AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Silver shrine?”
“We have to leave now, I’m afraid,” said Gideon, crossing the room with a few strides and placing himself beside me.
“I understand, I understand! The twenty-first century awaits you, of course,” said Lord Brompton. “I thank you most warmly for visiting me. It was wonderfully entertaining.”
“I can only agree with you,” said the count.
“I hope we shall have the pleasure of meeting again,” said Lord Brompton.
Rakoczy said nothing. He just looked at me. And suddenly I felt as if an icy hand had been laid on my throat. I gasped for air, alarmed, and looked down at myself. Nothing to be seen. Yet I felt the fingers closing around my windpipe.
“I can press harder whenever I like.”
It wasn’t Rakoczy saying that—it was the count. But his lips hadn’t moved.
Bewildered, I looked from his mouth to his hand. It was more than four yards away from me. How could it be around my neck at the same time? And why did I hear his voice in my head when he wasn’t speaking?
“I don’t know exactly what part you are playing, girl, or whether you are of any importance. But I will not have my rules broken. I am warning you. Do you understand?” The pressure of his fingers tightened.
I was paralyzed by fear. I could only stare at him, gasping for breath. Didn’t anyone notice what was happening to me?
“I asked if you understood.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
The grip of the count’s fingers slackened at once, the hand was removed. Air could stream freely into my lungs.
The count’s lips curled, and he shook his wrist.
“We shall meet again,” he said.
Gideon bowed. The three men bowed back. I was the only one who stood perfectly still, unable to move at all, until Gideon took my hand and led me out of the room.
* * *
EVEN WHEN we were sitting in the coach again I still felt terribly nervous—weak, exhausted, and dirty in a strange kind of way.
How had the count managed to speak to me without the others hearing? And how had he touched me when he was four yards away? My mother had been right. He could get into your mind and control your feelings. I’d let his conceited, erratic way of talking and his frail old appearance mislead me. I had hopelessly underestimated him.
How stupid of me.
In fact I’d underestimated this whole strange story that I’d fallen into.
The coach had started moving and was rocking just as much as it had on the outward journey. Gideon had told the Guardian in the yellow coat to hurry. As if he needed to! The Guardian had been driving like a man who was tired of life even on the way to Lord Brompton’s house.
“Are you all right? You look as if you’d seen a ghost.” Gideon took off his coat and put it on the seat beside him. “Quite hot for September here.”
“Not a ghost,” I said, unable to look him in the eye. My voice shook slightly. “Only Count Saint-Germain and one of his tricks.”
“He wasn’t particularly civil to you,” Gideon admitted. “But that was only to be expected. He obviously had other ideas of what you should be like.”
When I said nothing, he went on. “In the prophesies, the twelfth time traveler is always described as rather special. Ruby red, with G major, the magic of the raven. Whatever that may be. Anyway, the count didn’t want to believe me when I said you were just an ordinary schoolgirl.”
Curiously enough, this comment immediately disposed of the weak, wretched feeling that the count’s phantom touch had set off. Instead of weariness and fear, I felt a strong sense of injured pride. And fury. I bit my lip.
“Gwyneth?”
“What?”
