“Yes, yes, we do.”Zachary sighed and waved his hand.“Go.Lady Annabelle will be here soon, and I need to gather myself before my fiancée arrives.”
He said ‘my fiancée’ the same way another man might say ‘my executioner.’
Matthew patted the back of his shoulder and turned away, but not before he saw Zachary’s gaze lock in on a splash of bright canary yellow that had just rejoined the others in the ballroom.
Johanna
The evening had been a roaring success, much to Johanna’s relief and her mother’s delight.Being back in Society, reconnecting with her old acquaintances, had allowed Johanna to see a side of her mother that she was not sure she’d ever known.While her memories were full of love from both her parents, that was different from seeing her mother in the social whirl.
It was good to see her smiling again, laughing again.
She leaned against Matthew’s shoulder on the way home, while her mother and Lady Stark compared notes from the evening, the carriage rocking her between Matthew and Rose.Poor Rose, who was doing her best to set herself up as Johanna’s companion and firmly on the shelf, again, yet found herself being pursued by more than one gentleman.Lord Boyd had even managed to coax her into a dance at one point before the Duke of Montagu had joined their circle, bringing with him a bevy of young ladies and forcing all the present gentlemen to divide their attentions.
It had been rather amusing to watch, although Rose was exasperated.She was probably even happier to be going home than Johanna was.
“We are here,” Matthew murmured.
Johanna lifted her head from his shoulder as the carriage rocked to a stop.She covered her yawn with her hand.
A few minutes later, Matthew was brushing his lips over hers as he left her at her bedroom door, his voice a low murmur.“Come to my room once your dress is off.”
Nodding, Johanna stifled another yawn as she let herself into her room.Nettie was not there, but she was likely already on her way.The soft flickering light made for deep shadows in the recesses of the room, and Johanna nearly screamed as a white specter unfurled from her window seat and glided toward her.Her heart pounded madly in her chest as the instinct to flee gripped her before her mind caught up and realized what was happening.
That was no spirit, only her youngest sister.
“Charlotte!What are you doing up here?You are supposed to be in bed.”Johanna did her best to sound normal, but she could hear the breathiness in her voice from the fright her sister had given her.
Charlotte’s pale eyes seemed to glow from within as she glided up to Johanna in her stark white nightgown that went down to the floor.The blonde braid resting against the fabric was only a shade or two darker than it.Charlotte smiled dreamily and held out her hand, closed into a fist, like she was holding something that she wanted to give to Johanna.
Johanna reached for her sister’s hand, her palm and fingers cupped to receive it.
The cool weight hit her palm, and she closed her fingers around it to stop it from falling to the ground.
Without a word, her sister glided around her—she’d barely paused to drop the thing in Johanna’s hand—and went for the door.It opened just before she reached it, and Nettie shrieked loud enough to wake the house, jumping back and slapping her hand against her heart.
“Miss Charlotte!”She gasped out the words, shaking her head.“I wish you would not do that.”
“Sorry, Nettie.”Charlotte’s voice was floaty, just as eerie as the rest of her, as she glided forward.With how long her nightgown was, her feet were invisible, and it looked like she was floating off into the darkness of the hall.Nattie paused, looking torn.
“She does not have far to go; she will be fine,” Johanna reassured Nettie and shook her head.“We should worry more about those who might run into her at this hour and the fright they will take.”
“That is the God’s honest truth,” Nettie said, crossing herself and shaking her head.“That child is as sweet as can be, other than how much she enjoys scaring us out of our wits.”
“You get used to her eventually,” Johanna promised.Though it was a difficult promise to make when Charlotte had just scared her out of her own wits as well.She sighed.“It might be that our family got a little too used to her, and she is enjoying having fresh victims.”Smiling ruefully, Johanna turned so Nettie could undo the laces on the back of her dress.
“That girl.”Nettie sighed, but her tone of voice was fond if exasperated.Charlotte had that effect on people.So did Bridget, though for entirely different reasons.
As Nettie undid her laces, Johanna looked down at the item Charlotte had dropped into her hand.It was a silver circle, the same size as a silver crown, but shiny and flat.No, not entirely flat.After Nettie had helped Johanna out of her dress, she lifted it closer to her face, and she could see the extremely faint edges of what used to be on it.It had been rubbed nearly flat, to the point where the images were indecipherable.
“What on earth…” she murmured, then paused as the strangest thought occurred to her.
But that made no sense.
How would Matthew even make use of such a thing?Which side was which was indefinable.
How would Charlotte have gotten it?
“Anything else, Your Grace?”Nettie asked.
