Wulfyddia (The Tattersall Trilogy Book 1) by Steele Alexandra Page B

purpose, caught Justine’s gaze despite his great
distance from her window. And somehow, despite the multitude of other people
who wandered by, Justine could not tear her eyes from him until he finally
stirred and walked away.
    ***
    “Madam,
there is a missive from Sir Iordano regarding Blaxton. He has heard a rumor
that Blaxton has garnered support during his exile in the East. He seems to
think that there may be an army massing on his behalf. Madam?”
    Arthur
blinked at his mistress, unnerved to see her staring past him as though she did
not hear his words. That was unusual, most of the time she hung on his every
word as though waiting for him to make a mistake. For a moment he allowed
himself to hope that her senility was finally upon her and that she was winding
down like an old clock and would finally stop. Just, stop .
    “I want Fane.”
Her voice was quite low, and he thought he might have misheard her.
    “Who,
madam?”
    “Fane. I
want my hunter.”
    Her
title for Fane had always amused Arthur, in a sickly sort of way. Anise, the
Queen’s eldest granddaughter, was a huntress. She killed animals, birds and
beasts of all breeds. Fane stopped human hearts. The word hunter was perhaps
technically correct, but assassin would be still more accurate.
    “Madam,
he hasn’t been to Court in many years,”
    “Don’t
be inane, Arthur. I know how long it’s been.” The Queen turned to face him
fully. There was something about the way she stood that suddenly made her look
older than ever before. She seemed grotesquely old, almost staggering under the
weight of all of her years. “Rathbone’s arrest was a mistake.” She hesitated,
as though what she was about to admit next pained her, but when she spoke next
her tone was steady and confident. “There was another man in the square before
him. He was the man I intended to arrest.”
    Arthur
thought pityingly of the poor, gibbering surgeon and his tormented eyes. Poor
man. Well, he wasn’t the first to fall in a trap thoughtlessly laid for someone
else by the Queen. Arthur felt a pang of guilt at his own role in the man’s
arrest, but reminded himself that he was a victim in this too, as they all
were. Still, he wondered how the man would fare, struck by lunacy as he was and
turned out suddenly onto the streets.
    The
Queen was still watching him for some reaction, so Arthur cleared his
expression and blinked back at her. “So, Fane, Madam?”
    The
Queen wheeled around, turning her back to him. “The man I was thinking of must
be caught. It is extremely important to me, and Fane has never failed me
before. Summon him here. At once.”
    “Winter
is coming, madam, and as you know he dwells in the Ice Mountains now. It may be
some weeks before he arrives.”
    “Send
for him.” The Queen’s voice was cold and imposing. She remained with her back
firmly turned to him as he bowed and then backed slowly out of the room.

Chapter 5
    The
widow who ran the boarding house seemed unflatteringly reluctant to rent him a
room. Rathbone was insulted, as he considered himself a highly desirable tenant.
Surely she could have done worse than a promising young surgeon.
    He was
too distracted, too lost in his own mind, to see the slime that he tracked onto
her carpets, to catch the hysterical note in his voice or see the faintly
fevered flush of his brow in her drawing room mirror. His coat was covered in
grime, his face bruised, his hands blackened and his fingernails as jagged as
his nerves. Indeed, it was lucky that he was a physician, or she might have
turned him out onto the street then and there. But he was a doctor, and so the
aged landlady reflected for a moment, reclining on her settee with her dog on
her lap. The little creature was the love of her life, and it was usually quite
sweet-tempered, so she was surprised when the animal took one look at the young
man and snarled at him most definitively.
    Rathbone
watched the mongrel with slowly rising panic. He had never minded