“So if I lie down beside you and make you climb on my face while I eat your cunt, you won’t say no?”
She laughs.“I won’t say no.But if you’re still looking to get me with child, then I hate to break it to you, but that’s not the way to do it.”
“No, but it’s still a lovely appetizer,” I tell her.
Then I roll over on the bed, grab her by the hips, and have my way with her into the depths of the night.
32
Kat
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
I sit up with a start, my heart pounding in my chest.The room is dark, except for the slice of moonlight coming in through the window, and beside me Crane snores softly in a deep sleep.
How long have I been asleep for?Can’t have been more than an hour.
“Crane?”I whisper, putting my hand on his forehead.His skin is hot to the touch and he doesn’t stir, his eyelashes fluttering in dreams.“Crane?”I say again.
Did I just hear the ghost of Vivienne Henry outside the door?
But he sleeps on, and I don’t have the heart to wake him.I eye the bottle of laudanum on the desk and wonder if he took some when I was already asleep.Then again, after the night we had, the ritual, the blood play, the sex, the emotions, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s truly that exhausted.
I’m tired too, but I still could barely sleep.All I could think about was the fact that Crane proposed to me and I said yes.That we’re engaged.And I’m possibly pregnant with his child.
And all I could think about was Brom.I know he’s angry, I know Crane said some fairly cruel things to him out of fear, but if I could talk to Brom, maybe I could get through to him.I saw the pain and anguish in his eyes when he said he was a stronger person with the horseman inside him, and I know why he thinks he can cling on.But the horseman will never help Brom the way he thinks he will.In the end, the Hessian will only divide us.
I swing my legs out of the bed, wondering how angry Crane would be if I snuck on over to Brom’s dorm to check on him, when the thumps sound again, just outside the door.
“What do you want, Vivienne Henry?”I say into the air.
Silence.
I get up, glancing back at Crane, hoping he’ll wake, but he’s still snoring away, his mouth open.I’m surprised he’s not drooling.
I grab the candlestick and conjure a flame with my finger, lighting the wick.Even that act of magic drains me a little, but I need to be able to see.I grab Crane’s coat and slip it on against the chill, then cross to the door and open it, peering down the hallway.The trail of blood goes past and around the corner, just like last time.
I glance back at Crane and then softly close the door.I want to know what Vivienne has to show me this time, but I’m not about to head into the basement alone if that’s where she’s leading me.
With the candle slightly shaking in my hand, I creep downthe hallway.It’s so quiet now, especially knowing that the teachers Desi and Daniels are gone, and even though Crane has mentioned that the custodian lives here too, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s disappeared.
I go around the corner, expecting to see the path of blood leading down the stairs, in which case I planned to turn around and go back to Crane’s room, but instead the blood continues across the mezzanine and turns the corner into the women’s wing.
I quicken my pace after her, careful not to get my bare feet in the blood, then slow down as I’m about to turn down the other wing.
I go around the corner…
And let out a soundless scream.
Vivienne Henry is standing a foot away from me.
The woman stares at me with her empty white eyes, her mouth a black open hole, as if she’s swallowing my screams, as if she’s going to swallow me whole.
Then she suddenly moves backward and to the side, out of my way, and points down the hall with a crooked bony finger.
