Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel (43 page)

"That
Regina woman is a right on witch, Miss. She looked down her nose at us the
whole time, and didn't even seem shamed that
her
plan was the one that
nearly had me murdered."

Bethany
tightened her lips, but didn't say that Clara was wrong at all.

"Yes.
Doctor Grainger is a dear, of course, but many of his students are... Less than
welcoming. I've had warmer welcomes from people in the Westmorland hate
movement, to be totally honest. Of late at least. They aren't
guilty
however. There were some bright spots however. One of the men that took the
anti-mesmerism training here was there and nearly took off one of his fellows'
heads for being rude to us. That technique, letting people try for themselves,
seems to work pretty well."

Gwen
sighed and shook her head slowly, but didn't say the rest of it out loud. That
left only one thing for them to do in the matter then, didn't it?

She
was going to need some things first though, including a sharp knife and a good
alibi.

Then
she had some work to do.

In
the end it took her about ten minutes to get the job done. It was brutal, of
course, since she didn't have a lot of time to do it right. Meaning she didn't
know how to teleport body parts out of the woman from a distance, so had to
actually go and do the work personally. Teleporting in really made it easier
though. She made certain that a good fifteen people knew where she was, being
useful, and helping out with the party arrangements, out in the back yard.

These
were the new hires, and that meant people with no particular reason to think
she was either up to anything, or to make up a lie about her being there with
them. She did have to introduce herself around a lot, but made a point of
working with everyone she could. Then excused herself to the bathroom. It was
late, and people were working by the light of glow lamps that had been set up
outdoors for the party the next day. That meant it would be about an hour
earlier back in Aubry.

Gwen
had been in Lisa's room before, and as it turned out, when Chris had said she
was locked in her room, he hadn't been speaking about the dungeon. Thankfully.
She even had a light on. It was helpful, since it meant that Gwen could step
in, behind where she sat, and hit her in the back of the head, right over the
brainstem, as hard as she could. It made a noise, but just a thump.

Then,
taking the little, but very sharp, knife she'd brought in for the task. Wiping
it off first, out of long habit, from watching television shows, she slit the woman's
left wrist in a long straight line up her forearm, and stood there while she
bled enough that Gwen was pretty certain she wouldn't recover from it. Blood
was everywhere, but by floating above it, she was able to move in, and slip the
knife into her right hand enough that the slumped over woman took it, clutching
gently.

Then
she looked over.

"You."
It came out as a whisper. "You killed me?"

Gwen
shrugged, which made her bobble slightly in the air. "You tried to kill
millions. It has to be done."

There
was a soft smile on the rather blocky woman's face then, and she let her eyes
close.

"I
love him. You'll take good care of him? He..." There was another word,
which Gwen couldn't really make out. She thought it might have been love, or
loves, but other than that, she couldn't tell what it was.

She
waited, as the puddle of red ran across the desk and onto the floor. She didn't
leave a note, since faking handwriting wasn't a skill of hers. This would have
to be enough. She had to land, so did it across the room, carefully. Then after
recovering from the effort of not being on the ground, she went back to the
party preparations. Or, really, the bathroom in her room. She had an old
workman's outfit on, which was tan and stained, but totally free of blood. She
checked it several times before going back down, making sure she kept talking
to people all night long, until everyone turned in. That meant she was seen the
entire night, except for some rather short bathroom breaks.

That
night, for once, she slept pretty well. Oh, she woke up in a pool of her own
sweat, but when she was woken up by pounding in the morning it was only Peter,
not the Constabulary coming around to accuse her of murder. Today they
collected Beth and Manly for the workout as well. Pete was going directly into
his next training session set, after that. It was a newly designed thing, to
teach him total control of his telepathy. That would require an altered state,
she thought, but Manly didn't think so. Especially since it was mainly teaching
him to not use it, unless he wanted to.

"I'd
like to try it like the healers do it. Teaching him to control it all on
purpose. There will be more pain than with the last bit, but nothing like the
old style. Then we'll get to the healing work, like you suggested. I had to
have him reassigned to that. He was going to be slated as a detective, but this
makes more sense, given the new training and what might be needed for it. If we
can't use him in the field longterm, this will still work." Manly smiled,
and looked over at the kid. "He'll still be here however, as your
assistant? That means having me around too, but I told Adam that I was one of
your favorite people. That didn't make him happy at all, for some reason."

Gwen
didn't correct the man, trying not to hate him for his job. It almost worked
even.

"Great.
We might have some things to work on too, you and I, I mean." She still
had to figure out how to make a rifting device after all. That meant staying
off of the pleasure inducer, at least until she mastered how rifting was done.
Messing that up wasn't going to work.

The
day actually went pretty normally, though she helped out with the preparations
for things, along with Ethyl, until mid-afternoon when people started arriving.
It was sort of like a picnic, after all. If those sorts of things had eighteen
course meals served in the middle, three live bands, and a collection of Super
Soldiers that mainly stood around, looking alternately awkward and bemused.

Billy
showed up, as expected, if only by her, and found her standing next to
Christophe and the King, while they waited for the Marduk to show up. He wasn't
expected for a bit, since he was coming in from halfway across the world, and
would be leaving after he woke up.

It
was really the time that Gwen had figured to be yelled at by Ferdinand, to tell
the truth. She hadn't forgotten that the man might well want her head, after
having made all those problems for him, with the Westmorlands.

Instead
he was remarkably polite, even after he led them all away from where others
might easily hear them. It was still technically at the party, and well guarded
however.

"Duke
Aubry," the King started, not paying too much attention to Billy. "I
hear that your secretary took her own life last night? Was she unwell?"

That,
Gwen was willing to bet, was code for
depressed
. Chris nodded, his face
looking shamed and dark.

"We
tried to help her, but in the last weeks she was... Well, I should have gotten
more help for her. I just didn't know what to do. The poor dear, she really was
a good secretary." That last bit was almost a plea. As if he was trying to
protect her memory for real.

Then,
Gwen had never heard that Lisa was a slacker or anything. Maybe she really was
good at her job? Given all that she'd put together, she almost had to have
been, really.

Ferdinand
made a face that spoke of sympathy, and then turned to Billy, as if he expected
that the man had some word for him. That just got a shrug.

"Hey,
I just came to see who this guy is that's going to be marrying my older sister.
Don't get confused, she's older than me." He looked to be in his thirties,
and was, but
Gwen
was too. It was Katherine that wasn't.

Christophe
knew all that however. Not that she had a brother, which had to be explained,
but he shook hands with him then and acted as if Billy was the King suddenly.
Ferdinand explained it to her at least, which was nice of him, since she wasn't
getting it at all.

"William
here is your closest living relative, Gwen. As such, he could refuse Duke Aubry
the right of marriage." Turning to Billy, the man smiled. "Though, I
can assure you, Christophe is a wonderful fellow. He has good prospects and all
that, as well as a kind heart. I can keep extolling the virtues he possesses if
you need?"

That
part was meant to get a laugh and did, since even her strange brother
understood it.

"I
don't tell Gwen what to do. You might have noticed that very few people really
do? That isn't going to change much. Anyway sis, those people you had me look
into? It was what you thought." Then he glanced at the King and shrugged
again. Lying his behind off. "They were from all over and didn't have a
connection that can be found. We'll have to look someplace else, I guess. It
was worth trying though."

Then,
as if he hadn't been talking to the King and a Duke, he wondered off, to get a
tiny plate of snacks.

That
actually looked good, but she was busy enough that it wasn't too likely.

Ferdinand
fixed her with a stern gaze then, which got her fiancé to go wide eyed.

"Now,
Miss Farris, tell me, what do you have planned for my Westmorlands? You
mentioned something?"

"Yeah."
She waited a bit, looking across the well manicured lawn at Bethany, who was
talking with Adam of all people. Kelvin was there too, and he smiled at her,
but didn't wave. That would be too flirtatious. "I... think I can make
devices that will replace the need for people to rift. It will take me a bit to
learn all I need, but, yeah, it seems very possible. You probably got that,
from what I said before, and we're trying a new training program too. I'm not
going to claim it will be perfect, or replace the program you have instantly,
but we can do it. It will be better for them, in the end. For everyone."
She was about to lecture him, since he'd basically been keeping slaves, but he
simply nodded.

"Very
well. So, after that, I suppose you'll be applying for my job?" He didn't
seem upset about the idea, even when Chris laughed a little as if it was a
joke.

"No...
Christophe, don't laugh. When that is all done, Miss Farris will be the most
powerful single individual in the world, in her own right. You need to know
that, since, well, things might suddenly change then." He seemed sad,
getting things that she hadn't spoken out loud before, but Gwen looked at him
frankly.

She
swallowed and looked away, hearing the panicked clamoring from inside herself
from Katherine, which she normally blocked out pretty well.

"Yes.
I suppose I need to give you the chance to get out of marrying me. If I succeed
in this, well, I have a rather wicked little girl in my head, and I can't let
her have control of that information. I might be able to work out another way
to manage her by then, since we have years, but, if I can't, I'll have to make
certain that Katherine Vernor doesn't have access to that kind of thing. She tried
to help end the world once already. She won't be allowed a second chance."

There
was a stillness that came from the two men then, and for a second she figured
that her fiancé was about to tell her to take a hike. Fair enough, really. She
probably could get a real handle on Katherine though, using the Westmorland
style training. It wouldn't be fun at all, but Katherine was a wimp, compared
to her. It might work.

"I
wouldn't abandon you like that, Miss Farris, I assure you. If you must take
such a risk for our Kingdom and her people, then I will stand by you, to the
very end."

It
sounded pretty good, and she was tempted to take his hand, even if that would
be too flirty for a party like this. Then she did it anyway, if only for a
second. Chris blushed, and Beth, having seen it, headed over to protect her
virtue, even if the King was standing right there.

When
the other woman got into place, followed by Martin Cordell, who'd finally
arrived, Gwen smiled.

After
all, all her friends and frienemies were right there, weren't they? Looking
around she saw it. The Vernors had their lives, if not totally repaired by the
single party, then well on the way to it. The King had come and the Marduk was
coming, which meant everyone that was anyone had shown up, even if there was
the equivalent of fifty nuclear bombs standing around in blue dress uniforms.

In
fact, a few of the upper crust had actually tried to
bribe
their way in,
having been left off the lists for one reason or another.

The
crew of her ship, the Peregrine, had all shown up, along with Duke Morten, and
were hanging in a clump next to Merchant Fleet Admiral Thomas Welk. Katherine's
Uncle and all around nice guy. Over to the right, talking to Agnes Longbranch
was Solicitor Grimes. Seeing where she was looking Ferdinand smiled.

"Friends
of yours?'

She
nodded.

"Yes.
A lot of people here are. I was just noticing that. About half of them. More
than that, really." She grinned and whispered to the King. "
And
Adam Westmorland. He really doesn't like me, you know?" She was just
talking, making conversation, but the King nodded.

"I
do know. He's come to a rather strange conclusion about you, and he doesn't
like it one bit. We've discussed it on several occasions. He's
most
displeased by it." The man didn't sound like he was kidding, so she stared
at him a little, which was probably rude, given that he was the King.

"Oh?"

The
man sighed and shook his head slowly, but turned to look at her, his face grim.

"Yes.
He seems to feel that you, Miss Farris, might be the best person to replace
him, when he dies. That position has always been held by a Westmorland before
and breaking that tradition isn't a thing he wishes to do. Naturally, you can
turn that down and if other things..." He stopped and glanced at Bethany,
then shook his head a little.

The
glance lingered on long enough that Martin stiffened, which was, Gwen knew,
probably correct. Beth and Ferdinand had dated, a long time before. It had been
a bit of a scandal, actually. Neither of them had wanted to break up though.