Page 20 of Lord of the Hollow Court
Ichabod took off into the night, stopping only once when he could not find his breath, and then dragging himself on and on, until Mrs. Beekhof’s boarding house came into sight, a whitewashed beacon on a horizon that was nothing but darkness. He did not dare to look behind him.
Chapter Ten
Geas
Katty van der Vos woke from pleasant dreams of Yuletide sweets, somewhat marred by the ghastly blood red fruits set on the family table. The guests conversed so boisterously, it felt like a true Christmas gathering. Which was to say, it was far livelier than the ones the van der Voses usually enjoyed.
Endured would be a better word.
Smiling a little ruefully, Katty stretched and turned away from the sunlight streaming onto her face.
She bolted upright. Sunlight didn’t stream into her room. Her room was dank, with slanted windows facing the wrong way so that it was intolerably hot from the late day sun when she went to bed, and irritatingly cold in the morning.
This was most certainlynother room. And that wasnother elder sister staring back at her, butterfly wings fluttering slightly as she placed her hands on her hips. Katty glanced down, finding the frayed yellow ribbon clutched in her fist.
“’Bout time you woke up,” the winged girl said. She was standing beside a mirror hung inside her wardrobe, where she’d just finished smoothing the front of her uniform. “There’s a grand mess to clean up. Come! Oh, and you’ll need to wear this ‘round your neck.”
The faerie plucked a sachet of what looked like tea leaves from the bedside, shoving it into Katty’s hand as she went to retrieve a pair of boots. Katty’s eyes widened at the pungent scent of mint. All lingering thoughts of sleep fled at the smell.
Katty turned the sachet over thoughtfully. Someone had attached a leather thong to the sachet so she could wear it as a necklace. It smelled of lavender, too, and—was that thyme? It was certainly a unique combination.
Setting the frayed ribbon atop her pillow reverently, as if it was her anchor to the real world, Katty furrowed her brow. “Where am I?”
“Hollow Hall, of course. Do you not remember anything?” The faerie spun, giving Katty a view of the tidy wing slits in the back of her maid’s uniform. If not for that pair of green and black wings—and the startling largeness of her eyes...and the points of her ears, and the glittering marigold color to her hair...and the cat pupils—she’d look like one of the de Vries’ maids. She even had Noortje’s shallow dish face and petit four of a nose. This faerie’s nose was even smaller than that, and upturned.
Was this part of a dream? Had Katty spent the night at the de Vries’ house, after the ball?
“I think his lordship gave you too strong a dose, if you don’t mind my saying.” The faerie shrugged, causing the stained glass green and black wings to shimmer. “Being a human, you must not be able to take it.”
The faerie maid stuck out her hand, then left it hanging there like a cannon pointed toward the British. It was only marginally more welcoming, Katty thought with a swallow. She looped the sachet around her neck, if only to delay the inevitable a moment longer.
Gingerly, Katty took the hand, cringing as it squeezed her limp one into submission. “You’ve got weak hands,” the faerie girl said with a frown. “I’m Rineke.”
“Katty.”
Rineke crinkled her pert faerie nose. So often, it was Katty who employed that very expression. Seeing it reflected back at her by someone with wings left her disquieted, and made her certain all over again that this must still be a dream. “Is that a name?” Rineke questioned her. “Katty?”
“It’s short for Katrina.”
“Then why not just say Katrina?” Rineke bent and propped her elbows on the foot of the bed. “Are your human lives as short as all that? Can’t say a full name?”
“No,” Katty said with distaste, then admitted, “Sometimes.”
“I’m going to call you Katrina,” Rineke said firmly. “Anything else would just be silly.”
Katty wanted to snap at her.You’re just a servant. You shouldn’t speak to me that way.But there were wobbly, disturbing memories pushing against her mind, one of them involving a beautiful fae man and a black stallion. “Last night,” Katty asked, pulling the blanket higher as she realized she wore a white nightdress much finer than her gown at home. “Was I chased? How did I get here?” She tugged at the filet lace collar. “Who dressed me in this?”
Rineke flopped on the bed. “You dressed yourself, though I had to help a bit at the end. Got your head caught in it for a good while without me.”
Katty instantly flushed. “And what about the rest?”
“I don’t know who chased you, but if it was the Wild Hunt, you’re lucky to be here. His lordship found you and brought you to the hall outside the upper kitchen.” Rineke hitched up a shoulder. “I offered my room, since it was furthest from the guest rooms. Not that it matters much. I imagine most of the High ones are staggering out of the woods now that the sun’s up.”
Katty glanced around the room—surprisingly large, for a servant. There was room enough for another bed, but unless she had a trundle, there wasn’t a space for Rineke to sleep. “Where did you sleep?”
Rineke shrugged. “On the floor.”
“Oh, no.” Katty covered her mouth, speaking through her hands. “Were you very uncomfortable? You shouldn’t have given me your bed!” There wasn’t even a rug.
