Page 17 of The Doctor and the Devil
She bit her bottom lip, chagrined. I tried to ignore the desire to bite her bottom lip for her. I inclined my head once more and headed for the door, ringing for the maid as I left.
I could not look back.
I had stationed Mina in a guest bedchamber, but every room beneath the castle was fully equipped to address any manner of need. Just now, I wanted distance from her—from the desire I still fought and the petty hurts her words had inflicted. At least now I had a more accurate idea of what she thought of me after twenty years.
I knew she would be wounded given how we’d left things—how I’d left things. As easy as it was for me to forgive her anger, it gutted me that she believed what everyone else seemed to believe—that I was the one to let loose the blood plague and inflict my family’s curse upon the world.
It was so easy for everyone to believe the worst of me, the selfish second son of Wallachia’s royal family. The wastrel, the rogue, the spare.The devil.Only lately had I stopped believing those things of myself, so I supposed it would take Mina and the rest of the world time to catch up.
Unfortunately, it was time I didn’t have.
Yet, I could wait an afternoon. The events of the previous few evenings hadn’t left me much time to sleep, and after using my powers gratuitously, I needed time to restore my energy. Having drained Pascal, I didn’t yet require more blood, but I didn’t want the hunger to strike and shorten my temper any further with Mina. What I was about to do required great patience. As a preventative measure, I entered my library and went to the sideboard with several crystal decanters of blood and spirits. Longing for warmth in the absence of Mina’s body, I mixed myself a drink of blood and?uica, the potent alcohol from my homeland. The more I aged as a vampire, the harder it was for me to become intoxicated, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. Regenerative abilities could have disadvantages, but most newly turned vampires wouldn’t know that until a few decades into their eternities.
The heady mix of blood and alcohol burned as it went down, settling like brimstone in my gut. Rather than returning to one of the bedrooms to lie down for a spell, I sat in the plush velvet armchair that faced the polished stone fireplace. With a thought and a word, the waiting logs began to burn, and I settled back into the chair, willing dreamless sleep to come.
When I woke, I was sure I’d only dozed for a few moments, but the carriage clock on the mantle indicated otherwise. It had been several hours, and the sun would soon be setting. I hoped Mina had also rested and eaten, but I wondered if that was likely given her stubborn streak. Shewouldrefuse any comforts I offered out of a misplaced sense of petulant independence. I knew she could take care of herself—she obviously had for the past twenty years—but as my guest, it was my job to take care of her.
As your guest and your future wife,came the whisper of hope from the space where my heart should have been.Hmm. Perhaps. Perhaps not,came the answer from my logical mind.
I roused myself and washed, then changed into a fresh shirt, breeches, and banyan. Rather than the red and gold of my family’s house, I opted for a deep sapphire velvet, partly because I wished for something warm and comforting, and partly because the blue reminded me of Mina’s eyes. I strolled down the hall in mink-lined slippers and paused outside her door. I’d long ago sworn not to use my abilities to spy on her or invade her privacy, which included compelling her, reading her thoughts, or using my supernatural senses to pry into her solitude, but the conversation between Mina and my servant carried loudly enough that I didn’t need to betray that promise.
“He’s owned it for ten years, mademoiselle, but hasn’t been living here all that time,” the servant said.
“Ten years! He’s been in France that whole time?” Mina exclaimed.
The servant sounded anxious. “As I said, he hasn’t spent all his time here. He travels extensively. He’s only been in residence primarily for the last year or so, I think. Truly, it’s hard to know. We don’t always see him when he is here. We simply do our day-to-day duties on the off chance that he’ll arrive.”
I could practically hear the wheels turning in Mina’s head.
“That must frustrate you,” she replied.
“On the contrary, mademoiselle, he is a most generous employer. Ever thoughtful, never abusive. I don’t believe a word of the stories the other villagers say,” the servant replied earnestly.
Satisfaction shined through me, if only for a moment. I’d plucked this young girl from a particularly vile marquis’s household, along with her two younger brothers. I paid my servants handsomely and treated them better than I would have treated my own family, knowing what it was for them to serve a monster. At times, when melancholy seized me, I often wondered if my servants would be the closest I would ever get to a family of my own.
Chasing the ensuing storm from my mind, I squared my shoulders and knocked. The servant rushed to open it, and I entered to find Mina bathed and dressed in the gown of pale lemon silk I’d secured for her. With her beauty and the bright blue of her eyes, she looked like the sun. My chest tightened at the sight.
“You look exquisite,” I murmured. “I hope you were able to eat and rest in my absence.”
“Yes, thank you,” she replied politely, if a little cold. “The gown is very fine.”
The servant girl smiled, curtsied, and left us to our simmering tension.
Mina wrung her hands together and paced next to the bed. Twice she tugged her spectacles from her face and cleaned them, then replaced them atop her pert nose. Despite her anxiety, I was pleased to see she had recovered much from the near overdose of laudanum and our…encounter.
“I don’t often wear light colors,” she said nervously. “I like them, but they’re so impractical for me as a physician—especially for vampires. The stains are terrible, you see, when one’s life is ruled by blood.”
I raised a brow, my nervousness melting with her amusing observation.
“Yes,” I said with a grin. “I know.”
She blushed when she realized what she’d said and who she’d said it to.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
I tilted my head as she swore under her breath and forced a brittle smile.
“Mina,” I began, coming slowly to stand next to her. “Be easy, please. Too many people in this world fear and despise me, and it would be a tragedy if you became one of them. I’m sorry for earlier and I meant what I said. There are a great many things I need to tell you and after that, it will be your decision to determine your fate—and mine.”
