Katherine came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. The warmth went through her as Katherine said, “One thing I’m sure of. Cayman used fear to make people think he has more power than he does.” Katherine tapped Medea on her temple. “Don’t let him ruin your beliefs.” Katherine offered a smile before she left.
___
Medea waited in the shadows of the door. She had heard the carriage and knew that Everett was on his way home. Katherine had insisted that he return home when she had seen the cleanliness habits of the people at the hospital. It worried Medea that Everett was coming home before he was ready.
Medea stayed back as the door opened. Everett was her friend but this felt like a time for family. He was certainly surrounded by his family as Rayne had tucked herself under his arm as they entered.
Katherine swept in ahead giving out orders to the servants that milled around to expedite his return. “Get him upstairs.”
Several footmen came to Everett’s side and with a countdown lifted him and took him upstairs. As flashed her a smile as he passed by the doorway she hid.
Katherine glanced at Medea and stopped long enough to say, “He’ll be fine.”
Medea said, “I hope so.”
Rayne said, “If you feel guilty you can be the one that keeps him company he is terrible when he is an invalid.”
Katherine laughed. “That is mean Rayne. Everett is a diabolical patient.”
Medea, aware that she was here on their charity, said, “I don’t mind keeping him company.” After all, he had been stabbed because of her. The least she could do was keep him company.
___
Everett shifted in the bed and grumbled. Medea closed the book and studied him. She knew he was more than ready to leave his bed but he had kept to it because of the dragon that Katherine could be when she had a patient. Medea only smiled at the dynamics between the siblings. But glad that it kept him safe in his bed.
He swore and pushed his blankets away. “I can’t stand this anymore. Besides, it arrived today.”
She frowned. “What arrived today?”
“I sent one of the men to my store to get your leg.” Her heart skipped. She knew he had made her a foot but she hadn’t wanted to ask him about it and seem too eager. Everett tugged on Medea’s arm. At least he was moving easily though she wondered how much of that was the medicine his sister insisted on that dulled the pain.
“I have to fit you with your new foot.” Medea had seen the wrapped lump delivered. She had glimpsed some of the brass but she wasn’t sure it was the foot he had promised or something else. She didn’t want to raise her hopes.
The witch doctor was still alive and he was still after her. He had already been released from prison once so she didn’t trust that he would remain in prison this time.
Everett said, “Take a seat and I’ll put on the foot.”
She sat on the bench at the end of the bed. Medea glanced at Everett but his focus was on unwrapping the mechanical foot instead of his wound.
She sucked in a breath when the mechanical leg was revealed. It was bigger than she had expected. She had thought he would only replace the foot but the contraption was the whole bottom part of the leg. He pushed up her skirt and slipped the brace over her leg. It attached with leather straps. He also placed some strange patches to her leg.
He patted her knee. “Flex your toes.”
She frowned at him. She was hoping to walk up and downstairs. Moving toes was not high in her expectations. Especially just after receiving the limb. She lifted her leg so she could look at her toes. The metal contraption was heavier than expected. She would have to build up her muscles to be able to move with any ease.
Everett rocked back on his heels. He had etched in a design along the metal. Curlicues and flowers decorated the limb. She hadn’t had toes on that side of her body to bend in so long it took her a moment to figure out what to do. She gasped when the hinged toes moved. Not a lot but any movement was more than she had expected.
Her heart jumped and thumped loud enough that that was all she heard in her ears for a long moment. She twisted her ankle and moved her toes. Everett caught her calf and ran a hand down the metal. She could feel that. Even though she had her leg underneath the metal she could feel his touch through the metal.
He propped her mechanical foot on his knee. “Tell me if you feel this.” He rubbed vigorously against her heel. She gasped as it grew warm. Tears pricked her eyes. It wasn’t perfect. There was no give in her flesh but to be able to feel touch and heat on her foot where she had nothing before was a miracle.
She threw herself off the bed and wrapped her arms around Everett. She tumbled them both to the ground.
Everett laughed. “I take it you are pleased.”
She pulled back to see his face. His eyes filled with his joy at her excitement.
She licked her lips. She shouldn’t but she would. Bending down she pressed her lips against his. He brought his arms around her waist and tugged her closer.
Medea heard Katherine before she entered with another dose of medicine. Medea pushed back and felt her cheeks flame and travel down her neck. She hurried to her feet and brushed down her skirts.
Medea put her hands over her cheeks. Blushes always showed up like flags on her cheeks. There was no way to hide her embarrassment. Katherine though seemed oblivious as she asked, “Does the new foot work?”
Everett got to his feet and dusted off his pants. His only show of pain was a slight wince. “Do a circuit of the room and we’ll see if I need to calibrate the sensors.”
She found now that she was focused on walking it was more difficult than it had been to scramble to her feet. She stumbled a few times but after her third trip around the room she had found her stride. The toes bending meant she could walk in a natural heel to toe stride.
Chapter Sixteen
Everett hoped his mother would leave Medea alone but it seemed every other question at dinner was aimed at Medea. “So have you been in the Empire for long?”
“A couple of years,” Medea politely answered. Everett tried to catch his mother’s gaze. She smiled serenely at him and he made a sharp cutting motion at his neck.
The serene smile became beatific as she asked, “Oh, where were you before that?”
Everett stepped in before Medea answered. “Mother leave her alone. She will tell her story when she wants to.”
Medea blushed, turning her cheeks into a mottled painting of red and pale pinks. It even went down her neck. He wondered just how far she would blush. His own cheeks heated as his thoughts wondered into thoughts that weren’t safe in company.
“I don’t mind telling my story. There isn’t much to tell. I was born a slave in the new world.”
Katherine asked, “First generation or were you born in the new world?”
His mother gasped. “That is awful. How could they do that to such a sweet child as you?”
Everett rubbed his hand on his leg. He knew he should rescue Medea from his female relatives but he was unsure just how much rescuing she needed.
Medea answered Katherine’s question, “Second generation. My parents were both slaves as well. Cotton pickers from what I could figure out.”
Everett asked, “Didn’t you live with your parents?”
She shook her head. “When I was born as I was. My owner panicked and put me with the house slaves. There had been stories of white slaves and he worried people thought he had taken some of his own people.”
Lady Ancaster asked, “What do you mean, white slaves?”
Katherine patted her lips with a kerchief before she answered for Medea, “She is an albino mother. Her parents would have come from Africa though they could have been born in the new world as well. Actually albinos can be born amongst any racial group.”
Medea nodded when Katherine glanced over to see if she was on the right track. Katherine continued, “She is actually African but because she is albino, she only looks white.”
&nbs
p; Lady Ancaster frowned as she said simply, “Oh.”
Everett wondered if his mother would be as eager for Medea to join the family now that she had found out some of her history or her heritage. Everett had been aware of her African heritage when she had walked into his store. Her hair though long was wild like the descriptions his tutor had given him of the people in Africa. Tight curls of hair that rained down as a wide curtain around her face. The fact that she was being chased by a witch doctor had only been a confirmation. It hadn’t changed his feelings though.
He hadn’t expected it to matter to his mother. She was usually so open minded. After all her son-in-law was a dragon. An albino woman from African descent was just as rare.
Katherine came to the rescue and asked, “So did you solve the mystery of the severed hand?”
Eager to change the topic Everett answered even though it wasn’t appropriate conversation for the meal. “Well, I discovered who was leaving behind the body parts. The Collector was being paid by Doctor Carthart’s wife. She was being forced to help him attack people.”
“Doctor Carthart? I think I’ve met him.”
Medea asked, “Someone left you a severed hand?” He shrugged it off. Since it had happened before he had started the letters to her he had forgotten to mention it. She probably hadn’t read his latest letter where he had said he’d caught the Collector and the witch doctor. But in hind sight, he hadn’t really caught anyone if the witch doctor was out and about when he had attacked them there was a chance the Collector was also free.
“Yeah, Margaret, the doctor’s wife, was trying to get my attention so she paid someone to leave human body parts on my door step. She knew that Rayne was my sister and that I could help her. I didn’t help her much. I didn’t figure it out in time and stumbled on the doctor trying to hack up another person.”
Katherine asked, “Did you figure out why?”
“No idea. Why would anyone want to cut up people in the most horrific way?”
“Maybe they like hurting people,” Medea speculated. He thought that an odd pass time for a doctor but also the perfect job for someone who was a sadist.
“I think it is horrid. Why couldn’t my children go into jobs where they didn’t have to deal with body parts?”
Everett snorted. “I usually don’t. I can assure you I have no stomach for it. I almost cast up my accounts at the circus the other day and that was only creepy things in a jaw.”
They all jumped when Katherine yelled, “THE CIRCUS.” When they all looked at her at the excessiveness to her exclamation she added, “That is where I saw Doctor Carthart. He was the one that made those horrid creatures in the jars at the circus.”
Everett frowned. “Margaret didn’t mention anything about the circus.” Katherine rose to her feet and folded her napkin.
Their mother said, “You can’t honestly think to go over there now. It is night time, they’ll be closed.”
Everett rose to his feet. “We go out at night all the time.”
His mother whined, “But to balls. This is to chase down a mutilating doctor.” But not as far as they knew a murderer. From what Medea had told him about the witch doctor they were probably safer chasing the doctor than they had in subduing the witch doctor. At least he had a death count.
___
Victor whispered, “Was this place this creepy when you came the first time?”
Everett answered, “Yes.”
While Katherine answered, “No.”
Victor flashed a grin. “Well, it is easy to tell who the brave one in the family is.”
“It will be me because your yapping will get you all killed. Victor, you know better.” Rayne who was taking lead turned to glare at them. Everett flushed. Rayne as the older sister had always been a little bossy. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to bring them along but Katherine had a valid point in that Rayne had the power to arrest people and even shoot people without going to jail while they could do neither. Victor with his dragon abilities and possibly turning into a full-size dragon was also an asset.
Everett glanced over at Medea who had insisted on coming. She walked with his cane and her mechanical foot and easily kept up with them. Though they had dropped to a crawl when they had entered the field where the circus was. They moved amongst the silent tents that had taken on eerie mysticism at night.
Victor whispered, “Why name the circus after St George. He was a terrible fellow.”
Katherine answered, “Because he killed dragons. You should know that the islands were never thrilled to be part of the empire. Almost everything here is named after someone that hunted dragons before the treaty.”
They all came to a stop as Rayne turned to them with a frown. She pointed to the side and said, “You guys go that way. Victor, you are with me.”
She didn’t wait to see if they would follow their instructions. But then she didn’t have to. She had been giving her siblings orders for long enough that Katherine and he headed in the direction she had pointed. Medea stumbled a little and he caught her arm. He frowned. He didn’t want her to be here putting herself at risk but he also knew he couldn’t tell her not to. He offered an arm and she shook her head. At least now that they split up they were quieter.
Katherine pointed in the distance and whispered, “There was something down there. I saw it move.”
He glanced around to see if there was any evidence of a breeze but the night was still. Though he wondered how she could see so well in the dark. He had a lantern but it only created a circle of light around them. Everything beyond it remain an inky mystery.
Katherine rushed off and he went to follow her but glanced back at Medea. But she had put on speed and was overtaking him. He had to jog to catch up with her. His hand held to his side where everything ached still.
She said, “This foot is amazing. I haven’t been able to move like this in years.” He was a fool. She had been so handicapped that of course she had found ways around it. Now that she had more mobility it meant she could use those skills developed when she only had a stump to get the speed she would have when she was whole.
He flushed at his thoughts. He had been thinking she was somehow less. It was more foolish because his sister had never been less despite her missing hand and he should have been treating Medea more like his sister than one of his clients who often came to him because they felt the loss acutely.
Katherine had ducked into a tent and they followed her. It wasn’t the tent with the sewn together creatures instead it was the big tent where the majority of the shows were held. They moved past the seating to the ringed area in the middle. Saw dust covered the ground and ropes hung from the thick posts holding up the tent. Katherine stood in the middle of the ring and looked up.
Everett looked up in time to see someone slip through a slot by the post. The moonlight cut across the man’s face for a moment. “That is the Collector. What is he doing out? I thought he was also in prison.”
Katherine asked, “Like the witch doctor was in prison? I wonder if there is another player.”
The tent roof indented to show the path of the Collector as he slid down the steep side of the canvas. Katherine pointed to the nearest exit to where the Collector landed and dashed in the Collector’s direction.
Everett turned back to see if Medea was following but he was now alone in the tent. “Medea? Medea!” He searched in the seating area and outside but she was gone. His heart beat at the thought she was in danger.
He heard some noise and ran towards it. It was Katherine struggling to pull herself out of a tangle of ropes from a tent that was half collapsed because of her fall. He reached out and helped her up.
She swore under her breath and he raised an eyebrow. “Mother will definitely be shocked by that language. Where did you pick that up from?” Katherine dusted off her skirts.
She glanced behind him and asked, “Where is Medea?”
“I don’t know. Did he get away?”
“Yes, let’s l
ook for Medea. This place is a maze.” He didn’t disagree. Medea wasn’t the kind to wander off and he worried that something had happened to her. If the Collector was out then who else could be out of prison. They didn’t want to call out for Medea either as they knew that at least the Collector was around who was trying to avoid them.
Chapter Seventeen
Rayne had her gun out. She didn’t use it often but there was a feeling that travelled down her spine that spoke to her instincts. Everett’s crazy doctor was here and if the attack on his wife and his patients was any indication, it meant he wouldn’t hesitate to harm her. Victor kept quiet. She knew he could be a good partner but having a new audience was just too much of a temptation for the gregarious dragon.
She glanced behind her. He really did fit her well. It annoyed her that other people’s opinions was keeping her apart from him. She had never done anything in her life because of what people said about her.
She said, “This weekend.”
Victor asked, “What is happening this weekend?”
“I’m moving in.” She glanced back when he said nothing and saw the wide grin. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to their surroundings.
Victor’s lantern caught something metallic and reflected back. She ducked just as the gunshot went off. A blue flash of light blinded her for a moment but she ignored it as the light meant Victor was up to something. She untangled herself from the guide rope she had tripped over when she ducked out of the way.
Victor was on the ground with his hand to his head. Blood seeped through his fingers. He pulled his hand away and a bullet sat in his hand.
Her heart jumped. “Did that hit?”
“No, I caught it.” As she watched she saw that the reason his hand was bloody was because the bullet had passed through his hand. It had been enough to slow the bullet so it hadn’t gotten far. Dragons could die from bullet wounds to the head as it stopped whatever powers they had to recover. A wound to his hand though would only slow him down.
White Lady Page 10
