Aleksey's Kingdom (A Royal Affair #2)(31)

“So… Aleksey….”

Etienne stared openly at Aleksey for a moment more and then chuckled. “Ah, je vois. You are the tether. All is made clear to me at last.”

Aleksey held his gaze. “Tether? How interesting. Pray elucidate.”

This was getting worse by the minute.

Then Etienne smiled a broad, irresistible smile (well, I always found them irresistible; I’m not sure this one was having the same effect upon Aleksey) and gestured to himself: his clothes, his hair, his face. “Even God and his blessed Son could not keep me in the Old World. I always wondered what held Kinap Kenap tethered so. Now I know: the bonds of love.”

Aleksey glanced at me for a moment. I schooled my expression to one of careless indifference to his opinion, but I was fractionally too late, and he saw the truth of my thoughts. He smiled very privately and nudged Boudica toward me. I did not want him to presume upon our relationship and say something I would not want Etienne to hear, so interjected quickly, “Etienne has some information relevant to our journey.”

Aleksey made a polite gesture for Etienne to come between us as we slowly walked the horses forward. I had a feeling I would be seeing some other, less friendly gestures later.

“I was about to tell my friend that he should turn back from this journey, and I now advise you both to consider this.”

“Why, sir? What do you know?”

“I know nothing, mon petit roi, but the trees whisper their secrets to those who will listen.”

“Oh, for goodness sake….” Aleksey was about to wheel his horse away when Etienne caught the bridle.

“I have heard screaming in the night—a man devoid of all reason.” He crossed himself, and Aleksey copied this old, reassuring gesture without thinking. They actually had a lot in common, when I thought about it—besides their beauty. Both were unusually well educated for their time, both had traveled beyond one world, and both clearly enjoyed the telling and hearing of stories, although I doubt either would admit that this was what their faces betrayed now.

“Where have you heard this? At the abandoned colony? Have you actually been there and investigated?”

I chuckled privately at the thought of this for some reason.

“Ah, no. I cannot go to that place. The… water… you understand?” Aleksey clearly did not, and Etienne added confidentially, “The falls are not for everyone, mon petit. I need to stay on this side of the world of dreams.”

“Huh?”

I chuckled again and foresaw this conversation taking us longer than in truth we had. “Etienne, where did you hear the man, and what did he say? Speak plain, for we must return to our companions.”

“I heard him last night and the night before that, so he appears to be traveling slowly on foot. He is keeping to the darkness of the night. I did not approach him, but I listened for some time. He is quite mad, mon ami, and raving of a beast that came from the falls and devoured them. He said the devil walks among us.”

I heard Aleksey’s sharp intake of breath. “We must find this man and question him ourselves. Nikolai?”

I nodded. I was thinking about this beast and wondering if he liked children.





Chapter Eight


ETIENNE LEFT us to pursue his own journey.

We rejoined the trail ahead of our companions.

After a mile or so of silence, I coughed lightly. “Do you think we should tell Major Parkinson and the others of this man?”

“I do not know. I am not thinking about that yet. I am still thinking of something else.”

“Oh.”

I had about another mile of peace before I got hit with a broadside. “All this time you’ve made me feel guilty for having perhaps given the impression that you were just an old doctor and made me swear things to you and apologize and… well, do other things to show how sorry I am… and all this time it should have been you who—”

“Etienne is just a fr—”

“If that is true, then why did you tell me he was an old Jesuit?” He was exaggerating slightly here, you understand. If I had said this, it was by implication only.

I didn’t like being put on the back foot, so rejoined, “You did not tell me about the Christmas ball or playing pulu. Why did you not invite me to come and play? Hey, Aleksey? Are you bored with me and prefer your pretty young soldiers to play with?”

“You would not play such a childish game if I did invite you!” He was right, I would not, but I had now successfully diverted him from his accusations about Etienne. “And you are so stupid! I would have danced with young women at the ball—as you would have been required to! We cannot dance with each other, can we?”

“Perhaps we could initiate dancing lessons in Cockston.”

“No! I am not going to be distracted by your ridiculous humor. Why did you lie about Etienne? He is… he is…. He is not old, and he is… not the sort of person I would want you to associate with.”

“What? Because he is so beautiful?”

“Oh, you are so stupid. He has other temptations for you besides his beauty.”

I was silent for a while. “You are jealous?”

“No! Of course not! Yes! What did you think? Are you really such a simpleton? Oh, Nikolai, every time I return to our cabin I wonder, just for a moment, if I will find you there—if you have not finally decided that being tethered to me is too restrictive for you and that you have flown back to your own people.”