Chapter 15
"Unhand her!" I shouted.
The gentleman looked up and we both gasped. Lord Xavier Deerhorn!
Thank the god and goddess, he let Ruth go. I wouldn't have known what to do if he had not.
She rushed to my side and we clasped one another tightly. "Are you all right?" I asked.
She nodded through her tears, but her shaking implied otherwise.
"Did he hurt you?"
She looked at Lord Xavier then shook her head.
"Go!" he ordered her. "Get going! I wish to speak with the midwife alone." He stood with his feet apart, hands clenched into fists at his sides. It wasn't until he stepped toward us that she picked up her skirts and ran off.
"You have nothing to say that I want to hear," I told him. I turned to follow her, but he caught my arm. "Let me go!"
"Not yet. I need to talk to you. If I let you go, will you stay?"
"That depends on what it is you want from me."
My answer must have satisfied him because he loosened his grip enough for me to jerk free. "Stand there and talk," I said, pointing to a spot on the gravel at a safe distance.
"No," he said in a harsh voice that seemed to come from the depths of him. "You do not tell me what to do."
I inched backward to where I thought I would be safe. He watched, his dark grey eyes glittering as his gaze traveled my length. The man had an insatiable appetite for women, so I'd heard. What would he do if he found satisfaction difficult to come by of late here at the palace?
I glanced behind me to make sure Ruth had made her escape. "What were you doing with her?" I asked.
"I don't have to answer you," he sneered. "How dare you even presume such a thing!"
"Then state your business with me. I'd like to leave."
He rubbed his lips together, moistening them. "I want to urge you to reconsider my proposition."
"To spy on the duke of Gladstow for you? My decision stands. I won't spy on him or anyone else."
I went to walk off but he grabbed my arm and hauled me back. I stumbled but his bruising grip held me upright.
"Stop struggling," he hissed. "You do not get to walk away until I've dismissed you."
"Unhand me! You are not my master." I tried pulling free but he was too strong, too determined that he not be thwarted again.
"My father is your lord and I am his heir."
"I am a free woman, not a Deerhorn servant."
His chuckle held no humor, only cruelty. "You're stupid if you believe we have no influence over you. All of Mull is under our influence. Your father was allowed to work as a doctor there because my father let him. It suited us to have a healer nearby. But he's gone now, and you are nothing. It would be easy for you to become less than nothing. All it would take would be an accusation of doctoring."
"I have not done any medical work other than midwifery, and I am allowed to sell medicines."
"Who'll believe your denials when the noble Deerhorn family states otherwise?"
An icy chill seeped through to my bones. He would do it, too. He and his mother would take delight in seeing me punished. They knew I couldn't pay a fine, that I would have to sell my belongings. He was wrong in that no one from the village would believe his family over me, but he was right in that it didn't matter what the villagers believed. The Deerhorns would get their way. If they wanted to crush me, they could.
He dragged me closer, slamming my body against his, crushing my skirts. The lump in his breeches proved just how excited our conversation made him. Perhaps not the conversation but the power he held over me. Lord Xavier liked women to be vulnerable and afraid.
I wouldn't give him satisfaction by showing my fear. He might have the upper hand, but I would not let him see that I knew it. It was tempting to jerk my knee into his groin, but even if it forced him to let me go, he would catch me again when I fled.
"Spy for me, Josie," he said, "or there will be consequences."
His gaze suddenly shifted and he glanced over my head. He released me and I stepped away, stumbling in my haste. I regained my balance just as Lady Deerhorn rode up to us on a pristine white horse.
"What is the meaning of this?" she barked. "Why are you bothering my son?"
"He was bothering me," I said, rubbing my arm. "Before that, he was bothering one of the maids."
Lady Deerhorn's nostrils flared, but her accusatory glare remained on me. "Don't be absurd. He has better taste than to dabble with a village girl and maid."
We all knew that wasn't true, but he'd never been arrested for raping the village girl some years ago. Rumor had it the governor wouldn't even allow the sheriff to question him.
Lord Xavier snorted a laugh. His mother finally turned that steely glare onto him.
He swallowed. "I thought I'd ask her again if she'd spy for us, Mother. She refused."
So Lady Deerhorn did know about the spying. Perhaps it had been her idea to enlist me, thinking me easy to manipulate. It was telling that she seemed annoyed he'd taken it upon himself to ask me again. She must have told him not to.
I picked up my skirts and walked away, not wanting to linger, but Lady Deerhorn wheeled her horse around and cut me off. The horse was jittery, tossing its head and trying to turn again. She pulled hard on the reins and the horse jerked its head in protest.
"Do not run to the captain or there will be consequences," she said.
"What does it matter what I do?" I snapped back. "I am nobody, aren't I? I'm nothing. If I accuse you or your son of asking me to spy for you, I won't be taken seriously, will I?"
Her nostrils flared again, and it was in that moment that I realized I did have some power. She was worried that I'd talk. I might not be believed by the other nobles, but Dane would believe me, and he had the king's ear. Kitty might also believe me, and if she told her husband, the Deerhorns' plotting would come to naught.
I marched back to Grand Avenue with my head high and my stomach in knots. While it was a relief to know I wasn't entirely powerless, I was very aware that the Deerhorns would want to keep a close eye on me.
Instead of heading toward the village, I slipped into the shadows of the stable's long colonnaded portico. The faint conversation between mother and son gradually grew louder as they returned to Grand Avenue too.
"You fool," Lady Deerhorn spat. "You should not have asked her again."
"I agree," he said. "I should not have asked, I should have forced her."
"Stop this! Stop this obsession with her at once before it goes too far. She should be ignored. She's beneath your notice."
"I'm not obsessed."
Lady Deerhorn said nothing.
"Besides, if she's not important, why does the king trust her?" Lord Xavier asked petulantly. "Why does she have his ear?"
How did they know the king had asked for my advice? Perhaps they'd guessed after seeing me coming or going from his apartments. Gossip in the palace spread faster than the plague and was just as deadly, so it was possible they hadn't even seen me in that part of the palace at all but had merely heard about it.
Gravel crunched beneath the horse's hooves. I moved behind one of the columns and prayed they wouldn't peer too hard into the shadows.
"He should be asking Father for local advice," Lord Xavier said with a pout in his voice.
I hugged the cool stone column and watched as Lord Xavier walked alongside the horse, his shoulders a little rounder than before, the sneering curl to his lip no longer in evidence.
His mother sat in the saddle with all the elegance of one born to ride magnificent white horses. Her purple riding cape spread behind her over the horse's rump without a single crease; her broad-brimmed hat sat perfectly askew at just the right angle to send the plumes shooting straight up. Every inch of her, from her haughty bearing to her pristine white boots, was carefully considered to convey authority, wealth, and privilege.
"I'm going to bury her," she said, teeth clenched so that only her lips moved.
Everything inside me recoiled. I wanted to shrink further into the shadows but didn't dare move. I wanted to gasp for air because suddenly it seemed scarce, yet I didn't dare make a sound.
I watched mother and son as they made their way to the stable entrance where a groom took the horse and Lady Deerhorn dismounted. Two sedan chairs trotted up to carry them back to the palace.
Still I did not move. I wanted them well gone before I returned to the palace. Going back was something I had to do. I had to check on Ruth and find out what Lord Xavier wanted from her.
Two grooms emerged from the stables with blazing torches in hand. One went left and the other turned right. They reached up and lit the torches fixed to the portico columns. On the other side of the Grand Avenue, servants emerged from the coach house entrance and did the same. More servants lit the torches closer to the palace and in the forecourts, and suddenly the twilit indigo sky no longer looked so forbidding.
I hurried toward the palace, eyeing the shadows in case any surprises lurked there. Only the guards at the gate stopped me, however, and they let me through without requiring an explanation. They were so used to me in Dane's company that they trusted me. Now.
I headed to the commons but didn't go inside. I had to ask several staff where Ruth could be found, and eventually someone knew where she was. Not wanting to disturb her while she was at work, I decided to wait for her at the commons' courtyard fountain.
It was a busy time of day. No one stood idly at the fountain, chatting or washing. All the servants who crossed the courtyard seemed to be in a hurry, many of them carrying trays, buckets, linen, clothing. A nod for one another was all they could spare, though some smiled at me. I recognized several faces and smiled back, but not always. I did not smile at Seb the footman, nor did he smile at me. His gaze lingered, however, as slick and putrid as the gutters in The Row.
I looked away first and shivered, although the air was still warm. There was no breeze in the internal courtyard and perhaps warmth from the vast basement kitchens had somehow risen up through the ground and surrounding walls. If I listened very carefully, I could just make out the shouted orders of the cook as he managed the massive task of feeding the hundreds of nobles and thousand-strong staff.
As twilight faded to dusk, I moved closer to the commons entrance. There were fewer torches here than near the palace, but I could see the maids' faces well enough as they came and went. Finally, Ruth appeared. She walked with another maid, both holding buckets that must have been empty, going by the ease with which they carried them.
"May I have a word?" I asked her.
She hesitated then nodded and handed the bucket to her companion. Ruth sat alongside me at the fountain edge. It was the closest we'd get to privacy, but we'd have to keep our voices low.
"Did Lord Xavier hurt you?" I asked.
"He just frightened me." She glanced toward the exit, as if she expected him to appear there.
"Did he seem…familiar?" I hazarded. I didn't want to upset her, but I had to be blunt to make myself clear. "Do you think he was the one who attacked you?"
"Lord Xavier! No, Miss Cully, I don't think so. He wouldn't go into the service corridors. That's not what he wanted from me, anyway, so he said."
"Then what did he want?"
"He asked me why you were in my room."
How had he known that? Did everyone have spies? "What did you tell him?"
"That it was a private medical matter and of no concern to him. That's when you arrived, miss. He didn't like my answer. I think…" She sniffed. "I think he might have struck me if you hadn't come."
My heart thundered in my chest. "Did you use the word medical? Or did you say midwifery?"
She lowered her head and clasped her hands in her lap, her knees together. "I…I don't remember. I'm sorry."
I placed my hand over hers. "It's all right, Ruth. It's not important."
How I wished that were so.
I released her in case she felt my hand shake. "You should inform the captain of the incident," I said.
She nodded. "I'll go in search of him now. I should have spoken to him earlier about something else, but I put it off."
"Has something happened?"
She glanced at the entrance again and dropped her voice further. "There's been another rape."
"Oh, Hailia, no. Who is it? Is she all right?"
"She's another maid. She's upset but seems to be coping, and she didn't want to summon you. She came to me because she guessed I'd been affected too after word got around that you'd been to check on me. She swore me to secrecy."
"The captain must be told."
"I know, and I'll tell him now. I'll take her with me. I'm not sure if it will help, since she didn't see his face. He attacked her from behind, like he did me."
Like he had Ingrid, too.
"Do you want me to come?" I asked, my mind reeling with questions.
"No, thank you, miss. She won't want too many to hear what he did. I just hope it ain't too late, leaving it so long, and she hasn't forgotten an important detail."
"When did the attack happen?"
"Three nights ago."
Three nights ago. I remembered that night well. It was the night Dane kissed me.
"She said she heard the village horns in the distance," Ruth said.
"The temple's horns? They carry this far?"
"Only if the wind is blowing the right way."
She gave me a flat smile then went on her way. I watched her go yet hardly saw her. My mind was too focused on recalling that night—the kiss, and witnessing the village meeting through The Anchor's rear courtyard window. Both Ivor Morgrain and Lord Barborough had been at that meeting. It would have been impossible for them to get from Mull to the palace, even with the swiftest horse. Not before the temple's horns announced evening prayers, anyway. Neither man could be the rapist.
"The temple's horns," I muttered, blinking into the empty space where Ruth had sat beside me. Lord Xavier had accosted me on my doorstep that night, and the horns had blasted through the night air during our conversation. So he couldn't be the rapist either.
That left Seb.
I shot to my feet and ran across the courtyard, only to stop when I reached the breezeway outside the commons. The footman had been with the duke of Buxton at the time of Ruth's rape. The duke had confirmed it himself.
Not a single one of our suspects could have committed all three attacks.
There must be someone else we hadn't considered, or perhaps it was Brant after all. I'd believed him when he'd claimed to be looking for the cabinet the night of Ruth's rape, however, and so did Dane. If he hadn't lied to Dane in the first place and asked Zeke to lie for him—
Zeke!
He'd been left to patrol alone while his partner sought the cabinet. There were no witnesses to his whereabouts, but because no one sensed danger in his presence, we'd not suspected him.
I hurried toward the palace but didn't enter through the service door. The dark corridors would be unsafe, and I didn't want to come across Zeke alone.