These Ruthless Deeds

by Tarun Shanker

  She sighed and leaned her head against mine. It felt like we were alone in the world, the two of us against everything. A breeze was drifting in, slowly shifting away the heat. I could feel the tears cooling against my face. Even with three days to perform an impossible task, I still felt free enough to take my first unencumbered breath in months.

  Rose was well.

  Rose was here.

  Rose was alive.

  Anything was possible.

  Chapter 15

  IT WAS DARK, just past the time when drunkards stumbled home and still two hours before servants would rise to begin their day. Thus, Catherine was naturally alarmed when I woke her up from her sound sleep and comfortable bed.

  “Did you know that you snore in the most ghastly manner?” I asked.

  “Evemph!” I assumed it was my name she was attempting to scream, but I had my hand over her mouth to stifle the sound.

  “Indeed, it’s me, and all is well, so I need you not to yell,” I said, slowly removing my hand.

  “I never yell—what on earth is happening?” Her hand was fumbling on her bedside table and I reached to give her spectacles to her. I had lit the gas sconce on her bedroom wall on my way in, and I watched Catherine’s eyes adjust to the light and find my eyes.

  And then, the nervous, dark-haired, snub-nosed girl behind me.

  “Catherine, I’m sorry I keep surprising you with unbelievable stories, but … I—uh, have another one.”

  * * *

  Approximately forty minutes later, Catherine was staring at Rose with wonder. She had interrogated us thoroughly, marching around the bedroom, wrap flying, speaking in a harsh whisper.

  “So not only is your sister alive, well, and going to stay here for a spell, but her captors are also insisting that they stay?”

  “Captor,” I said, hoping that might make it better. “Only Camille. She’s disguising Mr. Hale as Mr. Redburn, so he will play that part and stay elsewhere. I am so sorry. I will do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’d be annoyed if you didn’t involve me,” she said, still pacing. “But you trust them?”

  Rose shook her head fearfully and I sighed, the long night catching up with me. “For now. Mr. Kent made certain of that. I don’t think we have a choice. It was the only way to keep them from running again. At least for a few days. And,” I said, turning to Rose, “if they dared to take you again, I promise I would find you. Miss Grey, our old governess, can find anyone in the world.”

  Rose did not look entirely pleased as she said, “So many people with these strange powers…”

  Catherine removed her spectacles to rub at her temples. I hesitated before speaking again. “Camille said she’d like to sleep wherever was closest to Rose. I thought maybe a connecting room—”

  Catherine was already waving her hand in agreement. “Mine is the only room with a connecting chamber. This Camille woman can sleep in that room. Rose may sleep in here and I will be perfectly comfortable in one of the guest chambers.”

  “Rose, are you all right with this?” I asked, reaching for her hand, unable to stop checking to be sure she was made of substance and not a mirage.

  She hesitated, looking lost. “I … I wish she did not have to be here. I just want to go back to our old life, impossible as it is.”

  “For now,” I agreed. “But once we deal with the Society, you will be home and with Mother and Father, who will be overjoyed. It’s only three days, I swear it.”

  Rose frowned, but nodded. “All right. Three days. I’ll try. Though I hate to put you out, Miss Harding,” she said.

  “It is no bother at all. Though, I don’t believe any of the other rooms are ready, and I do not think I am likely to sleep anymore tonight. I may simply sit here,” Catherine said, nodding at her window seat. “If that does not discomfit you?”

  “Oh, no, please stay! I mean—whatever you find more comfortable.” Rose yawned and blushed. “I … I find I am quite exhausted.”

  “Please, you must rest.” Catherine gestured to the bed, and Rose, without even undressing, fell beneath the sheets.

  “Thank you, you’re very kind,” she mumbled. Her eyes flickered open and closed, then found mine, and she gave me a tired smile. “Will you stay? For a moment?”

  “Of course,” I said, hurrying to the bed. I grabbed her hand and swiped back a piece of hair that was falling into her face. “You are safe now,” I whispered.

  Her eyes were already closing. Her breath went soft and easy as she drifted into an immediate slumber. I wondered if she had truly slept in the months she had been missing.

  Catherine curled up on her window seat and stared out the window. Slowly, after some long minutes, I slid my hand from Rose and watched as she cocooned herself in the sheets.

  “Catherine,” I whispered, going to her. “Thank you. Are you truly comfortable with this?”

  “Truly,” she said with a firm nod. She kept her eyes on mine, still alert despite the late hour. “I can’t tell you how much I regretted being away when all of this started. I could have been here to help you and your sister. To help you with your parents and your new power. Instead, I abandoned you and wandered about the Continent.”

  I loved and hated her for thinking that. “There was no way you could have known.”

  “I know, but irrational wishes are the best ones. And in a way, this one’s even come true.” She gave me a soft, true smile. “I’m so very glad for the both of you, Evelyn. And I simply plan to do everything in my power to help this time.”

  I hugged her tightly. “Thank you.” The clock struck four behind her. “Oh, I must go—it wouldn’t do to be missing or give anyone a reason to suspect something is amiss here,” I said grimly. “Just … please be here when she wakes up. She might be frightened.”

  “Of course,” Catherine said.

  I gave Rose one last look. I watched her eyelids twitch with life and her chest rise and fall with every breath. It was everything I’d wished I’d seen that horrible night months ago. And now that she was here in front of me, I had to leave her.

  I crept down to the kitchens, where I had left Camille and Mr. Hale, and found myself staring at Camille and Mr. Redburn. The resemblance was uncanny, from the dark hair and little mustache, to the mismatched clothing. But it was different, somehow. As though another artist had tried to recreate the same painting.

  “Mr. Hale, you know where the Society is headquartered, I believe. Mr. Redburn seems to skulk around the hallways until he gets the morning’s instructions from his brother. Please report to Captain Goode in the morning. Say as little as possible. And can you sneer?”

  He did, completing the portrait. Perfect.

  “Catherine has agreed to let you sleep in the connecting chamber,” I said sternly to Camille. “Rose is safe, content and sleeping. You will do nothing but be alert to any danger.”

  They gave me slow nods.

  “Mr. Hale, if you could help me home? I live in Belgrave Square,” I said.

  He opened a portal showing the dark neighborhood from above. I pointed to my garden and he opened a new one in the hedges. I started forward, but I was stopped by Camille’s voice. “We will do it your way, Miss Wyndham. For now. But if you cannot find a way to keep that girl safe, we will take matters into our own hands.”

  I stiffened. “Three days, Camille.” I turned to meet her eyes, suddenly feeling that she could see all my insecurities and doubts. “You will give me my three days to ensure that she will be safe.”

  Camille barely nodded. One could hardly call it that. Then she turned and headed to the servant stairs, and I turned back to the portal.

  That one step away from Rose was the longest, hardest step I had ever taken. Even though I knew that not being home would cause more questions and complications, it was all I could do not to run back and never leave her side.

  But by the time I snuck in through the garden, I felt as though I had been hit by a wall of weariness, to
the point that I began to wonder a little deliriously if someone with the power to put people to sleep had brushed by me.

  I slipped off my boots to carry them and softly padded up the front stairs. I would be less likely to encounter any servants who would be waking soon. The grand house echoed more forbiddingly than ever, but I couldn’t help smiling. Somehow, we would find a way to deal with the Society of Aberrations. And then Rose would be here, filling the rooms with her smiles, mending my parents’ broken hearts.

  I quietly opened my bedroom door, finding the brass knob in the dark. But as soon as I closed it behind me, I tensed. There was someone in here.

  My blood was singing, singeing my skin as it prickled, immediately dotting my skin with gooseflesh. I felt for the handle of my fan and pulled it from my sleeve, not bothering to be quiet. The person had surely heard me enter. I lifted the small latch to release the blade with a quiet but threatening snick that filled the room. I tensed, knowing if the intruder was going to attack it would be now.

  “Ev—”

  I launched the dagger toward the voice.

  “Ah!” A man hissed quietly and something heavy fell to the floor. I cautiously moved forward.

  “I warn you, sir, I am more than skilled in deadly combat,” I said, hoping that was something someone more than skilled in deadly combat might say.

  The figure, however, had the audacity to snort and cough back a laugh. And all of a sudden I knew exactly who it was in my bedroom.

  “Sebastian Braddock, what on earth are you doing here!” I only remembered to lower my voice halfway through the sentence.

  “You have extraordinary luck,” he said, his voice thick with pain. Oh no. I stepped forward, my eyes almost adjusted to the dimness. The object that had fallen seemed to be not an object at all: Sebastian was a hulking figure on the floor near my bed. As I crept closer I could see that my knife had indeed found its target and lodged itself snugly in his waist.

  “This serves you right,” I said, suddenly overwhelmed with rage. How dare he be here? How dare he get himself injured when I couldn’t help him? How dare his eyes find mine so easily, the only bright thing in the twisting dark?

  Except the knife. That still glinted wickedly. I knelt down to see that I had extraordinary luck, the thin little blade in almost to the hilt.

  “I was worried.…”

  “Hold still,” I said. “We need to get you to a proper doctor, that’s too much blood.” I was thinking quickly, trying to be sure my voice betrayed no hint of concern and simply sounded irritated. “If I stay with you, it should not hurt them at all to sew you right up.”

  “Ev—”

  “Only you, Sebastian! Only you would get a mortal injury in a lady’s bedroom!” I snapped. What if he didn’t live? What would Mae say if he died in my bedroom? I began tugging him up roughly but he groaned and grabbed my hand with his usual crushing strength.

  “Sebastian, we need to go!”

  “No—”

  “Stop arguing with me!”

  “Evelyn! You can heal me!” he finally managed, panting heavily as I pulled him halfway to his feet. His hand was clammy in my own and I wondered how much blood he had already lost.

  I spoke slowly. “Sebastian, our powers don’t work like that. They cancel each other out. Oh goodness, did you hit your head as well?”

  I immediately lowered him back down to the floor and began running my fingers through his hair, looking for a protrusion.

  “I—ah, Ev.…” He took a deep breath and looked up at me with wild, guilty eyes before I finally realized how inappropriate the position we were in was. He was leaning against the side of my bed and I was draped over his shoulder, my bosom rather shoved against his neck and my hands still fingering the silky strands without his permission.

  “Um,” I said, finding it nearly impossible to move, despite the impropriety. His breath was coming quickly, hot on my neck, and I could feel the familiar thrum of my blood answering his. Finally I regained sense and pulled back as he began saying something, but my head was spinning, trying to come up with some plan. What could I do? He had some terrible head injury that made him unable to remember how our powers worked, and my dagger was still lodged in his abdomen. What if I hit some vital organ? I knew nothing about fixing those. And if we were discovered here together—

  “… just need to touch me.”

  I looked down at him in shock as he began pulling up his shirt with shaking fingers.

  “Sebastian!” I closed my mouth on a gasp as a sliver of bare skin was slowly revealed. It was only then that I realized the filtered moonlight was turning the room a silvery gray. I could see him far too well.

  And the blood he was quickly losing.

  “No, no, no,” I murmured. “Oh Lord, what do I do?”

  “Evelyn! I’ve been trying to tell you—Captain Goode lowered my power today. Off completely. You should be able to heal me.” His speech was slurred but perfectly lucid.

  I stared down at him.

  I was a prize fool. It had been a long day.

  I placed one hand against his shirt next to the knife and swiftly pulled it out with the other, biting down hard on my lip as he groaned harshly. I lifted the edges of his shirt and pressed down over the wound with both hands.

  “I thought you’d be able to tell,” he mumbled, eyes closed.

  “Knowing your every thought must be someone else’s power,” I retorted, but it was halfhearted. I had become very, very aware of my hand on his bare skin. How long ago was it that I had attempted to heal him and was unable to do so?

  “The … sensation,” he said quietly, “the one between us. I thought you would notice it missing.”

  “I … I was thinking about other things,” I said pathetically. The absurd truth was that with or without his power, Sebastian had found his way under my skin and I was as fully aware of him as ever. That lemony leather scent was filling the air and my skin was prickling. I had to order my breathing back under my control as I tried not to think about his skin, warm and … so much of it beneath my hands.

  “Why are you here?” I asked, trying to focus again on my anger. How dare he sneak into my bedroom?

  “I came to speak with you about the Society,” he said, sounding stronger than before. I peeked through my fingers and saw the wound was almost healed. Still, just to be absolutely, completely, thoroughly certain, I didn’t move my hands away.

  “They sent me on another mission today and I … I wanted to tell you about it.” He looked a bit guilty.

  “And that necessitated you sneaking into my bedroom?”

  “I didn’t exactly want to leave my card and call on you with Lord Atherton present!”

  Good. If Sebastian was giving in to his exasperation with me, surely he was healed.

  He sighed. “I waited outside and when I saw no sign of you, I was concerned.”

  “How did you get in?”

  He glowered at me and blushed in the early light. “It’s—it’s unimportant.”

  “Sebastian.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Please, please tell me you didn’t scale the walls and climb in through my window.”

  He glared harder.

  “If you don’t wish me to think of you as some kind of tragic Gothic figure, you really must stop acting like one.”

  “I am not—” He stopped and irritably brushed a hand through his hair. “The point is, why weren’t you here?”

  “I was on a mission.”

  “Oh.”

  “How long have you been here?” I slowly took my hands away from him, feeling the lack of his touch keenly.

  “Um, well, not all that long.”

  I waited, watching as he darted his eyes around the room. They flickered to me and away again, but it was enough to send another rush of heat to my cheeks.

  “Just … a few hours. Since midnight.”

  Finally our eyes held each other.

  Don’t kiss him.

  “I was
worried,” he said, slowly pulling himself off the bed frame, leaning forward. His face was so close to mine in the quiet morning. My heart faltered once before catching a new rhythm, faster than before. Sebastian’s dark hair had never looked so careless and my fingers itched to return to the inky strands. His eyes were the softest mossy green, and I was sure that all his usual awkward reserve had melted in this strange dawn. When I realized that his eyes were glued to my lips, I instinctively parted them, sucking in a fast breath.

  Don’t you dare kiss him, Evelyn.

  He was so close I could have counted the strands of gold that gleamed in the green of his eyes. I could have shifted forward one breath and his lips would be on mine. I was dizzy, lost in the world that existed here between us. But just as he leaned in, the barest second before I’d find the relief I’d craved in his kiss, I let the outside world rush in, and with it all the myriad reasons we should not touch again.

  “Rose is alive,” I breathed.

  No matter how quietly, how gently I had said it, Sebastian reacted as though I had slapped him.

  He pulled back. There was no warmth in those eyes now. They’d turned cold, a summer grass hit with early frost.

  “I’m sorry, there is no simple way to tell you, but I was on a mission to recover Mr. Hale. He and Camille took Rose during that horrible fire, while we were fighting Dr. Beck and Claude. Mr. Hale used one of his portals to take Rose and replace her with a sickly woman Camille disguised as my sister. You didn’t kill her. In fact, you didn’t really kill anyone. The woman they disguised was close to death already.”

  Sebastian had gone statue-still, not breathing at all.

  “She’s alive. She’s with Catherine right now.”

  He still didn’t move.

  “She’s alive, Sebastian.”

  I began to wonder if he could die by holding his breath this long. I reached out and grabbed his hand, shaking it a little. His eyes were still blank and dark, but he finally spoke. “I don’t…”

  “She’s alive.”

  He seemed to suddenly remember how to breathe. In and out, never taking his eyes from me. We sat in the growing light. I heard a nearby door quietly click closed. A maid would be here any moment.