Belmary House Book Three (20 page)

“And she believed you?” Sorin sat down and broke off a piece of bread.

Kostya wanted to tear it from him, toss him out, but his cousin looked so tired and hungry, his grief over the purge still fresh in his eyes, that Kostya didn’t move. Let him fill his stomach before the ultimate betrayal. He nodded. His grandmother had believed him because he’d told the truth. Despair made it difficult to catch his breath and he wondered how he’d be able to live afterwards.

“The others want vengeance,” Sorin continued. “More have joined us.”

“That’s good,” Kostya said, letting him have hope until the end.

For the life of him, he didn’t know how he could go through with it. What would be quickest? He moved slowly toward a shelf that held several carving knives. When outfitting the place, they hadn’t overlooked a thing. To cover his anxiety, he feigned rinsing his hands in the basin, staring at the three knives. Each one was long and sharp, the late afternoon sunlight coming through the window glinting off the blades. He let himself have a moment to bask in the pure hatred he had for his grandmother, when a thud sounded against the window, as if a pebble had been tossed at it.

Were they spying on him? Did they want to watch him murder his cousin? Or was it only village children playing in the woods? His paranoia grew the longer he hesitated. He glanced at Sorin, who hadn’t noticed the noise, lost in the delicious food. He knew it was something his grandmother had done to make him come here, but it was Sorin’s unfounded trust in him that made him so oblivious.

He edged closer to the window, pulling back the new lace curtains to see if he’d been hearing things. What he saw shocked and frightened him more than when he’d opened the door to see Sorin arrive like a lamb to slaughter.

Ashford crouched outside the window, the most ridiculous grin he’d ever seen on his face. He turned away, his slack jawed shock drawing Sorin to the window to look outside.

“Who’s that?” Sorin asked. “He’s not one of us. How did he manage to get past the barriers?”

Kostya hurried out to bring his idiot brother-in-law inside before someone saw him, groaning inwardly when he saw that the young woman Tilly, who belonged to another time, was with him, along with an equally ridiculously grinning man Kostya had never seen before. The poor clueless fools thought they were going to rescue him.

“We’re here to save the day,” Tilly whispered as he shuffled her into the house.

He groaned, thinking a more apt description of their arrival was they’d killed them all.

Ashford made the introductions after they were all safely inside, glad to see Kostya seemed well enough, though he looked haunted and weary, as if he hadn’t slept in days. He could feel the powerful hexes that surrounded the cottage, protecting it from prying eyes. For the first time since he could remember, he felt excited. They’d come across a wolf in the woods during their trek and with barely a thought, he’d vanquished it by a mere flick of his hand, the proper words rising unbidden to his lips. Matilda and Liam had been suitably impressed, raising his confidence further.

The look on Kostya’s face doused his mood slightly. His brother-in-law was not happy to see them, listlessly introducing them to his cousin, who Ashford only vaguely remembered from his childhood visit to this place.

Matilda and Liam joined Sorin at the table, ready to dig into the food. It seemed days instead of hours since they embarked on their hike through the forest. The hexes that permeated the Povest land were far more insidious than the ones his sister had laid in the small village of Rouleney, and had taken a lot out of them to pass through.

“I wouldn’t eat that,” Kostya said, staying Matilda’s hand as she reached for some bread. “I’m not convinced it isn’t poisoned.”

“You let me eat it,” Sorin said, growing pale. Kostya put his head down, looking tired to his soul. “Oh.” Sorin stood up and moved away from the food as if it could harm him from proximity. “That’s what you agreed to do in order to get out.”

Kostya glanced at Matilda and Liam, then gave Ashford a long look. He understood then that things were not what they seemed. Kostya might have been surrounded by food and comfortable objects, but he was clearly tormented by something he was supposed to do, in order to get out of the place or situation that Sorin spoke of.

Ashford’s mood waned further. They were surrounded by ancient power, on land steeped in magic. He’d lost his senses for a moment all because he managed to get them to the proper time and killed a wolf, making Matilda smile proudly at him. He was the worst kind of fool, bringing her to this place, selfish and weak because he wanted her near.

No, that was the very thing he had to fight, the oppressiveness of the wicked coven’s power. Matilda seemed to sense his inner struggle and moved from the table to take his hand. He looked down at her as she gazed sadly at the enticing food, all off limits to her, and gave her a fond smile. Her nearness chased away some of the residual hexes that clung to him from the forest, and he steadied his nerves further as her daft bravery rubbed off on him.

The air had turned awkward after Sorin discovered he was meant to be disposed of, either through the food or by Kostya’s own hand, Ashford wasn’t sure. As he studied Kostya, he saw how drained he truly looked, his eyes completely devoid of hope.

“Ah, well, I’m pretty sure the food wasn’t poisoned,” Sorin said, clearing his throat. “Grandmother wouldn’t let you off that easily, Kostya.” He paused, then moved to grasp Kostya’s arm. “It’s over now.”

“That’s right,” Ashford said briskly. Matilda had put together what was going on and frowned. She’d been relentlessly optimistic the whole journey, and was perhaps now tasting their grim reality. If they’d been a few moments later in arriving, they might not have been able to save Kostya, even if they were able to get him out. “We’re here now.”

“Yes, about that,” Kostya said, pushing them to have seats. “I never once thought you were mad, Julian, not in all the years I’ve known you. Until now. What possessed you to come here?”

Ashford exchanged a look with Matilda, and she leaned forward eagerly. “Ashford has powers now. He got rid of Solomon Wodge—”

“The man who’d been hunting you all this time?” He narrowed his eyes at Liam, putting the names together. “Are you related to that man?”

“I was,” he said with a shrug. “We can’t always be proud of our family, now can we?”

Ashford thought that was a low blow, but Kostya’s lip quirked up in a shadow of a smile. It was gone in an instant, but it was the first sign of life he’d seen in him.

“All right, you managed to dispatch your old enemy. Good for you. But what do you mean, you have powers,
now
?”

Ashford didn’t know how to delicately explain. He hadn’t want to bring up Camilla, dredge up the wound that was still so recent and hadn’t had sufficient time to heal. Once again he looked to Matilda, so much better at explaining things than he was. She sighed in exasperation at his shortcomings, but patted his hand and got started.

“He was able to do the time travel spell,” she said. “We went to my time, and came back from then. He did it on the first try.”

“But that’s wonderful,” Kostya interrupted, looking happy for a brief moment. “You needn’t rely on the portal in Belmary House anymore.”

Ashford watched as Matilda only just realized this. She smiled joyfully at him, for him, as if he might not have caught on. It was the first thing he’d thought of, the freedom he’d been afforded. He could easily rescue any stragglers who’d been pulled through since it had been reopened by Wodge, and find a way to close the damn thing down for good. He could be normal, and that meant a life with Matilda. If she’d still have him after all his buffoonery. And if they survived facing Kostya’s grandmother and her council. Kostya’s loud throat clearing brought him back to the present at hand. They were still very much not at any point where he should be considering a normal life with Matilda.

“But what brought it all on?” Kostya urged.

“We think Camilla passed her abilities on to him, when she …”

Kostya blinked slowly. “Yes. Though I think you’re wrong.” He shook his head. “You and Camilla were always the same. She complained about it fervently when you never joined her in her quest for knowledge.”

“There was nothing for me to know,” he argued. “I’m positive I never had any abilities until just recently.”

Kostya’s smirk was maddeningly knowing, but before he could press his point, Sorin spoke up. “It doesn’t matter, does it? He’s strong, we can all see that, so’s this chap here.” He waved his hand at Liam. “We need to act if we’re going to, and fast, or we’re all dead.”

“We’re all dead anyway,” Kostya said. “There’s no way to win against her.”

“If we’re all dead anyway, there’s no reason not to try,” Tilly said, surprisingly reasonable.

“You can still leave. She doesn’t know you’re here yet.” Kostya stood up, beseeching them to walk back out the door.

Ashford stood as well, then Matilda and Sorin. With a small grunt, Liam hauled himself out of his plush armchair. Their show of solidarity and the way they all stared down Kostya’s fear gave him a new surge of confidence. It felt strange and heady, an assured feeling he didn’t think he’d ever had before. He looked at Matilda, brave and ignorant, and expected to feel the sense of dread over possibly losing her that he always got when they were anywhere near danger. Instead, her stubbornly drawn in brows and set jaw buoyed him. He wanted to kiss her, thank her, just for existing, he loved her so much.

“We’re not leaving,” she said fiercely.

A current ran around the small group. He saw Matilda shiver, even she felt it. Kostya dropped his face into his hands and he clapped him bracingly on the shoulder, for once not despising what ran through his blood.

“We’ll see this through,” he told his brother-in-law, hoping to raise a spark of hope in his eyes.

Kostya dropped his hands, but the deep brown depths of his eyes held nothing but bleak despair.

Tilly sat back and watched with fascination as everyone sprang to life. The air around her crackled with energy. Ashford had told her once if they ever came to this part of the world, even she should be able to feel the magic that saturated the land, and she was sure that’s what she was feeling right now.

“Doesn’t the fact that we haven’t been detected yet stand for something?” Liam asked. “The element of surprise?”

“You don’t know my grandmother,” Kostya said once again, his standard answer for any of their arguments to stay. “For all we know she could be waiting patiently for you to do something stupid, which you’re planning to do right now.”

She could see in his eyes that something had happened recently, adding another layer of sadness to his already mighty pile of grief. His cousin Sorin had much the same look about him, but she didn’t know him enough to know how long it had been there.

She was glad to be inside Kostya’s cozy and warm cabin, free from the oppressive hexes they’d slogged through on the way here. If it weren’t for Kostya’s constant pleas to get them to leave, she would have completely forgotten that they were about to do something foolish and dangerous.

Kostya pointed to her, in the middle of a tirade, and she blinked, wondering what she had done to draw his sudden ire. “Look at Tilly there, oblivious to the point of drooling. None of this is real, don’t you understand? I’m only back in this cottage and not rotting in a dark cell because I agreed to kill Sorin.” He glanced at Sorin. “Sorry for that. But at any rate, Julian, why did you even bring her here? Of all the idiotic ...”

She wiped her chin and felt the sting of embarrassment wash her cheeks. She hadn’t been drooling. And she didn’t think she was oblivious either. She’d made her choice before they came to this time, and she stuck to her decisions to the end. She was fully aware that she might never go home again, and it hurt that Kostya took her determination for stupidity. She was about to defend herself, but Ashford beat her to it.

“Matilda understands well enough what’s going on,” he said, though his face didn’t show the same level of assurance as his voice. “She’s important to this mission.”

“We’re calling it a mission now, are we?” Kostya asked cruelly. “Can you not see that I don’t want any more lives on my conscience? I never asked you to come here, and I want you to leave.”

Silence descended save for the rustling of Sorin’s sling as he hugged his bad arm to his chest, as if trying to defend himself from Kostya’s angry words. “I’ll summon the others,” he said finally.

“We have others?” Liam asked, delighted. “This is even better, then.” He turned and ducked his head at Kostya. “Respectfully, young man, I know you don’t know me, but I’m quite capable. I’m personally here because I’m tired of living under a constant threat of fear every time I want my cabbages to grow a little bigger, or get into town a little faster, or travel throughout the ages to see the wonders of history. I’ve been blessed with a talent I’ll never fully understand and am in constant awe of, and I’m sick and tired of not being able to properly enjoy it. No offense, but your family must be stopped.”

“Hear, hear.” Sorin bobbed on the balls of his feet, a grin spreading across his face and transforming him into quite a handsome man. The terrible grief was gone from his eyes and replaced with a fiery need for action. “And yes, we do have others. People who are hungry for vengeance, sick of losing all that they love.”