“Well, now that you know they’re here, you might find something that has a bearing on the curse. I’d look here before I looked in the Duke’s room — the old fellow wasn’t much for introspection…or, for that matter, observation.” Granny shook her head. “Lucky for Sebastian, he admired in his son what he didn’t have himself — intelligence, cleverness, thoughtfulness. All too often, that’s not the case.”
“Do you think Sebastian would mind if I went looking in here — Oh.” Granny’s wry expression told her what she should have thought of. “I shouldn’t tell him.”
“For all we know, whoever set the curse has some way of spying on him, and what you tell him, the spy could learn.” Granny gave her ear a mock cuff. “You need to start thinking like a sly old woman, girl. Time for you to start exercising your guile. Assume the enemy is either here, or has a way of knowing what is going on here.”
“Yes, Granny,” Bella promised. Well, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t used to practicing guile. How much had she kept from Genevieve?
“All right, then. Time for me to be off. Keep your chin up, girl. No matter what, your old Granny is looking out for you.” The simple words gave Bella a measure of comfort; the Godmother might think of her plight as trivial compared to the fate of Kingdoms — and it was! — but Granny would put Bella first. And in a fight against almost anything, Bella would bet on Granny.
Bella and Sapphire saw her to the gate. “How are you going to get back?” Bella worried. “It’s a long way from here to your cottage — ”
But Granny just chuckled. “You’ll see,” she said enigmatically.
And when they reached the gate, to Bella’s astonishment, there was a sled, nicely appointed with plenty of fur robes and blankets, with the ugliest little horse she had ever seen in her life harnessed to it. There were no reins, and that alone would have told her that this whole rig was somehow magical, even without the horse turning his head to give her an obvious wink. Sapphire helped the old woman into it and tucked the furs around her. Granny chuckled. “It’s blessed useful to be a Godmother’s friend sometimes.”
So it seemed, for as Bella watched the sled move off without any guidance from Granny at all, it seemed to disappear unnaturally fast down the road, as if the sled was going at a much faster pace and for a much longer distance than Bella knew was possible. It was such an unnerving sight that it made her insides feel a bit uneasy.
Mirror, she thought, as she went inside. This all definitely calls for the mirror.
The green-faced person in the mirror regarded her benignly. “I regret to say that the Godmother is busy at the moment — and lest you garner the impression that I am putting you off, let me assure you that her physical presence is required at a Royal Christening in order to avert what will certainly be a hideous curse. She has taken her hand mirror with her, and as soon as she speaks with me, I shall tell her of your request. I will ascertain if you are in the presence of this mirror when she can reply to you, and if you are, you will hear this.”
A silvery bell tone broke the silence.
“Otherwise, please try when you next can.” The face smiled at her. She smiled tentatively back. Once you got used to the fact that it was green…
“She did instruct me to give you some advice. She suggests that you cultivate the Gamekeeper. Eric, I believe?”
“Cultivate the Gamekeeper? Why?” That seemed odd.
“Eric is older than Sebastian. He has also been in a unique position to observe matters within and without the Old Duke’s household — neither a servant, nor an acknowledged family member. He may well have seen things that escaped the Old Duke’s attention. He managed the affairs of the estate very well as Sebastian’s Guardian, and has continued to do so as Sebastian’s proxy, so he is scarcely the crude and unlettered Woodsman that he would like people to think that he is.” The green face raised an eloquent eyebrow. “The Godmother believes he can be an important ally for you, but it will take some skill to manage this.”
She bit her lip. Managing her stepmother and the twins was one thing. Their interests were limited, and as long as those interests were satisfied, it was relatively easy to get them to do what she wanted. Or rather, to refrain from doing what she didn’t want them to do. But…
No, she was fairly certain he would see through any attempt to manipulate him.
“You know,” the face continued, giving her a very penetrating look, “he might just respond to the offer of friendship.”
She almost laughed out loud. Eric? That…rake? He would probably take any such offer as an invitation to her bed! Still, if the Godmother thought it would be a good idea…
“I’ll try,” she said.
The face seemed satisfied. “As soon as your mutual circumstances allow, the Godmother will be happy to consult with you, mademoiselle. I pledge you that.”
Since that seemed to be all that could be said at the moment, she nodded and thanked him. The mirror clouded, then reflected only her face.
There was still time; she might actually catch Eric at the stable before he came looking for supper. She filled a basket with the sorts of things she thought he might want: syrup for sore throats and coughs; willow syrup for fever and headache; a different sort of liniment, one that warmed instead of cooling; salve for wounds; ointment for winter-cracked skin. She threw on her cloak and hurried down to the stable, and did indeed catch him just coming out.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be at supper, so I wanted to be sure you got these things,” she said, handing the basket toward him. He took it, looking very much surprised, then pulled out a bottle and read the carefully printed label.