“That’ll teach ’im,” she announced. Dropping the pan on the floor, she rushed to the chaise to tend to Helena.
“Call the bobbies,” I told Berggia. “We shall treat this as a human matter. Which means we must first remove the wolf that lies in the gutter outside the door.”
“Excuse me, sir, but they came and took it away already.”
“You saw?”
“Yes. That was what sent me and the wife running inside from the errand you sent us on.” I did not bother to tell him that the chore had been a ruse of the wolves to remove them from the premises. I could tell from the haunted look in his eyes that his story would not bear interruption. He said, “It was strange enough that two people were loading a bleeding wolf into a carriage. But even more bizarre that one of them, well, seems like I saw the same lady during the war. She was a’leaning over one of the dying chaps. And after it was over, they both stood up and walked away.”
“How did you recognize her again?” I asked, a ring of ice encasing my heart. Berggia, who had never stepped away from a task in all the years I had known him, blanched. “Come, now, man. I must know.”
“Hu… her dress belt looked like it were made from snakes. Like living, moving ones that intertwined at the clasp. And this gel had the selfsame belt on.” And now, surely, my heart had stopped altogether. For Berggia must have witnessed one of the cubs of Medusa herself.
“What was it, sir? What did I see?”
I strode to the desk and began pulling out papers.
Though I could not read their contents, their seals told me enough. Only the ones most vital to our travels would be packed. The others must stay to make it look as if we meant to return. Because the Berggias had to understand our plight, I said, “That werewolf wanted Helena for his own. He is obsessed with her. And now he is in the hands of a Gorgon.” I tried to speak as clearly as I could despite the necessity for speed and my growing fear for my daughter. “Gorgons can eat death.”
I waited for the Berggias to recover from the initial shock. They had seen enough in their time with me that it did not take long. I continued. “I will not describe to you the nature of this consumption. It is”—I looked up to find them both staring at me from pale, still faces—“quite ghastly. But you must understand that once Roldan—the wolf—agrees to the Gorgon’s terms, he will become beholden.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Madame Berggia. She had maneuvered Helena’s head onto her prodigious lap, and was now smoothing back her shining brown hair.
I had emptied the drawers and now moved to the safe that was hidden behind a series of books on the occult.
Turning my back to them (Not because it is difficult to face the fearful eyes of those completely dependent on me, I whispered to myself) I said, “The Gorgon will return when Roldan’s life has run its natural course. And every night thereafter she will eat Roldan’s death until the Were’s soul shatters.” I heard Madame Berggia gasp, but did not turn around. Reaching into the safe, I pulled out all of my earthly goods.
“How long do you suppose that will take?” asked my valet.
I deposited the small trunk in which I kept my cash and valuables onto the desk. “It depends on the wolf. But I doubt that Helena will survive him. So we must take her out of the country. And we must leave tonight.” Opening the trunk, I began to load it with papers.
Berggia said, “What do you want us to do?”
“Take Helena upstairs and tend to her. I wish we had time to call a surgeon around, but we must trust that she will wake soon and make a complete recovery. While she sleeps, pack as if we are simply taking a short trip. But take everything we cannot do without. I shall go and book tickets on the first steamer out of port.” (And then we will board the second. Perhaps that will throw Roldan off long enough for me to devise a better plan.) Sharp pain, beginning at my neck and shooting around to my spine, ending at the backs of my knees. Which had begun a fine tremble. I felt Vayl’s former reality melt away and reached out for it, as if I could give it enough support to find out what happened to Helena. “No, no,” I heard myself murmur. “Where’d she go?”
I felt something impeding my hand, which wanted badly to reconstruct the picture in my head, and realized it was a broad, hard chest. I rol ed my head straight, letting the wal behind me provide support for a heaviness I was pretty sure my neck couldn’t yet handle, and peered up at my sverhamin. He stared down at me, his eyes dark as a forest path. I watched him lick my blood from his lips. Felt him press his handkerchief against my wound, his fingers so warm I could feel each one of them through the linen.
“You are too generous with me, my Jasmine, you always have been.”
“What?” I slapped my hand against his so he couldn’t back away. “What did you cal me?”
His eyebrows twitched. “Are you quite al right?”
“What is my name?” I demanded.
“Madame Berggia, of course. It always has—”
“You just cal ed me Jasmine.”
He pul ed his hand away, leaving me to hold the temporary bandage. Even if I hadn’t been able to read irritation in the lines between his forehead and beside his lips, I’d have sensed his withdrawal from a mile away. No wonder Wraiths were often found encased in the ice of their own breath. Eventual y you get so cold nobody wants to touch you.
He said, “If I did, which I am certain I did not, it was no doubt a slip of the tongue engendered by the fact that I have been corresponding with a lovely woman from this city who goes by that name.”
“You’re so ful a shit,” I muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“I said I need to learn to knit.” I began trudging in the direction of Sister Hafeza’s shop. I was real y trying to feel like crap. It seemed like the appropriate moment and al .
But my postdonation high had kicked in, big-time. And I had to think Vayl whispering my name was a hopeful sign. An unbreakable curse showed no weak seams to begin with.