by Ted Dekker
She had been wrong! All of it, wrong.
Lucine spun from the doorway and ran, panicked by the confusion and pain swatting at her.
“Lucine!” Natasha cried.
Lucine veered toward the main entrance. Natasha had been right.
“Lucine! Where are you going?”
She couldn’t find her voice. The door flew open beneath her hand. She staggered through the outer atrium and jerked the outer door wide.
“I tried to tell you, Sister!” Natasha cried.
Then Lucine fled into the night.
SIXTEEN
Heat lay against my face. The hot tongue of a beast. Her breath on my neck, in my ear.
I love you, Toma.
Fingers traced my chin, my mouth. Teeth delicately held my lips. Then a sting, just the smallest one that left me longing for a deeper cut.
The teeth clamped down. Pain stabbed.
My eyes snapped open.
There was no beast. No woman. And during that first heartbeat against my breast I felt a profound disappointment. Then it was gone and I jerked up.
I was in my bedchamber in the Cantemir estate. Hot sun rays stabbed the room. I was wet with sweat. That breath I had imagined was a warm breeze that drifted through an open door to the balcony.
My dream was feral and terrifying but I had already lost the details. And I had slept so late? A warm breeze meant the sun had already heated the air.
I threw my legs over the side of the bed only to discover that I was still dressed. My vest was gone and my shirt torn. Trousers and boots still on. I could not remember then how I had gotten into bed.
The last thing I remembered was . . .
Details of my night at the Castle Castile flooded my mind. The ballroom, Natasha’s aerial leap, my descent into the dungeon. Dasha and Alek, smiling.
That sip of blood burning my mouth and throat. Or had it been some elixir distilled with wine?
Dasha’s soft voice whispered through my mind. “Do you know why blood had to be drawn from the veins to cleanse the guilty stains of even the most righteous, Toma?”
None of it made sense. But there was more. I had blurted my love for Lucine.
Lucine.
Heart now pounding, I rushed about the room, pulling on a clean shirt and a vest. The trousers would have to do. It could all have been a dream, I thought. I might well have conjured up the whole business in my sleep, driven by my shame for loving Lucine and not confessing it to the world.
But if it was all real, then I had to make a change to my thinking. Royalty or not, surely Vlad was a beast who would harm Lucine. My love for her had found a new path—I would confess all to her and make sure she did not fall into the claws of that monster. The empress would have to either understand my actions or punish me for them, but I could no longer stand by without following my heart.
The sun outside was already past the noon hour!
I flew down to Alek’s room, still tucking in my shirt. His door was cracked open so I barged in without a knock. “Alek!”
His bed was made. The chambermaid may have cleaned up already. Or he may not have slept here.
I spun and ran through the estate in long strides. They had to be in the main room, Lucine, Natasha, Alek, and Kesia. But they weren’t. Only a maid was there, dusting the paintings.
The dining room then.
“Where are they?” I thundered. My voice was strong enough to shock the maid, so I ran into the dining room to see for myself.
Kesia was pouring herself a cup of tea at the table, humming. Sweet relief! Her eyes lifted and she smiled.
“Well, well. Look who’s dragged himself from sleep. I was just going to check to make sure you hadn’t run off to Russia with your man.”
“Where are they?”
She poured a second cup. “Sit, Toma. Relax.”
I crossed to the table. “Where are the others?”
“Tea?”
“Madam, please, I must know. Where is Lucine?”
“Ah. Lucine.” By her condescending smile I knew all could not be well. “Always Lucine. Please, sit, my strapping warrior.”
I did not like her tone. But she was still my duty and I couldn’t dismiss her. So I forced myself to sit and tried to take a sip from the cup she’d poured me. My fingers weren’t entirely steady. I withdrew my hand.
“I should find Alek,” I said.
“You should. But I doubt you’ll find him here. I’m told that both he and Natasha spent the night at the Castle Castile.”
So then, at least that part of my memory wasn’t a dream. I had to return there immediately and fetch my man. He had been bewitched by the blood wine that I had tasted, surely.
“This doesn’t bother you, that your daughter spends the night in a stranger’s home against our strongest urgings? Please, madam, you must allow me to do my job. Tell me how you know this?”
“Vlad told me.”
“Vlad.”
“Yes. That royal who just left an hour ago.”
“He was here?” I was shocked.
“All morning. He and Lucine left for a picnic in the carriage.”
I stood abruptly. “Lucine went with him?”
She eyed me with a raised brow. “Am I stuttering, Toma?”
“She . . . Lucine is a party to this?”
“Of course she is. The duke seems to be set on her. And it appears that Lucine has had a change of heart. She granted him the right to court her.” She sipped from her cup. “So now she will be in his charge, not yours. I think the empress would approve, don’t you?”
“But he’s a dangerous man!” I paced, torn by this terrible news. “Have you all lost your minds here?”
“He’s a perfectly respectable gentleman, sir. Clearly far out of your league. And Lucine is not yours. She belongs to her mother and herself. Please remember that before you berate us.”
She could not know what I knew, and I didn’t have the patience to persuade her of the danger. I turned and marched from the dining room.
“Where are you going, Toma?” Kesia asked entirely too casually.
“To see to my duty,” I said.
It took me only minutes to learn from the guards which direction the carriage had gone, and I took after it on my stallion. I realized I had left my pistol behind—indeed, I wasn’t sure where it was—but I didn’t have the patience to go back for a weapon. I didn’t think violence was the worry here.
The true concern was rightness of mind. When one lost his mind, he lost his way, as I myself had almost done, if only for a night. So long as Lucine was in my charge, I could not allow her to be put in harm’s way.
On the other hand, the duke presented no direct threat to Lucine. And there was the letter from the empress, which might be read for or against him. Perhaps the only danger was a threat to her virtue.
Or to my own love for her.
I pushed the thought from my head and rode hard because I didn’t care any longer. In confessing my love for Lucine to the Russians last night, I had learned how much I needed to admit the same to Lucine herself.
Now she was with this royal! Without knowing of my love for her! How I hated myself.
I found the carriage under a grove beside the road soon enough, and I pulled back on my animal’s reins. There was no sign of Lucine or Valerik, only the driver. They must have brought horses.
I veered off the road and circled around to the south, keeping my eyes to the trees, where he had surely taken Lucine to be alone with her. The thought of it . . .
They’ve gone to the clearing, I thought. I’d seen it during my wanderings through this wood as I scoped out possible approaches for an invisible enemy, never imagining that the enemy had already been in the house on the night we first arrived.
I rode straight there, far too noisily for my own good, but I wasn’t determined to go in like a ghost. I had been a ghost in her world for too many days already.
But then I heard that low rolling laughter and I
changed my mind. They were indeed ahead in that clearing. And at least Valerik was enjoying himself.
What if I was wrong about her? I couldn’t storm in and pronounce my love if she was laughing with him. I had to first determine her disposition, then step in when Valerik showed his true nature.
I tied my horse to a stump and crept up from tree to tree. My vantage of the clearing opened up when I rounded a particularly large trunk, and I pulled back into the shadow of that tree then slowly peered around.
The horses grazed in the grass nearby. Valerik, in black, walked by her side with his hands behind his back, the perfect illusion of a gentleman.
Lucine was dressed in a baby-blue dress cut from the sky itself. A white hat shaded her head. It was a mere stroll without a hint of any danger.
The duke suddenly laughed again, took her hand, and kissed it.
I could not remove my eyes. He was kissing her hand . . . That monster was placing his lips on her hand and she wasn’t jerking it away like she wanted to. I very nearly ran out then to stop this obvious infraction. But as I watched, my outrage turned to horror.
Vlad van Valerik drew her closer, leaned over, and whispered something in her ear. She chuckled.
She did not slap him, she chuckled.
Then he kissed her cheek and walked on.
She did not slap him, she walked.
I pulled back, barely able to breathe. My head pounded. New thoughts crashed into my head, insane ones that might get me locked up if voiced. I wanted to kill him, or find a way to banish him from Moldavia. I wanted to challenge him to a duel, to break his legs, to drop a tree on his head.
But I kept my senses, turned from the large tree, and hastily retreated to my horse. The only way to approach this was to expose Vlad for his less than honorable intentions, whatever they might be, and expose Lucine to my own love. But not here like a fool while she skipped along by his side!
I had already made my own grave here by putting duty above love for too long; I would not lie down in that grave so quickly.
I let the better part of an hour pass as I made my way back to the estate, keeping to the high ground so I would see that black carriage rolling back. But they seemed to be in no hurry, and each passing minute gave birth to new imaginations of what he might be doing to her. Questions crowded my mind.
Why had they gone by carriage, why not just by horse?
Why leave the carriage, once in the wood?
Why leave the estate at all when so many rooms had tables for tea?
Why had Lucine granted him the right to court?
And these were just the most obvious. There were many more that had little bearing in common sense, subjects that I had rarely dwelled upon, like what kind of perfume that beast was wearing.
More than once I nearly turned back to check on her again, but I chided myself and pressed on.
The sun was already heading behind the towering Carpathian peaks when I entered the house, and still they had not returned. No longer able to contain myself, I went straight to find the lady Kesia in her sitting parlor.
She was humming.
“Toma! You’ve returned. Did you find them and shatter their dreams?”
I paced, torn.
“Yes?” she pushed. “Is she in mortal danger?”
“More than you could possibly know.”
“He’s attacked her, then? Ravaged her there in the wood?”
She was playing me and I had no patience for it.
“I must tell you something, but I must swear you to secrecy,” I said. I had to tell someone.
“We keep no secrets here.”
“There are too many secrets here! I beg you, don’t breathe a word of what I say.”
“How delicious! The strong man makes his confession. I swear.”
For a moment I considered fleeing before I opened my mouth and ruined myself. But the urge to unburden myself was too much.
“I am in love with Lucine,” I said. My voice was unsteady.
“Yes? But what is your secret?”
“I am smitten!”
She just looked at me, and now I had done it, so I said it all.
“From the first night, I was taken. She is my everlasting love. I can’t remove her from my mind. I can’t sleep or eat. I can’t do my duty. I am a slave to her.”
I believed I might weep with those words, so I said no more.
“Is that so?”
I had said too much.
“Then you are a fool, Toma.”
“A complete idiot,” I said.
“What kind of man doesn’t tell the woman he loves that he has deep affection for her?”
“A man bound by duty and order.”
“The man who puts duty above love is the fool.”
“Then I am a fool.”
I stood there looking at Kesia, who was seated, staring back at me. For a moment I thought I had found a friend who could help me.
“What do you intend on doing with these feelings?” she asked.
“If I can’t vow my love for her, then I will die. So I will forsake my duty.”
She sighed, stood, then crossed to a bottle of wine. “It’s too late for that.”
“I saw her there in the wood with him. And I couldn’t bear the sight. This isn’t something that we can take lightly any longer. I am beside myself with it!”
“If you had won her earlier, then she wouldn’t have considered the duke.”
“I was bound by duty!” I thundered.
She faced me, glass in hand. “Then bind yourself again, Toma. Because she has decided for the duke, and you are now outmatched.”
“She will decide that.” I pressed closer, aiming my fingers to the west to make my point now. “I was there last night and I found it to be a very dangerous place.”
“Do tell.”
“There’s bewitching up there! The drinking of blood. Obscene intoxications!”
“Sounds fun. I thought you didn’t believe in God or the devil.”
“This is worse. I fear your daughters are in mortal danger there.”
“Oh, please, Toma! This from the man who is raging with jealousy. Of course the duke is a devil in your eyes. He’s just stolen your bride!”
She was driving me mad with her calculated rhetoric. Her logic was too persuasive for my liking.
“Say what you will, I know only one thing now,” I said. “I will confess my heart to her and then let the stars fall if they must. I cannot live with myself otherwise.”
“I told you, Toma, you are too late.”
“And I told you that she will decide when I tell her.”
“But I doubt you will be telling her of your love.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Lucine may be gone.”
“Gone where?”
“The duke has invited her for dinner tonight. She told me that if she does not return by eight, then it is because she has decided to go with him to the Castle Castile.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Kesia smiled. “I think she will go. So you see, my friend, you will tell her nothing, at least not tonight.”
SEVENTEEN
It had all happened so quickly, Lucine found it hard to believe that she was here, at the Castle Castile, being wooed.
The night before had been the kind she once imagined nightmares were made of. But having walked through this valley of death, she had only found a new life.
“A toast, my friends,” Vlad said, standing with his glass.
They were seated at a long, dark wood table bordered in gold leaf, Vlad at the head, she on his right hand, and Alek, Simion, and Stefan across the spread of food. Pork, veal, carrots, red potatoes, and caramelized onions with all the trimmings were piled on gold platters between tall white candles. Beside Lucine, Natasha and the sisters, Dasha and Sofia.
They all rose, but when Lucine lifted her glass to stand, Vlad’s hand rested on her shoulder. “No, my queen. We honor you
.”
She felt awkward with all the attention, and reticence warmed her face. But she couldn’t deny her appreciation for their honor. She’d never been held in such a lofty regard.
“To the woman whose mere consideration of my devotion sets my world upon a new axis,” Vlad said.
“To the woman,” they said. And they all drank.
“To the blood,” Vlad said.
“To the blood.” They drank again and then sat.
Blood, which was wine, held a central part in all Vlad talked about. She’d never heard such poetic words as those that came from him. He was a romantic to the bone, as Natasha had said.
Last night she’d rushed from the castle, cursing her own shame for clinging to an ideal that had failed her. She’d collapsed into bed and cried herself to sleep.
And when she awoke, she resolved to embrace a new kind of love, freed from the restraints of convention that had bound her for so long. She would no longer be the prude twin, reserved and proper, while the rest of the world found satisfaction in abandon.
But she hadn’t immediately associated that new kind of love with Vlad van Valerik. His presence had haunted her dreams, and she couldn’t deny that her impression of him had been reshaped by the night’s events.
Mother was the one who’d sent for the duke, Lucine learned later. When he appeared midmorning and bowed before them, she knew that she must entertain his offer to court her. Not that it would go anywhere, but she could not keep sending opportunity into a dark corner while she awaited the perfect suitor.
If Natasha swore by this man’s love, then she must reconsider.
So she’d gone with Vlad to the wood, and there he’d spoken like a true gentleman, always considerate, full of wit. And beautiful. As beautiful as Toma, who slept off his revelry in his room.
When Vlad asked if she had decided whether to join him for dinner that night, she had surprised herself by answering straightaway.
“Yes.” Then even more: “I would like that.”
He’d kissed her hand and her cheek. The sensation of those hot lips on her skin lingered still.
When Natasha had been summoned, she threw her arms around her sister. “Oh, Lucine! I heard.” She immediately checked her exuberance and dipped her head at the duke, took his hand, and kissed it. “Thank you, sir. Thank you.”
