Page 40 of When Bones Whisper
Meet me in the ballroom at midnight. I hope you like the dress.
Her eyes widened as she read and re-read it to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated the words. He hoped shelikedthe dress? Since when did he care what she thought?
She ran her index finger along the torn edge of the parchment. With the ball just around the corner and the end of his curse in sight, it would make sense that he would want her to feel safe, so she would keep her end of their deal. Despite her already agreeing, why not butter her up to ensure her loyalty?
With a shake of her head, she walked into the bathroom in time to see Hartley finishing adding oatmeal and rose petals to the water.
“Enjoy your bath, Miss,” she said and left the room.
Charlotte breathed in the evocative scent of honey and lavender, intermixed with the faint scent of wax from the candles flickering on every surface. She undressed before settling into the porcelain tub, her fingers gripping the edges. Pillars of steam swirled over the hot water as it enveloped her aching muscles, eliciting a soft sigh.
She sank deeper into the water until only her head was poking out. The water lapped around the sides of the tubs, almost overflowing when she shifted her torso.
Across from the bath, on the vanity stool, she eyed the note with a grimace. She wasn’t going to rush her bath. It was the first time she’d felt any relief from the constant pain in her body. If he wanted to dance with her, then he was going to have to wait.
She grabbed the jasmine-scented soap and worked the lather into her dark curls, kneading her fingers into her scalp. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. The seconds stretched into minutes as she dipped her head back, her ears plunging into the water, as she rinsed the soap from her hair.
She sat upright and opened her eyes, the reflection in the darkened arched window catching her breath. The water splashed around when she jolted.
Her own horrified expression stared back at her, and beside her, a woman stood next to the tub, her black dress and long, dark hair saturated with water. A small pool formed at the ghost's bare feet, but there was nothing there. She took a second to glance away from the window and wiped the water from her eyes.
When she looked back at the reflection, the spirit turned to face the window, its all-white eyes latching onto Charlotte’s, its gaunt mouth widening in an eerie, humorless smile.
The voice echoed around her skull, one that was not her own intrusive thoughts.
You can see me. I’m getting closer.
What the bloody hell did that mean?
The voice sounded excited, and it had come from the spirit judging by her unnaturally wide grin.
Duke let out a hiss from the next room, his paw batting under the closed bathroom door. Charlotte quickly jumped out of the bath, almost slipping on the water on the floor, and reached for her towel. She side-eyed the window, her heart palpitating when she saw the spirit follow her to the door. Flinging it open, she ran out. Duke darted ahead of her, his ears tucked back.
After a few minutes, and once Duke was calm, she tiptoed back to the bathroom door and peered inside. There was nothing there, nor in the reflection of the window.
“Did you scare her away?” she asked, picking Duke up and holding him against her towel. With a thick swallow, she strokedhis head and looked at the bathtub. “The ghosts haunting this place are going to be the death of me.” His pulse picked up under her fingers. “It’s okay, Duke. They can’t hurt the living.”
She almost believed her own words, but this time it felt different. The spirit was excited, and she’d never felt such an absence of humanity from a person’s aura before.
A throbbing sensation pulsed in her hip, distracting her from the flurry of dark thoughts. With a tense breath, she set Duke on the bed and lifted her towel. Angling her hips, she noticed the bite was worse than before. The necrotic center had darkened, and blue veins had spread outward, each one thicker and longer than yesterday.
Duke’s yellow eyes widened, and he rushed to the edge of the mattress, nudging his nose against the mark repeatedly.
“I know, it’s bad,” Charlotte stated and bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m going to make an ointment to put on it.”
Duke meowed, shooting her a concerned look.
“Honestly. It will be okay.”
He meowed again.
Leaning over the tray, she ground the lavender and mint, slowly adding it to the half-filled bottle of witch hazel.
“See, I already feel it working,” she said when she rubbed it over the mark. “Now, I need to go see Nathaniel, so I can hopefully find us a way out of this mess.”
Duke dragged his paw over his ear and tilted his head.
Quickly lacing her corset and pulling the strings taut, she pulled on her dress, ready to face the next monster.
