The Bride of the Immortal (13 page)

Father Adrijan’s resemblance to the knight was astonishing.

Mairin wasn’t certain if it was this, the dark and depressing mood of the painting or the low temperature of the room that made her shiver. Struck by the urge to know more about the artwork, Mairin turned around to ask Hilda about it, only to catch a glimpse of her vanishing behind the
paravent
. The clapping sound of her small feet on the steps saved Mairin the trouble of having to look for herself what the folding-screen was hiding. It had been foolish of her not to realise earlier that there had to be a way to leave the room.

Instead of following her maid, Mairin walked over to the other end of the bedchamber, where Hilda had drawn back the heavy curtains, revealing a glass mosaic. The composition of small glass pieces portrayed a fair haired maiden wearing a long deep blue dress. She was resting with her back against a tree and caressing a unicorn that had lain down next to her with its head put into her lap. Seven butterflies of different colours surrounded the gracefully depictured creatures.

Mairin admired the mosaic for a few moments until she discovered an almost imperceptible door. It took her a few attempts to figure out how to open it but when she finally did and stepped out into the open, an absolutely breath-taking view presented itself to her.

For a view like this, her room had to be high up – so high up that she didn’t dare to walk over to the stone railing, even though it looked sturdy and safe. In the far distance barren mountains sat enthroned like rough, silent giants. A little closer, yet still out of reach, lay their smaller brethren that were favoured by nature. Their vegetation was bearing witness of the season and already showing shades of red and brown. Together they guarded a lake of mentionable size. Between the body of water and Mairin’s new home stretched a forest that was only separated by a narrow path that led to the lake.

“Miss? Where are you, Miss?”

Hilda had returned and was calling for her.

It was like a virus. At first she had been a bother to him, fragile and stubborn as she was. He had mainly saved her out of his feeling of guilt and because he would have hated to see all the work connected to finding a suitable bride go to waste. Now he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

Adrijan wasn’t even certain why he was so drawn to her. Certainly, she was pretty, yet not in the common sense of perfect symmetry one could find on the title page of a magazine. Mairin possessed fine features and a kind of subtle beauty that was only completed by her charisma. She was irresistibly enticing in her own unique way. To him she was like a siren, forcing him with her song to steer his ship against the ragged rocks. Mairin was destined to become Vivian’s bride and he had fulfilled his end of the bargain. There was no more room for him in her life – except she was in the need of a priest.

Adrijan dejectedly shook his head.

Did he really want to be a part of her life? He had to be crazy, having such thoughts about a girl he hardly even knew.

Once again reason lost to the feelings he was trying to nip in the bud. Against his will he remembered the look on her face, the weak yet soft voice asking for him when she was frightened and didn’t know whom to trust. He had wanted to protect her but instead he had delivered the lamb to the wolf.

“Is this really necessary?” Mairin had slowly started backing away from the four girls who had removed her clothes to continue to ‘prepare her for the immortal’ as they had called it. Of course she had struggled and demanded that they let her undress on her own but they had politely ignored her and tortured her with a flood of questions about which colours and what kind of fabric and clothes she liked best. Even after the sheer endless explanation of what was going to happen to her after breakfast, Mairin had felt like a new-born babe when Hilda had taken her behind the
paravent
and downstairs into a room that was of the same shape of the bedroom.

The easiest part had been the haircut, which hadn’t required of her to be naked or to say more than ‘please don’t cut too much’ and ‘I like this colour’. Between getting her hair washed and the top layer packed into aluminium foil, having thrown strands into her face and being turned around in the process, she had tried to get a glimpse of the room. Unfortunately the pillars behind her as well as the girls who had been eagerly working on her hair, eyes and nails had kept her from seeing all of it in the mirror she was facing.

Once she had even tried to inquire after Adrijan but nobody had been willing to answer her questions. She was worried about him – after all he had to have lost a lot of blood and his wound had looked nasty. Mairin was wondering if he was staying here as well or if he had already returned to
Traumstadt
, where he was possibly still in danger, while she was being treated like royalty. Though they weren’t happy thoughts, she tried to focus on them while the maids were proceeding with their dreadful work. Mairin didn’t understand why they had still insisted on removing all kinds of body hair after all her struggling. What was the point of having smooth legs and empty armpits?

“Miss Muriel?” Mairin wasn’t listening. “Miss? We’re done for now, Miss.” Hilda bore a worried look on her face.

What they had done to her the past minutes had by far been one of the most humiliating experiences Mairin had made, and there was a long list of those in her past. Still, it was better than being left behind in that room in Sunflower Garden…

“Maybe it was too much for her,” one of the girls whispered and was immediately silenced by the others. Mairin tried to keep her composure and to stay calm.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. Can I dress now?”

Hilda looked at her as if she had lost her marbles.

“Maybe Miss would prefer to bathe first,” she suggested hesitantly.

Mairin blushed. Desperately trying not to look at anything or anyone during the process, she hadn’t noticed that her legs were partially still covered with foam.

Hilda and the other maids led her through the fully tiled room that was flooded by the afternoon sun. The rays of light had found their way through the countless windows and past the pillars that were forming a circle around the small group. To Mairin they were like druids who were quietly waiting for the sacrifice to be put on the altar.

While walking to the centre of the room she nervously tried to focus on the sun mosaic on the ground. If the situation had been any different, Mairin would have taken pleasure in gazing at the range of white, orange, beige and black stones that had been used for the sun. Black stones? Mairin was alarmed. Was there a particular reason why the tips of the sunbeams were black? Hastily she tried to remind herself that Hilda had told her she would be bathed, not sacrificed.

The maids finally halted in front of the small cabin in the middle of the room. There was a door on one side and the largest bath tub Mairin had ever seen on the other side. Both were black and richly decorated with a multitude of intertwined golden lines that looked like molten lava leaking through fractures of the earth. She would never forget the drawings the teacher had shown her back in Sunflower Garden. They had made her feel as if she were gazing into hell itself.

Unlike the outside of the bath tub, the walls of the cabin were transparent and revealed a strange apparatus that reminded her of the sprinkler of a watering can. Mairin was glad to see that the inside of the tub wasn’t black but cream-coloured. Somehow the thought that it could be otherwise had unsettled her.

One of the girls walked over to the tub and reached for a golden button. As if by magic, water started to stream out of several golden openings into the vessel.

“Amazing…” Mairin mumbled. Her remark earned her more than one strange look.

Hilda took control of the awkward situation and explained to her in a few words what it meant to ‘take a shower’ and how she would be able to operate the apparatus. Mairin would be allowed to wash without help, but they’d stay in reach in case they were needed.

In the meantime, the tub had filled with water and most of its surface had been covered with foam. Mairin took a deep breath and reluctantly entered the cabin, expecting to be immediately drowned or pulverised. When nothing of the sort happened, she carefully started to follow the instructions Hilda had given her and after the initial fear of the unknown had subsided, she even managed to relax under the streaming rain that was coming from the ‘watering can’. She especially enjoyed the slightly sweet scent of the creamy substance she was meant to apply to her body before washing it off again. Hilda had called it ‘shower gel’ and Mairin thought that it was far more practical than using a bar of soap. It felt good to get rid of the last traces of sweat and illness and the pieces of foam that had started to make her skin itch on the way to the cabin. When she was finished, she opened a small door on the other side and climbed the two stairs to the bath tub in front of her.

Finally she was able to allow herself to sink into the – hopefully – warm water. The temperature of the bath even surpassed Mairin’s expectations and she was convinced that the worst part of the day had to be over. The moment that thought crossed her mind, the bathroom door in front of her was opened.

Adrijan was on his way to retrieve the small bundle he had found in the bungalow. Amongst all the excitement he had forgotten to remove it from his coat before he had handed it to Alfred. Even so he was in no hurry, since he could be certain that every piece of his clothes was thoroughly checked before it was cleaned or thrown out. If the package was valuable at all, Alfred had surely realised by now and put its contents aside.

Adrijan was heading for one of the ‘secret’ staircases the servants used when he heard loud shrieking and screaming coming from nearby. The tower upstairs had been closed off for a long time undergoing renovation and even before then it had only rarely been used. Had Vivian chosen to accommodate Mairin there? The possibility alone that the uproar was connected to her was enough to make Adrijan bolt upstairs.

Despite wearing his clerical clothing he had reached the door to the lowest level of the tower in a trice. Adrijan wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that the screaming had ebbed down before he had even been able to verify the source of the racket. Without spending a second thought on it, he yanked the door open – and the shrieking started again.

“Father Démon!” He recognised the agitated voice at once. It belonged to Hilda whom he had appointed to be Mairin’s personal maid. At the same moment he also realised the reason for the uproar. Vivian was standing only a few steps away from him with his back to the door. He was wearing a
yukata
, Japanese clothing the immortal had chosen as his bath robe. Adrijan had his doubts that Vivian was wearing anything underneath it but he felt by no means obliged to find out for certain.

“Adrijan, how good of you to join us!” Vivian had turned around and looked at him, smirking broadly.

Adrijan found himself at a loss for words. Was he insane? Mairin had almost been raped and he had the nerve to walk into the bathroom in her presence! He had already spotted her behind Vivian, with her head immersed in the water as deep as possible while still being able to breathe. Foam was covering most of the surface but he could imagine that she was pressing her body against the inside of the bath tub, trying to make herself disappear.