“She’s got a meeting,” I said, eyeing Horc. He was trying to chew and failing. “You’re going to make yourself sick.”
Horc tried to answer but succeeded only in spitting bits of slimy fat all over the cradle. I rushed over and forced myself to pick the disgusting stuff off the gorgeous carvings. “That is so gross. Stop it.”
He spit again and Nanny handed me a napkin. “All babies are disgusting,” she said. “It’s part of their charm.”
Charm wasn’t a word I’d ever have used for Horc or any spriggan. I was lucky I couldn’t hear much. The way he was chewing had to be more disgusting than it looked.
“Leanna,” said Nanny. “You stay here with Master Horc and I will take Mattie to Casper.”
Leanna made a face. “Good luck.”
“She doesn’t need luck. Casper will know how to act.”
“Can’t you skip Casper and go straight to the emperor?”
“That is not how it’s done.”
“It’s not how Casper wants it done,” said Leanna, looking at me. “He thinks it’s still 1750 and we all have to bow and scrape before him.”
“Casper is secretary to the co-regent of our country therefore he is afforded some latitude,” said Nanny.
Leanna snorted. “That and he’s a hundred and eighty.”
“That, too. Come along, Mattie. Don’t let this silly girl deter you.” Nanny didn’t seem to remember that I didn’t want to be there in the first place.
I followed her back through the kitchens and into the servants’ hall. She flew much slower than Leanna. It was going to take forever to get back to St. Stephen’s. My mind kept wandering back to Iris and her meeting with the cardinal. Every time I did, the knot in my stomach twisted a little tighter. Thinking about Gerald only made it worse. If he couldn’t control Victory and he was seen, we would be in huge trouble.
Nanny led me through a door into a dining room with a table that would’ve seated fifty humans. We flew around humans and several fairy tour groups. To force myself to stop worrying about what was going on at the cathedral, I asked, “What’s a co-regent?”
Nanny didn’t look at me and I had to pay close attention to catch her words. “Empress Marie Karoline shares the throne with her son, Emperor Maximilian. The empress ruled alone after her husband’s early death and became co-regent when the Emperor came of age. It is tradition when the father dies young.”
“Why didn’t she retire when he was old enough to take over?” I asked.
Nanny smiled. “She didn’t want to.”
I wondered how the emperor felt about that. Sharing a job with my mom would be a nightmare.
We went through several more rooms and ended up in a room that looked pretty much like the rest of the palace with cream walls and gilded woodwork. But this room had a desk and that’s where Nanny flew to. We landed on the gleaming wood surface and waited. Nanny clasped her hands and stared at a portrait of a beautiful young woman that was on the stand behind the desk. By now I could recognize Sisi and her incredibly long hair. Sisi was mildly interesting, but how long was I supposed to stare at that painting. I had things to do, chamber pots to scrub and phalanx to control.
“Nanny?” I asked.
She shook her head and continued staring. Oh, for crying out loud. I could just leave. She couldn’t stop me. For that matter, nobody could, if I truly decided to leave.
“How long are we going to stand here?” I asked with more than a touch of impatience.
Just then something moved behind one of the clocks on the desk. Nanny focused on it instead of Sisi and so did I. A foot, a big heavy one, extended out and hesitantly was set on the desk. Then the body came into view. It was a wide gnarled tree, a dryad like I’d never seen. The dryad was only slightly taller than me and I was no giant. It was also wide, six times as wide as Bentha or Lonica.
The facial features were almost indistinguishable in the broad face under a thick sheath of shiny green leaves. “You, young maid, are waiting for me,” it said and it wasn’t friendly.
Chapter Eleven
THE TREE WAS Casper, an olive dryad out of Portugal. Leanna wasn’t wrong about him. He was super old and stodgy. He’d been hired as a footman four emperors ago, so a hundred and eighty wasn’t far off. As for the bow and scraping Leanna had mentioned, it was in full force. I had to curtsey no less than six times, explain why I wasn’t wearing a hat, why I had an attitude, and why I thought being a blond was acceptable. What was I supposed to say to that stuff? So I was blond for the moment, how could that be a crime? I could change it at will, but most fairies couldn’t. My only bit of luck was that Casper’s eyesight wasn’t so hot. He saw that I didn’t have a hat, which was bad for some reason, but he didn’t notice that I had a hood up with a gargoyle tucked inside. Of all the things he should’ve complained about, that was it.
After my critical evaluation, Casper rattled his leaves and turned to go. He was amazingly slow, so Nanny had plenty of time to intervene.
“Master Casper,” she said in a sort of simpering tone. It didn’t fit her. If she thought I was going to talk like that, she was out of her mind. “We humbly beg an audience with His Majesty.”
“No,” said Casper, still turning.
Nanny glanced around the room, making sure no one was listening. There were plenty of humans looking at the desk and Sisi’s portrait and one fairy tour group, but they were across the room being lectured at in front of yet another portrait.
Before she could speak, I interrupted, “We should go. Obviously, His Majesty is occupied.”
I spread my wings and crouched for a strong takeoff. Casper’s head turned completely around like an owl and he said, “Stop!”
I froze, not because he said so. I’m not so good at following orders like that. I stopped because Nanny gave me a look that made my wings shiver. She knew where we lived and in that moment I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to ruin our situation with the cardinal.
“You don’t wish to see the emperor?” asked Casper.
“Not really. I’ve got to get back to my duties,” I said.
“You will see the emperor and explain yourself.”
“Huh?”
“A common maid brought before me by the imperial nanny and she doesn’t want to be there. This smacks of a good story and the emperor will want to hear it.” Casper’s head turned back forward and he began his painfully slow march back behind the clock. He made Soren look speedy. I was never getting back to the cathedral. For all I knew the master secretary had discovered Victory and we were out in the cold, literally.
“But—”
“You’ll be quiet if you know what’s good for you,” said Nanny, pointing to Casper’s retreating back.
I never know what’s good for me. Clearly I’m here.
I snapped my wings shut and stomped across the desk. Behind the clock, when we finally made it there, was a simple opening in the desktop, revealing a set of stairs. Casper went down into the depths of the desk. The stairs and halls inside were lit with a type of fungus I’d never seen before. It looked like foxfire, but it was more delicate and glowed golden. Our way was well lit and, Casper was so slow, I had ample time to look around. I would’ve expected the emperor’s area to be more ornate with plenty of gilding like what the human emperors had, but there was none of that. The walls were polished wood and the door handles were brass.
We finally got to a set of double doors when I was about to go June bug crazy. Casper knocked. There must’ve been an answer because the doors were opened by a fairy who looked exactly like a leaf. He was wingless and narrow. I couldn’t tell if he was painted the vibrant color green or if he actually was that color.
“Master Casper,” said the fairy in German. “You have need of the emperor?”
Casper nodded and we were brought in. The emperor was seated behind a beautifully carved mahogany desk. He wore a white military uniform with plenty of metals and a red sash. His hair was brown and drawn back with a black ribbon an
d he had huge mutton chop sideburns, but no mustache. He didn’t look up and continued writing with a small quill. He seemed to be having no trouble handling it, although he was wearing a pair of thin silk gloves. Must be a royal thing.
The four of us waited quietly, even me. I’d never been presented to royalty before and, surprisingly, I was a bit awed by the experience.
Then the emperor signed the parchment with a flourish and looked up. He was younger than I expected with only a bit of wrinkles around his brown eyes. Unlike his brother the archduke, I felt plenty of intentions coming from him, all good. He was curious and pleased to see us.
“This is an unexpected pleasure.” His eyes flicked over to me and then back to Nanny. “You rarely come to see me.”
Nanny curtsied. “I would not interrupt your busy schedule if it wasn’t necessary.”
“And it is necessary?”
“It is greatly.”
“You have a new maid for me?” he asked with a hint of a smile on his thin lips.
“Yes, but we must discuss her employment.” Nanny’s pleasant expression turned intense.
The emperor nodded. “Gledit, please bring us some tea.”
Gledit, the leaf fairy, nodded and left the room. I had a feeling he wasn’t going for any tea. He was just going. The second the door closed, the emperor waved his hand at it, the doors glowed blue, and then went back to their normal color. He stood and I got a look at the royal wings. They were snow white like Miss Penrose’s, but the tips were black. I wondered if he had the golden veins underneath at the joint like the French royal family. I could change Miss Penrose’s hair and wing color, but those veins couldn’t be concealed. If anyone saw them—
No, don’t think about that. No one will see.
The emperor came out from behind his desk and sat with us in a small seating area on the other side of the room. Portraits covered the wall, generations of emperors and empresses. Some of the oldest portraits had gloves and uniforms, but the newer ones didn’t. The emperor was an old-fashioned guy in his uniform and gloves.
When Casper finally got seated, the emperor looked me over and clearly found me lacking. “And you are?”
“Mattie Van Winkle,” I said, feeling less awed by the royal experience by the moment.
“You are a maid.”
“Of all work for the cardinal.”
“I see.” He looked down his aristocratic nose at me and I felt a tingling in my palms. Had to control that.
“There’s much more to her than that,” said Nanny.
“Oh, really?” asked Casper like he expected her to reveal that I was dirty and stupid as well as low class.
Nanny reached over and pulled off my hood. Fidelé coiled around my neck, baring his sharp teeth and hissing.
The emperor sucked in a breath. “What are you doing with a gargoyle?”
“He’s my pet.”
“Impossible.”
“But true,” said Nanny.
“She isn’t a vermillion.” The emperor’s intentions changed to a kind of secrecy. I didn’t like it.
“I am aware, but here we are.”
Casper leaned forward, his leaves were trembling. “Where did you get that gargoyle?”
I gave him the story that I gave everyone. “I found him in Paris.”
“And he let you touch him?” asked the emperor.
What an odd question. “Yes.”
“Does anyone else touch him?”
I had to think and it surprised me, but no. No one touched Fidelé, except me. He’d bitten Gerald twice when he tried it. Fidelé decided who he would touch and when. “No, I guess not.”
“Your Majesty,” said Nanny. “I have never felt such turbulence, such intensity in one so young.”
“What about Healer Gruber?” asked Casper.
“He is a pale shadow of her.”
The emperor sat back and I started sweating. Turbulence. Intensity. Those were excellent words for my fire. Did she know? I felt sick and gripped the sides of the chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Gargoyles are the traditional pets of the vermillion, the great healers of France,” said the emperor. “And you have one.”
“He’s just a pet,” I said.
Fidelé bonked me with his horn.
“A very good pet. The best.”
“That type of gargoyle will only be handled by a great healer,” said the emperor. “Are you a great healer?”
“Nope. Just an ordinary wood fairy.”
“That’s what I thought when I first saw you.” He steepled his fingers. I didn’t like that much.
“That’s what I am. Can I go? I have a lot to do.”
“You will remain until the emperor is done with you,” said Casper with a sneer.
“I’m just a maid,” I said, sweat running down my sides and soaking into my uniform. Fidelé reached up and ran a soothing claw over my jaw. I so wished he hadn’t. They all saw. My gargoyle loved me. It was special. They’d be fools if they didn’t realize it.
“She is who you think she is,” said Nanny. “The first time I saw her, she stopped blood flow with zero effort.”
“When was this?” asked Casper.
“Yesterday during the riot at Heinrich’s newspaper stand. She saved him without a single herb or incantation.”
“She had the gargoyle?”
“No. If she had, I would’ve insisted she come to you immediately. Today she came to see about a job for her aunt in Sisi’s school. That’s when I saw the gargoyle.”
“If you’re a gifted healer, then why are you toiling as a maid,” asked the emperor.
“I’m not—”
The emperor cut me off with a wave of his hand. “I will have no more denials. You are a healer and you now serve me.”
“But—”
He waved his hand again and his quill floated up into the air. It began writing in thin air with glowing blue ink. The quill was fast and the document was soon pages long. But it was in German and I had no idea what it said.
When the quill was done, it zipped over to me and floated above my hand. Fidelé hissed at it and lashed the air with his scaly tail.
“Sign,” ordered the emperor.
Flashes of flame went down my arms. Sign? I don’t think so.
“I don’t even know what it is,” I said.
He snapped his fingers and the words changed to English. “It is a confidentiality contract.”
“No, thanks.”
Nanny paled and Casper said, “You would deny your emperor?”
“I would deny anyone who won’t even tell me what they want me to do. All that says is that I’m not allowed to tell anyone anything about anything. What could I tell? It doesn’t say.”
The emperor drummed his fingertips together. “I see the strength in you and I have need of it.”
“Sir, if I may,” said Casper. “Before she signs—”
“I’m not signing,” I said.
Casper gave me a scornful look. “Before she signs, there’s something you should know.”
“Yes?” asked the emperor.
“That’s not just any gargoyle that she’s got.”
“I’ve already said that it’s the species favored by the vermillion.”
Casper nodded. “Your Majesty is right as always, but that particular gargoyle belongs to Ibn Vermillion himself.”
I sucked in a breath and held it. How could I explain having Fidelé without revealing who I was? I never should’ve met Ibn, much less gotten his gargoyle.
The emperor stood up with a jolt and paced behind his desk, finally turning to Casper. “We need her.”
“We do, sir.”
The emperor glared at me. “Considering the situation. I will ignore your treachery.”
“Treachery?” I gasped.
“Ibn Vermillion is dead and you have his gargoyle.”
Before thinking, I blurted out, “He’s dead?” I really have to stop doing that.
Their expressions changed to confusion tinged with anger. The emperor came back and sat down, steepling his fingers again. “Are you claiming you didn’t know?”
I didn’t, not for sure anyway. My last glimpse of Ibn was of him being grabbed by a mob. The look of terror on his kind face was with me always. I couldn’t forget it. I couldn’t forget that a short time earlier I’d seen several other royal retainers torn apart by the same mob. Ibn had to be dead, but somehow my heart refused to believe it.
“Mattie?” Nanny touched my hand and I turned away to hide the tears stinging my eyes.
I could tell they were talking about me, even though I wasn’t looking, kind of like when you know someone’s looking at you without seeing them. I just knew and I didn’t care what they were saying. Ibn was dead and probably the rest of the vermillion. They were the greatest healers. The loss to the fae was huge. Ibn’s book in my pocket was heavy. It was the last of him, all that was left.
Nanny patted my hand to get my attention and I looked at her reluctantly.
“I’ve told them that you didn’t have anything to do with Ibn Vermillion’s death,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“I feel your distress. Your pain is real. I have no doubt.”
The emperor’s glare had softened, but he still didn’t look happy. “Tell us how you got that gargoyle.”
“I met Ibn Vermillion and he gave me Fidelé.” I told him with as little horrific detail as possible what had happened at the Paris catacombs.
“He gave you his beloved pet? Why?”
“Um…there were riots everywhere and I was a tourist. He thought he would be safer with me.”
Casper’s leaves shook as he pointed at me. “So you admit you’re a healer.”
“I admit nothing.”
“She doesn’t have to admit it,” said the emperor. “We know and she will sign.”
I looked at the contract. “I can’t sign it. I work for the cardinal. I won’t leave him in any case.”
“You don’t have to leave the cardinal’s service,” said Casper. “You will come when the emperor calls. I will arrange it with His Grace.”
“Calls me for what. You still haven’t said. The emperor isn’t sick and neither are the two of you.”
Wicked Chill (Away From Whipplethorn Book Four) Page 10
