Chương 58

After breakfast they were allowed outside under escort. The morning air was warm. The east path ran between clipped hedges and rose beds. The side lawns opened beyond the hedges, bright under the sun, and the old oaks stood farther out near the south wall. Past the wall, the grass grew longer toward a drainage ditch and a line of pines. Two soldiers followed at a distance. Another stood where the path bent back toward the house. The path was wide, but every route Louis could see returned to a soldier with a rifle.

Louis walked with the cane in his right hand. To his left, Angelique walked with her back straight and her eyes fixed ahead. She did not look toward the soldiers. Her hair was loose, a few strands moving at her neck. Gladice walked on his other side. She looked around without pretending otherwise, taking in everything. They crossed onto the main lawn and passed between two lines of oaks. The branches broke the sunlight across the path.

"Where are we walking to?" Gladice asked. Louis glanced at the two soldiers still following.

"Nowhere. We're just walking." Gladice sighed and looked toward the distant tree line.

"We could run."

"No," Louis said.

"Why not?"

"Because I am a cripple, you are wearing the wrong shoes, and they have guns." Gladice made a face.

"Sensible. Boring." Angelique smiled to herself.

"You knew Louis was practical when you met him."

"I knew he was a Collins," Gladice said.

"I thought that meant more style." Angelique turned to Louis.

"Are you disappointed?" He smiled.

"Not today." Angelique looked pleased. Gladice shook her head.

"So," Gladice said, "which version do we want? That the Council keeps us here because we're valuable, or that they move us somewhere more convenient for trading?" Louis did not answer at once. The grass gave softly under his shoes. The sky above the oaks was clear and blue. A bird crossed high over them. Louis watched it until it disappeared beyond the pines. Then he lowered his eyes back to the path. He said, "It depends on what they think they can get from the Dominion and the Collective."

Angelique said, "They won't hand us back quickly."

"No," Louis agreed.

"Not while we're useful."

"Useful." Angelique let out a breath through her nose.

"I hate being useful." Gladice laughed once.

"You and me both, Angel." They walked another few steps. Louis said, "What do you think of Vance?" Gladice answered without hesitation.

"Military. Competent. Loyal to the state, not to a family. That makes him better than the Hargroves." Angelique said, "He is a soldier who thinks he is doing the right thing."

"Is that better or worse?" Louis asked.

"It depends on how he defines the right thing." Angelique looked at him.

"And whether he is willing to question the definitions he is given."

"He is not a man who questions his own judgment," Louis said.

"But he watches. He listens." Gladice made a small sound.

"So we behave."

"For now," Louis said. The path curved around a low stone fountain. Water moved faintly in the basin, catching the morning light. Beyond it, a bench stood beneath the camellias. Jennifer Hargrove stood beside it. She saw them when they saw her. Her eyes dropped at once to the path, and she stayed where she was. Her dress was a pale gray-blue. Her blonde hair had been pulled back, with a few loose strands near one ear. The skin beneath her eyes looked dark. Enjoying the story?

Show your support by reading it on the official site. When she looked up again, her eyes moved first to Louis, then to Angelique, then to Gladice. Then she looked down again and came toward them slowly. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I didn't know if I should come over." Gladice's mouth curved.

"You didn't have to." Jennifer looked down at her shoes.

"I know." Angelique said nothing. She had gone very still beside Louis. Jennifer swallowed.

"I only—" She stopped. Began again.

"Yesterday." She paused, then looked toward the house and back to them.

"It was wrong," she said at last.

"What happened yesterday." Gladice raised her eyebrows.

"What a relief to hear it." Jennifer's color rose.

"I mean it. I couldn't sleep thinking of it. Of how—of what you—" Her voice wavered. She pressed her lips together. Angelique looked her in the eye.

"Did you say anything to your father?" Jennifer shook her head.

"I wasn't allowed to speak to him. Not after the soldiers came." Louis said, "And your mother?"

"She was in her rooms. The soldiers wouldn't let me in." Gladice shook her head slightly.

"Poor Jenny." Jennifer's eyes flashed.

"Don't call me that." Gladice crossed her arms.

"You want me to call you what? Miss Hargrove? Because you don't seem to like that either when it actually means something." Jennifer opened her mouth and shut it again. Her hands had tightened into fists at her sides. Louis put his hands in his pockets.

"What do you want, Jennifer?" She looked at him with wide eyes. Then she said, in a voice that had gone almost desperate, "I want to know if you are alright." Angelique tilted her head.

"Why?" Jennifer stared at her.

"Because..." She looked away.

"Because it was my house. My family. And they did that to you."

"And you feel guilty," Angelique said in a flat voice. Jennifer looked up at her. Then she nodded once. Angelique held her gaze for a moment. Then she said, "You should." Jennifer flinched. Angelique looked her up and down. Louis said, "We are alive. That is what matters right now." Jennifer's eyes moved back to him.

"Will they let you go?" Gladice snorted.

"Do you really think so?"

"I don't know." Jennifer looked down again.

"I wish they would let you go home. All of you." Louis looked at her for a moment. Then he said, "You have never been outside this house, have you?" She hesitated.

"I have been to Montgomery. To church. To the Covenant School for Girls in the summers." Louis sighed.

"The world does not care if we go home. It cares what we are worth. That is why we are still here." Jennifer blinked at him. She opened her mouth, then shut it again and turned her head away. Her shoulders had risen slightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Her eyes went red. Louis closed his eyes for a moment. Then Angelique moved closer to her and said, "Don't cry. If you are sorry, do something." Jennifer looked at her, lashes wet.

"Like what?" she asked, voice broken. Gladice spoke before Angelique could answer.

"Like telling us what you know about this house that we don't." Jennifer stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean anything," Gladice said.

"Secret doors. Extra keys. Passages. Anything that might help us if things get bad again." Her gaze sharpened.

"You are a Hargrove. You know this place better than we ever will. Tell us." Jennifer looked between the three of them and sniffled.

"I don't—" she began. Then she stopped. Her eyes moved to them again. She swallowed.

"There is a master key of the house," she said, very quietly.

"It opens most of the doors. Mr. Wells has it." Louis's eyes widened.

"Where does he keep it?"

"Always on him."

"Does anyone else have a copy?" Jennifer shook her head.

"Only my father. But he always locks it in his safe at night. Mr. Wells keeps it on him all the time." She looked at Louis.

"When I was little I asked him to show it to me. He said no girl should need the master key." She blinked rapidly.

"I always remembered that." Gladice's voice was flat.

"What else?"

"I don't know." Jennifer looked at her with watery eyes.

"I never thought about these things before." Her voice dropped again.

"I can ask. I can find out." Angelique looked at her for several seconds. Then she said, "Don't risk yourself, and don't do anything stupid."

"I won't." Jennifer shook her head.

"I promise. Please—" She took one step toward them, stopped, and then spoke in a whisper.

"I am not like them." Louis looked at her face and nodded.

"I know," he said. Angelique patted Jennifer's shoulder gently. Jennifer drew a sharp breath and walked quickly back to the house, lifting the hem of her dress. The three of them watched her go. Then Gladice let out a breath and said, "Well. She might be useful after all." Louis looked at her.

"She is trying."

"Yes," Angelique said softly.

"And that is exactly the problem." Gladice frowned.

"How?" Angelique looked away, toward the house.

"Because she will do something foolish trying to help us and her father will destroy her." Gladice stretched her arms.

"The father is under guard. So is the house." She gestured toward the soldiers behind.

"No one is getting destroyed today."

"You think not?" Angelique turned back to her.

"Wait until they hand us to someone else. Wait until Theodore finds a way to communicate. Jennifer is not strong enough to survive what will come then." Gladice rolled her eyes.

"And that's our fault?"

"No." Angelique looked at her sharply.

"It is her tragedy. But it is our responsibility because we woke it." Gladice opened her mouth. Closed it again. She looked from Angelique to Louis and back again.

"I thought you didn't like her." Angelique held her gaze.

"I don't."

"Then why—""Because I know what it is to be a girl in a house like this," Angelique said.

"And I do not wish to see another one broken for trying to do what is right." Gladice stared at her for a long moment. Then she nodded once, very slowly.

"Alright." They walked in silence after that. The sun climbed higher. The air grew warmer. Louis felt the knee start to stiffen after too much walking. The soldiers maintained their watch without comment.