The plan.
“You mentioned a plan, Cezar. Am I allowed to hear what it is?”
“It will become plain to you in due course.”
“Cezar, tell me. Please.” I had to force the word out.
“Let us simply say that should you girls make use of any secret passageways or hidden doors at next Full Moon, you won’t be doing so alone. Between now and that time I will be establishing improved security at Piscul Dracului. I know you’ve been breaking the rules I set down to preserve your safety, Jena.
Tati, in particular, has shown an alarming tendency to go off for walks on her own. I overheard something in the village recently, something that wasn’t intended for my ears. Folk have noticed the change in your sister’s appearance. They’ve been putting it together with what happened to the miller’s daughter, and some of them have leapt to a conclusion that deeply disturbs me. I don’t know how much you understand about the Night People.”
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Now I was really frightened. “Not much,” I whispered.
“They feed, and folk die. Ivona was victim to that. But sometimes they feed and folk remain alive, but changed. If this is distressing to you, Jena, I can only say it is something you need to know, in view of the foolish risks you girls have been taking. I heard someone suggest that Tatiana might have been singled out in this way. The fellow said it explained why Piscul Dracului’s stock had been spared the knife, and would also account for the dramatic change in Tati’s appearance. People saw her at the party, they could hardly not notice it. Folk muttered that she was sure to be visited again, and you know what that means.”
I could hardly speak. “I don’t, Cezar. Tell me.”
“After a certain number of bites, the victim becomes one of the Night People, Jena. Once the process begins, folk see such an individual not as a victim, but as a threat to the community.
There’s no reversing this. She would become an outcast, hunted, her own bite the stuff of desperate fear. I assume there is no substance in this rumor.” He was deadly serious, his eyes sternly fixed on me.
“Of course not!” I felt cold all through. Deep inside me, there was a terrible suspicion that, just possibly, what he suggested could be true. I didn’t want to give it credence, but part of me couldn’t help it. Sorrow had been in Tadeusz’s realm for years and years. Before she met him, Tati had been healthy and happy. Folk didn’t actually waste away for love, did they? So perhaps this was something else. That someone in the village had thought of this possibility was terrifying. I pictured the 266
hunting party—expressions dark, weapons glinting—crashing through the forest, and Tati fleeing before them. I’d still never had a proper look at Sorrow’s teeth.
“We must put an end to such talk,” Cezar said. “Tati has been astonishingly stupid to allow any grounds for it. And she’s the eldest. It is no wonder your younger sisters are growing up so wayward. There will be guards here as of tomorrow. I expect you girls to keep to the house and courtyard.”
I stared at him, my feet rooted to the spot. “You can’t do that,” I whispered, unable to believe that even he would be so heavy-handed. “You don’t mean guards to protect us, do you?
You mean jailers—folk to keep us in.”
“You could cooperate, Jena.” That soft voice again, the one that frightened me most. “Tell me the truth and we can go about this quite differently. Just give a little. I don’t want us to be enemies.”
Ask about Full Moon.
“You said something about not being alone at Full Moon. I told you, all we will be doing is having a little fun among sisters. Nothing untoward. What are you planning to do, set a woman to spy on us in our own bedchamber?”
“Not a woman, not if there is the least possibility of a trip to this Other Kingdom, with its attendant perils.”
Just say it, scum. The frog was a tight bundle of nerves; I was no better.
“I think you’ll have to spell it out for me, Cezar. You can’t mean that you yourself are planning to spend the night in our private quarters, not if you care about the family reputation. If 267
such an episode ever became public knowledge, your own good name would be destroyed along with ours.”
“Of course I would not consider such a thing.” I could see the terror in his eyes at the very thought of exposure to the Other Kingdom; it made me wonder how he had managed his nightly hunting parties—and whether he had, in fact, ever believed they would bear fruit. “I’ll find a man in need of a few coppers to keep body and soul together,” he said. “Someone prepared to take a risk. He’ll be locked in with you overnight, and be bound to find out the secret and follow you wherever this portal leads. Once I know the truth about it, I can prepare properly for an all-out assault. Don’t look like that, Jena. Didn’t you swear to me there was no portal? If you were telling the truth, there’s nothing to worry about, my dear.”
I’ll dear him. How dare he? Wretch! Coward!
“You would put a man in our bedroom. ” My tone was flat with disbelief. “Overnight. Clearly it’s only your own reputation you’re worried about, not those of your marriageable cousins. Cezar, this is ludicrous. I’m going up to see Aunt Bogdana first thing in the morning. She will never allow such a breach of propriety.”
“My mother is not home. She’s gone to visit her friend near Bra¸sov.”
I was immediately suspicious. “She never mentioned that to me.”
“It was a sudden decision. Don’t trouble yourself, Jena. I will provide a woman from my household as chaperone, someone discreet. We’ll make sure this doesn’t get out.”
“Then I’m going down to the village to see Judge Rinaldo.
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You’ve exceeded your authority too far, Cezar. This talk of guards . . . It’s not something you can do.”
“You will explain to the judge about your nighttime escapades, then? The uninvited guest at your party? He knows already of your difficulties in managing your father’s funds and in running your farm with only old Petru to help. He knows this household was singled out to be spared the marauding attentions of the Night People. Very probably he’s heard the theory about the cause of Tati’s illness, as well. I think you’d find it hard to make a convincing case against my providing a force of men to protect you and your sisters, Jena.”
“I’ll try, despite that. I’m not letting you do this.” There was a feeling like a cold stone in my stomach, a dread of what was to come.
“You weren’t listening, Jena. I told you, none of you girls is to go beyond the house and courtyard. Most certainly not down to the village. Not until this is resolved to my satisfaction.”
Prisoners in our own home. Not so long ago, the fool was talking about love.
“And what if this spy of yours discovers nothing at all?”
“Then I will find a new man for next Full Moon—and then another man, and so on—until the truth comes out. You’d do far better to tell me now, Jena. Save yourself all that embarrass-ment. I could have the woods swept clean of these presences even before spring. It’s within my grasp, I feel it.” He was no longer seeing me; his eyes were full of blood and vengeance.
“I can’t believe you thought I might change my mind,” I said, backing away toward the door. “I can’t believe you thought I could ever possibly love you. The real monsters aren’t 269
folk from the Other Kingdom, Cezar. They’re men like you: men who won’t stop grasping for power until they’ve destroyed everything. You think you’re going to put an end to the folk of the forest. But if you don’t take a step back, you’re going to end up destroying your own life.”