The Chocolatier's Wife (34 page)

“There
is
a
tower
behind
you—nay,
do
not
look,”
he
said
with
that
same cold
co
r
diality.
“But
‘tis
part
of
the
house,
and
is
made
for
observation. From
where
I
stand,
you
can
tell
if
someone
is
at
the
window,
because
they block
the
window
in
the
wall
behind.
A
trick of
mine
that
is
not
generally well known.”

“Your
mother
is
watching
us?’
she
asked,
amusement
creeping
into
her tone.

“Nay,
she
is
in
with
my
father. But
someone
is.
I
bethought
we
could speak
in
pr
i
vate
here,
but
I
think
I
am
mistaken.
In
any
case,
I
wished
to
see you,
so it is a
small matter.”

“Well,” she said,
“I
can
wish you joy of your freedom?”

“That
is
not
something
of
which
I
am
entirely
certain.”
His
eyes
flickered
with su
p
pressed anger for
a
moment before he became cool again.

“How
so?
You
do
not
think
they
will
jail
you
again?”
she
asked,
upset
so plain in
her voice that he gave her the kindest look.

“Nay.
My father has taken
care of that detail. Avast,
a
maid
comes.” He bowed again,
indicating his leave.

“This
is all you wished to say?”
She felt cheated, somehow.

“Nay.”
He
walked
around
the
fountain, then
bowed
deeply,
and
said, loudly,
for
the
maid’s
benefit, “You
may
tell
my
mother
that
the
wedding will
take
place
in
two
weeks
time.”
He
looked
at
Tasmin
again,
“Thank
you, milady,
for
agreeing. I
am
beyond words.”

She
forced
herself
not
to
react.
The
idea
that
there
was
now
a
deadline of sorts made it seem more
real,
more
tangible. And
a
bit frightening.

Worse
,
she
thought
when
she
went
through
the
hall
to
go
back
upstairs and
saw
her
future
mother-in-law
looking
fit
to
kill,
t
wo
more
weeks
in
this wretched
household.
However shall
I
survive?

Chapter
11

Ferou 5
th
,

Saph.
Mn.
Qtr. 1788

Dear
Tasmin,

I
received
your package
an
hour out of
Dert
Harbor
,
which
I believe
is only
two hours from your home.
I
am tempted,
severely tempted,
to come
and
see
your city.
I
should like to see
the
castle ruins where
you
found
your sprites; see
the
great,
ever
changing un
i
versity where
you
work. Is
it really
made of
earth
and
stone and
ice,
and
therefore
changes
with the
seasons?
Do rooms and halls
and
passageways
disappear and
rea
p
pear?

I
must thank
you
for the
care
with which
you
prepared these potions. I
have
already
placed
the
amulet under my
shirt, and will place
the
rest where
they
may
best
be
used.
I
am deeply moved by
your kindness and
worry for my
safety.

Yours,

William

William
b
ought
the
woman
who
might
hang
for
him a
fine
meal
of
chicken
stuffed
with
shrimp
and spinach,
b
lue
b
erry tarts,
and
b
oiled potatoes
stewed
in
butter.
Stan
d
ing
outside
his
old
prison
cell,
he
reflected
that
it
was
the
least
he
could do for
her.

Franny
Harker ate
in
silence
while
he
distracted
himself
by
thinking about
what
needed
to be
done
at
the
shop
to
get
things
going
again.
The
shipment of
chocolate
had
finally
come
in;
one
of
the
things
waiting
for
him
at
home was
a
letter
from the
captain
he’d
paid
to
bring the
shipment.
Once
he retrieved
it
from
his
father’s
warehouse,
he
would
be
able
to
begin
building his
business
again.
Perhaps.
He
had
much
to
do,
first,
and
some
of
it
had
to do
with
the
woman
in front
of
him,
who
ate
swiftly,
like
someone
starving, yet
she
tried
to
savor it,
a
little
at
least,
showing
her
to
be
someone
who pe
r
haps wasn’t
unused to such food, either.

“Thank you,”
she
said,
folding
the
napkin up
and
placing
it
in
the wooden box the meal had come in.

“My
pleasure,”
he
said
softly.
She
looked
at
him expectantly,
knowing there
was
a
price
to
be
paid,
so
finally,
he
said,
“What
do
you
get
out
of
this? Dying for
a
crime
you did not commit?”

“You
know
I
didn’t
do
it?”
she
blinked.
“Are
you
confessing,
then?”
Her
voice was tired, but the sarcasm showed that she still had some fire.

“I
didn’t commit any
crime
and
neither did you.
I
know...
”

“Ah,
so
we’ve
both
been
jailed
for
a
crime
we
didn’t
commit. What
a terrible, terr
i
ble world this is.”
She
was
controlling
the
conversation.
If
he
was
ever
to
become
a
d
e
cent investigator—which talent he only wished to develop so that he could find out
the
truth
of
matters
and
keep
his
life,
conscience,
and
honor
sound–
-
he must
be
the
one
in
control.
He
looked
her
in
the
eye.
“I
know
that
you
are paid
to
confess,
to
take
the
blame. I
also
know
that
the
details
you
know had
to
have been
fed
to
you
by
someone
who
actually
saw
the
scene
of
the crime. Now
please
...
help
me
understand
why
you
are
doing
this.
What hold do they have
on
you?”