Page 26 of House of Roots and Ruin
Still disorientated by the ever-lengthening corridor, I glancedback to my room. It was at the end of the hall. The footman couldn’t have been there. He would have had to pass me to reach it.
And I’d seen no one.
Just me.
The candle closest to us sputtered over a bubble in its pink wax and a terrible thought bloomed in my mind. Slowly, like a fragile marionette pulled on a string, I reached out to lay my hand upon his arm.
I fully expected it to pass straight through him, like a stone in water.
But the sleeve of his jacket was warm and solid. I could feel the rich cloth, the solid heft of his arm beneath it.
He was real.
But then…how had he gotten here?
A smile burst across the man’s face, as if reading my thoughts. He looked positively jovial.
“I’ve come from the study now. Just there, you see,” he said, pointing to a door a room down from where we stood. “I’m sorry if I alarmed you.”
I waved aside his concern.
“Are you all right?” he asked, peering at me curiously.
“I…I feel as though I’ve turned myself completely around in this hallway.”
“Turned round?” he echoed, looking back and forth at the straight path.
“It sounds so foolish, doesn’t it? But…when I left my room, I could have sworn…” I trailed off, unable to explain it clearly.
“New settings,” he allowed.
“That must be it,” I said. “We ought to be going now, though. I’d hate to make a bad first impression.”
His dark slate eyes twinkled. “Of course, of course. Well…you can’t be accused of tardiness if the master of the house isn’t there yet himself, now, can you?”
“Is Lord Laurent also running late?” I asked, throwing a quick look over my shoulder toward the study the footman claimed to have come from. He must have been assisting the duke with some matter.
“Lord Laurent is never late,” he intoned with theatrical solemnity. “And if it ever appears he is, it’s only the clocks in the manor running too fast.”
I smiled up at him. “That’s very good to know.”
“So you’re the painter?” he asked conversationally. “From Salann?”
I nodded.
“The whole house has been in an absolute tizzy anticipating your arrival. I know Alexander is quite excited to begin working with you.”
“I’m eager to begin as well. The house is so lovely…. It will be hard selecting the right spot for the portrait.”
“In the library, I should think. That boy has always been fond of his books.”
“Have you been with the Laurents long?” I asked. His informal familiarity with the family made me think of Hanna and a sudden bolt of homesickness panged through me.
“Oh…for a good long while,” he said, smiling again.
We’d just reached the stairs, brightly lit by gas lamps, not glowering pink candles, and I took one parting glance back at thehallway. It seemed as short as the first time I’d seen it. Five doors, maybe six, only.
“Gerard! There you are,” Dauphine exclaimed, her lustrousface looking up at us. I was pleased to see she had on an evening gown similar in silhouette to mine, but in a rich shade of plum. “Oh, and you’ve already found Miss Thaumas. How wonderful.”
