Page 38 of When Bones Whisper
No, you want to die. You crave it.
"I don’t!" she said, a shiver running through her as the unseen thing brushed against her, raising the hairs on her neck. A full-body shudder ran through her. Just when she was ready to scream as the echo from the voice’s words grew louder, a knock sounded at the door, slicing through the noise in her mind.
“C-come in,” she spluttered, leaning forward against the dresser before brushing the creases in her nightdress and plastering on a feigned smile.
Duke jolted awake, his eyes scanning the room. When he saw Hartley walk through the door, holding a tray of food, a lit candle, and the supplies she’d requested, he let out a soft meow and fell back asleep.
“Good evening, Miss. Did you sleep well?”
Charlotte stretched out her limbs and rolled her aching ankles. “I wish I could have slept longer.”
Hartley smiled and placed the tray on the small table in front of the unlit, black ornate fireplace. A gust of cold air howled down the chimney and fluttered the edges of a piece of parchment folded on the edge of the tray. “Lord Sallow has requested your presence this evening, in the ballroom. I have your dress here.” She hurried to the door, and before Charlotte could question why he possibly wanted to see her there, Hartley returned with a dress on a hanger, folded over her arm.
Antique, black lace hung in tatters at the sleeve, and the silk fabric shone under the candlelight.
Charlotte leaned forward, clearing her throat. “Is that from Natha—I mean, Lord Sallow?”
“Yes.” Her cheeks reddened, her eyes twinkling.
“He wants to dance with me?”
“Indeed, he does, Miss.”
She was going to kill those butterflies that kept swarming at his gestures. “It’s just in preparation,” she said when Hartley suppressed a grin. “For the slaughter ball.”
Hartley snorted. “Is that what we are calling it now?”
“What would you call it? It’ll be filled with death.”
“Yet another rich society party,” she added. “You’d be surprised at how many people go missing at these events.” She reached down to the tray and picked up the parcel of lavender, mint and a glass bottle of witch hazel. “I don’t have much experience in creating potions, but I hope this will be enough.”
“It’s not a potion,” Charlotte interrupted, wild-eyed. “I’m not doing witchcraft.”
Hartley tilted her head, her ashy-blonde ringlets bouncing on her forehead from under her white cap. “Excuse me for being too forward, but you have nothing to feel ashamed if you were. I wish I was one sometimes.”
“Well, you also want to be a vampire, so,” Charlotte quipped without thinking and immediately regretted her statement.
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
She bit her lip and sat forward. “I apologize. That is not what I meant. I’ve considered it too you know—immortality that is. It would be a relief from the constant aches in my body, but I just cannot get past the idea of killing innocents and the idea of drinking blood.”
Hartley nodded, her eyes lighting. “You don’t have to murder good people, Miss. The world is filled with evil men, so tear their throats instead and as for the drinking of blood part, from what I have witnessed, it tastes better to them than food does to us.”
“Is that why you want to become one?”
“I have a problem with my heart, you see. Doctors say I won’t last long. My ma had a priest come and read last rites to me as akid. I shouldn’t have survived as long as I have. I can die any moment.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish I could help.”
“No one can. Nathaniel will turn me this year, though. I’m sure. I’ve worked harder than all the rest.”
Her stomach knotted. Hartley had no idea what they were planning. “Do you know why I’m here?” she asked.
“To help Lord Sallow break his curse,” she said. “At least, that’s what I’ve picked up on. I only hope he will turn me before. If not, I suppose Alexander still can.”
Charlotte chewed on her bottom lip. Breaking his curse meant breaking all the curses. Fortunately for Hartley, she had no plans of doing that. But she hated them a little more for using her like that and giving her false hope. “Do they at least pay you?”
“Better than the other households.”
