“Oh, I don’t enjoy the discussion of bloodshed half as much as my sister,” said Anaïs, turning the page of her book.
Mallory added a final touch to her sketch—thickening the line of lashes around Armand’s eyes. Only when she’d finished did she realize he was watching her again.
She cleared her throat. “I have many ideas for how we might go about removing these unwanted spirits from the estate.”
“To be clear,” said Armand, “I do not mind the wives. I do sometimes wonder if they would prefer to move on and be at peace in Verloren, but I see this as their home as much as mine.It is only Le Bleu that absolutely must be dealt with. Le Bleu… and the monsters.”
“Monsters. Such as the lutin?”
“Yes. Well, we gave the lutin some cheese and transferred it to the pantry, and it seems content for the time being. But we are constantly dealing with some new, strange creature, and they are not all as amiable.” He gestured toward the forest. “We had a cheval mallet that was tormenting travelers on the road behind our forest for weeks.”
“Really?” Mallory brightened. “Can I see it?”
He looked at her like she’d just asked for a tour of the necessaries. “Er… no,” he said. “It moved on, thankfully.”
Mallory sat back, disappointed.
He massaged his temple. “I hired a trapper a while back to help get the monsters under control, but they keep coming back. Thank Eostrig, most of the beasts are more annoying than harmful, but still—do you have any idea how mortifying it is to invite a wine merchant to visit the vineyards, only to hear that he turned around and left because some demonic horse would not let him pass? Or for half the season’s grape harvest to rot on the vine because the farmhands are afraid that a fox-matagot is going to bring misfortune on their families? Sometimes I wonder if I should move to the city and be done with it all.”
“Why don’t you?” Anaïs said, lowering her book.
Mallory wanted to throw the pencil at her. If Armand decided to abandon the house, he’d have no need of two fake witches at all.
But Armand shook his head. “It is not so simple. Our business is tied to this land.”
“The grape varietal only grows here,” said Mallory. “To make the Ruby Comorre your family is known for.”
He nodded. “To abandon this estate would be the end of our heritage. My family has worked this land for generations—long before Le Bleu tarnished our name.”
“Winemaking must be quite a passion,” said Anaïs.
In response, Armand bellowed a dry laugh. “Gods, no. I hate it. I don’t even like Ruby Comorre. It’s so sweet, and that syrupy aftertaste? I can’t understand what the fuss is about. But… but I do not wish to be the Saphir who ruins everything, after all these years.”
“Your great-great-grandfather is the one ruining everything,” said Anaïs.
“Even so,” said Armand, “this estate is my responsibility. I know we keep a meager house staff, but we have many more employees in the vineyards and winery. Dozens of people are relying on me to maintain the family business. And the income that is brought into the town of Comorre itself because of our exports… it’s quite significant.” He hesitated before adding, “I also feel some remorse for Lucienne and Béatrice. They deserve nothing of their fate. I would not abandon them here, with him.”
Mallory’s pencil hovered over the curve of Armand’s upper lip. She had not considered how the return of Le Bleu seven years before might have affected the two wives who had died here and haunted the place in relative peace for nearly a hundred years.
“Oh,my. You are… most talented, Miss Fontaine.”
Mallory slammed her sketchbook shut and glared over her shoulder. Julie shrank away—even as her expression took on a fierce protectiveness.
With a noncommittal huff, the maid started for the edges of the terrace, dusting every surface within reach.
“Is everything all right?” Armand asked.
“Fine,” Mallory snapped, wishing she wasn’t embarrassed at having been caught sketching the count’s features. But it wasn’t her fault that he was uncannily handsome. Any artist would have found him irresistible.
To draw. Irresistible todraw.
Armand’s voice went quiet. “Julie is fairly new here, and she is…” He trailed off, embarrassed.
Mallory could imagine how easy it would be for a young lady to become infatuated with the lord of a great country estate. It surprised her that Julie would be so forward about it, but as Armand seemed incapable of drawing boundaries between himself and the staff, she supposed it wasn’t that astonishing.
“It is truly none of our business,” Mallory said firmly.
This only seemed to make Armand more uncomfortable, but then he fixed his gaze on her and asked, “What do you plan to do?”
