Page 92 of A Sorceress Comes to Call
The sigh that echoed through the library came from Willard, but Hester rather felt it spoke for them all.
“Trial and error would work better,” she said. “Have someone stand in the circle and try to invoke the wine. I imagine we could go pretty quickly that way.”
Willard cleared his throat. “May I point out that forcibly involving those belowstairs in something that the Church would very much frown upon is neither kind or wise?”
“I know,” said Hester glumly. “I know.”
Richard didn’t return to the library until late that evening, and when he did, he brought news that the head gamekeeper had been found trampled to death at the edge of the woods.
CHAPTER 33
Sheets rustled as Cordelia slipped out of bed. She’d waited until the house fell quiet, and then she waited for what felt like hours until she’d gathered her courage to get up.
I have to do this. Falada killed someone. He’s got to be stopped, and I’m the only one he won’t hurt.
I think.
She shoved her feet into her boots. Surely the same rules that applied when you were alive applied when you were dead. Dead-ish. Dead-like.
Regardless, I have to try. I didn’t try to stop Mother, and Penelope died. Falada’s already killed the gamekeeper. I have to stop him, before he kills anyone else.
The floorboards creaked as she moved. She winced, trying to avoid the squeakiest bits, but every time she stepped aside, it seemed to wake an even louder squeak. Was it this bad during the day? It must be. It’s not as if someone comes in and tunes the floor at night. I just don’t notice it when I’m not trying to be stealthy.
She eased the door open and was just congratulating herself on shutting it with an almost noiseless click when Alice said “Miss?” and frightened her out of her skin.
“Don’t try to stop me!” Cordelia said, which was exactly the wrong thing to say if she had any hope of brazening her way through the encounter.
Alice’s eyebrows climbed toward the ceiling. “Stop you doing what, miss?”
“Um…”
Alice surveyed her charge’s hastily donned clothes and put her hands on her hips. “Are you running away?”
“What? No!”
“If you’re going to meet a man, if you’ll forgive me saying so, you should probably look a lot happier about it.”
Cordelia’s mouth fell open. That thought hadn’t even occurred to her. She didn’t know what to do with it. “I’m… I wouldn’t… I… I don’t even know any…”
Alice leaned against the doorframe. “You could order me out of the way,” she said gently.
“I could? Um.” Cordelia swallowed. The pressure in her chest had built so high that she wanted to scream a little, but that would not be stealthy. She rubbed her sternum. “Could you… err… pretend you didn’t see me? Please? It’s important.”
“All right,” said Alice.
“Thank you.”
“If you tell me where you’re going.”
Cordelia groaned. Alice put a kind hand on her arm. “Miss, sneaking out at night won’t help your reputation one bit. If you’re being blackmailed or if some fellow’s asked you for a meeting, you just tell me and I’ll help you sort it.”
“It’s nothing like that,” said Cordelia. “It’s… oh hell.” She rubbed her forehead. “It’s the horse,” she said. “The one that’s out there. I’m hoping to get it away from here. It knows me. It won’t hurt me.” She looked up into Alice’s frankly skeptical expression. “It’s my mother’s horse.”
“Ohhh…” Understanding dawned on Alice’s face. “Oh, I see.” She gnawed her lower lip, clearly torn, then nodded to herself. “All right. Pull up your hood. We’ll take the servants’ stair.”
Cordelia’s mouth fell open again.
“No one will notice you,” said Alice. “If you go out the front door, everybody will notice. Come on.”
