Page 68 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
He turned his back to Thomas to remove his underwear. Usually he didn’t remove them, fancying the ruined garments were worth a few more moments of dignity, but something about the frayed patches of Adeline’s second-hand coat had lodged in his mind. He’d seen her sewing in the evenings sometimes, darning her siblings’ clothes, some of which already seemed worn to shreds. He didn’t want to waste anything.
Thomas said nothing as he handed him the remains of his clothes and slid to the ground to wait.
It would not be long now.
“I wonder, My Lord, why you didn’t request Miss Adeline’s company tonight? She’d be better at taking your mind off—”
“Don’t.” His voice felt like glass, sharp and breakable. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t let her see me like that. You remember—”
There had been other maids, other companions over years. None like Adeline. All of them horrified by what lurked beneath the surface.
He couldn’t risk it with Adeline. He couldn’t.
“As you wish, My Lord. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think she’d be as frightened as you suspect.”
“I grow tired of your voice,” Dimitri snapped. “But not of your whiskey.” He held up his goblet again.
It didn’t reach his lips. Seconds after the liquid touched the metal, he felt his left arm pulse. The goblet clattered to the floor as his muscles roared with fire. His head exploded, and when that feeling travelled to his centre, when it felt like he was being cleaved in two, he screamed.
Chapter Seventeen: The Transformation
Shortly after Adeline left the room, Mrs Minton appeared back in the servants’ quarters. Adeline got up sharply, thinking she was being summoned.
“Sit down,” the housekeeper ordered. “He’s sent us both away. Told us to have some strong tea.”
She faffed about with the kettle, clenching onto the handle to dispel her trembling fingers. Around them, the rest of the servants swirled in for dinner, all apart from Thomas, and Hughes.
“We like to have two people with him, if we can,” Mrs Minton explained, pouring out the cups. One to watch and one to… get help. If help is needed.”
Adeline took the cup that was offered to her, trying not to imagine what that particular scenario would involve. The rest of the group carried on chatting. If anything, they were louder than usual, as if trying to make up for the loss of two of their company… or drown something else out.
“He doesn’t like a spectacle though,” Mrs Minton carried on. “So Hughes only leaves when… when it’s imminent.”
Her eyes flashed to the darkening sky.
“Mrs Minton,” Adeline asked quietly. “Why doesn’t he want me there? Is it… is it truly that bad?”
Mrs Minton sipped her cup, her lips thin. “Let’s just say I appreciated being ordered away tonight.”
Adeline sucked in a breath. “Has he ever hurt anyone?”
Mrs Minton’s cup chinked against the saucer. “Once or twice.”
“Who?” she asked. “His mother?” She still wasn’t clear on how Lianna Von Mortimer had died. The village said illness, but given that she’d died not long after Dimitri’s curse, and the suddenness of the passing, and the fact that no one ever seemed to speak about her, she’d wondered. Dimitri’s face always fragmented, just a twitch, whenever she was brought up.
She had not wanted to ask, and hadn’t believed he could be capable of such a thing. But now, now that he was shutting her out—she wanted to know everything.
Mrs Minton frowned. “You don’t know how Lianna died?”
“No—should I?”
“I would have thought that your mother…”
“My mother?” Adeline’s eyes widened. “Oh, oh I see…”
She had not been called to every birth her mother attended. Sometimes she had school. And a woman as noble as Duchess Von Mortimer might have thought it unfitting to be seen by a child.
Liana had died in childbirth.
