The rush of delight at her presence had not dimmed. If anything, it had grown stronger. “An impressive talent, Miss Dryden,” Kendrick said. “I tip my hat to you. What brings you here?”You’ve sought me out, Genevieve. You’ve not done that before.
“I need to tell you something, but without anyone overhearing. There’s been too much of that already.” Her eyes looked shadowed, like she was pressed down under a weight of cares.
“Will you come up into the house? We are cleaning it presently, but I believe the library is unoccupied.” He gestured for her to move ahead of him into the house.Tell me what’s the matter, Jenny. Tell me how I can help.
The dusty library had not yet been touched by the industrious cleaning crew outside. Kendrick shut the door firmly behind them, which seemed to signal to the work crews to move farther away, and the hubbub faded in volume a bit. The room had also been designed for quietude and study by the hands that had built it. Few books adorned the shelves—Genevieve did not think Rupert had had any interest in reading—and the room on the whole seemed threadbare and forlorn. There was, however, a camelback trunk in the middle of the floor, old and much scarred.
Genevieve twisted her hands together and tried to think of how to begin.
Kendrick moved to the trunk and opened it, taking out some of the objects and setting them on the main library table. “These are mine; I left them behind with Dominic while I visited the Continent. They’ll make a start on filling these shelves, I think.Northanger Abbey! My favorite of the Austens.” He brushed the book off and set it on the table. “Do you like to read, Miss Dryden? I would think so, if you are a lady who knows herBeowulf.”
“Yes. My father read to me all the time as a child,” she whispered.
Kendrick set another book on the table. “What is it you needed to tell me?”
“I have heard another whispered plot.”
“Yes? Who is it this time?”
“This isn’t a joke,” she said, stung by his inattention.
Kendrick straightened to look at her. “I know that, Genevieve. I didn’t expect them to stop after one benevolent gesture. Vampires don’t like to change their thoughts or their behaviors.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“For their behavior, or my nonchalance? No, don’t answer—I shudder to think what you will say. You could fatally wound myamour-propre.” He smiled. “Tell me what you heard.”
“Someone will move against you tomorrow night. I don’t know who.”
He nodded. “Forewarned is forearmed. I thank you.”
“Be wary,” she insisted. “The person driving this plot—he is craftier and more devious than most.”
Kendrick’s gaze sharpened. “You know who it is?”
“I heard a name,” she hedged.
“And you know the name.”
Reluctantly, she nodded. “Laurent.” She stared down at the rugless floors, scuffed and dusty from years of neglect.
“I don’t recall a vampire named Laurent. Unless he has taken a different name to the one I knew.”
“He was good friends with my deceased maker. Bacchus.”
“Ah. The one who was once Cuthbert.” Kendrick’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I always thought of them as Cuthbert and Crony. I don’t think I ever bothered to learn his real name. Still extant, is he?” He drummed his fingers on the library table.
“He will not be the one to try for you tomorrow, if you were thinking of changing that.”
“No, it would be just like him to use another for his dirty work,” Kendrick agreed. His eyes sharpened on her. “Oxley mentioned him. He said you should have asked Laurent before assisting me. But Laurent was not your maker.”
“I told you they were good friends. They did nearly everything together,” she reluctantly said. “I was commanded to obey him. He did not like it when I tried to protect Elspeth.”What an understatement.“He ishermaker.”
Kendrick asked softly, “And what did he do to Elspeth? To you?”
“He hurt me,” she said flatly. “But he can’t anymore. The command to obey broke with Bacchus’s death, and I am free of him. But please don’t speak of this to Elspeth. Or Robbie,” she added as an afterthought. “I will tell her myself. Laurent is just a symptom of the larger problem.”
“We are making progress,” Kendrick said, gesturing to the industry she could still faintly hear, even though dawn had to be nearly upon them.
