The curse of Kalaan (26 page)

“What for?”

“For everything. Tonight, you saved my life.”

“No, that’s not true. Skedaddle prevented you from falling over the edge of the cliff. I simply grabbed your pretty legs and brought you back to solid ground.”

The husky, who had been very unobtrusive until then, started yipping happily when he heard his name. It was as if he’d understood his master’s words.

All of a sudden Virginie realized something. The animal only followed Catherine since she’d subdued him before the duchess Delatour. What was he doing with Kalaan?

“He must have followed you this evening,” Kalaan said as if he was reading her mind. “Huskies are very sensitive and can feel things such as strong emotions in those around them. We’re arriving at the longhouse where you’ll be able to warm up and then you can tell me everything that has happened.”

Virginie relaxed, but part of her mind remained preoccupied by the dog’s strange behavior. There was something more bothering her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It was like looking for a word that was at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t find it.

Soon, the light from the longhouse windows cut through the fog, just as they reached its courtyard. With Virginie still in his arms, the count opened the door with ease and closed it again behind them. The husky went straight to a rug near the fire and lay down, while Kalaan put Virginie down in an armchair near the hearth where the warmth wrapped around her and she sighed in delight. Kalaan once again took advantage of her distraction to take the gloves he’d left on the table and put them on.

“Tell me what happened tonight Ginny. I think ’tis about time I knew.”

His tone was gentle, but the young woman stiffened and paled. There was a long moment of silence and Kalaan thought she’d never open up to him, but when she did start to speak her voice was trembling.

“Supper had just finished and we were all in the drawing room to finish the evening. Darius… was there as well, and true to character his eyes full of dark promises never left me. I had to take leave to… well… to powder my nose, but when I returned he was there in the hall waiting for me with that horrible sneer of his. And so it was impossible to return to your mother and sister in the drawing room. Nor could I go upstairs to lock myself in my room. So I escaped, through the servants’ quarters and the kitchen, and then I ran outside into the park. For the longest time I could hear him breathing behind me but I continued to run, finding my bearings by remembering my outings with Catherine, then using the walls to guide me until… I arrived at the broken circle. Luckily you… you were there,” she stammered as she nervously wiped away her tears, carefully avoiding his eyes.

Kalaan understood only too well why. She needed to keep her distance in order to tell her story; but there was still something missing.

“Who is Darius to you, Ginny?”

“The man who murdered my father,” she replied with bitter detachment.

Kalaan held his breath clenching his fists. This revelation was so shocking he felt he’d been punched will full force. Josephe had been an excellent friend from whom he’d taken his distance, just as he had done with everyone who ever counted for him. He couldn’t help but feel that if he’d remained in Paris, near his loved ones, Josephe de Macy would still be alive!

The count sat down near Virginie, his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes lost in the flames of the fire so well maintained before his return by his young helper Gerald.

“You must tell me absolutely everything Virginie. I can protect you and with me at your side no one can harm you.”

The young woman looked deep into his eyes and nodded. She even managed to give him a feeble smile before tucking her long hair behind her ears with her trembling hands.

“Yes, I know that now.”

Those simple words moved Kalaan to such a point that he wanted desperately to take her in his arms, but he was afraid to interrupt her story.

So, she told him everything, from the events at the ball and Darius’ inappropriate advances to his many visits to their home in Paris, the fact that her father had seemed particularly tense for several months, everything up to the night of the argument and her father’s death following horrible suffering.

She also told him about the doctor’s suspicious behavior when he heard his delirious patient ramble on about Darius and a guild and how he’d changed his opinion on Josephe’s cause of death, when he’d originally said he suspected poison.

Finally she told him about the detective Josephe had told her to contact in case something serious happened; but that at the time she was far from thinking it would be at her father’s demise.

She met the investigator several times at an inn just outside of Paris and the meeting was always very discreetly organized. He was friend of the famous Vidocq and a former policeman, whose name was Georges Maltinard. The man was solid and affable and Virginie trusted him immediately. He guaranteed her he would discover what had happened to her father and why. He also said he would obtain the necessary evidence to incriminate Darius Borgas.
Monsieur
Maltinard also confirmed that he knew that the loathsome man was involved in some very seamy business. However, the affair was complicated because Darius Borgas was a member of Charles X’s intimate circle.

“I stayed shut away at home for months and I received news from him regularly. In his last letter
Monsieur
Maltinard told me he was nearing the end and that they would soon be able to arrest Darius. He also urged me to leave Paris for my own safety and not to inform anyone but him of my destination. We agreed I would leave my address in a sealed envelope with the former abbess of Holy Sepulcher who still lives in Paris, despite the convent being closed. But…”

“You never heard from him again, because the man they found in the Seine by Vidocq and the police force was Maltinard.”

“Yes.” Virginie’s voice was a just a whisper as her head dropped forward with weariness.“When that horrible Duchess Delatour presented him at dinner, and Darius smiled at me so coldly, I realized he had killed Maltinard, just as he had murdered… my father.”

Kalaan stood up and lifted the young woman into his arms and then sat down in the armchair, holding her against him.

“I felt so confident Kalaan. Coming here to the isle with Amélie and Isabelle gave me back my strength. I felt wonderful. Then the days went by without any letters and I started to feel more and more discouraged. Yet I remained hopeful. The beauty of this island and the sea helped me so much. And then… you returned…”

Kalaan kissed her tenderly on her forehead and smiled. “How horrible!” he said joking. “You thought you would finally be at peace here on Croz, and the pirate reappears! That obnoxious character from your childhood who called you butterball.”

Virginie laughed gently, won over by the young man’s humor. She had no more resentment about the past.  As for Kalaan he was surprised by the similar paths their lives had taken. He, too, thought he would find refuge here on the island, and in a way, he had, because he made peace with his demons and no longer wished to leave his family to go in search of adventure. But that was without taking the curse into account.

“Your return was... to say the least… unconventional.” Virginie murmured her response, her breath softly caressing his chest through the opening in his shirt. “Especially when I think of your cousin’s arrival. The first time I saw her I had an ax in my hand and her trousers fell off!”

They both laughed out loud, Virginie, remembering that unforgettable moment, thinking she was telling Kalaan something new, and Kalaan reliving the moment, but from a different perspective since he was in the wildcat’s skin at the time. It all happened only a short time ago, yet it seemed so far away.

“Life, during those few days, was… almost perfect.” Virginie continued, thinking of Catherine and the strange feelings she’d stirred up. “But ever since ….he… I cannot bring myself to say his name...  arrived, ‘tis a living hell and I am worried that I may have put you all in danger as well.”

Kalaan placed a gloved finger under her chin reassuringly and lifted it to look her deep in the eyes.

“The only person in danger on this island is Borgas! He has unleashed my wrath and I will do everything it takes to see that he disappears from the face of the earth!”

Virginie straightened and shook her head, knitting her brow. “You mustn’t kill him! Then you would be a murderer too. Justice must be on our side but without the evidence that
Monsieur
Maltinard could have given me, we are fighting a losing battle.”

“Who is talking about killing him?” Kalaan, smiled roguishly. “I was thinking of locking him in a case and putting him on a ship for Africa, or India, without a penny in his pockets. He would leave us in peace for quite a long while.”

“You can do that?” Virginie gasped, widening her eyes in hope. Kalaan laughed and ruffled her hair.

“I could, and I will should it become necessary. What is it?” he asked, noticing that Virginie was staring at him.

“I’ve just realized that I’ve never seen you with the guests…”

“That’s because I’m a boorish lout.” He replied without losing his humor.

“Just like Catherine, the wildcat.” Virginie muttered, on which the young man made a huge effort to act as if nothing was wrong.

Had she guessed something? Could this be the moment to tell her everything? Kalaan decided against it. He was worried about her emotional state. Virginie had been through too much emotional turmoil these past few days.

“What do you expect? ‘Tis a typical trait in the Croz family. We are all rebels.”

Then, to prevent her from taking it further he hushed with a tender kiss. As their tongues met and intertwined, and their hearts began beating faster and faster, a raw desire awakened in them with the consuming need to make love again.

“No,” Kalaan groaned, trying to pull way from Virginie who was lying languidly in his arms, her eyes shrouded in desire and her lips open in a silent appeal.

“We are doing nothing wrong,” she whispered naively.

“My sweet, we crossed that line only an hour ago and I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of the situation and that…”

“I never thought anything of the sort and I will always cherish the memory of these moments passed with you, always.”

“Why are you talking about memories in the future?” Kalaan almost growled, his heart suddenly very heavy.

“I know not,” the young woman replied, looking away. She freed her arms from Kalaan’s hold and rearranged her crumpled clothes.

“Are you running away, Ginny? You can build as high a wall as you like around yourself, I will always find a way through. We cannot pretend nothing has happened between us.
Ma kariadez
, we have made love, and it was not simply a trifle for me.”

“It wasn’t for me either,” Virginie replied, her back still to him. “I... um… I’m tired and …”

“I’ll see you back to the castle.” Kalaan said, a little harshly, cutting her off.

“Thank you.”

There was not a person to be seen when they returned. It wasn’t until he’d left Virginie at the foot of the stairs that Kalaan realized that the young woman was acting in the same manner as the man he once was. She wanted to keep him at a distance, to protect herself from the way he could make her feel and to give little importance to the glorious time they had spent in each other’s arms.

“’Tis far too late for that,” he said to himself as he headed back to the longhouse. “I have no intention of letting you get away with it.” He was smiling roguishly and Skedaddle yapping happily at his side, encouraging him.

Chapter 17

Everything is topsy-turvy

             
“
I
know it’s wrong,” Amélie said to Isabelle, Catherine and Virginie, as they were walking along the low stone walls at the edge of the park, “But I could almost thank the heavens that Her Grace is feeling so off-color, for it gives us a little freedom.”

“But it is not in the least wrong, Auntie,” replied Catherine, who was a few paces ahead of the group, kicking stones as she walked along. “No one forced her to stuff her face with all that crab meat and mayonnaise! She didn’t leave any for the rest of us. That woman is a walking stomach!”

“Kal… Catherine!” Amélie acted scandalized, again almost forgetting herself when calling her son. “She has horrible pains in her abdomen and the doctor said she was also suffering from gout! It’s not polite to make fun of her that way.”

“’Tis you who began, Auntie,” Catherine slyly said, speaking over her shoulder. She glanced at Amélie, and then looked further behind, at Isabelle who was lagging behind with Virginie in her magnificent blue dress.

It was a glorious day for an end of January. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to be spring. It was this beautiful weather which incited the ladies to go out in the afternoon for a walk around the island and get a breath of fresh air.