House of Salt and Sorrows(95)

I grabbed his arm to stop the story. It was too terrible to imagine, and I sensed that the actual ending would somehow be even worse. Snow pelted the windows, tapping at the glass. I glanced up, suddenly worried I’d see the dragon man out on the gallery, peering in, begging to come inside.

I rubbed my arms, trying to stop the shudders that raced through me. “I can’t believe someone I know would deal with him.”

“Perhaps it’s an act of revenge. A bargain for justice. Is there anyone you know who’s had a disagreement with your father? Someone at court? Or maybe one of the staff?”

“Papa never mentioned any problems. Everyone has always been treated well, with kindness.” The answer came easily enough.

Only it wasn’t entirely true. I remembered the look of terror in the cobbler Gerver’s eyes as he was cursed and berated in his own shop, Papa’s rages over the slightest mishap in the shipyards, the fury with which he’d hurled the brandy bottle at a butler during Churning.

Churning…

“Are you all right?” he asked. “You’ve gone pale.”

“Uncle Sterland.” My mouth twisted around the treacherous words.

He drew a sharp breath, recognition dawning. “He was supposed to marry your aunt Evangeline…. You said she died…how?”

I nodded miserably. “She and Papa were twins. Evangeline was the firstborn—she would have become the Duchess, inheriting everything.”

“What happened?” Cassius prodded gently.

“Sterland’s father had been a respected admiral in the King’s Navy and was one of my grandfather’s closest allies. When the admiral died at sea, Sterland and his mother were invited to stay at Highmoor.”

Outside, the wind howled, low and guttural, like a woman sobbing.

“As children, the three of them were inseparable. As they got older, Evangeline and Sterland became sweethearts. When the boys left to train at the naval academy, my aunt cried for months. She begged her father to bring them back. She refused to eat and grew pale and sick. The only way Grandpapa could appease her was to promise she could marry Sterland once he graduated and that he’d never leave Highmoor again.”

Cassius sucked in his breath. “I don’t suppose that went over well with your father?”

I paused. “There are…stories. Rumors, really. I’ve never believed them, but if Sterland does…” I pressed one hand to my clenched stomach, feeling sick. “But surely he couldn’t.”

“Tell me what happened, Annaleigh.”

I looked out the windows at the dark sea surrounding us. A jagged bolt of lightning struck from above, splitting open a tree growing from the side of the cliffs.

“Grandpapa wasted no time preparing Sterland as Evangeline’s future consort. He sent long letters and books detailing the family history, catching him up on politics and the Vasa shipping business. From what I understand, Sterland teased Papa unmercifully about all this, joking that all the Thaumas wealth and honor would soon be his.”

A gust of wind blew by, kicking up a fine mist of snow. For a moment, I could see the past unfolding before me in the fog, as if I were watching an opera at the theatre.

“They boys returned home for Churning, and Evangeline was delighted to have the trio reunited once more. She wanted the ten days to be just like old times: picnics in the maze, trips to Astrea, playing hide-and-seek in the forest…. But a bad storm rose up without warning. Papa said he raced back to Highmoor. Sterland returned, hoping Evangeline was with Papa…. They didn’t find her body for days.”

“So Ortun became the heir and Sterland lost everything,” Cassius filled in.

I nodded. “I know this doesn’t paint him in a good light, but Papa would never have harmed Evangeline.”

Cassius rubbed my arms. “It doesn’t matter if he did or didn’t, if Sterland believes it….”

I felt sick with guilt, yearning to protest. This man was like an uncle to me. Even if he truly wanted to hurt Papa, how could he offer up my sisters and me? And to what end? What could he possibly hope to get from it?

But then I recalled the way his eyes had darkened in quiet rage at First Night. The bitterness that seeped off him like a bag of tea clouding clear water. I remembered the look of hatred boiling just below the surface as he’d joked about solving the mystery of the shoes and finally claiming what was due him.

“We have to tell Papa,” I whispered. I grabbed his hands, beseeching him as tears fell from my face. “Cassius, I know it’s dangerous, but please…take us back to Highmoor.”

Lightning singed by Old Maude, taunting me, and we jumped as the following thunder smashed into our chests.

“We’d never make it in all this.”

Rivers of tears ran down my face. I pushed them back, desperate to find a way out of this nightmare. I’d never felt so helpless. Cassius folded his arms around me, tenderly cradling me, letting me scream and cry. When I smashed my fist into the metal stairs, wanting to hurt something as badly as Kosamaras had hurt us, he let me. He held me until my frenzy passed and exhaustion settled over me.

Still, he smoothed my hair, running tender fingers through the tangled mess. I relaxed against him as my eyelids fluttered shut.

“Annaleigh?” Cassius’s voice was warm and low against my ear.