Silver in the Blood (19 page)

The other wolves fell back, deferring to Aunt Kate, but Dacia continued to stare into her aunt's golden eyes. In this form it was a challenge; Dacia knew it in the core of her being. But all the same she continued to stare.

Lou was not a bat, flapping through the air on wings of taut velvet, nor a wolf running through the forest on silent paws. She was a swirl of white, of mist, of nothingness. The wind carried her up and she fought it, trying to force it to take her to Dacia until she was exhausted. She stopped fighting, and then she saw how she could slip through the streams of the air, flowing down and over, until she swirled among the trees where the wolves crouched, tense, and watched two slim shapes in the center of a small clearing.

With shock, Lou saw that the two wolves in the middle were Aunt Kate and what must surely be Dacia. She had fur the dusty-gold color of Dacia's hair, with large dark eyes. The two females were circling each other, while the others looked on. Lou floated over to Radu, and slipped a tendril of thought into his ear.

What are they doing?

Aunt Kate leads the wolves; she is our queen
, Radu replied, the thoughts floating out of him and into her mind.
Dacia must bow to her
.

He turned his head and let out a yelp of surprise when he saw Lou, but she was already swirling away, moving toward Dacia.

The other wolves all whined and edged around Lou uneasily. She drew herself into a column. She could sense how easy it would be condense, to change back into her solid, human form, but she was afraid to. Dacia might need her help like this, and she didn't know if she would be able to do it again.

And then there was the pleasure she felt in this form. There was a natural feeling to it, as though she were at last at peace. She could, at last, fly.

While the wolves were staring at Lou, Dacia made her move.

She would not bow to Aunt Kate. Aunt Kate had done this to her, as much as her mother or Lady Ioana. She saw the other females fall into ranks behind her aunt, and would not take her place among them. This might be her fate, to be this thing, this animal, but it would be a cold day in hell when she exposed her belly to Aunt Kate like a lapdog begging to be petted.

A strange mist slid out of the trees and hovered near Radu.
It was Lou, Dacia could smell her, but she had no time to be astonished, or to mourn with her cousin over their fate. The other wolves were looking toward Lou now, and she saw Aunt Kate's ears swivel.

Sensing that her aunt's attention was being drawn away, Dacia leaped forward once more, only this time she did not land in front of her aunt. She landed on top of her, opening her jaws wide to grasp Kate's throat in her long, strong teeth. Her aunt fought, growling and clawing, trying to twist her neck free. But Dacia let herself go heavy, clamping down with her jaws for an eternity of time. Flesh ripped as they rolled across the ground, a rock bit into Dacia's hip, and one of her aunt's claws gouged her left ear, but still Dacia held on. In her mind, she ranted, cursing her aunt for everything, calling down damnation on them both and the entire family as well.

And then it was over, and Aunt Kate went limp. Dacia waited another heartbeat, then two, before she released her jaws and stood. The other wolves came forward, crawling and whining, but she turned her back on them and fled higher up the mountain, into the trees, running faster and faster on her four legs.

When she stopped at last, exhausted, she found she could not wear her inhuman form another moment, and she rolled on the ground, howling, until the howls turned to screams and she was naked and cold and dirty and scraped and human.

Mist swirled through the trees, then condensed into the smoky shape of a girl. Then the smoky shape became solid, became Lou, and the two cousins held on to each other as tightly as they could and sobbed.

 

THE DIARY OF MISS MARIA LOUISA NEULANDER

13 June 1897

I am the Smoke.

The next morning, Lou woke with the sun. She threw open her curtains and stared out at the forest, so green and beautiful in the early morning light. When the maid came in, she was so startled to see Lou up and around that she nearly dropped the tray of hot chocolate she was carrying.

“Thank you,” Lou said, taking the mug before it could fall. She had moved across the room so gracefully that she couldn't stop smiling.

For the first time in her life, Lou felt beautiful. She felt swift and light, as though she'd lost the heavy weights that had been keeping her tied to the ground. Her terror of the night before had been pushed to the back of her mind, which was now largely filled with memories of what it had been like to slip through the air, flying above them all.

She continued to smile when the maid went to her wardrobe and showed her the Romanian gowns that had been placed inside. They were less elaborate than the one she had discarded the night
before, and had colors other than red decorating the white linen, but Lou shook her head all the same.

“I'll wear the pink Parisian morning gown,” she said.

“Lady Ioana said that—”

“I prefer the Parisian mode of dress,” Lou said. “If you'll just help me with my corset?”

The maid looked nervous, but didn't run to Lady Ioana to tattle. She got out Lou's chemise, corset, bustle, and stockings, and laid out the gown and the lace-edged petticoat that went underneath it while Lou washed at the basin.

To her delight, Lou found that her gown fit so well that her corset did not need to be laced all that tightly. For the first time, she felt that the corset merely enhanced her figure rather than struggled to contain it, and the smoothness of her linen underthings and the airy weight of the silk gown thrilled her. The maid put Lou's hair up in a simple twist, tweaking the natural curls at the front so that they fell just so over Lou's forehead. Pleased with the effect, Lou thanked the girl and went down to breakfast.

To find no one else there.

She looked at the fried tomatoes and sausage on the sideboard and gave a little shudder. It was all so heavy! In the end she ate rolls with jam and drank mint tea, and when the breakfast room was still empty she went to find Dacia. Crossing the front hall, she heard raised voices from the sitting room, but the thick door muffled the exact words. She thought about eavesdropping, but then decided that she honestly didn't care. What could they do to her?

She was the Smoke.

She went back upstairs to Dacia's room. The door was closed, and she couldn't hear any noise within the room. She knocked, but didn't get an answer. The maid, coming down the hall with Lou's nightgown over her arm, shook her head sadly at Lou.

A sudden panic clutched at her, driving away her euphoria. She tried the door, but it was locked. She went to her own room and out along the balcony to Dacia's other door. Sure enough, Dacia had not locked the outside door, and Lou went in without knocking.

Dacia's bed was neatly made, and the room was empty.

A hundred thoughts flashed through Lou's mind as she stood frozen in the doorway. Dacia had fled. She had eloped with Will Carver, or Lord Johnny, or even Prince Mihai.

Goodness, there were a lot of people she could imagine Dacia eloping with!

Or perhaps Dacia had gone to Bucharest. To Buda-Pesth. To Paris, London, or New York. Becoming a wolf had made her ill, and they had taken her to a doctor. Or, most likely, Aunt Kate had decided to take vengeance on her niece for her loss of position.

Radu had carried Lou back to the house last night, after he had turned back into a human, and Uncle Horia had taken Dacia. But had he brought her back to this room at all? Lou cursed herself for not looking in on Dacia.

As Lou hurried across the room to the door that led into the house, she heard a strange choking noise.

Lou felt herself start to dissipate into Smoke and got herself under control just in time. The noise had come from the other
side of the bed, near the wall. She grabbed up the heavy pewter candlestick on the bedside table and crept around the bed.

Dacia was huddled on the floor in her chemise, her hair matted and her face red and swollen from crying. She looked up at Lou with bloodshot eyes, made all the more vivid by the long black-and-red scratch down her pale cheek.

“I want to die,” Dacia croaked.

“Now what have you done?”

As soon as the question left her mouth, Lou wanted to slap herself, but Dacia didn't seem to care.

“I'm a monster, LouLou,” Dacia sobbed. She made a sudden movement as though to grab the hem of Lou's gown, but checked herself and huddled against the wall again. “A monster! I almost killed Aunt Kate last night! I took off my clothes and ran through the woods naked! Our family turned into monsters, and I did, too!” Dacia's sobs were dry and horrible to hear, and Lou could see that her cousin's red eyes no longer had tears to cry.

“If you are, then I am, too,” Lou said practically. “But I don't feel like a monster. I feel wonderful.”

“That's because you are,” Dacia softly. “You're beautiful, like a forest spirit. I'm an animal, a hairy animal that bites and kills and likes the taste of . . . the taste of . . . blood!” She pressed her face into her knees.

Lou was a little sickened by this last revelation, but didn't feel that there was any need to dwell on it. She needed Dacia up and dressed, because even with her newfound sense of beauty and strength, she didn't particularly want to face Lady Ioana alone.

“Dacia, stop wallowing at once!” Lou ordered her cousin. “Have a bath and get dressed. You will feel so much better.”

“But then what?” Dacia asked hollowly, looking up. “It doesn't matter if I ever get dressed again.” She let her head droop, shoulders heaving. There were leaves caught in her hair. She looked up at Lou again. “You look beautiful,” she said suddenly. “That's a good color for you.”

This sign of the old Dacia encouraged Lou. She rang for the maid to prepare a bath. The girl tried to look past Lou at Dacia, but Lou shut the door in her face.

She pulled her cousin to her feet. Dacia swayed like a willow wand, and Lou braced herself to catch the taller girl. But then Dacia righted herself, and looked around with reddened eyes.

“I can never leave here,” she said. “This will always be my room.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Lou ordered. “We're leaving today.”

“What do you mean? What did Lady Ioana say?” Dacia bit her already ragged lower lip. “Where are they taking us now?” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Before she answered, Lou led Dacia to the bathroom, where the maid was fussing about with bath oils and towels. Lou dismissed her with a jerk of her head. “They aren't taking us anywhere,” she told Dacia when they were alone. “You and I are going to Bucharest, and then on to Buda-Pesth to meet my father and brothers.”

“We are?”

“Yes,” Lou said, pushing Dacia into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. “We are. So hurry and bathe and get dressed,” she called through the door.