Midnight Soul (15 page)

A light hit his eyes I was coming to know so
I braced for what was next.

“Seein’ as tickin’ you off makes you cuter
and
funnier, no matter how killer a deal that is, I gotta
say no.”

“I was being quite honest,” I lied. Even if
the danger no longer lurked, I was absolutely not giving him chests
of gold and jewels for the favor of not calling me names I
loathed.

Perhaps
a
fur and
a
jewel and
several
coins (that’s how much I loathed those names for the
truth was, I didn’t even wish to part with that).

But not all of them.

“Liar,” he returned.

I waved a hand in front of me and moved us
back to the pertinent subject, but did it getting a cut in because
I was, well…
me
. Or at least a shadow of me. But there was
still that.

“I see. So I request you not call me these
names. You decline. I request you speak to Frey in my stead to
procure a visit with my parents. You decline that as well. This
meaning you’re not only annoying, you’re also not useful.”

He leaned again toward me, reaching out one
hand to touch my knee before he asked carefully, “If you don’t have
to see them again, after all they’ve done to you, your brother, why
on earth would you see them again, sweetheart?”

“Because I’m still standing.”

He sat back in his chair and studied me.

But as he did so, a smile I’d never seen on
him curved his mouth.

It was filled with viciousness and glee.

It was astonishing.

And mouthwatering.

“I’ll talk to Frey for you,” he agreed.

“I’d be most obliged.”

He leaned forward again and declared, “Just
so you know, you aren’t going alone.”

I wasn’t?

“Whyever not?’ I queried.

“Because I’ll be with you.”

“Why?” That word came higher pitched.

“You’re sharp as a tack but slow to pick up a
few things, so I’ll explain again,” he started and promptly
finished. “You no longer have to go it alone.”

“I’m not being slow, Noc,” I returned. “I
want
to go it alone and I’ll explain that further. I don’t
want you with me.”

“I give a shit about you,” he stated suddenly
sharply, speaking in a way he’d never spoken to me, something which
made me fall silent. “You don’t know how to cope with that and I
get it, babe. I absolutely do. And you can take all the time you
need to wake up and see what’s happening around you. Through that,
I’m gonna stick with it, and in case you haven’t noticed, so are
Frey and Finnie. In other words, Frannie, buckle up. You don’t get
with the program, it’s gonna be a wild ride.”

There was much I understood in his
speech.

There was also much I didn’t.

“I do believe I understand the word shit,” I
retorted. “And it means excrement.”

His sharp mood was failing as a smile
broadened his mouth. “Yeah.”

“So why would you give an excrement about me?
Isn’t that saying you
don’t
think much of me?”

“It’s slang,” he explained.

“Everything you utter is slang.”

“Not everything.”

“The vast majority,” I replied.

His next came in a mutter. “Not gonna argue
that.”

“Are we done speaking on this topic?” I
queried.

“You don’t fight me on goin’ with you to your
parents, then yeah.”

“I’m not in the mood to argue. I’m in the
mood to read,” I lied about the latter.

I was in the mood to brood, something I
wasn’t going to do in front of him, and I was assuming whatever
came next for me would be done with him at least in the room.

“I take that back,” he stated strangely. “One
more thing on that topic.”

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Why don’t you ask Frey yourself?”

“When I’m around him he’s friendly and
sociable.”

Noc stared at me for some time after I
finished speaking before he asked, “And?”

“I find it nauseating.”

He burst out laughing.

I rolled my eyes.

When he was controlling his mirth, I was done
rolling my eyes.

He caught them and declared, “You’re so full
of shit.”

“What an offensive thing to say,” I
snapped.

“It’s slang too, babe, as you know. But yeah.
I just essentially called you a liar. Though, in a teasing
way.”

With nothing else for it, I looked to the
ceiling and begged of the gods who had abandoned me, “Deliver
me.”

“You gonna read?” he asked.

I turned my attention to him. “The next item
on my day’s agenda is practicing my skill at ignoring you. So yes,
Master Noc, I’m going to read.”

“Great, I’ll go get a book,” he muttered,
pushed out of his seat and came to me.

He then bent close in order to kiss the top
of my hair.

Kiss the top of my hair!

Like he was a doting uncle.

The gall!

Even as the aristocrat in me was insulted
beyond measure, I felt a shiver glide down my spine and it was the
first thing that felt good in that area for three days.

“Be back,” he said.

Deciding to put my plan into action, I didn’t
respond.

I simply opened my book, removed the ribbon
and pretended to read.

* * * * *

Late that evening, after dinner, I sat on
the chaise in the dressing room next to the bedroom (both decidedly
masculine, but then Noc and I had exchanged rooms due to my
situation), bent slightly forward for comfort. My robe was draped
low at the back but I held the edges of it up in front to cover
me.

Josette was sitting behind me, attending my
wounds.

After a day I’d spent completely in the
company of others (Noc, reading, Noc, lunch, Noc and Finnie,
afternoon chat, Circe and Cora joining us for afternoon tea—we’ll
just say it was a great relief when they were away to prepare for
dinner), we’d just completed my evening bath.

“The physician wants the lavender and honey
on them tonight, milady, but he spoke to me and believes you should
do your best to leave them to the air tomorrow. The moistness isn’t
allowing scabs to form. We can dress them prior to bed, but during
the day leave them. Do you think you can do that?”

As I’d never sustained a beating from my
father in my life where anyone attended my wounds, I had a feeling
I could.

These were not the words I used to answer my
maid.

I stated, “We’ll try it, Josette.”

“Good,” she mumbled.

I sat, feeling the restfulness of her
ministrations, and seemingly unable to stop my mouth from speaking
that day, more words poured forth.

“There are matters of our future to discuss,”
I informed her.

“Our future?” she asked.

“Indeed,” I replied. “Losing Master Antoine,
the situation as it stands here, things are quite up in the
air.”

Her voice sounded surprised. “Won’t we return
to Fleuridia?”

Fleuridia was her home.

I knew from her
curriculum vitae
she’d
been in service in both Hawkvale and Lunwyn prior to coming to
being in my employ, which was why I assumed the lovely lilt of her
Fleuridian accent was not pronounced and her Valerian was
superb.

It had not occurred to me, uncomfortably, but
she might be wishing to return home.

“Will this be a problem for you?” I
asked.

“I…well, I go where you go, milady.”

She did indeed.

But that had never been across the Green
Sea.

“Can you sit up?” she requested. “I need to
wrap the dressings around.”

I did as she asked, dropping my arms to give
her the access she needed.

“Josette?” I called.

“Right here, Lady Franka.”

“You do know…” By the gods, how did one go
about doing such things? “That your service…the way you perform
your duties…that I quite…
value
that.”

There was a pause in her movements before she
answered me, her voice lower, not with emotion, or at least not
soft emotion.

She sounded like she wished to be
laughing.

“I do get that impression, milady.”

“Excellent,” I stated brusquely. “In
understanding that, you can imagine in future I’d like to keep you
in my employ.”

She wound the gauze around my front and back
as I spoke and continued to do so as she did the same. “I would
hope so.”

“And for your loyalty and level of
performance,” I persevered, feeling drattedly awkward, “which has
always been at a high standard, I shall be giving you a rise in
pay.”

“That’d be lovely, thank you,” she said
quietly from behind me, still wrapping my naked front with gauze,
but sounding like she meant those words.

The intimacy of our situation was not lost on
me.

The fact that I’d not once considered how I’d
entrusted such intimacies to Josette without thought (until then)
was also not lost on me.

I struggled with feelings of shame and hoped
Antoine’s voice didn’t sound in my head as I persisted.

“I’m also in a position to add to our
numbers. However, if you agree to accompany me as I carry out my
plans for the future, then I’d like you not only to see to
employing someone you feel you’ll work well with, but overseeing
that someone once I’ve hired them.”

“Help with my duties?” she asked, the pitch
of her voice rising in surprise.

“You’ve worked diligently for some time. I’m
in a position to remunerate you to show you my appreciation as well
as retain some help for you with said duties.”

“I would…that would…I would be grateful for
that, Lady Franka.”

“Excellent,” I murmured as I felt her tying
the dressing in place.

“I’m done,” she announced.

I carefully pulled my robe up my back, closed
it at the front and cinched it loosely at the waist before turning
to sit properly on the chaise.

Josette had already bustled away and was
dealing with wet bathing cloths, organizing jars and bottles and
gathering my spent clothing.

I’d never once observed her in these duties.
I actually didn’t know what became of my attire and items of my
toilette after I’d swanned from the bathing room. But now I saw the
end of my toilette, as the duration of it, not to mention the time
prior to it, heralded nothing but work for Josette.

“Josette,” I said softly and her eyes darted
to me as she stopped moving. “Come sit with me, please,” I
requested.

Having said “please,” I felt that was enough
of a kindness and stopped myself from patting the cushion beside
me, which was a bizarre urge I had in that moment.

She threw my clothing over a
beautifully-appointed clotheshorse and moved my way. Her step was
tentative but her gaze held mine.

She sat next to me, and in deference to my
wounds I turned carefully to her.

“I’ve made a decision about what’s next for
me and our earlier discourse was done in order for me to share
that, in what I’ve decided, I’d like you to remain with me.
However, I’ll say what’s next, what I have planned, is most
unusual, and of course your life is your own so your decision to
accompany me, or not, is also your own.”

“All right, Lady Franka,” she said
hesitantly.

“And obviously, from what I’ve already
shared, I’ll give you an excellent reference and a healthy stipend
should you decide against continuing with me. Enough that perhaps
you can take some time to yourself. Travel or…” I flipped a hand,
“whatever you enjoy doing. Or you may wish to learn an additional
trade. It will be your coin to do with as you wish. But regardless,
there will be no need to fret if you don’t find alternate
employment immediately. You’ll be safe.”

As I spoke, I ignored her mouth falling
open.

I continued to ignore it as I prompted, “Do
you understand that?”

She nodded slowly and said, “Yes,
milady.”

“Good,” I replied, shifting in my seat, ready
to get on with it. “Now I’ll share that I’ve had time to reconsider
the plans I had prior to my parents being incarcerated, and even
though this means my options for my future are now more extensive
in the Northlands…”

Her look turned from astonished to confused,
but I ignored that too and carried on.

“I still feel an adventure would be just the
thing. With the loss of Master Antoine, Fleuridia—”

Josette didn’t make me utter it, saying
swiftly, “I understand, Lady Franka.”

I nodded smartly and declared, “So I’ve
decided to cross the Green Sea.”

At this, not only did her mouth drop open but
her eyes grew large.

“That’s quite an adventure for anyone,” I
went on, even though her expression shared she knew that and then
some. “So I do understand if you’d rather not. If you have ties to
Fleuridia, family or…” I shook my head, having no idea what she
had, “acquaintances you’d not like to be that far away from.”

“My family’s dead, milady.”

That was when I finally shut my mouth and
stared at her.

I stopped doing that to inquire, “All of
them?”

She nodded. “Mother, father, sister.”

Bloody hell.

“I…well,” I stammered, pulled myself together
and asked, “If you wish to share, would you like to tell me how
such a thing came about?”

“A bridge crumbled under their sleigh,” she
informed me readily. “The sleigh fell through and somehow flipped
as it descended. My father got free, but my mother and sister were
trapped under it at the bottom of the river.” She shrugged as if
this mattered little to her, but I could see the pink in her cheeks
that seemed pronounced due to the sudden pallor of her skin. “My
father died because he stayed in the water trying to pull them
free.”

This was…

Well…

Unthinkable.

With naught else in my power to do, I simply
whispered, “Josette.”

She shook her head like doing so could negate
the pain of these memories.