romanoff said to him with cheer, putting his arm behind Rein’s back.

“
Yes, we did meet,” he countered with a very low tone of voice, almost a whisper. “How are you, Miss Pierson?”

She was happy that he remembered her name. She found herself a bit stunned at his silence and short words. He had seemed much friendlier than he was acting now, although friendliness didn’t seem to be one of his virtues.

She replied, and he met her gaze. “I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”

“
I’m well.”

“
You know this beautiful dame, Harker?” The captain questioned him in a pompous demeanor, smiling with his pipe.

Rein felt herself flush, but a sniff from Saria told her she was jealous of the attention. Rein smiled.

“
I do not,” the laconic yet irresistible man replied, still calmly quiet. “I only met her last night walking to the foyer.”

“
Was he kindly to you, Miss Pierson?” The captain asked.

Romanoff encouraged her to take a seat next to Saria, who, to Rein’s dismay, had taken the seat next to Traith Harker. Romanoff situated himself on the other side, across from her, next to the captain. Mr. Harker sat back and crossed his arms, blowing breath out through his mouth and staring at the questioning man.

“
He was,” she answered.

She watched Harker’s jaw bite down with his lips together; he lowered his eyes again, as if she had made the wrong answer.

“
So what is this gathering for?” Saria asked, trying to make her own conversation with the men. She was always very nearly too sociable and outgoing.

“
It is just a daily gathering that I set up with these two fine gentlemen, and I see they’ve each a lady now to converse with in addition.”

Harker did not respond, but Romanoff laughed quite audibly. “They looked a bit bored of the ship, so I invited them,” he replied. “Oh, and Traith, I don’t appreciate your pushing me out of my chair earlier.” He grinned and laughed a little.

Harker cocked his head, and his eyebrows drew together. “I have no idea what you are accusing me of, Carden, but
I
don’t appreciate it either.”

“
Ah! Men, beautiful ladies, let us have some wine!” the captain declared. “No quarreling!”

The captain stood and grabbed a bottle from the mantle and poured wine in each of their cups. Not Romanoff’s or Harker’s, though; theirs had already been filled.

Rein was stunned at how very silent Mr. Harker was being. He did not once reach for his goblet to drink. Unlike him, Romanoff gulped his drink down, as did the captain. She and Saria took sips of it. But what was wrong with Traith Harker?

“
Ah, quickly! Look here,” said the captain, rising from his seat and walking over to something covered by a large cloth.

He pulled off the cloth lightly so he didn’t arouse dust. It was a studio camera.

“
Shall I do the honors?” he said, beginning to laugh very hard.

BOOK: Insperatus

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