"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" I asked, huffing, forgetting for a moment the scare she’d caused me.
"Oh, so your voice came back," said Midnight mocking me, with a straight face. "It might be easier than I thought."
"You talk?" I asked in a small voice, still unsure of what I saw and heard.
"Of course, I'm talking, I'm at my fifth life. There would be something wrong with me if I couldn't talk."
"Aha . . ."
"Is that all you are going to say?" she asked coldly. "And can you stop looking at me like I'm part of a freaks’ show?"
"What are you?"
"A cat . . ."
"A sarcastic one it seems." I put my hands on my hips. "Tell me, do you know where Laura is?"
Midnight stretched, then turned her attention to me.
"Right in front of you."
"What the . . .?"
"Come on, Scarlett, focus!"
“Focus on what? First, I found out Laura’s kitten speaks, and now, you’re telling me you’re Laura?” I waved my hands around me, gesticulating. “You are nothing like her. She’s sweet, and kind, and helpful, while you are fluffy and full of sarcasm.”
“Right . . . I’ll try and make this simple for you. When I returned to my original form, as a cat, my character changed as well.”
“What was wrong with the old one?” I asked almost pouting.
“It’s not a choice, you know. Look, human personalities are ten times more complex than animal ones. Laura’s isn’t lost completely but highly diminished and probably overwhelmed by the actual form. So, basically, I am, and I’m not Laura at the same time.”
"What do you mean? I asked, confused, sitting on the carpet in front of the couch and leaning on the edge of a pillow so that I could look at her closer.
"I mean, even though I have all of Laura's knowledge and memories, as well as those of all my previous lives, I am Midnight now."
She came near my face and placed a paw on my nose. It was so soft to the touch like it was made of velvet.
"Laura . . . I mean, Midnight," it will take some time until I get used to the change. "How come I am the only one who remembers you?"
“Because I chose you as my human, and you named me before fourteen past two in the morning.”
“Fourteen past two? That’s a weird time.”
“That’s the time I was born the first time, so no matter what I do, it’s connected to that hour. For example, if you would’ve hesitated even more than you already did to name me and waited until the following day, it would’ve been too late. You would have completely forgotten Laura, and I would have had no choice but to behave like a normal cat until my next life.” She stretched again and yawned. “I'm sick of this conversation, I'll take a nap.”
"Hey, wait! I'm not done talking yet. I still have questions for you. Midnight!"
Curled up like a doughnut, with her back at me, Midnight pretended to be asleep, ignoring me.
Chapter 15
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” the woman asked, lazily sipping from her wine glass. “You have the ambition and power to fulfil all your desires, and yet, you’re messing around.”
Clenching his fists, the Earl gritted his teeth, hearing the woman’s whipping words. He knew what she said was accurate, but the way she said it was pissing him off. Never in his life, had he allowed someone to address him with such a lack of respect, even less a woman. He wanted to jump over the desk and sink his hands into her throat. He wasn't going to do her any harm, he just wanted to scare her good, but he couldn't. He needed her. No! He needed the information she owned.
“And what do you suggest I do?” the Earl asked coldly, leaning against the back of his desk chair, entwining his fingers in front of his chin.
“Are you serious when you’re asking me this?” she scoffed at him.
“There’s something I don’t understand. What’s in it for you?”
Waiting for an answer, the Earl measured her from head to toe, trying to place her somewhere on the social scale, but the woman was a walking contradiction. After the careless position, with both her legs draped over one arm of the chair, she didn't seem to be any lady, but her mannerisms were perfect–except when they were alone. In the beginning, he thought she could be a high-class prostitute, with her deep and generous cleavage and the way she deceived so many naive lads, but at the same time, she had the pride of a duchess. Perhaps a spy, but with such a fragile constitution as hers, she wouldn’t have survived even for a day among the beasts. He had no idea who she was or where she came from, but she knew things no one from outside his family should’ve known.
The woman stretched her arms above her head, and removing the hairpins, she released her dark and lustrous hair. In the position she was sitting, her locks almost reached the floor.
“I’m sure I already told you that when we met the first time,” she sighed idly. “You have something I need.”
“The Watch.”
“Correct. But as you know, it can’t be used by an outsider, so this is where you come in,” she smiled mischievously, with one corner of her mouth. “I help you break all the seals, and in exchange, you will fulfil my wish, of course, after you have fulfilled yours.”
“What wish?” the Earl asked distrustfully.
“Oh, but I can’t tell you now,” she giggled. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
“How can you ask me such a thing, when you’re not willing to even reveal your real name?”
“Hmm . . .,” she touched her lower lip with a finger, “you can call me Selene.”
“Is that your given name?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Who knows? I have so many names, not even I know which one was the first.”
With the empty glass swinging between her fingers, she turned her eyes toward the dark window, glancing nostalgically at the starry sky.
“You have the girl and you have the Watch, so what are you waiting for?” she asked, returning her attention to the Earl.
“The artefact is rejecting her,” the crease between his eyebrows seemed even more profound than before, his eyes fixing the desk’s surface. “If it keeps up that way, she might lose her life.”
“And that surprises you?” Selene smirked sarcastically.
The Earl raised his face, baffled, just in time to see her rolling her eyes at him.
“You already have all the answers, so why can’t you connect them? As I said earlier, only someone from your family can use the Watch, and that applies as well when it comes to the seals.”
“Your point being?”
Selene rose from the armchair, her red skirts sweeping the floor and approaching the desk, she bent over it, near the Earl's face. Smiling coldly and with a dark glow in her different-coloured eyes, she whispered.
“You will have to marry her.”
Chapter 16
The pain I felt coming from her made her unaware of my presence. The deep, half-healed burns covered her arms up the elbows, making her whimper as she applied an eggy-smelling oil over them. I looked terrified at the irritated wounds, which here and there looked infected, asking myself the same questions, again, and again.
Why?
Why did you come back?
Why do you insist on staying?
Why remain in a place which destroys you?
Why are you clinging to a memory which rips you apart?
“Scarlet?” she asked, feeling my nervousness.
Before I answered, I waited for a second, I wanted to make sure that when I opened my mouth, my voice would be calm.
“I’m here, Leah.”
“It’s been a while.” She continued while wrapping a bandage over her arms, only then to cover them with a pair of long, white, lace gloves.
“How long has it been since you called out to me?”
“About two months.”
So, indeed, I had no control over the moment in which I got here.
“I’m sorry, Leah. In my time it’s
been only a few hours.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”
“Leah . . . your arms . . .” I wished her to tell me without me having to mention it, but I could feel she had no intention to do it.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she tried to fake a smile.
“What happened?” I asked, trying my best not to snap at her attempt to appear unaffected.
“Do you remember that strange room?”
“Yes . . .”
“In that room, we found something . . . a pocket watch. You do realise what we stumbled upon, right? Chronos’s Watch.”
I was suspecting something similar, but hearing her say the words, made everything way more real.
“Leah, that doesn’t explain what happened with your arms. How did they end up in such a state?”
“His Lordship moved it to a different room, inside the house–”
“What do you mean he moved it? When you tried to touch it, it threw lightning left and right,” I interrupted her.
“Do you remember what Lady Jubilee said? It’s her family’s duty to protect and guard the Watch, so it’s only natural that they could touch it without any issues, right?”
“I guess so . . .,” I said, unsure.
“But something odd happened soon after that.”
“Explain,” I rushed her, starting to lose my patience.
“The marble room, the labyrinth, the tunnel, everything is gone. And what was the entrance in the tunnel, turned into the room’s wall.”
Odd was an understatement, but that’s not what I wanted to know. I wanted to know what happened to her hands; why they were so damaged? And mainly who was to blame for that?
“Leah, your hands?”
“Be patient! I need to tell the whole story for you to understand.”
“Then do it already!”
“You know, Scarlett, Patience is a virtue,” she said chuckling.
“Yeah, well, I don’t feel very virtuous today.” I didn’t even bother to hide my sarcasm, making Leah chuckle again. “So, keep going.”
“He wants to activate the Watch.”
“He can’t!” I shouted.
“No, he can’t. At least not by himself, and that’s why he needs me.”
“Did he tell you that?” I asked, finding it hard to believe. I didn’t know much about him, but I doubted he was the type to give any explanations, even less to a maid.
“No, Lady Jubilee told me some time ago. Since I have the ability to control artefacts, I should also be able to undo the seals that keep it inactive.”
“How?” I asked, interested.
“I didn’t understand everything she told me back then, but the main idea was that the Watch will do it by itself. It will draw the required energy from me and will break them from inside out. But the Watch doesn’t let me get near it, hence the wounds you saw on my arms.”
“Wait a moment, I thought the Watch mustn’t be activated no matter what.”
“It mustn’t be. Lady Jubilee warned me about that. She said that if I’ll ever find myself near the Watch, to not give it the energy it needs, at least not willingly.”
“Then, I suppose it’s a good thing it rejects you, but if the Earl keeps pushing you, I’m afraid it might become a danger to your life.”
“After today it won’t matter anymore, because–”
A knock on the door interrupted her line of thoughts, and from behind the door, a woman spoke.
“My Lady?” she said softly.
My Lady?
“May I come in? It’s time.”
“Come on in, Emma,” Leah answered out loud.
The door opened, and Emma stepped into the room, carrying a white dress.
“My Lady, it’s time,” she said again, once she got closer.
“I see . . .”
I observed, confused, the whole scene, and I knew for sure I was missing something. Emma was the one responsible for Leah since the day she put a foot on the domain. She was her superior but now called her ‘My Lady’.
Without her, or Leah making another sound, she helped her put on the dress and fixed her hair.
“Um, Leah? Why did Emma just call you ‘My Lady’?” I asked, starting to get a bad feeling.
“Because it is expected from her,” she answered as Emma placed pieces of jewellery in her hair and around her neck.
“By whom?”
“Society, etiquette, everyone . . .”
“But what does that have to do with you?”
“You’ll see soon enough,” and a tear slipped down her cheek.
With a heavy sigh, Emma wiped it away, then resumed powdering Leah’s face with rice flour.
“I told you to be careful, child,” she said, worried.
“I know, but there’s nothing I can do now,” Leah's voice was bitter but determined.
“Someone will let you know when the time is near. Please wait here,” Emma added, then she left without looking back.
Leah stood up from the chair, where Emma had fixed her hair and make-up and walked up to a big mirror. Her simple, white dress was a perfect fit, with short sleeves and lace gloves that hid the bandages on her hands, her hair raised in an elegant cocoon and her powdered face, made her look like a porcelain doll. She was gorgeous, but miserable, with her eyes void of any light and the corners of her mouth dropped toward the ground.
With an effort of will, she displayed a pale smile, and with a broken voice, she said out loud.
“Scarlett, I’m getting married!”
***
No, nope, this couldn’t be happening. Leah was getting married, and with no one else but Lord Conwell.
As we walked down the empty corridor, with the veil pulled over her face, Leah was so disconnected from reality that I could hardly see or hear what was going on around. I felt like I’d gotten stuck in a sea of haze. A cold, sticky fog that reached to my bones, turning them to glass. The glimpse of the corridor, I managed to catch, seemed familiar, but that was probably because Leah had spent so many years there.
Stopping in front of a door, which today seemed more prominent than usual, we stayed there for a while, Leah being unable to turn the doorknob.
"Leah, I'm here for you." What else could I say? More than anything else, she needed support.
Her hands trembled as she clutched the little bouquet Emma had prepared and tears gathered in the corner of her eyes.
“I know,” she answered, taking a big breath. Pushing back her tears and straightening her back, she walked into the room, where her future husband was waiting. “Thank you.”
The ceremony took place in the parlour. The poorly decorated room was clear evidence of the importance given to the event. In one corner of the room stood Chance, who was barely able to mask the grim expression on his face, and in the other corner was Emma, who had hitherto worn an impeccable mask. I realised they were holding the place of witnesses as in the room, there was no one but them and the cleric.
The cleric began the unifying ceremony of the two, but every time he spoke Leah's name, he avoided looking at her, and the vows were non-existent.
The time came to exchange the wedding rings. The Earl grabbed her wrist tightly, causing her to bite her lip to distract herself from the pain he caused her, and without bothering to remove her glove, he pushed the plain gold band forcefully on her finger.
Leah took her wedding ring as well, but before she managed to put it on the Earl's finger, she dropped it. The ring rolled all the way to the door, under her frozen eyes, settling with a metallic cling that echoed through the room. Chance picked it up and walking up to Leah, he placed it in her hand. Once the ring exchange was complete and the registry signed, the Earl stormed out of the room, followed by Emma shortly.
In all this time, Leah’s eyes were stuck on the floor, not even one look at the man who was now her husband or anyone else in the room.
“It’s something wrong?” I asked, feeling the fright in her soul.
“But Chance returned it, so everything is fine now, right?”
“No. The one who drops the ring during the marriage ceremony is doomed to die long before his spouse.”
"It's just superstition, Leah. You don't need to worry about this stuff. In my time, if the ring is dropped, it is said that the couple will have a happy and adventurous life, so you can't really trust these things."
"You may be right," she answered, but I could feel that my words did not manage to calm her down, not even a bit.
Chance who stayed behind to pay the cleric approached us.
"Leah, are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes," she forced a smile, looking at the floor. "Everything will be fine."
The last few words seemed more like an encouragement to herself than an answer to Chance's simple question.
"Leah, can I talk to him a bit? You could rest."
"Sure." The transition was fast, Leah hiding in the shadows of her soul.
The wounds on my arms made me feel uncomfortable, sending me waves of pain every time I moved them, but it was bearable. The golden band on my finger seemed heavier than it should have been; those were the feelings Leah left behind, however, there was something else. From the spectator's position I had been in until a few seconds ago, I couldn't realise, but something felt wrong with her body. I couldn't figure out what it was, but I had the impression there was something more than what she’d told me.
"Missed me?" I asked with a playful smile, looking up to him.
"I'd be lying if I'd say no," Chance told me honestly.
Chapter 17
"Forgive me, Julia! Forgive me, my love!" whispered the Earl, falling to his knees in front of the portrait of his late wife. "Forgive me!"
Pulling his hair and with his forehead on the cold floor, he howled like a lunatic. Taking a deep breath, he got up and, with the steps drowsed by the several glasses of brandy he had thrown down his throat breathlessly, he neared Julia's portrait.
The Curse of Time Page 10
