Of Fates And Phantoms (The Ministry of Curiosities #7)(7)

"Goodnight," he murmured.

"Goodnight," I whispered back.

He took my hand and placed it to his lips. He skimmed my knuckles with a kiss that was not quite a kiss, yet made my skin tighten and my blood thrum. He stepped away, much too soon, and strode toward his door.

"Oh. Wait," I said. He stopped and I caught up to him. "Lincoln, are you all right? Tonight must have been very trying for you."

He nodded. "I'm fine."

He did seem fine, but perhaps he was hiding his true feelings. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Goodnight." I turned away but stopped abruptly. I turned back only to see that he'd not moved.

He arched a brow.

"The thing is … " I toyed with the leather ties on his jerkin. "You can't possibly be all right. You saw both your mother and father, not to mention your mother now knows your name and where to find you. Don't you wish to seek her out and talk to her more? Aren't there questions you wish to ask her?"

"No."

I searched his face and peered into his eyes to see if he spoke the truth. I saw nothing in them that would indicate he was covering a deep hurt. "I don't understand," I said, more to myself than him. "How could the meeting not have affected you? It affected me and they're not my parents."

"I dislike my father," he said. "That hasn't changed since the last time I saw him. And I don't know my mother. She's a stranger to me."

"Yes, but she at least seemed nice. And she is your mother, Lincoln. That must mean something."

He clasped my hands in his and looked down at them. "Perhaps I lack the sentimental part in my heart that others have."

"You were sentimental about me. You fetched me from the school."



       
         
       
        

"Because I missed you." He kissed my nose and circled his arms around me. "I knew you, Charlie, and I was lonely without you. I needed you and wanted you. I've never known my mother so how could I miss her?"

I rested my cheek against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. "That makes sense. And yet it doesn't explain why I'm so curious about her."

"You have a curious nature. You wonder about everything whereas I simply accept."

"Sometimes."

His arms tightened. "Sometimes."

I closed my eyes and let him hold me in a blanket of warmth until he eventually set me aside. "Go to bed or we'll stand here all night."

"Goodnight."

"Try not to lie awake and plot ways of forcing me to speak to Leisl again."

I sighed. "You know me too well."



Lincoln and I resumed training in the empty ballroom late the following morning. Dressed in my loose fitting attire, complete with men's trousers, we punched, kicked and wrestled ourselves into a sweat. Or rather, I sweated. Lincoln didn't even breathe heavily, something which Alice commented on when we finished and he left the room. She, Seth and Gus had watched us train, sometimes assisting. Alice stood near the window, fascinated that I could throw quite a solid punch.

"Does anything exert him?" she asked.

I laughed. "Sometimes. This, however, is nothing for him. Maddening, isn't it?"

"If I hadn't seen him weak from the explosion when I arrived here, I would have wondered if he was human at all."

"You're not the only one who wonders that," Gus said, returning the baton to the sideboard cupboard.

"That's why we're so surprised to hear that Leisl is his mother," Seth said. "I'm still reeling over the news, in fact. I thought he was made, not born."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't let him hear you say that."

"Why not? It's not like he has feelings that could be hurt with a little teasing."

I was about to protest but he was right. While Lincoln had proven to me that he did have feelings that could be bruised and battered just like mine, a few humorous barbs from a friend wouldn't so much as leave a mark.

Lady Vickers strode into the room. "Here you all are. Good lord, Charlie, what are you wearing? Are those trousers?"

I plucked at the lightweight cotton. "Training attire. I rather like wearing them. It allows me to do this." I performed a side kick which would have revealed far too much if I'd been in skirts.

Lady Vickers pulled a face. "You are a unique girl."

"Thank you. I think."

"Go and change then meet me in the parlor. I want to discuss advertising for a housekeeper and maids." 

I sighed. "I suppose it's time. We can't go on as we have. Poor Doyle is run off his feet all day, and Bella, too."

"A good attitude," Lady Vickers said, nodding. "You might as well join us, Alice."

"Me?" Alice blinked. "Oh, I don't think so. It's not my place."

"Do you have anything better to do?"

"I … I haven't made plans."

"She was going to take a walk with me," Seth said.

"It's raining," his mother said.

"A walk inside the house. Along the corridors, around the ballroom … " He crooked his arm for Alice to take.

She hesitated then took it with a cautious glance at Lady Vickers. Lady Vickers scowled and marched out of the ballroom. I had a feeling Seth would be getting another lecture from her later. Ever since Alice had arrived and Seth had shown an interest in her, mother and son had been at loggerheads. She did not approve of a poor girl from the merchant classes for her one and only child.

I changed quickly then headed down to the parlor at the front of the house. Lady Vickers sat reading correspondence by the rain-slicked window. I looked out at the low gray sky and sighed. There would be no quiet walks in the wintry garden with Lincoln today.

A dark object moved on the drive. I squinted through the window and tried to make out the shape. "I think we have a visitor," I said as the shape became a coach pulled by a matching pair of grays.

"In this weather?" Lady Vickers lowered her correspondence to her lap. "Well, well, someone must have made quite an impression last night. Where's Seth?"

I rubbed the window pane to clear the fog. "The poor coachman and footman. They have umbrellas but they're not offering much shelter in this weather."

"Can you see who it is?"

"No. They aren't getting out."

"Can't blame them for that, but how are we supposed to entertain them if they won't come in? Perhaps they are in need of another umbrella. Can you see the escutcheon on the door?"

"The rain is too heavy. The coachman and footman are wearing red and gold livery. It's very striking. Do you know anyone-"

"Red and gold!" She shot to her feet and nudged me aside. "Good lord. I don't believe it."

I frowned at her then at the footman now approaching up the front steps. "Who is it?"

She turned to me, one hand pressed to her stomach, the other at her throat. "Don't panic, Charlie."

"I'm not. Who is it?"

She clasped my shoulders and sucked in a breath that swelled her chest. "Oh Charlie, this is a monumentally important day in your life. Mark it in your diary. This is the day royalty came to Lichfield Towers."





Chapter 3





I hurried to the entrance hall where Doyle received the drenched footman.

"I'll await Mr. Fitzroy's reply," the footman said, handing Doyle a note.

Doyle went to take it upstairs when Lincoln appeared on the landing. He must have seen the coach arrive too. He accepted the note and read it.

"Doyle, an umbrella, please." There was no hint on his face as to the contents of the note.

Doyle handed him an umbrella and Lincoln headed outside, the footman at his heels. We shut the door to keep out the driving rain.

"Do you think it's the Prince of Wales?" Lady Vickers asked. "Or the queen herself?"

I paced the entrance hall until Lady Vickers ordered me to be still. How could I be still when Lincoln might have to confront his father again?



       
         
       
        

Seth and Gus approached from the direction of the service area at the rear of the house. "Why are you all gathered near the door?" Seth asked.

His mother clasped his arms, her face alight with excitement. "Someone from the royal household is here!"

"Blimey," Gus muttered. "Who?"

The door suddenly opened and Lincoln entered. He handed the thoroughly wet umbrella to Doyle who raced away with it, dripping water onto the tiles.

"Well?" Lady Vickers asked. "Who was it?"

"The Prince of Wales," Lincoln said, his gaze connecting with mine.

"I knew it!" Lady Vickers clapped her hands. "What did he want?"

"To summon Charlie and me to the palace. He didn't say why, but it must be about Leisl's vision."

"Me?" I blurted out. "Go to Buckingham Palace? Don't be ridiculous. I can't go there. I'm a nobody."

"Did you not once say that you're Her Majesty's necromancer?"

I gave him a withering glare. "That was a joke, Lincoln, and you know it."

"The fact is, you are her necromancer. Although they've never been aware of our existence, we work for the crown. We've been summoned and we have to go."