Midnight Soul (Fantasyland #5)

by Kristen Ashley

  Josette was sitting behind me, attending my wounds.

  After a day I’d spent completely in the company of others (Noc, reading, Noc, lunch, Noc and Finnie, afternoon chat, Circe and Cora joining us for afternoon tea—we’ll just say it was a great relief when they were away to prepare for dinner), we’d just completed my evening bath.

  “The physician wants the lavender and honey on them tonight, milady, but he spoke to me and believes you should do your best to leave them to the air tomorrow. The moistness isn’t allowing scabs to form. We can dress them prior to bed, but during the day leave them. Do you think you can do that?”

  As I’d never sustained a beating from my father in my life where anyone attended my wounds, I had a feeling I could.

  These were not the words I used to answer my maid.

  I stated, “We’ll try it, Josette.”

  “Good,” she mumbled.

  I sat, feeling the restfulness of her ministrations, and seemingly unable to stop my mouth from speaking that day, more words poured forth.

  “There are matters of our future to discuss,” I informed her.

  “Our future?” she asked.

  “Indeed,” I replied. “Losing Master Antoine, the situation as it stands here, things are quite up in the air.”

  Her voice sounded surprised. “Won’t we return to Fleuridia?”

  Fleuridia was her home.

  I knew from her curriculum vitae she’d been in service in both Hawkvale and Lunwyn prior to coming to being in my employ, which was why I assumed the lovely lilt of her Fleuridian accent was not pronounced and her Valerian was superb.

  It had not occurred to me, uncomfortably, but she might be wishing to return home.

  “Will this be a problem for you?” I asked.

  “I…well, I go where you go, milady.”

  She did indeed.

  But that had never been across the Green Sea.

  “Can you sit up?” she requested. “I need to wrap the dressings around.”

  I did as she asked, dropping my arms to give her the access she needed.

  “Josette?” I called.

  “Right here, Lady Franka.”

  “You do know…” By the gods, how did one go about doing such things? “That your service…the way you perform your duties…that I quite…value that.”

  There was a pause in her movements before she answered me, her voice lower, not with emotion, or at least not soft emotion.

  She sounded like she wished to be laughing.

  “I do get that impression, milady.”

  “Excellent,” I stated brusquely. “In understanding that, you can imagine in future I’d like to keep you in my employ.”

  She wound the gauze around my front and back as I spoke and continued to do so as she did the same. “I would hope so.”

  “And for your loyalty and level of performance,” I persevered, feeling drattedly awkward, “which has always been at a high standard, I shall be giving you a rise in pay.”

  “That’d be lovely, thank you,” she said quietly from behind me, still wrapping my naked front with gauze, but sounding like she meant those words.

  The intimacy of our situation was not lost on me.

  The fact that I’d not once considered how I’d entrusted such intimacies to Josette without thought (until then) was also not lost on me.

  I struggled with feelings of shame and hoped Antoine’s voice didn’t sound in my head as I persisted.

  “I’m also in a position to add to our numbers. However, if you agree to accompany me as I carry out my plans for the future, then I’d like you not only to see to employing someone you feel you’ll work well with, but overseeing that someone once I’ve hired them.”

  “Help with my duties?” she asked, the pitch of her voice rising in surprise.

  “You’ve worked diligently for some time. I’m in a position to remunerate you to show you my appreciation as well as retain some help for you with said duties.”

  “I would…that would…I would be grateful for that, Lady Franka.”

  “Excellent,” I murmured as I felt her tying the dressing in place.

  “I’m done,” she announced.

  I carefully pulled my robe up my back, closed it at the front and cinched it loosely at the waist before turning to sit properly on the chaise.

  Josette had already bustled away and was dealing with wet bathing cloths, organizing jars and bottles and gathering my spent clothing.

  I’d never once observed her in these duties. I actually didn’t know what became of my attire and items of my toilette after I’d swanned from the bathing room. But now I saw the end of my toilette, as the duration of it, not to mention the time prior to it, heralded nothing but work for Josette.

  “Josette,” I said softly and her eyes darted to me as she stopped moving. “Come sit with me, please,” I requested.

  Having said “please,” I felt that was enough of a kindness and stopped myself from patting the cushion beside me, which was a bizarre urge I had in that moment.

  She threw my clothing over a beautifully-appointed clotheshorse and moved my way. Her step was tentative but her gaze held mine.

  She sat next to me, and in deference to my wounds I turned carefully to her.

  “I’ve made a decision about what’s next for me and our earlier discourse was done in order for me to share that, in what I’ve decided, I’d like you to remain with me. However, I’ll say what’s next, what I have planned, is most unusual, and of course your life is your own so your decision to accompany me, or not, is also your own.”

  “All right, Lady Franka,” she said hesitantly.

  “And obviously, from what I’ve already shared, I’ll give you an excellent reference and a healthy stipend should you decide against continuing with me. Enough that perhaps you can take some time to yourself. Travel or…” I flipped a hand, “whatever you enjoy doing. Or you may wish to learn an additional trade. It will be your coin to do with as you wish. But regardless, there will be no need to fret if you don’t find alternate employment immediately. You’ll be safe.”

  As I spoke, I ignored her mouth falling open.

  I continued to ignore it as I prompted, “Do you understand that?”

  She nodded slowly and said, “Yes, milady.”

  “Good,” I replied, shifting in my seat, ready to get on with it. “Now I’ll share that I’ve had time to reconsider the plans I had prior to my parents being incarcerated, and even though this means my options for my future are now more extensive in the Northlands…”

  Her look turned from astonished to confused, but I ignored that too and carried on.

  “I still feel an adventure would be just the thing. With the loss of Master Antoine, Fleuridia—”

  Josette didn’t make me utter it, saying swiftly, “I understand, Lady Franka.”

  I nodded smartly and declared, “So I’ve decided to cross the Green Sea.”

  At this, not only did her mouth drop open but her eyes grew large.

  “That’s quite an adventure for anyone,” I went on, even though her expression shared she knew that and then some. “So I do understand if you’d rather not. If you have ties to Fleuridia, family or…” I shook my head, having no idea what she had, “acquaintances you’d not like to be that far away from.”

  “My family’s dead, milady.”

  That was when I finally shut my mouth and stared at her.

  I stopped doing that to inquire, “All of them?”

  She nodded. “Mother, father, sister.”

  Bloody hell.

  “I…well,” I stammered, pulled myself together and asked, “If you wish to share, would you like to tell me how such a thing came about?”

  “A bridge crumbled under their sleigh,” she informed me readily. “The sleigh fell through and somehow flipped as it descended. My father got free, but my mother and sister were trapped under it at the bottom of the river.” She shrugged as if this mattered little to her, but I
could see the pink in her cheeks that seemed pronounced due to the sudden pallor of her skin. “My father died because he stayed in the water trying to pull them free.”

  This was…

  Well…

  Unthinkable.

  With naught else in my power to do, I simply whispered, “Josette.”

  She shook her head like doing so could negate the pain of these memories.

  “It was a long time ago. As I had an interest in music that they did not, I was at a concert at our Dwelling of the Gods with friends. A traveling choir that was quite good. They’d gone into town to have dinner at a local pub. The pub was known for excellent stew.” Another shrug and she finished, “At least they had a lovely last dinner.”

  “Cease that nonsense,” I ordered and watched my maid blink.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “This is horrific, this story,” I announced something she knew much better than me. “I know you wish to make little of it and move on, though I don’t know why, except perhaps you don’t want to trouble me with it, or you wish to deny the feelings you still feel about it.”

  “Well, of course I don’t wish to trouble you with it. You have enough to concern you,” she replied ridiculously.

  “And my maid who’s been loyal, hard-working and attentive, and these last days, exceptionally kind, having this history doesn’t concern me?” I queried with one raised brow.

  After a careful pause, she reminded me just as carefully, “It hasn’t for years, milady.”

  She was damnably right.

  I lifted my chin. “Well it does now,” I stated crisply and continued in the same tone. “And I’m sad for you. Were you close?”

  She nodded.

  “Then that makes me even sadder for you,” I declared.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  “Is this how you came to service, or was your family in service before you?”

  “I was…well, I needed to find work. I was thirteen. It was an orphanage or service. I think I chose rightly,” she answered.

  She’d been thirteen.

  Yes.

  Unthinkable.

  “I’ve no idea if you did or did not but that matters not now,” I told her. “Here you are. In service to me. And there I’d like you to remain, with another maid for you to oversee and assist you as we travel over the Green Sea for whatever awaits us there.”

  I found after making my proclamation that I was anxious to hear her reply.

  Travel across the Green Sea was unusual because it wasn’t entirely safe. Indeed, travel anywhere wasn’t safe by land or by sea. Pirates. Highwaymen. Intemperate weather.

  But from my knowledge (which was not vast), there were other dangers lurking along that passage.

  In other words, this wasn’t your average adventure.

  This was an adventure.

  Therefore, I knew what I was asking, and these were partly the reasons why I was offering her a rise in salary but also every opportunity to break out of my service without any stress or concern about her future should she wish to decline.

  I did actually think after my visit with my brother and his family and my back had healed enough to make the journey, rather than remaining in Lunwyn, which was now safe for me, that an adventure was just the thing.

  But to embark on it with someone familiar would be beneficial.

  And if I only admitted it to myself (for, even though I seemed to be sharing with alarming frequency), embarking on it with Josette would be beyond beneficial and maybe prove to make the journey and any ventures we had enjoyable.

  “It would be an honor to go with you,” she said.

  I was stunned by her ready acceptance (as well as heartened and perhaps flattered) thus had to fight the mad desire to cheer out loud.

  Even so, I needed to be certain Josette was certain.

  “And Fleuridia? Do you leave no one else behind? Friends? A lover?” I asked.

  “No, milady.”

  I narrowed my gaze at her. “You’re certain.”

  She nodded fervently and it was then I noted a light of excitement in her eyes.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Very sure.” She hopped a little on her cushion and reached out to grab my hands that were folded in my lap. “This might be fun!”

  I looked down at my hands and barely caught sight of hers holding mine before she wrenched hers away.

  “My apologies for the forwardness, milady,” she murmured as if I’d chastised her.

  I looked back at her face to see she’d averted her gaze.

  “Josette,” I called.

  It took time but she eventually turned her attention back to me.

  Or, to be exact, my nose.

  “You’ve cared for my person for years. I do think it’s quite all right in a moment of excitement to touch my hands, don’t you?”

  Her focus shot from my nose to my eyes.

  “I…yes, if you don’t mind, milady.”

  “I surely don’t,” I decreed then promptly stood because frankly, I’d had enough.

  Truly, the ease of participating in friendliness and sociability was troubling.

  “Would you like your nightgown, Lady Franka?” Josette asked.

  “Yes, please.”

  She assisted me in divesting me of my robe. She assisted me in donning my nightgown. She then assisted me putting my robe back on. She even saw to the unnecessary task of holding me steady as I slid my feet into my slippers. And she hovered close as I moved back into the bedroom.

  Not done, she fervently plumped the pillows before I climbed into bed and threw the soft, woolen throw over my legs after I’d managed that feat.

  “Is there aught else?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  She waited patiently but I could see that light of excitement still there in her eyes.

  She did indeed like me.

  She also liked adventure.

  “Milady?” she prompted when I did not speak on.

  “Do you hope we make Airen or would you rather we journey inland and seek Firenze?”

  A gleaming smile spread on her face even as she shook her head. “I actually hope we find Mar-el.”

  Mar-el, an island nation that was said to be heavily guarded, for reasons that were an even more heavily-guarded secret. An island nation where it was also said its citizens, who were deliciously dark of skin, actually spent the vast majority of their time on magnificent galleons wreaking havoc on the seas.

  “Hmm,” I murmured. “I’d not considered that.” I tipped my head to the side. “We’ll have to put that on our agenda.”

  “That’d be marvelous,” she breathed, her excitement visibly escalating.

  I nodded, actually fighting back an indulgent smile.

  Winning that, I beat back rolling my eyes…at myself.

  “Indeed,” I murmured in a way I hoped she knew she was dismissed, but kindly.

  Gods.

  Perhaps I should allow Noc to call me the revolting Frannie and ask everyone else to do the same for it would seem I was Franka Drakkar no more.

  “I’ll just see to sorting everything for the night,” Josette said.

  “Thank you, Josette,” I replied, reaching for my book.

  “No.”

  At her peculiar response, I turned my attention back to my maid.

  “Pardon?” I queried.

  “No,” she said softly. “Thank you, Lady Franka. Thank you bunches.”

  This put me in the awkward and unpleasant position of feeling emotion swelling up the back of my throat.

  Fortunately, Josette was very good at her job.

  So before I embarrassed myself (further), she turned on her slipper and scurried to the dressing room.

  I looked down at my book but didn’t open it.

  Josette was accompanying me across the Green Sea.

  I allowed my lips to curl up minutely.

  Marvelous.

  Chapter Six

  I Smiled. Huge.

&
nbsp; Valentine

  Valentine Rousseau’s eyes opened and she stared at the dark ceiling.

  Then she slid out of bed, leaving the young, slumbering, firm, naked male form in it.

  Bending gracefully, her red-tipped fingers tagged the slip of green silk and lace off the floor. She pulled it over her head and the soft material slithered down her body.

  She moved out of her bedroom, down the hall and to the room with the salmon-colored walls.

  She did not bother herself with turning on a light. She knew every inch of the room, her house, for not only did she live in it, she’d been born to it.

  She glided through the dark to stand at the small, round table on which the large, clear, smooth, crystal sphere sat on top of a bed of emerald-green velvet.

  The tips of her fingers skimmed the ball and instantly a wisp of jade smoke curled inside the crystal.

  She stared at its glow through the dark and felt her mouth get soft.

  Just as she thought.

  What she didn’t understand was why she cared. Cared so much it woke her.

  On this thought, her mouth grew hard.

  “Annoying,” she murmured as the smoke twisted, coiled and curved.

  Valentine took in a delicate, displeased breath.

  For years, she cared about very little. In fact, nothing.

  But herself.

  Then came her little goddess of love, Seoafin, Finnie.

  Now, caring seemed to be all she did.

  And not just about herself.

  In fact, all the troubles were sorted in that other world, but was she quit of it?

  No.

  She was not only not quit of it, she was home in New Orleans and still checking in frequently to see how things progressed with not only Franka and Noctorno, but Seoafin and Frey, Circe and Lahn…

  All of them.

  This going so far as to wake her in the night so she’d seek her crystal just to make certain all was well.

  She cared, there was no denying it.

  This didn’t mean she didn’t lament doing just that.

  Valentine studied the smoke, sighed and watched Noc laughing and Franka glowering as they sat together in Franka’s chamber.