Free Darkest Dreams by Jennifer St Giles Page B

I commissioned a man in China to make them for me. He did a remarkable job with the design I gave him.”
    I nearly came to a stop, would have if he hadn’t had a hold on me. He’d designed the dragons in the throes of death? Somehow that fact sat coldly inside me, making me very thankful to feel the bright sun and see my driver waiting with the buggy. Killdaren’s Castle and the warmth of my sisters was just a short ride away, and I suddenly yearned to be there, wishing everything were different, wishing I were normal. The thought of my family comforted as well as defeated, for it wasn’t a very independent yearning.
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    â€œTell me everything quickly. Mrs. Murphy will bring us tea shortly, and I’m sure the others will join us then. You weren’t there very long today.” Cassie pulled me into the parlor, shut the door and opened the black curtains that covered the windows to let sunlight fill the room. With Sean sleeping, she didn’t have to worry about him accidentally walking into what would be a painfully blinding light for him and triggering a migraine.
    â€œThere isn’t much to tell. I’ll begin cataloguing tomorrow. The place is in an awful state though.” I told her about the overstuffed menagerie of artifacts, about the priceless red, dragon-marked vase, about the castle itself and the savagery of its architecture, then about the doors. “The dragons are in horrible pain; they leap from the carving and grab your heart. Do you know he designed them himself?” I shuddered again. “Why would a man want such a scene to be the first thing everyone sees at his door?”
    â€œIt’s them,” Cassie said softly.
    â€œPardon?”
    â€œI’d wager you almost anything that the dragons on the doors are Sean and Alexander. Oh this is very good news, Andrie.”
    I bit my lip at the hope shinning in my sister’s eyes. How she determined such a thing as good escaped me. I feared she wanted things to be a certain way so badly she’d interpret anything in such a way as to give her hope. “You’re going to have to explain yourself.”
    â€œDon’t you see?” She pressed a palm to her stomach. “It’s symbolizing the Dragon’s Curse, but though the dragons are in pain, and they’ve been wounded dreadfully, they’re still on their feet.”
    â€œA devil’s fork through their hearts isn’t just a dreadful wound, it is a mortal wound. But you could be right,” I said, but that wasn’t what I was thinking. Given the carving, if what Cassie supposed was true and the dragons did represent Alexander and Sean, then the message was that neither of them would survive the curse.
    A knock on the door produced Bridget pushing a tea cart, with Prudence and Gemini following close behind.
    â€œTea is served, my queen,” Bridget said with her pretty nose in the air. She did a good impersonation of a stuffy, self-important lady’s maid.
    Cassie laughed and Bridget gave her a saucy grin. “Whot? Ya think’n I’m not prop’r-like?”
    I immediately recalled Bridget’s scandalous thoughts earlier, a memory that heated my cheeks and made me avert my gaze from her greeting, but not before I saw a questioning hurt in her eyes, as if I didn’t think she were proper.
    My stomach knotted. I’d have to find a way to apologize. When Cassie had first come to Killdaren’s Castle, she’d taught Bridget how to read and write, and now she and Cassie held weekly classes for all of the servants. Bridget sometimes tended to be self-conscious about her education around anyone other than Cassie.
    â€œI hope your errands went well this morning, Andrie,” Bridget said, seeking to amend or smooth whatever gaff she felt she had made.
    â€œVery well.” I forced the “vampire lover” and the “naked in Stuart’s bed” memory to the back of my