She shrugged. “The tallest one, his spear with the sharp point, looks particularly painful. It’s best you changed your mind.”
If sculpted of ebony granite, not the whitest marble, the three would definitely be Agassou, made to protect Hamlin. But since nothing had gone right here, maybe it was just marble. “We are high up.”
My vision swirled and looped, and I clasped the baluster to keep my balance. The night they dragged me away, my skin had gone cold, then boiling hot, tingling like ants biting my arms. Then I saw something coming at me and Lionel. I scooped up my son and ran as fast as I could.
Had I tried to slide down the rail? With Lionel?
No. Even addled, I couldn’t imagine endangering him.
Jemina put a hand on my shoulder. “What is it? You’ve paled as if in fright.”
“Do you believe in ghosts? That those you’ve disappointed might haunt you?”
She put her warm, lavender-smelling palms to my cheeks. “No. My nightmares aren’t coming for me, so yours can’t be coming for you.”
I hugged my friend. “Yes. Nothing’s coming that we can’t handle.”
“Tell your soul you’re safe, Patience. Repeating that helps me.” Jemina offered a bigger smile.
She might believe that. It might even be true for her, but I wasn’t safe. If the duke knew the truth of Colin’s death, he’d take Lionel from me forever.
Pulse slowing, I pulled free, bent, and helped pick up the laundry she’d dropped.
When we’d folded the fresh sheets, Jemina set them down with her other bundles. “Patience, you should’ve taken the risk, but I suppose you are too refined.”
“That, and I’m not the lithe girl who came to England.”
“You’re beautiful, my dear. And you should be bold and unafraid. Things are like vapors, before you know it, everything is lost. In the next moment, all is good again.”
I put my fingertips to Jemina’s cheeks and looked deeply into her brown eyes. “When you learn everything of your past, choose to bethisyou, this lovely girl who is good inside and out.”
She hooked her arm with mine. “This is our third day cleaning at this level. One doesn’t realize how massive of a house this is.” She closed an open bedchamber door. “West wing, east wing. We’ll get it done.”
“At least all of Hamlin is being used. For years, I was in this house with servants and little company, a few business associates of my husband came to visit, but they never stayed. It’s good to see Hamlin teeming with life.”
“Ummm.” Jemina’s head was down, and she counted her fingers while pointing. “Six. There should be six piles of sheets.”
“Well, you left one by the stairs.”
“I counted that one. There should be five here. One, two, three, four. Only four. That makes a total of five, not six.”
In the time I’d known Jemina, I’d seen her become flustered, her cheeks turning fiery like her hair when she thought she’d lost another memory.
Distraction. That’s what Lady Shrewsbury did.
I took my friend by the hand and turned her around and around, then stopped at the stairs. “These steps leading down to the first level are not as steep. These would be the ones to slide down if we were bold and daring.”
Jemina put her hands to her forehead and breathed in and out. “Yes, it seems that way.”
She nodded. “Yes. I must be mistaken.” Jemina tapped a few of the baluster supports, the strong mahogany posts holding up the rail. “Five bundles, not six. No one steals dirty sheets.”
True, but my cherubim friend made a point of noting things. It was as if she’d decided never to forget anything else. So, I believed that something was missing—that one of the duke’s men might have taken it for mischief or target practice.
I scooped up a pile. “Let’s get these to the pump room.”
Jemina looked left and then right, then leaned close to my ear. “We’ll have cleaned all the bedchambers today. So far, I’ve found nothing suspicious. What about you?”
“Nothing. Nothing was in the nursery. Not a thing on the third level to show Markham’s guilt. We need to check the drawing room and parlors below, but I think the man was too smart to leave anything pointing to his guilt. What if Markham locked me away just because he hated me or he thought me reckless with Lionel? Couldn’t both be true?”
