Chapter Fourteen

M ihail watched Rhapsody's silhouette cross the curtained windows in his bedchamber as dawn painted over the last mile of darkness in the skies. He had spent the entire night in Amstel Woods, keeping the other patrol guards company while his gaze strayed every so often to the south tower. It had been almost two in the morning when she retired, and now she was up again a mere three hours later. Sleep was probably his pet's only indulgence, and so for her to rise even before the sun had reclaimed its throne...

He had hurt her unforgivably last night, Mihail thought bleakly.

It was almost as if his demon half had overtaken the soul that she had gifted him with, and he had lashed out with needless cruelty. And he had not been able to stop, not even when he saw the pain that haunted her dark eyes and he saw her skin turn from ivory to something horribly pale.

Something was fucking wrong with him, and whatever it was, it would either drive Rhapsody away...or force him to stay out of her life.

He waited until she had left for her classes before coming up to shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes. On his way out, he spied the gift on the dresser, and he breathed hard. He unwrapped it carefully, and when he saw what it was...

The Art of Being A Pervert

Mihail closed his eyes. It was just like Rhapsody to mean well by giving him such a gift, and goddammit, he could not - would not - give her up without a fucking fight.

Before leaving the school, he was unable to resist the urge to check on him, needing to see - but wihout being seen - that she was indeed where she was supposed to be, and that was safe and unharmed within the school's walls. Eventually, he found her in the greenhouse with Peyton. Her friend was busy tending to several pots of cacti while Rhapsody had gloves up to her elbows while checking on a garden bed of poison ivy. She looked paler than usual, and his agitation grew even as the sight made his heart clench.

Something was fucking wrong .

And he had to do something before it was too late.

The thirty-minute carriage ride to the Baron of Woodmere's townhouse was reduced into ten with Mihail riding his horse in neck-breaking speed. After leaving instructions to the stable boy to have his mount watered, he swiftly ascended the steps and within moments was being escorted to the breakfast room.

"The Marquis of Sangre," the butler intoned.

"Milord, welcome..." The three Orpheline sisters, despite their visible surprise, greeted him pleasantly.

"How the hell did you know I was here?" Ilie Marcovici, the Marquis of Lunare, on the other hand, did not sound as welcoming, but this was belied by the wicked gleam in his silver eyes.

"It's nice to see you, too."

It was Mihail's usual dry tone , Ilie observed with a frown, but at the same time, it wasn't.

Soleil, too, noticed the weariness that outlined Mihail's chiseled features. Something must have happened, she told her husband through their blood bond.

Aurora straightened in her seat when the Marquis of Sangre turned to look at her. Uh-oh.

"May I speak with you in private? It is about Lady Norwood."

Ilie glanced at his heartkeeper. I never told you, did I? And I suppose your sister would not do so either.

Soleil blinked. Tell me what?

Ilie nodded at his sister-in-law's direction. Mihail's heartkeeper is one of Aurora's patients.

When Mihail saw the Marchioness of Lunare suddenly looking at him with wide-eyed curiosity, he shot her husband a glare. "Stop gossiping about me behind my back."

"You are right," Ilie drawled. "These things are more interesting when discussed in the open."

The words had his marchioness coughing to disguise her laughter while Mihail cursed him fluidly in Daemoniu.

"I believe you already know this, milord," Aurora said apologetically, "but I cannot speak of anything that Lady Norwood—-"

"It is not that," Mihail interrupted grimly. "I wish instead to ask you about heartkeeping. My sister Maricha tells me that you have recently been helping her with her research."

Aurora's expression cleared. "That, I can most assuredly give assistance to."

"We can be of help as well," Ilie offered. "You know this is true," he said innocently when he saw Mihail's scowl. "Soleil and I are still discovering new things about heartkeeping even now."

And so it was how Mihail ended up reluctantly recounting last night's events to two ladies and a gentleman, and of course just when he had reached the halfway point, Lady Fleur, the youngest of the Trois Belles Lames, arrived, and at the lady's insistence, Mihail found himself back at the beginning. This time, he made it as far as three-fourths of his story when it was the baron himself who walked in, and of course out of respect, Mihail recounted - hopefully for the last time - what recently transpired between him and his pet.

By the very end, Ilie, seeing that a muscle was already angrily ticking at Mihail's jaw, decided against his original intention to ask his friend to repeat the whole thing one last time.

He glanced at his heartkeeper instead, about to ask her thoughts through the blood bond—-

Blood bond...

The Marquis of Lunare jerked in his seat.

"What is it?" Mihail demanded, having recognized the look in his friend's eyes.

"The blood bond," Ilie said abruptly. "It might be the missing component in the heartkeeping process, and why your demon half is still able to assert itself."

Aurora frowned. "Maricha and I haven't read anything about blood bonds being a critical requirement, but it would make sense if it were."

"Ilie and Soleil share a blood bond, and—-" Fleur almost ended up throwing the Duke of Brimstone's name out loud but managed to catch herself in time just as five pairs of eyes swung to her in sharp warning.

Sorry, she mouthed wryly.

"Point still taken." Soleil, ever the protective oldest sister, quickly spoke up to smooth over the awkward silence that followed Fleur's near verbal mishap. She turned to her husband, asking, "Has anything similar happened to you in the past?"

Ilie shook his head. "We had a blood bond almost soon after I learned about you. Mihail, on the other hand, has had to live without it for years."

The baron had been studying the other marquis in thoughtful silence for a while now, and there was one thing which he could not help puzzle over. "Forgive me for asking this, milord, but why was it that you have not bonded with your heartkeeper by blood?"

"We had a misunderstanding two years ago," Mihail said edgily. "It made me realize that the least I could do for her was not to take for myself the privilege of reading her thoughts...if things did not work out."

The silence that followed Mihail's revelation was grim.

"Mihail." Ilie's voice was brooding. "Do you love her?"

Mihail's jaw clenched. "It is not something I have ever allowed myself to answer."

Aurora struggled to keep her shock from showing. Was the marquis even aware that was how Rhapsody thought of love as well? The girl couldn't even make herself say the word out loud, and it was the same for the marquis.

They were a perfect match without knowing it, and the more she thought of it, the more she saw of the subtle similarities between the two. Rhapsody's inability to smile and the marquis just not liking to smile, Rhapsody's trauma making her solemn round the clock and the marquis just naturally being grim as a reaper...

Aurora cleared her throat. "I cannot speak for Lady Norwood, but..." She racked her mind for a way to help the marquis without betraying her oath as his heartkeeper's doctor. "There is power in speaking the truth, milord. At least take the chance, and even if she never loved you then or now, such is the power of what's true that it can still reshape the future even in the very last minute."

RHAPSODY FOUND HERSELF making up an excuse for the first time as she skipped on joining Peyton for lunch. Instead, she headed over to the school's registrar and asked for Emily's address. It was then she found out that Emily hadn't just missed classes today. She had submitted a letter of withdrawal yesterday afternoon, and Rhapsody couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with the Marquis of Sangre.

Emily wouldn't be the only girl in school to harbor hopes of becoming the marquis' pet, but what if her feelings went deeper than that? Heartkeeping always offered every woman and demon two choices, so what if... what if Emily was the other heartkeeper of the marquis?

After hiring another one of the school's carriages, Rhapsody set out for Sixpence, which was the only listed address that Emily had provided the school. Once there, she couldn't help but pull her cape closer, disconcerted by the shabby state of the shops lining the main street.

Bell chimes rang at the first dressmaker's shop she entered, and Rhapsody, after introducing herself, asked if they knew of a Ms. Emily Masters.

"Her mother is also a seamstress," Rhapsody added, "who has recently fallen ill."

"I wouldn't know anything about a daughter, but there's Miss Brown in the next block," the shop owner provided helpfully. "It's been weeks since I last saw her."

"Thank you so much." Rhapsody bought herself a bonnet before walking further down the street. The other seamstress had described Miss Brown's shop as one with doors that had been boarded shut and with its display window showing off a gown in purple ombré.

Her steps slowed to a halt as she came to stand before the gowned mannequin behind the display window. What exquisite beadwork, too, Rhapsody thought, and definitely not in line with what she had seen Emily capable of sewing.

"We keep meeting at random places, milady."

She spun around, and once again it was indeed Lord Erou striding towards her, dressed in an enforcer's uniform.

"This is not the place for a young lady to walk around on her own," Erou said reproachingly.

"I was—-"

"Breaking your word?"

She blinked in surprise. "I am not breaking my word."

"I received a tip about the missing tourist being seen frequenting this shop. Are you telling me that you are also here purely by coincidence?" Erou asked sarcastically.

"But it is a coincidence," Rhapsody countered calmly. "I came because I am looking for a schoolmate—-"

"In Sixpence?" Erou said skeptically.

"This exact shop, in fact."

Shit . That meant it was possible Rhapsody's schoolmate could be another victim to be added to the list. His gaze flicked back to the shop's boarded shut. "I can't leave you out here alone, but I don't have time to spare to take you back to your school."

"I understand, milord."

"I also have enough on my plate to worry about the Marquis of Sangre thinking I endangered his pet's life," Erou warned grimly. "You'll need to go in with me, but you need to promise you'll stick close at all times. Understand?"

"Yes, milord."

Placid as ever , Erou thought, but then again, had he really expected Rhapsody to show any kind of fear?

Rhapsody stood patiently to the side as Erou systematically dismantled the planks that had been nailed to the doorway. Did this mean no one had been inside the shop since...or there was another way in and out of the place?

When the last plank was disposed, Erou turned to Rhapsody. "Ready?"

Another sedate nod.

"Remember what I told you."

"I shall stick as closely as propriety allows."

"That's not..." Ah, fuck it . Rhapsody could be stubborn as hell every time she had a blasted bee in her bonnet, and this was probably one of those instances.

It was dark inside the shop, and most of the equipment and furniture had been left in complete disarray. Signs of struggle were everywhere, along with dried bloodstains on the floor. Fuck. Erou's senses bristled. He couldn't detect any otherworldly scent, but he could hear the faintest heartbeat.

Human.

No, two humans.

Coming from below.

Rhapsody's heart thudded steadily against her chest as she followed the earl to the basement. She was aware that this situation should be a cause of fear, and she probably would feel afraid if her body happened to be capable of properly expressing such an emotion.

The stairs under their steps creaked as they began their descent. A greenish beam of light filtered from underneath a doorway at the end, and in front of her, Lord Erou gripped the hilt of his sword as if already anticipating a threat.

But when they finally made it to the other side, no danger existed.

Instead, they saw a strung-up pair of pin lights beaming down two badly mutilated corpses. The first one was Ms. Geraldine Joyce, the tourist that had gone missing, while the other body was of the seamstress Ms. Brown. There was, however, no sign of Emily in the basement or any other part of the shop.