The Palace of Lost Memories

Chapter 7

Captain Hammer's breath brushed my hair and his whisper echoed through my body. "Don't scream. I'm going to let you go now." His hands moved away from my mouth, my waist, and his body no longer warmed my back.

I shivered.

"Are you lost?" he asked.

I nodded. It was all I could manage. My voice could not yet be trusted to remain steady.

"Follow me." He strode off without looking back.

I picked up my skirts and followed. By the time we reached a brightly lit corridor, my heart had stopped racing. "Who was in that room?"

"No one."

"I heard something."

He rounded on me. "What did you hear?"

"A sort of wail."

"Probably just the wind. The drafts in this part of the palace could sail a ship." He took off again and I realized we were heading back the way I'd come.

"I was trying to find the garrison," I said. "Can you direct me? Usually I'm very good at following directions but the maid's instructions were complicated."

"You've spoken to palace servants?"

"Yes. Why? Am I not allowed?"

He turned left into another corridor. "The garrison is this way. Why do you want to go there?"

"Max said Quentin has been asking about me."

"Persistently." He sounded annoyed.

I smiled at his back then, as the corridor widened, moved up alongside him. He didn't break stride.

"So what is in that room?"

"Nothing that concerns you. Any other questions, Miss Cully?"

"Call me Josie. And I have a million questions," I muttered.

He turned to look at me. "This is why your father didn't want you to stay, isn't it? Because he knew you'd sneak around the palace and find trouble."

"First of all, I am not sneaking. I was looking for the garrison. Secondly, have I found trouble?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether Lady Miranda dies in your absence."

I slowed but he kept walking. He was utterly serious. "She's out of danger," I said, catching up. "She won't die now unless the poisoner gets to her again, but Max is there to stop him."

"Or her. Are you sure she's out of danger?"

"I know you'd prefer to have my father's reassurance, but I do know when someone is on their death bed or not."

"I believe you."

I blinked at him but refrained from asking if he really did believe me or was just saying so. I had a feeling Captain Hammer wasn't a man who said one thing when he meant another.

He pushed open a door and the sounds of quiet chatter welcomed me into the large room beyond. Ten men dressed in palace guards' uniforms sat in chairs, some positioned at the long central table, others near the fireplace. As with the service corridors, the walls weren't plastered, painted or carved like Lady Miranda's apartments. It was as bare as a crypt.

"Josie!" Quentin set down the boots he'd been polishing and sprang up. He went to embrace me then thought better of it and patted my shoulders instead. He couldn't stop grinning. "I'm so glad to see you! So, so glad. Come, sit down. You must be exhausted."