Page 40 of Thus with a Kiss I Die

Papà stood and walked toward me. “Leave me to take care of your mamma. In this matter, little apprentice, my experience is more extensive than yours.”

Gently he urged me out the door and shut it behind me. I felt as if I’d missed some secret communication between them—which wasn’t that usual. But . . . huh. They really had both looked quite peculiar.

CHAPTER22

The next evening, Nonna Ursula, holding a small cloth bag, hobbled on my arm into the castle’s library. The setting sun shone through the glass windows. As convocations go, this one was not large. Mamma, Princess Isabella, Katherina, and Imogene sat on wooden chairs around a small parquet table, a lit candelabra in the middle. Princess Isabella and Katherina looked wide-eyed and scared. Imogene was all energy and excitement, ready to leap out of her skin at a moment’s notice.

Nurse leaned against the wall, arms folded, her mouth puckered in disapproval.

Elder slipped in through the unlit fireplace. “I’ve never witnessed one of these,” he told me. “It’s always been ladies-only entertainment.”

I ignored him for all I was worth, and tried not to consider that if he was within my vision, other spirits could join.

Nonna Ursula asked, “Rosie, who’s attending this gathering?”

I didn’t know if Nonna Ursula was playing her “I can’t see” card, or if the angle of the sun and the arrangement of the candles obscured her sight. “In this chamber are Lady Juliet, two of my sisters, Katherina and Imogene, and Princess Isabella.” I didn’t mention Elder. That seemed premature.

Nonna Ursula peered toward the flickering candlelight. “You have a third sister, the little charmer at the end of last night’s table. Where’s she?”

“Emilia is eight and I didn’t want her to view our proceedings,” Mamma explained.

“Because afterward she’ll wet the bed with fear?” Nonna Ursula asked.

Nurse snorted.

“No, because she’s brave to foolishness, and she’ll burn down our house attempting to lure the spirits by herself.” Mamma knew her daughters very well.

Nonna Ursula cackled. “I like your children, Lady Juliet.”

“Thank you, Nonna Ursula.” Mamma accepted the compliment with complacent ease. “I like them, too.”

Today she seemed less uncomfortable, less on edge, and may I say it? Placid. Papà was right. He did indeed know how to care for Mamma.

I guided Nonna Ursula to the chair with arms and helped her seat herself. Katherina and Princess Isabella scooted her close to the table.

“Rosie, take what’s in the bag and place it in the center of the table.” Nonna Ursula may have been amused.

I opened the bag, reached down, and grabbed what felt like a bony, oblong ball, pulled it out and . . .

Listen, I’m not much of a screamer, but I screamed.

So did Katherina and Princess Isabella.

I dropped the skull on the floor.

It rolled to rest at Nonna Ursula’s side. She picked it up, looked into its empty eye sockets, and said, “Alas, poor Yorick, such rough treatment, when soon you’ll be called upon for assistance!”

“Is that truly the legendary Yorick?” Mamma asked in a conversational tone.

“Who’s Yorick and why is he legendary?” Imogene seemed much less perturbed at the sight of a skull than the other girls.

Or than me, for that matter. I wiped my hand on my skirt and glared at Elder, who triednotvery hard to smother a grin.

“Yorick was our jester, a man of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.” Nonna Ursula placed Yorick next to the candles. “He was the only man I ever allowed to attend me at my séances, and after his untimely death, I’ve kept him close to call in the spirits.”

Imogene could contain herself no longer. “Are we really going to contact the spirits of the dead?”

“If they wish to be contacted.” Nonna Ursula smiled a mysterious smile, and as she did, the last rosy ray of the sun struck her face, flushing her with the pink of artificial youth and making her cloudy eyes glow with a fiery red.