Page 32 of The Darkness Within Us

While I wait to strike, I learn many useless things about the duke.

For instance, he made a face at dinner when the kitchen staff brought out roasted duck. He ate his meal quietly, though I noticed he didn’t eat as much as he normally does. When we had strawberry shortcake for dessert, he asked Cook for a second helping.

When I stroll through the library during the day, I’ll find some tomes missing and then returned later in incorrect locations. I know exactly what he’s reading, and it irritates me that we have the same taste in books. Or that we both read so voraciously.

The strangest thing is when Eryx disappears from the manor for hours at a time, requesting no carriage or horse. He traipses off into the wild greenery at the edges of the estate, and I get the sense that he’s not just off catching some air. No, he’s up to something, but when I ask the remaining outdoor staff if they see anything, they have nothing to report. Some even offer to tail him, but they inform me that the duke just disappears without a trace.

“He’s impossible to follow,” a groundskeeper says. “It’s like tailing a ghost.”

Perhaps Eryx was telling the truth when he mentioned serving in the army. That would explain those skills.

It doesn’t, however, explain what he’s up to.

The man is as much of a hermit as I am. He doesn’t attend social functions. He doesn’t update his wardrobe.

He also doesn’t spook any less easily. If he’s alone in a room, and I happen to accidentally sneak up on him, he rounds on me with his revolver and knife extended.

“Honestly, you need to calm yourself!” I snap at him after the third time it happens. “One of these days you’re going to shoot me!”

“If I shoot you, Duchess, it will not be an accident.”

Chilling words, but I don’t drop my irritation. “Put those away at once! Must you carry them through the hallways? Are we expecting an invasion any time soon?”

“Instincts acquired in the army are hard to drop.”

Yet, I still don’t believe him entirely. For his “valets” trail along after him most of the time, long after the duties of valet should be required for the day.

Is the duke in danger? Does he suspect someone is after him? Need I be concerned? (Not for him, of course, but for me, since we live in the same household.)

I pose these questions to Eryx once, but he merely says, “Don’t be absurd,” in the most condescending tone fathomable.

Karla and Tekla approach me one afternoon, dusters in hand.

“Your Grace,” Karla says. “You asked us to keep you apprised of anything interesting popping up in the papers.”

I had. After that day when Lady Petrakis divulged everything that my sister had been up to with her new edicts, I realized I needed a way to stay better informed. My maids/book club friends love reading the gossip columns and other things involving the nobility. I knew I could count on them to keep me apprised of anything important.

“Is it my sister?” I ask warily.

“No,” Tekla says. “I’m afraid it’s nothing terribly exciting. Just rather strange. A nobleman has gone missing.”

“Who?”

“Lord Andris.”

That is strange. Usually noblemen go missing when they accrue gambling debts or frequent unsavory parts of town. As far as I know, he’s not involved in anything shady that I’ve overheard. In fact, the only thing I do know about the viscount is that he served in the army for a handful of years. He regularly bragged about some award he received.

Hmm, Eryx claimed to have served in the army.

Eryx, who walks around with bodyguards trailing him and weapons on hand.

“How long has he been missing?” I ask.

“Two weeks.”

Which is also, coincidentally, how long Eryx has been in town…

The connection is too flimsy for me to really make guesses, but it is odd.

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