Worked like a charm.
"Eleisha." His expression instantly melted to regret. He dropped down on the step beside me and pulled my head into his chest. I let him touch me because William and I needed someone on our side, or that's what I kept telling myself. Wade's skin felt warm through his thick sweatshirt, and his fingers were soft on the back of my hair.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said. "But there's no one else left. I can't see into Dom's head. Everything's gone dark."
"Come inside with me. You need to meet someone."
"Who?"
"The other half of the ‘us' I mentioned in your room last night. The someone I bought the second plane ticket for. But whatever you do, don't try to read his mind. At least not yet."
Whatever Dom had told him encompassed the ugly aspects of my kind. I didn't have a choice anymore about showing secrets to Wade. It was either tell him or kill him, and he didn't deserve to die.
He followed me cautiously into the front foyer of Maggie's house-I still thought of it as Maggie's house.
"William," I called. "Where are you?"
Wade's head turned at the sound of shuffling feet. Sweet William wandered out of the living room in his burgundy smoking jacket and wrinkled trousers. By the frightened look on his face, he remembered my earlier harsh manner.
"Chess game's set up," he mumbled. "Won't cheat for Maggie."
"Not tonight. We have company."
He peered out into the foyer. "Someone we know? Julian?"
"No, this is Wade. He's a new guest."
Glimpses of long-forgotten pleasantries came over William. He shuffled forward, right hand extended. "So pleased to meet you. Sorry Katherine's not here. She sets a fine table."
Wade's reaction didn't surprise me. Maybe that's why I let him in. Anyone else would have pulled back in revulsion at William's pale, corpselike visage.
"Glad to meet you," he answered politely, shaking William's shriveled hand. "Don't worry about the table. I had a late supper."
"Fine, fine. Come to the fire for brandy?"
"Later," I put in. "Wade and I need to discuss some business. You go on ahead, and we'll join you in a while."
William smiled, pleased that he had handled himself so well, earlier fears forgotten. "I'll stoke up the fire."
Leading Wade down the hall, I whispered, "That's one of the ‘killers' Dominick is hunting. Quite dangerous, don't you think?"
For some reason, I wanted him to see Maggie's bedroom. The opinions of mortals mattered little to me, but he needed to see, to feel, what Dominick had wasted, had destroyed.
"Jesus," he murmured, looking around. "Did you do this?"
"Me? No, I could never do anything like this. I wouldn't even think about it. This is… was Maggie's room."
"Your friend?"
"Yes."
"She was beautiful."
That pleased me. "Yes, she was. But you should have seen her back in-"
"In?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Should I?"
"You don't know how hard this is for me or what you're dealing with. But if I show you what happened, if I show you how all this began, will you trust me?"
His face twisted in indecision, and I found him handsome. He wasn't a fool. "I don't know," he answered. "But if you even try to help me, I promise to help you."
"Sit down, on the carpet, like we did in your motel room."
He'd been so eager to show me his past, to share it with someone, anyone. I had been blind to his feelings because of my own fear at the time. Now his emotions seemed clear. I understood. For so long my past had been buried in dirty, black secrets.
When Wade sat down on the floor by Maggie's glorious bed, I reached out and grasped two of his fingers. Not to seduce him, not to trick him into protecting us, but just to help him connect.
Then I looked up into his eyes and dropped the shield covering my thoughts. This is what he saw.
Chapter 13
Eleisha
Eleisha Clevon was born May 19, 1822, in Glamorgan, Wales, near the shores of Cardiff on the Bristol Channel. Icy wind blowing against cold flesh was the most vivid memory of her childhood, besides hunger. She considered the kitchen of Cliffbracken to be her home until the age of six-upon being informed by a cook that she and her mother only slept in the pantry through someone else's charity. After that, the concept of «home» simply didn't matter, even though she grew up within the confines of Lord William Ashton and Lady Katherine's walls.
Her mother's beauty faded early from hard work, malnutrition, and sorrow. Her father remained a mystery. Gossips of the manor hinted he'd been a French soldier who once served under Napoleon. Others said he was a traveling merchant, but Eleisha never knew what to believe and her mother refused to tell.
As a child, Eleisha discovered that the most worthwhile talent a little bastard kitchen wench can achieve is invisibility. The less the cooks saw her, the safer and healthier she remained. Lord William's enormous stone manor struck her as damp and cheerless, but filled with wonderful places to hide. Richly dressed people discussing private matters often walked right past her, never realizing she was there. By the age of eleven, flitting about the house became far preferable to scrubbing pots in the kitchen while watching her mother stare for hours into space, dreaming of something no one else could see.
Eleisha had been wearing the same brown dress for three years on the day she finally met Lady Katherine. Cliffbracken bustled with life. Apparently, young Master Julian, Lord William's son, was home after being away on business for several years. Eleisha found all the wild activity disconcerting. Why all this commotion?
She was making a poor pretense of dusting the banister when animated voices rose up the staircase, accompanied by sounds of light-clicking heels.
"What do you mean, ‘she's disappeared'?"
"I can't understand it, my lady. We've searched everywhere." This voice was masculine: the house steward, Mr. Shevonshire.
Eleisha slipped quickly behind a large red vase on the first landing. Who had vanished?
"Well, you'll simply have to replace her. There are twenty people on the guest list, and Marion cannot serve dinner alone."
"What do you suggest, my lady?" the steward asked dryly. "That we set up interviews in the study? We have three hours."
"Serving girls are not my concern. Why you can't deal with these trivial matters yourself has never ceased to-" The female voice stopped. "Come out of there."
When Eleisha realized she'd been noticed, she stopped breathing. But survival instincts took over, and she stepped into view.
"What were you doing back there?" demanded a tall, auburn-haired lady with dark circles under her eyes.
"Dusting," Eleisha answered with downcast eyes.
"Who are you?"
"Eleisha Clevon. My mother helps in the kitchen."
The lady stared at her for a moment, taking in her hair and thin stature. "How old are you?"
"Twelve."
Tossing her head as though having made a decision, the woman turned to sweep back down the stairs. "Put her in a uniform," she said offhandedly to Mr. Shevonshire. "And have Marion give her the course list. She'll have to do."
Eleisha found herself standing alone with the angry house steward. They expected her to serve a formal dinner?
"Oh, no," she said. "I can't hold trays for proper ladies and gentlemen. I wouldn't know which one to bring out first."
"Be quiet." The expression on his face suggested he'd rather drop her down the stairwell, but he sighed and headed for the salaried servants' quarters. "Come with me."
Marion, the head serving maid, turned out to be so glad at the prospect of help she actually smiled and went over the menu several times, explaining carefully when each dish would be served. "Don't be worrying. You just follow what I do and keep your eyes down."