Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

T he door to the cellar swung open, and someone walked in, humming to himself. He stopped at the reds, stuck his golden head around the corner, and spotted Rosa hiding.

"Hello, darling. What are you doing all the way back there?" Saul asked as he took down a bottle.

"Nothing," she said, wiping her tears off with the back of her hands.

"I can see that." Saul uncorked his bottle, took a swig, and passed it to her. She hesitated a moment before accepting it and taking a large mouthful. He sat down on the dirt floor beside her. "I heard Bal shouting. I didn't know it was at you."

"It was my fault. I took the wrong door or something. I thought there was an extra room up there to clean," Rosa mumbled before taking another drink and passing him back the bottle.

"Yes, well, my brother isn't the easiest person to get to know at the best of times. When he's under pressure, as he is at the moment, he can become a real bastard." Saul took another mouthful. He was still dressed in his tux from the night before as if he was just beginning his bender not twenty hours into it.

"I invaded his privacy," Rosa sniffed. "Oh, shit, I think I nearly destroyed one of his paintings."

"Ah, well that would've definitely set him off. It's the only thing he really enjoys these days. No doubt it was an accident. Who told you to go up there? I bet it was Pearl. She knows better than to go up there herself. She's such a nosey little bitch."

"I'm sure she has her nice side."

"If she does, only Lily has seen it. She tried to flirt with Balthasar once upon a time, but he's never been interested in her. The only comment he's ever made is that he likes them nicer."

"How was the party?" Rosa asked wanting to get off Balthasar and the type of women he liked.

"Boring. Same faces, same jokes, same old games. It's all so tedious some days."

"Hopefully, the Gathering will keep you amused. It seems like Eli is putting a lot of thought into it."

"Yes, the great party of the millennium. If it weren't for that damn thing, I would be asleep in a big hammock on an island with a gorgeous girl under each arm. You should come with me. You would have a grand time. Get away from the morbid bastards of Gwaed Lyn."

Rosa laughed and took some more of his wine. "God, I can't even imagine what lying on a beach would be like. I wanted to cook and travel around the world, but I was summoned back here."

"Eli likes to have a Wylt around. I think he believes that they are a steadying influence on the rest of us. Salt of the earth and all that."

"Why? Because there's been a Wylt around forever and ever to clean up after the Vanes?" Rosa choked on her wine. "Ah, sorry."

"Don't be." He shrugged. "You're right. Eli likes to live vicariously through the Wylts. He will never have grandchildren, but he sees them live and grow and die and that seems enough." Saul swore softly. "Damn, I forgot they haven't told you yet. If Eli finds out I was the one who let it slip, he will flay me." He put a hand over hers and said calmly, "Rosa, you are to forget what I said about Eli and his fascination with the Wylt family. Understand?"

"Yes, Lord Saul," she said quickly.

"Lord Saul, what a joke," he laughed before he lifted his hand and touched her hair. "You really are beautiful when you let yourself be, Rosa."

"When I let myself be?" Rosa scoffed. "That is so self-help. My qualities lie elsewhere."

"I don't want to argue against your other qualities. You have been the first person to get my steak right in years, but you're still beautiful. You don't seem to know it either, which makes you more so. Why do you think Pearl is so bitchy whenever you are near? She can't handle the competition and hates that Balthasar likes you. The only attention she could ever get from him was the negative kind."

"She's not going to have to be jealous anymore, not after today." Rosa drank some more wine. "I've never seen someone that angry before."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Balthasar will calm down, realize what an asshole he's been, and that you never intentionally invaded his Fortress of Solitude. He will come and apologize to you. He can be a right haughty twat when he wants to be, but he knows when he has messed up. I think it's good you are here, Rosa Wylt, and that you went up there. Tin Man needs his cage rattled occasionally to remind him he still has a heart."

"Doesn't he go out and date or anything?" Rosa asked, her head feeling lighter and her tongue looser by the minute. "He's a gorgeous guy, so I'm surprised he doesn't have a trophy wife or three."

"I'm not certain he's over the last one yet," Saul said, picking thoughtfully at the label on the wine bottle.

"Bad breakup?"

"You could say that. It was before I was turned... Damn. Oh, what does it matter? I can command you to forget later anyway. You're a Wylt, so you are meant to know about our kind. As I was saying, Bal was in love, the proper kind, with a girl called Jane. Everyone was in love with her the way Lily tells it. Bal wanted to marry her and to turn her, but Eli wasn't convinced that she could handle it. Bal never got the chance to finish convincing him."

"What happened to her?"

"Jane went swimming in the lake and drowned. The swimsuits back then weren't exactly streamlined. They found her caught up in the weeds, and Bal went crazy. I was turned about forty years later in Russia, so I've never seen Bal interested in a girl. According to Lily, when he falls, it's hard and completely. He has no middle ground. I don't think Bal has even been with a girl since Jane."

"Maybe she's haunting him in a very tragic, gothic love story manner," Rosa joked. She expected Saul to laugh, but he looked curiously pensive.

"Maybe she is. I know Harold used to see ghosts from time to time. You're a Wylt. Aren't you guys meant to inherit some kind of witchy-woo abilities?"

Rosa snorted. "Not that I have been told." Her mind drifted to the girl she had seen walking the grounds on her first night, then again on the roof. She felt the wine twist her stomach, and she shivered.

Saul shrugged off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

"Thanks. Okay, enough about Bal and his ghost women. What about you? You seem too nice to be such a player."

"I really like women! I'm not like Bal. I have never been swept off my feet by some great and tragic love. I would like to be one day. God knows I'm old enough."

"You aren't that old."

"I was twenty-seven when I was turned in 1856 in Russia, but I have been looking to get jilted by love ever since."

"So you are Russian? You don't even have an accent."

"I haven't lived there since 1856, that's why. I'm quite certain there is still a warrant out for my arrest."

"What did you do?" Rosa laughed.

"Guess?"

"Seduced a princess?"

"How did you know?" he demanded suspiciously.

"Maybe it's my witchy-woo powers. Which princess?"

"Argh...Olga Nikolaevna? Alex was pissed about it, but seriously, no matter how much she loved Charlie, Charlie was gay, and women have needs. Eli came to the rescue. We had become acquainted because he had traveled to Russia to check up on Bal who was fighting in the Crimean War. Alex tried to have me killed off, and Eli saved my skin."

"Alex as in Alexander II?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, you've gotten around, haven't you?"

"I've never gone where I wasn't invited," Saul defended. With his golden good looks and easy personality, Rosa could believe it.

Balthasar stared at the canopy above his bed, muttering a few choice curses in Italian before rolling over. He had replaced the picture Rosa had knocked over and made sure everything else was in its proper order. He hated his things being moved or touched, which was why he insisted doing his own cleaning in the attic. Cecily, Goode, and the other staff knew this. The whole attic was Balthasar's domain, and they were to keep the hell out of it.

So where did Rosa get off thinking she was above the rules? He rolled over again and put a pillow over his head. What if no one had told her? A small voice whispered. What if she was doing what someone had ordered her to do? What if someone had forced her to go up there?

Balthasar groaned into the mattress and sat up. There was a flask of blood beside his bed, so he drained it to try to take away the gnawing in his stomach. He knew it wasn't hunger; it was old-fashioned guilt. It had been so long that it was a shock to realize he was feeling it. Rosa and her kind smile and her damn pretty hair were making him feel guilty.

The memory of their easy conversation in the kitchen over tea and her radiant smile as she looked over the paintings made the guilt worse. He had made that beautiful smile turn to fear all because he couldn't stand to have someone in his space. His paintings were like his diary, and she had waltzed into his soul and poked about in it, whether she had realized it or not. She had looked delighted by it until he made her run-in fear as if he was some medieval monster.

Balthasar ran a hand through his hair and got out of bed. He was tired from playing host and enduring the endless polite conversation with the other clan leaders. He had to flirt, charm, and threaten to keep the peace. He needed to ensure that they were going to be on their best behavior during the Gathering.

Outside, the late afternoon was raining and bleak. He needed to sleep, but every time he shut his eyes, he saw the fear on Rosa's face. He walked the attic, trying to talk himself out of doing the one thing he knew he must—apologize sincerely and make it heartfelt. He couldn't remember the last time he had to do that either.

Maybe you are overreacting, and she was embarrassed about being caught out. Perhaps, you didn't really upset her. She doesn't like the Vanes, and now she never will . He folded his arms stubbornly. Then the thought that she didn't like him, that she could in fact hate him after today, made the pain in his stomach worse.

Balthasar went into the bathroom and washed his face before running his wet hands through his hair to tame it. His traitorous mind wasn't going to let him settle until he talked to her, so there was no point avoiding it any longer.

Rosa had lost track of the time sitting in the cellar with Saul. Two empty bottles sat in the dirt at their feet, and he was selecting another.

"I like you, Rosa. You are fun to drink with, and you don't get all sad and mopey," he said as he popped a cork out of another bottle and sat back down. "I hate a sad drunk."

"Maybe we should've invited your brother to our cellar party and lightened him up a bit," she said irritably. How dare he upset her so much...and why did she even care? Stupid Balthasar and his stupid letters and his pretty paintings and his sexy frown .

"Good luck with that! He wouldn't know how to get drunk or have fun anymore. Balthasar is a goddamn pillar of self-control." Saul rolled his eyes at her, making her laugh.

"Perhaps, he is trying to set an example for his rebellious, disobedient younger brother," a cool voice said, and Balthasar appeared at the end of the shelving.

Rosa looked away from him angrily. Saul got to his feet again and offered Rosa a hand up. "Busted. That's it. Fun times are over, my dear," he said as she took it. "Come on, I will take you home and see you safely into your bed."

"You will not," Balthasar stated firmly. "Eli is looking for you. I will see that Miss Wylt gets home safely."

"Have it your way... You always do after all. Try not to make her cry again with your personality defects," Saul muttered as he pushed past him. "And don't you forget she is off limits to you too."

"Hey, Saul, thank you for the company. It was nice to talk to a Vane who is actually fun," Rosa said, refusing to look at Balthasar.

Saul smiled beatifically. "Any time you are in need of fun, just call."

Rosa followed him out into the kitchen. It was empty, all save for Vera who was preparing dinner. Saul stole a small apple pie and kissed Vera's cheek when she chastised him.

Rosa walked out of the back door, hoping that Balthasar would stay inside, but she could hear him moving behind her, his eyes burning a hole in the back of her head.

"Go away. I don't need a damn escort. I know my way home," she said angrily, casting a glance over her shoulder. He looked casual and un-kept, dressed in a black V-neck T-shirt, jeans and his blazer from the night before. She hated that she noticed what he was wearing and his stupid sexy stubble. She hated that he had made her cry. "Are you deaf? Stop following me, Bertha. I don't want you or your psycho temper anywhere near me."

"You're drunk, Rosa. I will see you safely home, no matter how rude you are," he said calmly.

"Ha! You've got some nerve lecturing me on being rude," she said, walking backward so she could yell at him to his face. "After today's effort, I'm ready to wipe away all of you Vanes. Here I thought you were the half decent one, but now I know you're just a prat."

"So you spend the afternoon drinking with my morally bankrupt younger brother to show me how much you hate us? That's ridiculous."

"He might be morally bankrupt, but at least he's nice and doesn't get angry at me for nothing."

"Nothing! You were in my private chambers, uninvited."

"I was instructed by your damn sister and Pearl to clean your stupid attic. That's what I was doing up there! I didn't know it was your private chambers. God, what did you think I was doing up there? Stalking you? I hate to break it to you, but I have already gone through my entitled jerk stage. You missed out. Damn Vanes!" she exclaimed, unable to stop the drunken rant now that she was started. "It doesn't matter anyway. What the hell do I care if you are pissed off at me? It's not like we are even friends. Go back to your attic, Bertha, and leave me alone."

"I came to find you to apologize, Rosa," he said as he matched her strides. "Are you going to let me or are you going to keep yelling at me."

"I'm not yelling. I'm exclaiming my opinion at you in a loud and extravagant manner. And why would you want to apologize? I'm a servant, remember? I'm a member of the Vane's personal servant family that is forever indebted to you for who knows what reason. Other people get to choose what they do with their life. I get to be your servant. Lucky me. Guess what? I never chose to come back here. I didn't choose to be born a Wylt. My mother doesn't choose to be fed on by Pearl, but hey, she's a Wylt. It doesn't?—"

Balthasar grabbed her by the shoulders. There was a rush of wind, and suddenly she was standing with her back against her front door. It didn't even feel like she had moved. She was just there. She swayed uncertainly and swallowed forcefully to keep the wine down.

"What did you just say?" he demanded, his arms braced against the door around her. She hadn't realized how tall he was before, and she fought the urge to cower.

"Pearl has been feeding on Cecily. That's why she is always sick. I watched her do it last night," Rosa mumbled, and she fought the tears that were burning behind her eyes.

"Why didn't you come to me about it?"

"You say that like you're approachable! What could I have said? Your anorexic blood-sucking pal has my mother for dinner? How did I know that you weren't in on it?"

"I would never hurt any of the Wylts! It is one of the few rules Eli has for us all. I promise you, Rosa, Pearl will not touch your mother ever again. If Eli knew about this, he would kill her, and that would break Lily's heart. My sister isn't so bad, but she has poor taste in women and is easily misled by them."

"I don't care about Lily's taste in women. Just keep her and Pearl away from my mother."

"I will. Whether you are willing to accept it or not, I do apologize for my outburst today. It was uncalled for, and you didn't deserve it. I am not..." he paused, trying to find the right words. "I'm not used to having people invade my privacy."

"I didn't know it was your attic, otherwise I wouldn't have gone up there. I don't even like you. I don't want to be near you," she said looking up at him defiantly. You are such a liar, Rosa Wylt . She tried staring him down, but curiosity got the better of her. "Did you really paint all of those pictures?"

"Yes."

"And the ones in the house?"

"Many of them."

"Oh."

"Oh? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Rosa sniffed, which was a mistake because now all she could smell was his aftershave. "I like them, that's all."

"Is this your way of saying that you forgive my outburst and accept my apology?" he frowned uncertainly.

"I'll think about it." Rosa, are you flirting with a Vane right now? She backed up in surprise, hitting her head on the door behind her. Amusement sparked in his eyes, and for a moment, he was animated and relaxed. It was gone so quickly that Rosa thought her drunken mind had imagined it.

"You are taking it strangely well after discovering our true natures."

"It's not like I'm the first Wylt to find out. They like writing, you know?" Rosa blurted out loudly. "Sarah Ann in 1760 was saved from dying of consumption by Eli. She wrote all about it. Richard Wylt, 1902, was found on a London street, was educated, and knew what Eli was from the age of ten. That's just the ones I remember. If they could handle it, I suppose I can, though why they got to find out about it while I was shipped off is anyone's bloody guess. I was terrified last night, but wine is great for fixing stuff like that. It's not like I have a choice but to take the Vanes as they are. I certainly won't give you the satisfaction of being afraid of you."

"I don't want you to be afraid of me," Balthasar said gently.

"You should have thought about that before you went off your bat shit crazy head at me. Now, are you going to stand there looming over me all night or are you going to let me go to bed?" she demanded.

His arms were still on either side of her, a strangely intense look on his face. For a brief, terrifying moment she wondered if he was going to kiss her. Then he pulled his hands away and stepped back.

"I didn't realize. I apologize."

Rosa kicked the mat and bent down to retrieve her key. "You seem to really enjoy apologizing." She fumbled the key in the lock.

"I don't actually. I hate it," he said as steadied her hand with his so she could fit the iron blade into the door. "But I hate more knowing I have upset you."

"Because I am a Wylt, right?" she asked as she opened the door and walked inside.

"No. I have upset plenty of Wylts. It's because you are you."

"That's great, but I'm still angry with you, so go away." Rosa closed the door and locked it for emphasis. She watched his shadow standing in front of her door a moment longer before it vanished.

Balthasar walked back to the house, stopping only once to look behind at the lights coming on in the Wylt cottage. She was a rude drunk, but it wasn't as if he didn't deserve it. He had something else to deal with. Rage was flaring to life under his skin. Pearl . How dare she touch a Wylt! Eli wouldn't stand for it. These were modern times. There was a civilized way to get what they needed. Feeding off Cecily was vindictive and defiant.

It was only his love of Lily that had stopped Eli from killing Pearl when his sister turned her. They were of a royal Unseelie bloodline; their gift was not to be given lightly. Lily had broken all the rules when she made Pearl. Balthasar knew that Eli felt like he owed his first turned something, so he had allowed Pearl to live. If Eli knew what she had been doing, he wouldn't be so lenient.

Pearl liked to play her piano every night at the same time, so he sat in the music room and waited. Like clockwork, she stepped inside and flicked on the lights. Balthasar gripped her tightly around the neck and slammed her into the wall.

"If you ever touch a hair on Cecily Wylt's head again, I will destroy you, Pearl Windsor," he growled. She flashed her fangs at him, scratching at his arms. His hand tightened, and she stilled. "I know you sent Rosa to the attic today too. What do you hope to achieve by aggravating me? Do you long for death? Because I'd be more than happy to tell Eli what you have done?"

Pearl made a wheezing hiss of laughter. "Your mask is cracking, Balthasar. Rosa's getting into your head."

" You are getting on my nerves. It's only for the love of my sister that I'm saving your life right now." He let her go, and she fell to the ground in a heap. "Stop playing your games, or I will stop you from playing with anything ever again."