Beautiful Beasts

by Nicholas Knight

  The pain, the nausea, and vertigo all vanished at once, leaving Loretta sputtering and gasping as she blinked halos from her eyes. Ulrich had joined her sister and had one hand on Una’s sleeve.

  “Sister,” she said quietly. “This might be our answer.”

  Loretta blinked quickly, trying to regain perspective. Malin was a crumpled heap on the floor, clutching her head. She had not been spared Una Leloup’s wrath either.

  Moreau leaned against the doorframe, barely able to hold himself up. She instantly regretted pushing him. He was doing his best to stand tall before this young woman and do them proud. Of course, she thought bitterly, he could be doing more. That thought was quickly followed by the question, like what?

  She felt for their roots, their bond, and without the anima of the angry noblewoman between them, she could feel them. He’d wanted to hurt the young woman for hurting his beasts. He hadn’t. It would have been wrong on multiple levels. He’d held his tongue and his peace, doing the only thing a man in his position could do. Nothing. It was killing him.

  Loretta slowly blinked at him, ears drooping.

  They perked up again an instant later as Una spoke to her sister. “What do you mean?”

  “If Loretta Maradona can have an accident and disappear, why not Ulrich Leloup?” Ulrich said.

  Una nodded. “That…that might work. We’ll have to find a way to hide you. Until we can find some way to reverse this.”

  “There’s no reversing a Fall,” Loretta said from the floor. “She is Fallen. She needs a keeper, and if you want the world to believe Ulrich is dead, then you cannot keep her at your home.”

  “We’ll find a way,” Una snapped, whirling upon her. Loretta’s stomach clenched as she sensed the woman gathering her anima about herself, readying to strike. “We’ll hide him away. I won’t let anyone hurt him!”

  “You’re smothering her,” Loretta cried out. “Let her out of your shadow!”

  The words came unbidden to her mouth and with them so many memories. So many failures. Sirena—she had been unfair to her. She should have heeded her mother’s words sooner. Tears welled in her eyes that had nothing to do with the shadows of pain still dancing within her skull, or the anticipation of the continued metaphysical assault. She had been a poor sister. That pain hurt worse than anything Una Leloup could have done.

  Una squeezed her eyes shut, visibly gritting her teeth.

  “You are the future Baroness Leloup,” Ulrich said, still in that same, quiet voice. “I will do as you say.”

  Slowly Una opened her eyes and looked at her sister. Tears threatened but did not fall. “What do you want, Ulrich?”

  “I want to serve our family,” Ulrich said, straightening up. “If I go home with you, if I hide that way, I can be nothing but a burden. A secret weakness waiting to be exposed.”

  For the first time, Una turned her attention to Moreau. She looked him up and down, then directed her attention at Loretta. “How has this man treated you? The honest answer now.”

  The honest answer? Loretta wondered at that.

  “I’m standing right here,” Moreau said, tossing out an arm.

  “Shut up,” both Loretta and Una said simultaneously.

  It was odd to consider this question. Not only because Moreau was right there, watching, listening. Could she actually give an honest answer? One wrong word would damn her. Except that it wouldn’t. Moreau wouldn’t hold what she said now against her. She could be honest. That crystalized Loretta’s answer.

  She straightened and rose to her feet, standing tall and proud before the young woman who, just weeks ago, would not have dared to look at her with such impudence and expectation in her eyes.

  “I did not realize how fortunate I was at first, to have found myself bound to this man. He cares about his beasts. He sees to our well-being, considers our wants, and commands well. He is everything you could ever hope for in a knight keeper. Considerate, courageous, and capable.”

  Una swallowed, and nodded. “I watched him drag your broken body away to the spring, though he was in no better shape.”

  “He did that,” Loretta admitted, not sure what else was carried by her admission. It seemed like more. She couldn’t afford to let it be more.

  “Your word, Loretta Maradona,” Una Leloup demanded. “I want your oath.”

  “My oath, on my hope of my soul’s salvation,” Loretta said solemnly.

  Una spun around, pointing a finger at Moreau. “And you.”

  Moreau raised his eyebrows and pointed at himself. “Me? Oh, am I permitted to speak now?”

  Loretta rolled her eyes. Could he not hold his tongue?

  “No,” Una said, somehow missing the sarcasm. Or electing to ignore it. “But you will answer me. Will you treat my sister with the same care and dedication which you showed this one that night?” She pointed at Loretta.

  Loretta’s stomach twisted. She did not want Moreau to treat another beast like he had treated her, which was stupid. He should treat them all well. When she finally found a way to restore her humanity, she would have several policies enacted to set a new example for knight keepers.

  “I will,” Moreau said, with a levity that surprised Loretta.

  “And you will falsify your report to The Company of Golden Swords and any other interested parties,” Una said. “Ulrich Leloup was found slain. This is simply a beast you took from one of the brigands when it went Rampant upon his death.”

  “I will do my best,” Moreau answered. “I can falsify my report, but I am not the only one here. Dupont should not be hard to convince to keep his mouth shut, but I cannot speak for Sir Balzac.”

  “Two against one is as good as we can hope,” Una said with a nod. “It was a chaotic and confusing night for everyone involved. Quash any rumor otherwise.”

  Moreau nodded. “I will.”

  Una strode to her bed, crouched down, and drew something out from underneath it. Loretta gasped when she recognized the leather envelope bulging with documents. “You dropped this, Sir Moreau,” she said, straightening up. “As you rushed to your beast’s aid. I let you think they were destroyed and have made my own notes. But there will be much to handle upon my return.”

  As she spoke, she did not look at Moreau, she looked to Ulrich. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  Ulrich nodded. “I will do what is best for our family.”

  Una nodded and blinked very quickly to keep tears from falling. “As will I. And this is how you can best serve.” She went to Moreau and extended the brimming folder. “I ask that you care for my…sister. That you see to her safety and keep her secret. I hereby charge you to use whatever you can discover from these documents and go after the cowards that attacked us. The men and women who hurt us and threatened the future of House Leloup. My sister shall be your sword, wield her as such, and exact justice upon our enemies.”

  Moreau accepted the folder, meeting the future baroness’s eyes. “I will. You have my word.”

  Una nodded.

  “She’ll need a name,” Moreau said. “We can’t use the one she was born with, and Ulrich is a boy’s name besides.”

  Ulrich slithered away from her position, coming to kneel—could it be called kneeling, Loretta wondered, if the kneeler had no knees?—before Moreau. “I am yours to command, knight keeper.”

  Was that a note of eagerness in her voice? The little hussy! Loretta rolled her eyes. ‘His to command,’ indeed.

  “Then I name you, Gefahr,” Moreau said. He looked about the room, catching the eye of first Malin, then Loretta. Their shared gaze seemed to linger and Loretta wanted to shiver.

  “Let the secrets of Ulirch Leloup and Loretta Maradona die here,” Una said. “Both of them are dead and gone, now there are only beasts.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  A Human Invention

  The window in Master Jacquemin’s workshop had been replaced. Loretta found herself staring at it. It
was remarkably well-made, considering how quickly it must have been crafted and fitted to this frame. The glazier clearly knew what she’d been about. Either that or Jacquemin being a wizard had something to do with it.

  “Not thinking of breaking this one, too?” Gegenteil asked, arms crossed. She had subtly positioned herself between Loretta and her keeper. Her posture seemed relaxed. It was intended to. Loretta wasn’t certain Gefahr had noticed. Malin had, though she appeared not to, and only the slight flick of her eyes to the careful placement of Gegenteil’s footing gave her away. Moreau had, of course. Very little got past him, she was learning.

  Loretta shrugged and effortlessly dispelled the blush that tried to creep into her cheeks. It felt good to have that self-control back. She could once again wield her tells with the same degree of skill she had possessed before her Fall. She had even managed to finally get control over her traitorous tail. Gegenteil’s jibe apparently rolled off of her like water off of a duck’s back, which was just how Loretta preferred it. She’d also begun to finally manage her constant need for motion.

  Instead of standing in place and becoming jittery, she simply explored while affecting an air of cool disinterest. She strolled between and around the many tables and shelves, occasionally trailing a hand over something. Jacquemin only appeared to take notice whenever she seemed likely to touch one of his notes or machines. Gegenteil, however, was constantly reworking her footing to better keep herself between Loretta and Jacquemin, which was what had given her away to Malin. Loretta enjoyed teasing the icy lioness. She wasn’t sure whether she would have enjoyed it more or less if the suspicion hadn’t been so well earned.

  “Once was enough,” Loretta replied dismissively, running her claws along the edge of the table that housed the machine Master Jacquemin was about to use to test Gefahr’s seeds. Loretta could no longer deny to herself that she found the process fascinating. Only her newfound self-given permission to move about allowed her to affect an aura of calm. What she really wanted to do was bounce up and down and tell Jacquemin to skip his other examinations of Gefahr, which were taking forever, and get on to the interesting part.

  Gefahr would probably have agreed with her. Having her newly effeminate body so thoroughly examined by the wizard was clearly making her uncomfortable. Her cheeks had gone from silver to a dark grey and the tip of her serpentine tail twitched like a tapping foot.

  Jacquemin wore a set of heavy gloves as he examined her, having been warned that she was dangerous to the touch. They still weren’t certain the extent of that, but Moreau was certain she was poisonous, and Loretta could vouch for her electrical abilities. That was an experience she wouldn’t mind never repeating.

  “Fascinating,” Jacquemin said. It was the fourth time he’d said the word and this time Loretta couldn’t stop an ear from twitching. Nor could Gegenteil.

  The simultaneous reflex drew their eyes to one another for a quick glare before they returned their attention to the wizard’s task.

  “Her body behaves almost like a liquid,” he said, scurrying about to prod the hapless Gefahr from another angle. “But also a mineral. I think…but you say she’s electrical.”

  It had been several weeks since they’d set out on their first mission together. They had spent several more days at the ruined fort until Sir Balzak had returned with a guard to escort them back to Kerkenhal. Lady Una Leloup had left several days after that, escorted by Sir Dupont and another knight keeper. The future baronesa had played her role well, Loretta had to admit. She’d mourned her lost brother publicly and paid no mind to Moreau’s menagerie.

  Loretta was not sure that she would have had the will to stay away from Sirena in similar circumstances. She’d make a formidable baronesa. If only the woman were not lying about her purity. Freutsche needed diamond souled leaders, not pretenders who could risk their queendom’s very stability should they Fall.

  She had seen very little of Moreau since their return. He’d locked himself away in his quarters daily with those documents of his, growing increasingly agitated, and insisted they return to the beast barracks so as not to distract him. That had stung. More because she could understand where he was coming from and her newfound illiteracy meant that she would be less than useless in assisting him.

  On the other hand, she had discovered another way to make herself useful, and had begun regular training sessions with both Malin and Gefahr. Gefahr already had some working knowledge of the sword, and the two of them were able to begin teaching Malin, who in turn began instructing them in her less than noble arts. All of their seeds, Loretta had to admit, were well aligned to their new collection of developing skills. Gefahr in particular had thrown herself into training. She was quiet, but earnest.

  This was the first that all of them had been together properly since their return and Moreau seemed only to be half paying attention. At least the ragamuffin was recovering well enough, though his arm was still in a sling. A few more weeks, and he’d be fully restored, she was sure. Unless, of course, those pages he was pouring over day after day fried his brain.

  His dark clothes were more disheveled than usual, and he had forgotten to shave that morning.

  “Healthy,” Jacquemin proclaimed, making Moreau perk up and nod.

  “Good,” he said.

  “Of course, it’s a little hard to tell, given her semi-fluid state,” the wizard went on. “I’m going to suggest regular checkups for this one.”

  Gefahr made a pathetic sound in her throat. Loretta had to admit, she was kind of cute when she was disgruntled.

  “And this has nothing to do with a desire to study my beast further?” Moreau asked dryly.

  Loretta suppressed a grin. He’d been paying better attention than she’d thought. Of course, he had. He was the most frustratingly observant man she had ever met. Idly, she wondered how much higher in life he might have climbed had he been born a woman. She did not care for the thought of Moreau as a woman. It was off-putting, and it did not mesh well with the sense of him she had built in her mind.

  Jacquemin spluttered a moment before finally admitting, “That would be a nice benefit, yes, but I still recommend regular checkups.”

  Moreau gave a nod of agreement. Gefahr gave a forlorn mewl.

  Jacquemin finally produced a syringe, and made to draw blood from Gefahr’s arm. Gefahr flinched away.

  Loretta moved to her side, snatching up and sliding on a thick pair of protective gloves, and took Gefahr’s hand. She realized that so long as she was a part of this menagerie, that she would be doing this for every beast Moreau harvested for them.

  Gefahr gave her a grateful look and squeezed her hand through the glove while Jacquemin took her blood sample. Odd, that the blood that filled the syringe was red. Loretta had half expected it to be as silvery as the rest of Gefahr or for no blood to come out at all. She made a mental note of that. Every beast could bleed. She wondered what Jacquemin had done differently with his needle than any of Gefahr’s opponent’s who’d been unable to wound her back at Fort Raychester.

  The blood was put into the whirling identification contraption, and, in short order, the hands were spinning about as the room watched in anticipation. Even Gegenteil took her eyes off Loretta long enough to watch. Books flew to Jacquemin’s hands from the shelves almost before the needles had come to rest.

  “Yes, yes I thought so,” he said, tossing several aside before slamming a particularly heavy tome upon the table. “Her orbis seed is a mineral type.”

  “Not phenomenon?” Loretta found herself asking. “A semi-liquid state, electrical generation, and a toxic touch all suggest a phenomenon of some kind, no?”

  “No,” Jacquemin said gleefully. If he was bothered at all by being interrupted by a beast, especially one who had tried to kill him, he showed no sign of it. He was one of those men, Loretta realized, whose true love would always be his craft. “But I can see how you might think so. No, the liquidity and toxicity are actually bo
th direct abilities from the mineral orbis.”

  “And that mineral is?” Moreau asked, a touch impatiently.

  Considering the sheer spike of impatience that had just shot through their roots, Loretta was impressed that he’d moderated his tone as well as he had. The man wanted his information and then to get back to his work.

  “Mercury,” Jacquemin said, just as oblivious to Moreau’s impatience as just about everything else.

  “Quicksilver?” Moreau asked, the impatience flowing down their roots swallowed up by curiosity.

  “That’s the old name for it,” Jacquemin agreed.

  “I’ve never heard of someone using…mercury…to generate electricity,” Moreau said, slowing down to try out the unfamiliar word.

  “That’s because the electricity isn’t coming from her orbis seed,” Jacquemin said. “It’s coming from her bestia.” Several books began flying through the air before one with a picture of a river of all things came to land before him.

  “There’s not much study that’s been conducted upon this particular species of eel, but it has a truly fascinating means of hunting its prey and defending itself.” He mimed miniature explosions with his hand. “Zap, zap!”

  Moreau fixed him with a flat look. “Are you telling me that there is some kind of…electrical eel out there?”

  Jacquemin crossed his arms. “You live in a world where women spontaneously transform into insane, ravenous flesh eaters with the ability to manipulate the very elements of creation, but an animal that can electrocute fish confuses you?”

  Moreau blinked. “An electric eel isn’t natural.”

  Jacquemin threw his arms up in the air.

  “Useful though,” Moreau admitted.

  “On the subject of useful,” Jacquemin said. “I’ve been looking into that subject we discussed before you left.” He gave a meaningful glance at Loretta that she suspected was intended to be subtle. It wasn’t. “You may wish for some privacy for this discussion.”

  Loretta’s face was schooled but the fur on her tail bristled. It was her they were talking about, and they wanted privacy? She ground her teeth and forced herself to be calm. If Moreau needed her to be absent for this to happen, then she would just have to go along. Making another scene like last time wouldn’t get them any closer to her goal. Strangely, she found herself trusting Moreau to help further that goal of restoring her humanity.