Page 14 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“Well, I’m sure you were a better midwife than you were a chess player. Check."
Adeline glanced down. Her king was surrounded. There may have been a way out of it, but she couldn’t see it. She made a move she knew was the wrong one.
“And checkmate,” he said, laying the piece down.
And there it was. A smile. Thin and smug, but not unwelcome. Not cruel. Easy to reciprocate.
“Again?” he asked.
Not a command. A question.
“Sure.”
They played until lunch. He beat her every time. The most she could hope for was not to be swept off within minutes. No wonder the board looked so worn.
“I can’t believe you’re enjoying this so much, seeing as playing with yourself must be far more challenging!”
“It is,” he admitted, “but not as much fun.”
She shook her head. “I’m fetching your lunch, and after I’ve had my own, you need to think of another past time, for this bores me.”
She waited for a retort, but nothing came. His face had gone white, his human cheek as taut as the skin of a drum. Had she angered him, spoken above her station?
“My Lord, I—”
“Leave.”
“I’m sorry—”
“Leave!” His voice came out as a strangled snarl, half animal. The table shook, the board trembling. His inhuman arm pulsed.
Adeline stood up sharply, just as the board went flying, pieces skittering over the floor. She raced into the hall, remembering at the last moment to ring the bell before she left, and slammed the door to the sound of something smashing.
She breathed heavily, wondering what on earth had just happened, why he’d shifted so quickly between one mood and the next.
Thomas, the footman, and Mrs Minton came rushing up the corridor.
“Are you hurt?” asked Mrs Minton, registering the look on her face, a look she must have been used to if these moods happened as often as the rumours implied.
“I… no.”
“Is he?”
“I don’t think so. I heard something from crash after I—”
Mrs Minton jerked her head to Thomas, and he rushed into the room. She put an arm around Adeline. It was stiff, an arm not used to softness, but she appreciated the gesture, the careful pull.
“It’s lunchtime,” said the older woman. “Come downstairs. We’ll have someone else send his up.”
Chapter Five: The Monster
Lunch was a quiet affair, people drifting in and out as they finished their morning tasks. Few spoke to Adeline, although they must have heard what had transpired. Posey and Erabella gave her careful looks, as if she was a wild horse about to bolt at any moment.
“Give the Young Master some room this afternoon,” Mrs Minton suggested. “Take a turn about the gardens. They’re quite lovely this time of year.”
Adeline hadn’t had much time for exploring, and took her up on the suggestion. She was overcome with both the utter beauty of the grounds and the sheer lunacy of having such a space that could only be enjoyed by the dozen or so servants, their young master perpetually shut in his room, the Duke never home.
She hated wastage, but it was hard to hate anything when she sat beneath a tree and inhaled the scent of summer, of hot grass and roses, warm pine and hay.
