Wildwood Dancing

“You’ve often told me I am too angry—that I haven’t learned to put the past behind me. Oh, yes, I’ve been listening: don’t look so surprised. But I can’t do it. Not without this—not 263

without pursuing those who ruined my life all those years ago.

Their promises are false, their words are foul lies. When they are all gone, then I will have no more reason for anger.” He had gone unaccountably nervous, twisting his hands together on the desk, avoiding my eye. “Jena, I need your friendship. I need your love. If you help me, I can do this. I can make my life worthwhile again. Don’t you see, I must have vengeance for Costi, and for what was done to me that day. You could help me do that. And when it’s over, you could stay by my side and support me, as you did long ago by the Deadwash. . . .”

Gogu had tensed up alarmingly as this speech unfolded. I put up a hand to stop him from doing something silly. I was struggling for a way to answer Cezar. “On the night of the party,” I managed, “you didn’t say anything about love.”

Cezar looked up; his eyes met mine. “I didn’t think I needed to, Jena,” he said quietly.

This was bad. It made it much harder to say what I must. “I don’t understand any of this talk about making your life worthwhile,” I said. “Isn’t it worthwhile already? You have your mother, you have Varful cu Negur?a. In time you can become a man like your father was: a stalwart of the community, someone folk look up to. You’re a merchant, you can make a success of that. As a man you can travel, see things, make your mark in the world. I know you’ve had losses, terrible ones. But you shouldn’t need to crush and destroy the folk of the forest, or to take control of Piscul Dracului and of our family, in order to compensate for that. You’ve got a good life now. Or could have, if you would simply get on with living it.”

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He was waiting for something more.

“I can’t love you, Cezar. Not in the way you mean. And I don’t believe you love me. If you did, you would have taken the time to understand what was important to me. I couldn’t ever love a man who tried to get his own way by frightening people.”

There was a silence. Even the frog had no contribution to make. Then Cezar got up and opened the door. “You may as well leave, Jena. You’ve made your attitude perfectly clear,” he said. His tone chilled me.

The plan.

“You mentioned a plan, Cezar. Am I allowed to hear what it is?”

“It will become plain to you in due course.”

“Cezar, tell me. Please.” I had to force the word out.

“Let us simply say that should you girls make use of any secret passageways or hidden doors at next Full Moon, you won’t be doing so alone. Between now and that time I will be establishing improved security at Piscul Dracului. I know you’ve been breaking the rules I set down to preserve your safety, Jena.

Tati, in particular, has shown an alarming tendency to go off for walks on her own. I overheard something in the village recently, something that wasn’t intended for my ears. Folk have noticed the change in your sister’s appearance. They’ve been putting it together with what happened to the miller’s daughter, and some of them have leapt to a conclusion that deeply disturbs me. I don’t know how much you understand about the Night People.”

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Now I was really frightened. “Not much,” I whispered.

“They feed, and folk die. Ivona was victim to that. But sometimes they feed and folk remain alive, but changed. If this is distressing to you, Jena, I can only say it is something you need to know, in view of the foolish risks you girls have been taking. I heard someone suggest that Tatiana might have been singled out in this way. The fellow said it explained why Piscul Dracului’s stock had been spared the knife, and would also account for the dramatic change in Tati’s appearance. People saw her at the party, they could hardly not notice it. Folk muttered that she was sure to be visited again, and you know what that means.”

I could hardly speak. “I don’t, Cezar. Tell me.”

“After a certain number of bites, the victim becomes one of the Night People, Jena. Once the process begins, folk see such an individual not as a victim, but as a threat to the community.

There’s no reversing this. She would become an outcast, hunted, her own bite the stuff of desperate fear. I assume there is no substance in this rumor.” He was deadly serious, his eyes sternly fixed on me.

“Of course not!” I felt cold all through. Deep inside me, there was a terrible suspicion that, just possibly, what he suggested could be true. I didn’t want to give it credence, but part of me couldn’t help it. Sorrow had been in Tadeusz’s realm for years and years. Before she met him, Tati had been healthy and happy. Folk didn’t actually waste away for love, did they? So perhaps this was something else. That someone in the village had thought of this possibility was terrifying. I pictured the 266

hunting party—expressions dark, weapons glinting—crashing through the forest, and Tati fleeing before them. I’d still never had a proper look at Sorrow’s teeth.

“We must put an end to such talk,” Cezar said. “Tati has been astonishingly stupid to allow any grounds for it. And she’s the eldest. It is no wonder your younger sisters are growing up so wayward. There will be guards here as of tomorrow. I expect you girls to keep to the house and courtyard.”

I stared at him, my feet rooted to the spot. “You can’t do that,” I whispered, unable to believe that even he would be so heavy-handed. “You don’t mean guards to protect us, do you?

You mean jailers—folk to keep us in.”

“You could cooperate, Jena.” That soft voice again, the one that frightened me most. “Tell me the truth and we can go about this quite differently. Just give a little. I don’t want us to be enemies.”

Ask about Full Moon.

“You said something about not being alone at Full Moon. I told you, all we will be doing is having a little fun among sisters. Nothing untoward. What are you planning to do, set a woman to spy on us in our own bedchamber?”

“Not a woman, not if there is the least possibility of a trip to this Other Kingdom, with its attendant perils.”

Just say it, scum. The frog was a tight bundle of nerves; I was no better.

“I think you’ll have to spell it out for me, Cezar. You can’t mean that you yourself are planning to spend the