She undressed by the light of a small candle and got into her nightgown, stuffed for the day in her carpetbag. As she unbraided her hair, she heard a creak in the hallway. Yvienne froze. This was the children’s wing. Did Nurse need her? Was someone sleepwalking, Dubre or the girls? She got up to investigate, when the creak happened again, and this time she could detect a heavy tread. That was no child’s footfall.
Her blood ran cold. No. It could not be possible. Yvienne went to lock the door and was shocked to discover there was no way to lock the door from the inside. She was vulnerable to whoever came down this hall, and she had a terrible idea of who it was.
She looked around for inspiration, and her eyes lit on the bed itself. She couldn’t move the iron bedstead. Instead she dragged the mattress off it, and put it at the base of the door. It sagged, rather as if it were a dead animal, and she crammed it between the door and the bed. Anyone trying to open the door would only wedge it in further. She prayed it would be enough to discourage him from trying to enter. She had no other weapon.
She stood back against the opposite wall and waited tensely.
The footfalls stopped outside her door. Someone jiggled the doorknob. Yvienne licked her lips.
“Yes?” she called out.
If he entered the room, she would have to scream and fight. It would be her word against his, and a Mederos would not prevail against a TreMondi, not in Port Saint Frey, not under the continuing cloud.
The door pushed slightly, and she could have sworn she heard a grunt as the door met with resistance. Then,
“Miss Mederos?”
“Yes, Mr TreMondi?”
She said it as a challenge. She hoped he heard the challenge in her voice. Sack me, she thought. Turn me out of this house. But do not think for one moment I’ll not fight back.
After a pause he said smoothly, “I checked upstairs, and I did not see that you put the protective cloth back on the telescope. I most expressly desired you to do so, Miss Mederos.”
She had covered the telescope, of course. He wished her to come to the door, to take him to the attic and show him, and thus put herself in his power.
She laughed. It wasn’t loud. It was even a little sad. But she knew he heard her. She said nothing.
After a moment Alve TreMondi walked away.
Chapter Forty-Five
It was almost like old times, Tesara reflected, yawning behind her hand as she slid into her seat at the breakfast table the next morning. Brevart and Alinesse read the paper, Uncle slumped over his coffee, and Yvienne sat over her porridge, clearly absorbed in her thoughts. Her sister had stayed up late at the TreMondis’ teaching astronomy, and as a consequence had been given the day off.
There was something different about her, but Tesara couldn’t put her finger on it. Her sister wasn’t just tired; she looked as if her every nerve had been stretched thin, as if she could never rest or relax. She was looked peaked, her narrow face drawn, bags under her eyes. Her face was stark and pale against her dark hair. Still, she answered their parents amiably enough, whenever they asked her opinion on the day’s news.
The marked opulence of House Mederos was only a distant memory, but the good food and the warmth of the room, touched up with a vase of Alinesse’s flowers, had a comfortable charm all its own. The coffee pot steamed on the table, and sunlight, returning after the midsummer rainy spell, streamed in through the windows, the shutters thrown back to let in the brisk summer breeze. It was a treat to be able to linger over breakfast, and today there were eggs and a bit of bacon, a rare feast. They had doled out extra money to Mathilde from her winnings at the Saint Frey salon, saying that it came out of Yvienne’s governess wages on advance. So, they had been eating well. Her father had even perked up a bit.
“And how is the governess doing this morning?” Brevart asked, giving Yvienne a fond smile. “How was the astronomy lesson?”
Tesara, looking up, caught a strange flinch from her sister. Her curiosity sharpened, but Yvienne’s voice held nothing but polite enthusiasm.
“Quite nice. We identified several constellations and even got to see the rings of Saturnus.”
Alinesse snorted. “I must say, I don’t like that Mrs TreMondi imposing on you this way. They’re hardly paying you enough to have you stay up all night.”
“She’s very careful about not imposing,” Yvienne assured her. “And I didn’t stay up all night. The clock had just struck midnight – hardly a hardship.”
“She’s a foreigner, so you never know,” Alinesse said, curling her lip.
To Tesara’s surprise, her sister set down her fork. “May I be excused? Thank you.” With that Yvienne threw down her napkin and if Tesara didn’t know better, she would have said her sister stormed off.
Her parents were speechless. Then Alinesse said, “Well. That just proves my point. She’s overtired.”
“I don’t like it,” Brevart said, a tiresome whine in his voice. Don’t say it, Tesara begged silently. Please don’t. “She should give her notice.”
Tesara closed her eyes but no one was looking at her. She set down her napkin and stood up. “I’ll see to her. She may want a bath drawn.”
She knocked gently on the door and let herself in. Yvienne was lying on the bed, arm over her eyes. She was dressed only in her sleeveless petticoat, and Tesara was shocked to see the muscles in her arms. She looked quite boyish.
“Was it wearisome?” she asked.
Yvienne laughed without much sound or humor. “You have no idea.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. She sat down on the bed and began loosening Yvienne’s careful bun, drawing out the
