Page 86 of When Bones Whisper
“Come, let’s wash it off.”
“I can’t. I need to be pristine tonight. It’s the only thing that covers my freckles.”
His brows creased. “Heavens, sweetpea. Why would you want to cover them?”
“Everyone thinks they’re ugly.”
He took a drag from his cigar pipe and blew out a billow of smoke. “Ridiculous. There is no girl more beautiful than my daughter. Believe me, one day, the woman in society will paint freckles on their faces so they can look more like you.”
A laugh bubbled from her mouth. She knew he truly meant it too. “I hope tonight goes well,” she said, picking at her cuticles. “I don’t want to be mocked.”
“You tell me if anyone says anything untoward to you,” he said with a lopsided smile and smoothed down the sides of his black hair. “I’ll have them exiled.”
She leaned forward and grinned. “You are silly.”
He walked to her and pulled her to his side in a hug before kissing the top of her head. “You know I’d do anything for you, sweetpea. Now, off we pop.”
Before she could hold on to him and give him another hug, she was forced out of her memory in a splash of icy cold water, meeting the sting of loss all over again.
Tears welled in her eyes when she sat upright to find Nathaniel holding her hand.
“What happened?” he asked, wide-eyed. “You were convulsing and muttering.”
Blinking slowly, fresh tears slid down her cheeks. “I slipped into a memory of my father, one I’d forgotten until now.” Heaving back a sob, she added, “I never mourned him. What they did to him tainted all the good memories,” she said, groaning as afresh wave of agony seared not only through her body, but her tender heart.
Katherine’s sharp tone cut through the room just as Charlotte tipped her head back, her heavy lids closing to the dim light. She hadn’t even noticed anyone had returned.
“It’s the hex,” Katherine told Nathaniel and sat on the bed, judging by the sudden dip beside her. “It’s going to force her to relive her worst pain, heighten it until she wants to die. For her, it is grief.”
“I trapped the demon,” Charlotte spluttered. “In a salt circle.”
“It does not matter,” Katherine said. “She can still influence you from there. She wants her to end her life.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Nathaniel said gruffly. “What can be done?”
“I spoke with Gertrude, but she won’t tell us how to help. No matter what I tried.” She let out a long sigh and said, “But I might have something. I just need her grimoires, which I noticed were gone,” Katherine said, and Charlotte’s stomach knotted. She still didn’t trust her.
“They’re in my room,” Charlotte relented as the pain got worse.
“Do what you must and it better work,” Nathaniel warned. “Don’t forget our deal, Katherine. You know what I’m capable of.”
A brief silence hung between them before Charlotte heard muffled footsteps leave the bedroom. She felt someone squeeze her hand, the sound of her name echoing in her ears before she fell into another memory, this time at Lovett Manor with her sister.
Charlotte stood in the doorway of Alice’s room, pushing her slippered foot sliding across the threshold.
Alice’s mellifluous tone sounded from her bed. “What is it?”
“I can’t sleep,” Charlotte replied.
“Call Edith for some chamomile tea.”
Charlotte chewed on her lip and walked inside. “Can I sleep here?”
Alice’s head tipped back with a heavy sigh, her blonde waves spreading across the silk pillowcase. Even in her nightgown, with no powder on her nose, she looked beautiful. Not that Charlotte would tell her that. She wouldn’t believe her if she did.
“No. You snore,” Alice countered with a slight smirk tilting her rosy lips.
“I do not.”
