Elfling (U.S. Edition)

by Corinna Turner

  I struggled to contain my excitement. So they did heal! They definitely, without a shadow of doubt, could heal! Sorcery was no doubt very different to normal illnesses, but still.

  The man returned my gaze, betraying no obvious sign of recognition, but his eyes strayed to where Raven was coiled out of sight, literally trembling with her eagerness to peep out but thankfully staying put.

  “Pa,” I hissed, “I want to speak to that man whilst you talk to Sir Allen. Thank him. Will you make sure he doesn’t slip away?” My father shot me a contemplative look that made me wonder if he suspected the true nature of the foreigner himself. “Please?” I appealed, but he gave just the tiniest shake of his head. He still was not prepared to do anything to seek healing. Or perhaps he simply wasn’t keen to leave his daughter alone with a stranger, even one who’d helped her.

  I sighed. Fine. I’d just have to secure him myself.

  “Sir Allen,” my father was saying, “I do not wish to interrupt. If it is convenient for us to speak this afternoon, I will wait in your office.”

  “No need, your grace,” said Sir Allen. “Lord Ystevan and myself have about finished.” He turned his attention back to the stranger. “I’m sorry I could not be of more help this time, my lord. I will let you know if I hear anything of interest to you.”

  “Thank you, Sir Allen,” said Lord Ystevan. His accent was strong, musical and quite unplaceable. “I will be on my way.”

  He turned to leave, and my father did nothing. The man hadn’t even looked at the Duke once, come to that. Only at me. Hang propriety, I thought, and stepped forward quickly. “I’ll leave you two to your business,” I said. “I’m sure Lord Ystevan will keep me company whilst I wait.”

  Lord Ystevan looked as though he intended to do nothing of the sort, but his polite pause to hear me out allowed me to attach myself to his arm with the grip of a poor baron’s daughter taking the arm of a wealthy unmarried earl. As most wealthy unmarried earls would attest, it was a feminine grip that could give a limpet a run for its money and which was well proven to be virtually inescapable. Lord Ystevan gazed down at me with an expression of bemused frustration on his face, though another, unreadable, emotion also flitted through his eyes.

  Sir Allen’s obvious amusement made my cheeks burn. The sight of an adolescent Duke’s daughter throwing herself at a dark and handsome foreigner was surely worth a few chuckles. My father just looked quietly embarrassed, for all he clearly understood what I was doing. To my relief, though, he simply departed with Sir Allen with an air of faint resignation.

  “Lord Ystevan.” I turned eagerly to face him as soon as we were alone, one hand going to my bodice to quell Raven’s surge upwards. “I would like to thank you for helping me, but there is also something else of vital importance about which I must…”

  Lord Ystevan had just removed his spectacles with his free hand and tucked them into a pocket. I broke off as he stared down at me. His eyes, delicate, narrow and almond shaped, had irises like Siridean’s, very gold around the pupil, radiating into green around the edge. More of a forest green than the emerald of mine and my father’s, but bright, for all that. His free hand reached out and slid around the back of my neck, and his green-gold eyes seemed to expand all around me and swallow me up…

  Raven’s angry screech was the last thing I heard.

  ~+~

  CHAPTER 30

  SIR ALLEN MALSTER

  I swam slowly up towards wakefulness, feeling as though I fought my way through fluffy clouds. My father’s face wavered into view.

  “Serapia?”

  I blinked up at him. “Pa?” I looked around at my bedroom. “Did we see Sir Allen? What happened?”

  My father sighed heavily and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. “I left you in the company of Lord Ystevan. It seems you collapsed shortly afterwards. The poor man was most upset, by the servant’s account. I’ve brought you straight home, anyway.”

  I frowned. “Lord Ystevan? Who is Lord Ystevan?” Raven sat up on my shoulder and rumbled angrily. Someone she wasn’t too happy with right now, that was clear.

  But my father just said vaguely, “Someone Sir Allen knows.”

  I frowned even harder. Things were flitting through my mind, tiny shreds of memory, gone before I could grasp them. I struggled to catch them, to see them, until I thought my head might explode. They just wouldn’t quite come into focus.

  “It was Lord Ystevan who brought me back here yesterday...” I couldn’t remember it, but the knowledge was there in my mind. Raven cheeped excitedly, then looked cross again.

  “That too,” admitted my father. “I do not know the man, though.”

  But Sir Allen does. I rubbed the back of my neck reflectively. And Raven seems remarkably interested in you, Lord Ystevan. I can’t remember who you are, but there is something very strange going on. Every time I meet you, I forget all about it.

  “Did you speak to Sir Allen?” I asked, changing the subject.

  My father sighed. “I was just about ready to mention it when the servant came knocking at the door. If you’re sure you’re alright I’ll go straight back now. Sir Allen said he would be there for an hour or two more.”

  I caught his gaunt hand, regarding his pale face with concern. “Right now? Why don’t you wait until tomorrow? You’ll wear yourself out!”

  Alban gently removed my hand from his and placed it back on the bed with a little pat. “I want this settled. I cannot know how long I have. Don’t you overexert yourself, now.”

  I gave a faint snort. I felt absolutely fine. I eyed my father for a moment, wondering whether to accompany him. But it would probably be better for him in the long run if I used the time to lay a plan of campaign.

  Against the mysterious Lord Ystevan.

  ~+~

  “Sir Allen agreed, as you predicted,” my father said once he returned and was slumped in an armchair by the fire, his face grey with exhaustion.

  “Good,” I said, encouragingly. I didn’t intend to need Sir Allen’s guardianship, but my father’s condition twisted my heart.

  “He will be as nominal a guardian as possible,” my father went on rather faintly. “He knows about your urchinhood, so he understood why his position was more of a formality than it would be for most young women of your age.”

  After a moment’s silence, he added, “He will live at Albany House only if you wish it. If you do not want his presence he will stay at his own house and you may live here with Anna and the servants.”

  I had scarcely stopped to consider what things might be like if my father actually did die. The idea of a stranger moving in in my father’s place… I swallowed.

  “That’s…that’s good.”

  “Yes, he suggested it himself,” my father replied. “Good man.”

  He sounded so tired I greeted his next words with a gentle hand on his lips. “Pa, rest. Please. I’m sure you’ve arranged everything as well as you can. You can tell me about it another day.”

  Raven jumped over and curled against his neck, crooning softly. The Duke sighed and closed his eyes. He was asleep in moments.

  ~+~

  The following morning I drew Hellion to a halt outside Sir Allen Malster’s Fleete Street house slightly earlier than was entirely polite. But I was becoming all too aware that I had no time to waste and besides, having left my chaperone again and been too impatient to wait for the coach to be prepared, there seemed little point pretending to be a model of propriety.

  A groom came to take my horse, face showing no trace of what he might think of an unaccompanied girl on horseback arriving at that hour. Sir Allen probably got a lot of odd visitors, come to think of it. I rang the bell and waited, touching Raven gently through the cloth of my dress to remind her to stay out of sight. Sir Allen would never take her for a rare exotic creature. The street was quiet. No one was abroad visiting yet.

  “I would like to see Sir Allen Malster, if it please him,” I said clearly to the servant who answered
it, trying not to yawn. I’d had a horrible nightmare last night, and the sense of urgency that had come with it had kept me awake long afterwards. I had to find Lord Ystevan!

  Before the servant could say anything in response, there was from above us the sound of a window opening all the way. “Who is that speaking…?” demanded a familiarly harsh voice.

  I looked up to see Sir Allen staring down in his shirt sleeves.

  He started as his eyes fell upon me. “Lady Ravena!” His brows drew together in sudden enlightenment. “Ah-ho, Lady Ravena the urchin. Do come in. I had not realized that we had met before…” He disappeared from the window, fastening his cuffs.

  I bit my lip, feeling awkward. He’d failed to recognize my voice yesterday, coupled with so different a figure than he associated with it. But hearing my voice alone… I did not think much slipped past Sir Allen Malster.

  I followed the servant inside and was shown to a good-sized drawing room.

  In only a very few minutes Sir Allen arrived, now fully dressed. “Lady Ravena…” he paused in what I realized was an awkwardness of his own. “You, ah, are aware of what your father discussed with me yesterday?”

  “Oh. Yes, quite aware,” I reassured him. “That is not why I have come, though of course in the circumstances I would be happy better to make your acquaintance.” I hardly wished to seem unfriendly when I needed his help so badly. Sir Allen could provide me with a very much needed shortcut to the elusive Lord Ystevan, and if my suspicions were correct, the Elfin.

  “Ah. I assume you have not come to talk over...old times?”

  I blushed slightly. “No. Nothing like that, Sir Allen. Though, I can’t help wondering… Why did you not tell me about my father, when I asked you before?” I couldn’t help my voice coming out rather cold. I’d been thinking about it ever since we went to court and I’d realized that Sir Allen simply must have known of my father, even if he’d never actually met him.

  Sir Allen raised an eyebrow. “You asked me about a Duke of Albany. I had not heard of such a man. I knew of the existence of a Duke of Elfindale, but your father has not been much at court since I began to move in…such circles. It was only some months after we spoke that first I heard the jesting title ‘Duke of Albany’, upon his return to England. And I did spare a regretful thought for the fact that I had learned the information too late to help that strange urchin who’d climbed onto my house roof one night.”

  “Ah…oh.” I could feel my cheeks heating. It was so obvious, I felt a total fool. He hadn’t kept anything from me, after all. “Well, um, what I’m actually here about… Well, I rather hoped you could tell me where I might find Lord Ystevan.”

  Sir Allen’s eyebrow rose again and his expression hovered between amusement and concern. “Lady Ravena,” he said rather delicately, “Lord Ystevan is only a visitor to these parts, and an infrequent one at that. And in the light of my future position with regard to yourself, might I take the liberty to point out that you are still rather young to…”

  “Sir Allen!” I interrupted, my cheeks on fire. “You entirely misunderstand me. Despite any impression you may have gained from my behavior yesterday, my interest in Lord Ystevan is of an extremely serious and most urgent nature that has nothing whatsoever to do with girlish infatuations! If you know where I can find him you must…that is, I most strongly request that…you tell me!”

  Sir Allen regarded me more seriously, the amusement gone from his face. “Pardon my misinterpretation. However, I do not know where Lord Ystevan is to be found. He has never told me on any of his visits.”

  My heart sank in disappointment at this, but I could not help one eyebrow rising slightly. “You, ah, have no objection to this?” A man like Sir Allen would surely greet such secrecy with disfavor.

  “I can contact him,” said Sir Allen evenly.

  My heart bounced eagerly up again, whilst my mind raced. “You can contact him…” I said slowly. “Well, would you be prepared to arrange a meeting with him? Here, perhaps?”

  “That would be easily enough done,” said Sir Allen just as evenly, eyeing me curiously.

  “Would you be prepared to do so without any mention of me?”

  Sir Allen’s eyes narrowed. “You are asking me to do something that will inevitably put the trust that exists between us under significant strain.”

  “I also wish you to stay in the room whilst I speak to him,” I went on firmly, “out of earshot but in the room. And if I should faint or behave in any way oddly, I would like you to keep Lord Ystevan here, tied up if necessary, until I have come to myself.”

  “Are you trying to get me killed with this peculiarness?” declared Sir Allen. “If a man like Lord Ystevan wishes to leave, he generally leaves. I am not fool enough to try to stop him without excellent good reason.”

  “Then fill your hall with guards once he arrives,” I said in a tone of exaggerated patience. Sir Allen was making excuses.

  “Tell me, Lady Ravena, why I should do this for you?” demanded Sir Allen. “I am not your guardian yet and once I am, whilst I may not intend to give over many orders, it will still be for me to give them, not you. Why don’t you explain yourself, for a start?”

  I shook my head. “You of all men should know that explanations are not always possible.”

  “Then why should I do this for you?”

  I stared up at him for a long moment. “You underpaid me,” I said at last. “I was very lucky to escape with my life, and you gave me two little silver pieces. You owe me.”

  Sir Allen rubbed his chin for a moment, regarding me steadily. “True,” he said softly at last. “But I need to know a little more than nothing.”

  “You know my father’s dying,” I replied quickly. “Lord Ystevan comes from a country where they have a kind of medicine that will help him. But they don’t like to let foreigners have it, so he’s avoiding me. That’s the truth, my word on it.”

  “Some of it, perhaps,” murmured Sir Allen, still watching me intently. “Very well,” he said at last. “I will bait the trap for you. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  I remembered his remark about men like Lord Ystevan leaving when they wanted to. I bit my lip. Certainly my last two meetings with Lord Ystevan had not exactly gone to plan, even if I could not remember precisely how they had not. “When can you arrange the meeting?”

  “Oh, if ever I get information Lord Ystevan wants, he wants it fast. I can get him here by this afternoon.”

  I brightened at that and felt a soft flick against my skin as Raven’s ears pricked up. The less time wasted the better. “This afternoon would be excellent.”

  ~+~

  “You are going to Sir Allen’s this afternoon?” said the Duke, with a faintly surprised smile. “Well, that is a good idea. I should have thought of it myself.” He shook his head wearily. “I fear I will be poor company today, anyway.”

  I suspected he was right. He lay on a couch in the drawing room with several blankets over him, and he looked frail and exhausted. The previous day’s exertions had been far too much for him.

  “You just lie quietly and rest.” I pressed his hand gently. “Things are as good as sorted with Sir Allen so there is nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Aye,” he sighed. “I’ll just lie here. I can do naught else, anyway. Off you go to get on with your twisting of Sir Allen around your little finger. I do wish you luck.” He chuckled almost inaudibly, clearly finding even that tiring.

  I shot him a suitably reproachful look and departed. My father clearly ascribed my sudden interest in Sir Allen to his intended position as my guardian. Which was perhaps a little short-sighted of him, but he was not well at all.

  I climbed into the coach that I had ordered for travelling to Sir Allen’s at this rather more visible time of day and turned my plan in my mind. Raven leapt around, swinging from the curtains and unashamedly making the most of things before she would have to curl up and hide again.

  A man like Sir Allen Malste
r was almost pathologically curious by nature. It was what made him so good at his job. Hence I’d dumped my tantalizing instructions on him in their entirety at the outset. He couldn’t shake the truth out of Lady Serapia Ravena, so as I’d suspected, he’d agreed to cooperate in the hope that he might discover more through the unfolding of events.

  Which I could not allow to happen. Not the whole truth. Using Sir Allen Malster to save my father from self-inflicted sorcery was akin to smothering a fire with a keg of gunpowder. If my mother had left my father because of his involvement in sorcery, to expect my father’s new-formed friendship with Sir Allen to stand the strain would be foolish in the extreme. Sir Allen saw sorcerers burned at the stake—and he was quite active in pursuing them. But what choice did I have? Save my father’s life first, then worry about Sir Allen.

  I turned my mind firmly back to my upcoming meeting with Lord Ystevan. My third meeting, I rather suspected. I bludgeoned my brain for a while, but still I could not quite grasp those floating wisps of memory. But they related to Lord Ystevan, that I felt sure about.

  ~+~

  CHAPTER 31

  THE GUARDIAN OF THE FORT

  “All is ready,” Sir Allen told me when I arrived. “The drawing room windows are well barred anyway. I have a detachment of soldiers out of the way in the stables, from whence my butler will fetch them as soon as Lord Ystevan is in the drawing room. You said you wished to wait at a distance until Lord Ystevan is safely inside the house, so you will be in the dining room, over here. Is all satisfactory, my lady?” he added sardonically.