Lord Akeldama’s eyes lit with amusement. “Oh, my dearest girl, what will you think of next? Weregoats? Be on your guard, for at full moon they shall creep into your coat closet and eat up all your shoes!”
Biffy hid a smile.
Alexia was not in the mood to be mocked.
Lord Akeldama recovered his much-vaunted poise. “My darling toffee button, you can be quite the widgeon upon occasion. Animals do not have souls. How could they possibly? Next thing you know, I’ll be petitioning Countess Nadasdy to bite old fatty there so I can have company into my dotage.” He gestured to his cat. The chubby creature had delusions of being a vicious hunter but could never master anything more taxing than a pillow tassel. Or, on one recent and memorable occasion, one of Ivy’s hats. Lady Maccon shuddered at the recollection. Why had she thought she could bring Ivy to tea with a vampire? Her dearest friend may have taken to the stage of late, but she was still not ready for intimate exposure to Lord Akeldama’s brand of drama. Nor was Lord Akeldama entirely capable of withstanding intimate exposure to one of Ivy’s hats. After that tea, Alexia had been forced to admit that Lord Akeldama and Ivy Tunstell were like plaid and brocade, utterly incompatible even in complementary colors.
At which juncture someone else came into Lord Akeldama’s drawing room, only this time without announcement of any kind save a minor bellow.
“Good gracious me,” said Lord Akeldama, sounding like some dowager countess of old Georgian inclination. “What has my house become? Charring Cross Station?”
Biffy looked to Lady Maccon, resplendent in her tentlike gown of eyelet lace and blue satin bows. “More akin to a dirigible landing green, I should think, my lord.”
Alexia, who found her condition even more ridiculous than anyone else, was moved to smile at such a comparison. She had, of late, been feeling inflated.
Lord Akeldama chuckled softly. “Ah, Biffy, I have missed you, my dove.”
The individual who had entered, unannounced and unbidden, observed this exchange with a frown.
Lord Akeldama turned upon him with mild censure in his sharp blue eyes. “Lord Maccon, if you are to stay here, and I believe that is settled for the moment, we really must train you in the fine art of knocking before entering a room.”
The earl was gruff in his embarrassment. “Oh, yes. Upon occasion, I find it hard to remember details of etiquette.” He swirled his cloak off. It landed on the back of a side chair before sliding off and falling to the floor.
Lord Akeldama shuddered.
“Lord Akeldama. Wife. Pup.” Lord Maccon nodded. His tawny eyes concerned, he moved to bend over Alexia. “Everything still corked up?” he asked her in one ear.
“Yes, yes, don’t fuss, Conall.” Alexia would have none of it.
“Everything else squared away?”
“I was just about to perform the inspection. Hoist me up, would you, please?”
The earl grinned, braced himself, and offered her one massive hand. Alexia grasped it in both of hers and he levered. At her preternatural touch, he lost supernatural strength, but he was still powerful enough to handle Alexia—even in her inflated dirigible state.
“We will have to be seen going next door, I suppose. And we will have to determine a way to sneak back into this house later tonight.”
“Such skulking and folderol, all for the sake of appearances,” grumbled Lord Maccon.
Alexia bristled. She’d been through quite a hellish time when her husband had booted her from his bed and company. Society had ostracized her all because she appeared to have been indiscreet. “Appearances are everything!”
“Hear, hear,” agreed Lord Akeldama.
“Very well, wife. We must determine how to get you from our balcony to Lord Akeldama’s.”
He wore an expression Alexia suspected greatly. She glared at him. “You will find me a gangplank, thank you very much. I will not be flung, husband.”
Lord Maccon looked a tad surprised at that. “Did I indicate I intended any such activity?”
“No, but I know how you get.”
Conall was nonplussed by such an unwarranted accusation.
Alexia continued. “Oh, yes, and I should warn you. There’s a surprise waiting for us in our new front parlor.”
Lord Maccon grinned wolfishly. “Is it a nice surprise?”
“Only if you’re in a very good mood,” hedged his wife.
* * *
The ghost was in that space again, that insubstantial void. She thought she might float there forever if she could simply stay still. Still as death.
But reality intruded. Reality from her own mind, however little of it was left. “You have to tell someone. You have to tell them. This is wrong. You are mad and yet even you know this is wrong. Put a stop to it. You have to tell.”
Oh, how inconvenient, when one’s own brain starts issuing instructions.
“Who can I tell? Who can I tell? I am only a hen in a chicken coop.”
“Tell someone who can do something. Tell the soulless girl.”
“Her? But I don’t even like her.”
“That’s no excuse. You don’t like anyone.”
The ghost hated it when she was sensible with herself.
CHAPTER THREE
Matters Ghostly
Oh, really, must you?” was Lord Maccon’s considered opinion, expressed to his wife upon seeing her sister in residence, as if Felicity were some sort of unfortunate digestive complaint Alexia had recently developed.