Page 6 of Unbroken (Rath & Rune #4)

“I think you might have handled things a bit more delicately,” Ves suggested that evening as Irene drove them home. He and Noct sat in the rear, curtained off from the outside world except for a gap in the windows between front and back seats.

“We can’t just let some random person stumble about while the School of Night prowls around and some maniac is using the Book of Blood to kill people,” Irene shot back.

Noct sighed. “Perhaps a bit of misdirection would have kept him happy, my heart. As opposed to outright refusal.”

“I suppose, but he’s a very unpleasant man,” she replied, unrepentant. “Let him stew. We’ll find a way to talk to the butler on our own. Or any of the other servants who might know.”

“Just…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe take Mortimer next time you need someone’s cooperation,” Ves said. Though Mortimer’s personality could be abrasive, to say the least, he had a knack for charming people when he needed to.

Irene started to protest, but Sebastian said, “No, Ves is right. I at least should have handled things better. I suppose I wasn’t expecting him to want to join our investigation, rather than simply report back to him. I wish I knew if he’s trustworthy.”

“After what happened with Arthur, I don’t trust anyone but us around these damned Books,” Irene said darkly.

She had a point. Arthur Fairchild had been a fellow librarian and close friend of Sebastian’s. Yet the Book of Breath still corrupted him. Tubbs might start out trustworthy, then be lured in by some promise of power. “Best not to chance it,” Ves agreed.

Irene pulled up to the curb outside of the Rath house. “Good night, all. I’ll be speaking with Rupert again tonight, so wish me luck.”

“Good luck. We’ll see you in the morning,” Noct said, before pulling a blanket over his head and climbing on Ves’s back to conceal himself for the few steps from the auto to the gate.

The oldest children, Willie, Helen, and Jossie, were engrossed in some sort of skipping game in the side yard. As soon as they spotted them, Helen called, “Mama has a visitor.”

A flash of resentment went through Ves: Noct would have to remain out of sight, and he’d have to keep on his coat to prevent anyone from asking about the slashes in the back of his vest. It was followed immediately by a stronger flush of shame.

Bonnie not only had every right to friends outside the household, she likely needed them.

And of course some of them would want to visit her at home.

Noct took the direct route, up a tree and through the attic window to his room. Sebastian and Ves entered in a more ordinary fashion. The smell of roasting meat greeted them inside, and Sebastian made a face, perhaps remembering the poor woman whose sickbed he’d visited.

“We’re home!” Sebastian called as they hung up their hats and suit coats.

“In here,” Bonnie responded, but her voice lacked its usual cheery note.

Ves exchanged a glance with Sebastian, then they both went into the sitting room.

Bonnie rocked back and forth near the unlit fireplace, baby Clara fast asleep on her shoulder.

In her free hand she held a letter. Across from her sat an old woman with a round face and apple cheeks, dressed in a dark gray frock.

Her gnarled fingers were busy knitting, but her sympathetic gaze was fixed on Bonnie.

“No man is worth crying over, dear,” she said. “My first husband ran off to South America and died there—or that’s what I told my second, though the old fool might well be alive to this day, for all I know.”

Sebastian looked at the letter in Bonnie’s hand. “Is that from…?”

“Jeremy.” She crumpled the paper in her fingers. “He’s not coming back.”

Not exactly surprising, after Sebastian had attacked Jeremy with the magic he’d gained from the Books. Still, it must be a blow.

The old woman tucked her knitting away in a bag and made to rise. “I should probably be going.”

Bonnie seemed to recover herself. “I’m sorry—Mrs. Caroline Adams, this is my brother, Sebastian Rath, and our boarder, Vesper Rune.”

Mrs. Adams beamed at them. “What fine young men you are! I just moved in down the block and wanted to meet my neighbors.”

“She’s in the old Szawlowski place,” Bonnie said, and Sebastian nodded, the name apparently familiar to him. “She stopped by just after the mail came and was good enough to keep me company.”

“No trouble at all, dear.” Mrs. Adams hitched her bag over her shoulder. “I’m only glad I could be of some help. And now that I know you have such adorable children, the next time I come I’ll be sure to bring my famous gingerbread cookies.”

“Thank you, truly.” Bonnie made as if to rise, but Mrs. Adams tutted at her.

“Don’t disturb the baby—I can see my own way out.” Standing, her shrunken frame didn’t reach five feet in height, forcing her to bend her neck to smile up at Ves. “It was so good to meet you, young man. And you as well, Mr. Rath.”

She hobbled out, leaving behind the faint scent of lavender. “She seems nice,” Ves said, though privately he hoped she didn’t visit often in the afternoon or evening, when Noct was here and would have to hide.

“She was such a dear when she saw I’d been crying.” Bonnie sighed and tucked the crumpled letter into her apron.

“I’m sorry about Jeremy,” Ves offered. “At least you still have two husbands left.”

Bonnie looked at him incredulously. “That’s not…never mind.”

“And you were lecturing me about handling things delicately?” Sebastian asked. Turning to his sister, he said, “Jeremy was a cad. Lying, going behind your back—you’re better off without him.”

“I know.” She sagged. “But Helen and Tommy, even the other children…I don’t want them to feel like his leaving was their fault.

The least he could have done was send letters to them, reassuring them of his love, perhaps even arranging to meet away from the house.

Instead, he tells me he’s not coming back to Widdershins and to forget he ever existed. As if that were possible.”

Privately, Ves wondered if the children were better off without their father…but his perspective was badly warped from his own upbringing. Jeremy had many faults, but he wasn’t an outright monster.

“He’ll come to regret it,” Sebastian predicted. “Not that it helps now. What can we do?”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you.” She looked to Ves. “Can you take Clara for a moment? She’s been fussy today.”

“Of course.” Ves slipped off his jacket and let out his tentacles. Taking Clara in his human arms, he picked up her pacifier in one tentacle. The baby responded to being dislodged from her mother by turning red in the face, working her way up to a shriek, so he offered her the pacifier.

Bonnie rose. “Let’s walk outside—I’ve been sitting for long enough to get stiff, and need to move around.”

“Of course.” Sebastian exchanged a concerned look with Ves, then trailed his sister outside.

* * *

The green backyard remained cool despite the angry glare of the sun.

What had been a small garden before Noct moved in now overflowed with tomatoes, peas, corn, and squash.

Bees hummed lazily around the flowers, their bodies dusted gold with pollen.

It reminded Sebastian a bit of the massive flowers in Penelope Tubbs’s garden, though this vegetation was of normal size. Verdant rather than swollen.

Bonnie plucked a ripe tomato as they passed by. “I’m not looking forward to when Noct moves out. My poor garden will have to rely on me again.”

“No one is leaving anytime soon,” he assured her. “Not until the Books are contained and the School of Night is out of our lives.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She stopped beside a sycamore tree, peering up into its high branches. A bird sang from somewhere amidst the thick leaves. “You said one of them—the School of Night—killed Mother.”

“Yes.” Sebastian took off his glasses and scrubbed his eyes. “The Book of Flesh showed me a glimpse.”

“And which one of our illustrious ancestors was that?”

“Thaddeus Hollowell.”

“God.” She shuddered. “And to think, he—his Book—was shut away in our house the whole time we were growing up. Just inches away from where we played, where we slept. What was Mother thinking? Or Great-Uncle Thomas?”

“I suspect neither of them wanted to sell the house with the Book inside.” He shook his head. “If I’d become a bookbinder like Mother wanted…”

“It shouldn’t have mattered! She should have told us.” Bonnie’s hands clenched. “We had the right to know.”

No doubt Mother had believed she was doing the correct thing, keeping a dangerous secret close.

She’d done the same mental calculus as he had when deciding not to tell Mr. Tubbs any more than absolutely necessary.

“As Shakespeare said, ‘Two may keep counsel, putting one away.’ Mother didn’t want to take the risk.

It’s easy to judge in hindsight, but I truly believe she thought she was keeping us safe. ”

“Well, she was wrong.” Bonnie leaned her back against the tree trunk and looked at him. “What happened the night she died?”

Now it was Sebastian’s turn to stare at the tree. A squirrel made its way along the branches, jumping easily from one to the next, pausing now and again to scratch or investigate further inside the dense growth.

“I wish I could tell you,” he said at last. “I only know the fragment the Book showed me.”

“Then tell me that part.”

The Binding scars on his arm seemed to sing with pain as he cast his mind back to the moment the Book of Flesh was Bound to him. “I saw her in the sitting room. Holding the Book. The electricity was out—you remember the blizzard that day—so she’d lit a kerosene lantern. She wasn’t alone.”

His breath thickened in his throat, and he blinked back tears. If only he’d been there. “I couldn’t see who she was with, but I heard their voice. A woman’s voice.”

“Why did she take the Book from its hiding place?”

“I can’t imagine.” Mother had known about the Books and their power—why in hell would she have risked letting one loose from its cage?

“Did she say anything? Did she look…afraid?”

The final word was spoken in a smaller voice. Sebastian turned to face his sister, saw the desperation in her eyes. The desire to both know and not know, at the same time.

“No,” he said, and surprise flickered over Bonnie’s face. “She looked angry. And…betrayed, maybe? She wasn’t about to let the Book go. The woman threatened her, so she grabbed the kerosene lantern and threw it. The vision ended, but…well. We know what happened next.”

Their mother died in the ensuing blaze, but her attacker escaped. Without the Book, at least.

“And you know who this mystery woman was?” Bonnie prompted.

“The Chancellor of the School of Night. I don’t know her real name.

The Provost—I don’t know what his name was, either—all but said as much.

Somehow, the School found out the Book of Flesh was in the house, and the Chancellor came to take it.

” He spread his hands. “And that’s all I know. I’m sorry.”

“Right.” Bonnie folded her arms over her chest. “And you’re going to kill her?”

Sebastian sighed. “I doubt she’ll give us any other option.”