Cursed

by Sue Tingey

  By the time we reached our room Shenanigans and Kerfuffle had already been on a raid of the wine cellar and we opened the door to the clinking of goblets and tankards.

  “You timed that well,” Kerfuffle said, glancing up from the ale he was pouring.

  “Here, take this, Mistress,” Shenanigans said, pouring a goblet of wine and handing it to me.

  I sat down at the low table with the others as Shenanigans began to hand out more drinks.

  We drank and talked and drank some more until, actually, I think we all became a little merry. Even Vaybian lightened up a bit. By the time we all started to fall onto the bed I could see our early morning mission being put off, or at least taking place a little later than we had planned. I went to get ready for bed.

  When I came out of my dressing room all my guards were sprawled out and snoring; all but one—Jamie was waiting for me. As I stepped into the bedchamber he took me by the arm and pulled me back inside the dressing room, shutting the door behind us.

  “What’s up?” I asked frowning at him. His expression was serious; so much so I was instantly anxious.

  “Lucky, I …” then he stumbled into silence and his eyes slid away from mine.

  “Jamie?”

  “What you said earlier; what you said about me lying to you—I wanted to say: I’m sorry.” He ran his hand through his golden curls in an agitated movement. “I did it with the best of intentions, but I can see why you’d be angry.”

  “I’m more disappointed than angry.”

  He raised his eyes to meet mine. “I think I’d rather suffer your anger than your disappointment.”

  That made me smile a tad. “I’m not disappointed in you Jamie. I’m disappointed in myself.”

  His expression was puzzled. “Why?”

  “Why do you think? There I was believing I was a strong, independent woman, confident that no one could ever put one over on me, and then along come two good-looking guys and any sense I was born with suddenly deserts me, and I let both of them manipulate me into doing exactly what they want.” It was my turn to look away. “You and Philip completely took me in.”

  “You never really trusted him.”

  “No, but I did you. I believed every single thing you said to me.”

  “Lucky—” he started to say, but I stopped him by placing two fingers against his lips.

  “I understand why you did what you did and although I may not like it I can live with it.”

  “But can you forgive me?”

  I met his eyes. “As long as you never try to deceive me again—whatever the circumstances. I’m not sure I could forgive you now we—Now we’re so close.”

  He brushed the hair back from my face. “I won’t,” he whispered as he wrapped me in his arms, pulling me close until his lips touched mine.

  His kiss was soft and gentle, but there was a passion behind it that had my legs turning weak, and I’m sure it was only being held so close to him that stopped me falling to my knees. My body molded to his, leaving me in no doubt my angel had some demon in him after all.

  My arms snaked around his neck and I returned his kiss, ignoring the little voice in my head telling me that this was neither the time nor the place.

  He pulled away from me, his cheeks a little flushed. “We should—” A rat a tat tat on the door interrupted him.

  “Are you all right in there?” a muffled voice asked.

  Jamie screwed his eyes shut and muttered an expletive.

  “I’m fine thanks,” I called, unwinding my arms from around Jamie’s neck.

  The door opened a crack and Jamie and I jumped apart. “Jamie seems to have gone missing,” Jinx said, and then poked his head inside. “Oh—there you are.”

  “Yes, here I am,” Jamie said, not bothering to disguise his obvious irritation.

  “Something wrong?” Jinx asked with an overly sweet smile, which belied the glint in his eyes.

  “No, we were just coming,” Jamie said and I had to press my lips together really hard to stop myself from laughing.

  “Hmm,” Jinx said, pulling the door wide and stepping to one side. I went first, but I still heard him mutter, “That’s what I was afraid of,” as Jamie passed him.

  I woke up in the wee hours to a pounding on the door and a wall of feathers and smoke as Jamie wrapped his arms around me and Pyrites stood in front of the bed with his wings drawn back tight against his body and head extended ready for a fight.

  “Who is it?” I heard Shenanigans ask. There was a muffled reply and I heard the door open.

  “I have a message for a Mr. Kerfuffle,” a deep, rather grumpy voice said. “There’s a young woman at the palace door in a panic asking for him.”

  “Did she say who she was and what she wanted?” I heard Kerfuffle ask.

  “What am I, your personal messenger?” the voice said. “I only came to get you as she was in danger of shrieking the place down and she said you were with the princess’ guard.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Shenanigans said and glanced back at me. “We’ll be back shortly, Mistress.”

  “Okay,” I managed to say, my thumping heart slowing a bit. Jamie released me and I struggled up into a sitting position. “What do you think that was all about?” I asked once the door had shut.

  “He didn’t have a row with the lovely Sybil did he?” Jinx asked.

  “They seemed to be getting on all right yesterday,” Vaybian said, “though I was rather distracted at the time.”

  “I doubt Shenanigans would’ve gone with him if that had been it,” Jamie said, to which we all agreed.

  I got up and went to use the bathroom. I spent longer than necessary sitting there, thinking about Jamie and Jinx and wondering what I was going to do about the two of them. They both meant more to me than I could ever have imagined and the thought of giving either of them up made my heart ache. But I would have to choose … or would I? They didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea of sharing me, apart from the occasional episode of green-eyed-monster syndrome that emerged when one of them found me alone with the other. I yawned; I was too tired for all this.

  I was coming out of the bathroom when the door to our chamber burst open and Shenanigans came lumbering in. He looked straight to me.

  “It’s Angela,” he said with no preamble. “She’s been taken.”

  Seven

  It had taken me only a few moments to throw on some clothes and run out of the door with my guard. We found Kerfuffle sitting on the steps to the entrance hall, his arm around the shoulders of the distraught Sybil while her head rested against his shoulder. As soon as he saw us he whispered in her ear and they both stood. Even in her distressed state she thought to bob a little curtsey to me, which made my chest ache.

  Jamie and Jinx were all business. “What happened?” Jinx asked.

  “We’d been abed for about an hour when we were woken by the girls’ screaming,” Sybil said, her voice soft and shaky.

  “You live at the inn?” Jamie asked.

  She nodded. “I share a room with Pammy, the other kitchen maid.”

  “You say you heard screams?” Jinx said.

  “Then shouting and the pounding of feet. Pammy and I ran upstairs to the bar and I could hear Barron and Celia up top shouting, then Leila came running down from the bedrooms and told me Angela had been taken and to come and get you.” She took a deep shuddery breath.

  “She thinks Oddy’s been hurt,” Kerfuffle said, giving her a hug.

  We went straight to the inn. Lights were on and pouring out into the yard, but there was no drunken singing or hubbub of companionable voices. A silver-haired young woman I assumed was Pammy was waiting by the front door and if demons could cry I’m sure she would have been crying. She and Sybil hugged and sank down together on a nearby bench. We left them there while we trudged upstairs to find out what happened.

  Leila was at the top of the stairs outside an open doorway that led into a bedroom. Upon hearing our heavy footsteps upon
the creaking staircase she turned to us and her face crumpled. Shenanigans took her hand and her lips pressed into a thin line of misery. “Oddy’s been hurt,” she said and looked away, back into the room. Shenanigans put his arms around her and she fell against his chest.

  “Come on,” I said to Jamie and Jinx, and Shenanigans led Leila away from the door so we could enter.

  A huge bed filled the center of the room, and lying in the middle of it under a crisp white sheet and blankets was the forlorn figure of Odin. He looked so small in the oversized bed, his auburn hair too bright against his very pale skin. A white bandage stained by a circle of jade at its center covered his right shoulder. The Innkeeper knelt on the floor, one trotter holding his son’s, the other holding the hand of the woman sitting on the bed who I assumed to be his wife.

  “He tried to stop them,” Leila said from behind us. “His room is next to the girls’ and when he heard them cry out he ran in to try and help them.” The last word was almost a sob.

  Her parents looked up and the innkeeper, Barron, struggled to his feet and gave a small bow in my direction.

  “Will he be all right?” I asked.

  “He’s a strong boy,” Barron said.

  “But he’s so young,” his wife said, reaching out to stroke her son’s forehead, “to survive so many wounds.”

  “Wounds?” I said, my throat closing up. Plural.

  “Petunia said he wouldn’t stop attacking them even when he’d been stabbed in the shoulder,” Leila said. “He just carried on fighting them so they skewered him,” and her voice broke.

  Jinx stepped past me into the room.

  “Please no, please don’t take my baby,” Odin’s mother said, stretching her arm out across her son and leaning forward so she was between him and the Deathbringer.

  “I do not bring death this night,” he said, “and I’ll not have death’s emissaries waiting in this chamber like carrion crows. Be off with you!” and after that, I’m pretty sure the room brightened just a little, and the air smelled that much fresher.

  Jamie’s hand found mine and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, the boy’s going to be all right now,” he whispered in my ear. As if to prove the point, Odin’s eyelids flickered, he drew a soft breath and a smidgeon of color returned to his cheeks and lips.

  Jinx turned to the parents. “We have to speak to your daughter,” he said. Odin’s parents exchanged a fearful glance.

  “We need to ask her a few questions so we can find who did this and get Angela back safely,” Jamie told them, and their expressions relaxed a little, though not a lot.

  Barron gave Jinx a sideways look and then patted his wife on the shoulder. “You stay with Odin,” he said and gestured for us to go out into the passageway. He led us to the room next to the girls’ room. “We’ve put Petunia in with Teasel,” he said. “They’re both scared to death and looking after him gives her something to do.”

  The two children were huddled together in one small bed, their faces pale, their eyes huge and fearful. Teasel had his thumb stuffed in his mouth and actually cringed as we walked into the room. Petunia had a book spread out between them and it looked as though she had been trying to show him some pictures to keep them occupied. From their haunted expressions it didn’t appear to be helping either of them. I gave them the best smile I could manage and sat down on the foot of their bed.

  “Petunia, I need you to be very brave and tell me everything you can about the people who came and took Angela,” I said.

  She glanced at her father. “Go ahead Petunia, Mistress Lucky and her friends are going to get Angela back,” he told her.

  “Is Shenanigans here?” she asked.

  “He’s out in the hall,” I said. “Do you want us to get him?”

  She bit her lip then gave a little nod.

  “Shenanigans,” Jinx called, and then poked his head out of the door and held a muffled conversation.

  I knew Shenanigans had entered the room behind me as both children sat up straight and Teasel wrenched his thumb from his mouth and held out his arms. Shenanigans picked up the boy and swung him around then hugged him close, kissing his mop of black curls before dropping down onto the bed next to Petunia. Petunia snuggled up against him and he put his other arm around her shoulders.

  “Now then, now then,” he said. “We’re all safe here.”

  “Is Oddy going to be all right?” Petunia asked.

  “He’s going to be as good as new in a couple of days, you’ll see.”

  “You sure?”

  Shenanigans hugged them both to him. “Of course I’m sure,” he said, looking up and over my shoulder. When I glanced back I saw Jinx give him a small nod. “Now, let’s tell Mistress Lucky and the Guardian all we know about the demons who took Angela.”

  “It was dark and I couldn’t see very much,” Petunia begun. “I woke up when I heard a floorboard creak and I saw someone leaning over Angela.”

  “Is that when you screamed?”

  “Yes. Whatever it was turned and hissed at me to shut up. It sounded like a snake.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “The door flew open and Oddy ran in and head butted it in the stomach. Then another one appeared from, like, nowhere and something glinted in its hand and I heard Oddy shriek, but he grabbed hold of it, then they were struggling and Oddy fell to the ground and it hit him again and again. Then they were jumping out of the window and Oddy was whimpering and Daddy came in with a lamp and there was blood; there was blood everywhere and I thought Oddy was … I thought he was …” her face screwed up and she covered it with her hands.

  “There, there,” Shenanigans said, hugging her to him. “Oddy’s going to be all right and we’re going to find Angela and bring her back home.”

  “You promise?” she said, looking up at him with huge eyes.

  “I promise,” he said and I did not doubt for a second that he meant it.

  “Odin could probably tell us more when he’s feeling better,” Shenanigans said as we walked back down into the bar.

  “I don’t think we have time to wait,” Jamie said.

  “Nor do I,” Jinx said.

  “But why would they want a little girl?” I asked. “What possible use could she be to them?” Jinx and Jamie exchanged sidelong looks, as did Shenanigans and Kerfuffle while Vaybian suddenly found his footwear very interesting. I looked from one to the other. “You know?” I said.

  “We suspect,” Jamie answered me. “The Sicarii are assassins who believe the souls of the dead make them strong, so one theory could be they think the souls of humans are special in some way,” Jamie said, “and the soul of a human child doubly so.”

  “But you don’t believe that.”

  He gave Jinx another sideways glance. “No, I don’t,” he admitted.

  “So, what do you think?” I said, looking at Jinx.

  “What do Kayla, Philip and his daughter all have in common?”

  “I …” Then the penny dropped. “Me,” I said with a sinking feeling.

  It was well after dawn by the time we got back to the palace. I should have made straight for the great hall as we had planned, but I didn’t have the stomach for it. My head was aching along with my heart and trying to think straight was becoming impossible.

  “Would you like me to run you a bath, Mistress?” Shenanigans asked as he closed the door to our chamber behind us.

  “Thank you, yes please,” I said and he and Kerfuffle trotted off, giving Vaybian a pointed look, which he ignored to slouch on the sofa instead. I assumed they were trying to give me some time alone with Jamie and Jinx.

  I slumped down on the edge of the bed and Jamie dropped down beside me while Jinx pulled up a chair to sit opposite.

  Jinx rested his elbows on his knees, intertwined his fingers, rested his chin on his knuckles and finally spoke. “Someone is playing games. Very dangerous games.”

  I looked at him. “What are you thinking, Jinx?”

  He kept hi
s eyes lowered. “It’s bad enough that someone conspires against the woman who bears my mark, but to involve children,” he took a deep breath, “that’s unforgiveable—I can’t get little Odin out of my head.”

  “They will pay,” Jamie said. “We’ll make them pay.”

  “Aye,” Jinx said. “We will.”

  It wasn’t long before Shenanigans and Kerfuffle had the bath running and breakfast cooked, but our first meal of the day was a rather morose affair; even Shenanigans had lost his appetite and ate barely a plateful. The gloomy silence was too much for me, so I hid myself away in the bathroom for a good long soak. However, I soon found that being alone made me even more depressed and out of sorts. Eventually I climbed out of the bath, wrapped myself in a huge towel and stalked back into the bedroom.

  My men were where I had left them and I almost ignored them and headed straight to the dressing room, but as I put my hand on the doorknob I hesitated and turned back to look. There was a heavy silence around the room and I knew them well enough to recognize when they were all angry about something.

  Not one of them looked my way, which was a dead giveaway, and I wasn’t in the mood for pulling it out of them, so after a moment of hesitation I opened the door to the dressing room—more of a walk-in wardrobe really—and went inside, leaving it slightly ajar.

  After a few seconds I heard Jamie ask, “So, what exactly was the plan?” his voice trembled with anger.

  “Kayla thought she could keep her safe, and if it hadn’t been for the two of you marking her, no one would have been any the wiser,” Vaybian said.

  “Oh, so that would have made it all right then?”

  “I knew we couldn’t trust him,” Kerfuffle said.

  “To be fair, this has Kayla written all over it,” Jinx said, but he didn’t sound any less angry than the rest of them.

  “Only yesterday you swore to protect her—is your word so easily broken?” Jamie said.

  “Have a care Guardian.”

  “James, Vaybian needn’t have told us. He could have kept this to himself,” Jinx said.

  “He didn’t tell us this out of concern for Lucky’s welfare. She should have let Baltheza send him down into Amaliel’s workplace. This is a betrayal.”