Ludovico pursed his lips. “My lord, I … I need this job. As does Annette.”
“You won’t lose your jobs. If we’re discovered, I’ll say I coerced you and take all the blame.”
“Does this have something to do with secret passages?”
“It does,” I said, watching a glimmer of excitement light his eyes.
Ludovico feigned indifference. “Oh, very well.”
I smiled after he left, throwing on a cloak and grabbing a lantern. It seemed I waited an interminable amount of time before he returned with the lady’s maid, who was clearly annoyed by my summons.
“What’s this now?” she demanded, looking me over. “I suppose you want me to sit primly while you play with my hair and try out makeup on my flawless skin.”
“Flawless skin?” I asked innocently as she glared back at me. I just couldn’t help myself when it came to Annette, it seemed.
“He wants to borrow the master key,” Ludovico told her, delighted. “He’s found a secret passage.”
Annette drew up. “What? You can’t be serious.” She squinted at me. “Are you serious?”
“I am,” I said. “I found a door, and I think someone needs help on the other side.”
“Then why didn’t you send for Count Morano?”
“Because I don’t trust him. Not completely.”
“And Lady Morano?”
I shrugged, looking away. “She has her own concerns at the moment.”
“That she does,” Annette agreed, watching me. “I’ve been trusted with this key, my lord. I don’t like abusing that trust.”
“Does it open every room in the castle?” I asked, wondering if I could try every door I’d come across in the secret passage.
“No, it opens most rooms. I need it for the workrooms and the like. Several servants have them. It’s the skeleton keys that open every door, and only Count Montoni and Bertolino have those.”
I nodded. “It would mean a lot for you to help me, and perhaps another poor wretch trapped in this castle.”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Oh, very well. I knew these walls held secrets. I don’t mind knowing at least one of them in exchange for the use of my key. Perhaps we’ll find something incriminating on Montoni yet.”
“Thank you.” I grinned at her and led them through the second door and down the staircase. I crawled into the recess and pushed the back in while Annette and Ludovico watched in amazement.
“There really is a secret passage,” Annette stated the obvious as she crawled in after me and into the corridor beyond. As soon as Ludovico followed us inside, the recess closed behind us, and we relied on the lantern light to bring us to the door I’d discovered previously. I placed my ear against it and listened for the moans I’d heard before. They were softer than before, but they were still there. A quick peek through the keyhole confirmed the light beyond yet burned as well.
Annette pulled a key from her skirts and turned it in the lock dramatically. “One unlocked door at your service, my lord.”
“Thank you, Annette.” I stepped forward and turned the doorknob, earning a squeal from the hinges. I winced at the noise but pushed it open the rest of the way to reveal a small laboratory. I frowned as I stepped into the room, glancing around at the torches burning in sconces on the walls, and another small fire on a large table in the center of the room beneath a glass beaker. There were tubes and glass orbs filled with liquids of various colors, some of it bubbling, while others sat in placid contentment.
“What is all this?” Annette breathed, squeezing past me. She grabbed one of several books on the desk and I peered over her shoulder as she opened it, finding it to be a notebook full of chemical formulas. Each entry had been signed by a Henry, but not in the manner which Count Morano spelled his name, nor was it his handwriting.
“It’s like a mad scientist lives here,” Ludovico observed.
I nodded distractedly as I circled the room, wondering where the moans I’d heard had issued from. There were two doorways in the room, so it could have come from either of them, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the moans I’d heard had been the burbling of these various liquids.
Annette suddenly gasped and I hurried to her side. She had opened a leather case and inside were eight syringes, identical to the ones I used on Henri when he was sick. A black liquid filled the syringes, appearing green in certain moments as the firelight flickered. Annette lifted her eyes to meet mine and held them momentarily. “Is this where it comes from? The medicine?”
“It looks like it,” I said, swallowing hard. “But I still don’t know what it is.”
It occurred to me that there could be something here incriminating to hold over Montoni. Escape was proving difficult, but should Montoni threaten to kill me or have me committed, I could perhaps find something to dissuade him, something that would ensure I could take him down with me if he didn’t relent.
