He shook his head. "I'll explain later." His voice hardened. "There's an art to warfare, and until I know who I'm fighting, I'm closing my perimeters, propriety be dammed. You, Prudence and Rebecca will move into my wing tonight."

"Why me?"

"God knows what people will do once word spreads about your dreaming abilities. And if there is a murderer afoot, you put yourself in his path tonight." From the dagger sharp glint in his green eyes, I knew his intent to protect was deadly.

I could make everything easier. I could leave Killdaren's Castle, secretly take Prudence and Rebecca with me, and run with my sisters back to Oxford, where we'd all be safe. "Bridget," I accidentally said out loud, remembering to take her to Oxford, too.

He blinked and I did too.

"Bridget comes with me."

He nodded, but I found little reassurance in his accompanying smile.

"I must ask. Rebecca. Is she yours? Was Prudence once-"

He pressed a finger to my lips. "That you ask wounds me. My father could better answer that question. He has little regard for the consequences of his actions."

I knew my eyes grew wide, and I thought a man as elderly as the earl had to be utterly unconscionable to have seduced Prudence. Eight years ago, she'd have been younger than Gemini's tender eighteen.

Chapter Seventeen.

"Blimey, Cassie," Bridget whispered. "This has to be about the strangest night there's ever been. And I'm right not sure I'll ever be able to sleep in such finery. There's nary a lump to settle against, the bed is so soft."

The night's events had exhausted me to the point of immobility. So many things pressed on my heart and mind that I couldn't absorb them all. I wanted to rest for a minute. "Just shut my eyes a moment," I mumbled to Bridget. The bed was soft, the curtains, though open at the moment, hung decoratively from the bed post. Lavender and a hint of the sea scented the sheets. Antiquities from the orient stood in the shadowed corners of the room, giving it a personality and life that comforted me.

Bridget and I shared a room that connected with Prudence's, where she insisted Rebecca sleep. I wasn't sure if Prudence was going to let Rebecca out of her sight for the next twenty years.

In the chamber next to Prudence's was Sean. The windows were locked and the dragon-handled doors were locked as well. It was odd that I now found myself on the inside of the realm I'd been so curious to invade ever since arriving at Killdaren's Castle.

"There're so many dark things about the room," Bridget said. "And these curtains hanging over me... However do people sleep like this?"

I sighed. My eyes drooped and I mumbled something comforting to Bridget, telling her that morning was almost here and that she needed to sleep. The next thing I knew it was morning, and Sean had once again filled my dreams with seduction. This time we'd danced beneath the stars with the moon lighting the sand to silver, before his kisses led us to a bed of silver and roses.

Judging by the light streaming through the window, it was late morning, and Prudence's maid entered the room with a breakfast tray. She plopped it down with a clatter on the table beside the bed. I didn't want to leave my dream. I didn't want to leave Sean alone beneath the stars.

"Blimey, what's that!" Bridget scrambled from the bed disoriented. I sat up, blinking.

"Your breakfast, miss."

"Where's Rebecca?" I asked.

"She's just waking, but Miss Prudence is still asleep. May I bring the child in? The Killdaren has dismissed Nurse Tolley."

The news about the nurse didn't surprise me, but her deference to me did. "Of course. Won't Mrs. Frye be-"

"No. Miss Prudence has requested that both of you be her and Rebecca's lady's companions. The Killdaren has already ordered Mrs. Frye to hire other maids for the downstairs."

"Imagine that." I looked at Bridget, rather pleased with the situation.

Bridget wavered on her feet then pitched forward in a dead faint.

Luckily she fell on the bed, where I could catch hold of the back of her sleeping gown to keep her from crumbling to the floor. She came to a few moments later when I pressed a cold, wet cloth to her face.

"Did I die?" she asked.

"No, but you did swoon. A rather inauspicious beginning to your career as a lady's companion. You must be stalwart enough in any situation so that you can care for the delicate sensibilities of a lady."

"What does bloody inauspicious mean?" She frowned as she pushed up from the bed.

"It means not a very good start."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Get back in bed. Eat your breakfast. Then after we dress, we'll go see if there is any correspondence Miss Prudence would like for us to attend, or she may wish for us to read to her. There are quite a number of duties she may need our assistance with."

Bridget's jaw went slack and I thought she would faint again. I patted the bed and reached for the silver tray, filled with delicate nibbles of fruit and cheese and bread and meat pies.

The maid led Rebecca into the room and brought her to the bed. My insides wrenched at how pale and wan she looked in her night rail with her black hair in wild tangle about her drawn features.

Taking Rebecca's hand, I helped her up. "Come on, poppet. We're having a morning tea party. Would you like some?"

"Y-y-yess."

"Good. I've got a wonderful tale to tell you about a tea party and a funny rabbit and a little girl who had a very scary adventure, but was all right when it was over."

Looking up, I was shocked to see Sean standing in the doorway. He wore the black silk robe and pants he'd worn before and his hair was mussed as if he'd just risen from his bed. Catching my gaze, he nodded then abruptly turned away, shutting the door behind him.

"Bridget, help Rebecca with her scones and I will be right back." Grabbing my robe, I raced out the door.

"Sean," I whispered, seeing him at the end of the dim hallway, about to enter his bedchamber. I went to him. He leaned against the door frame, as if needing the support. "You look as if your pain is worse. What is it?"

"Don't worry. Light induces headaches. Some days are worse than others. When I was first injured eight years ago, they were excruciating. The condition has been increasingly improving until this morning."

"It was the rocks last night, wasn't it?" I reached for him, but he pulled back and I fisted my hand. "What can I do to help?"

He sighed. "Stay with Prudence and Rebecca. Stay together and stay inside the castle until I'm well. Perhaps tomorrow."

"There's nothing else? I feel as if this is my fault."

"No. On the contrary, you kept tragedy from us. We'll talk later." Turning, he went into his room and shut the door. After a moment, I pressed my hand against the cold wood, promising myself that I wouldn't let propriety stand between us and I wouldn't let him shut me out again.

The day went by faster than imaginable, which is the only reason I stayed sane. My thoughts kept going to Sean, wanting to speak to him, wanting to be with him. After seeing him appear in my doorway that morning, I expected for him to return, but he didn't, and the barriers that separated our lives gave no leeway for me to steal away to see him.

But as bright as the new day dawned, a dark shadow hovered over me. Someone had taken Rebecca to the roof and left her to die, and that someone was in the castle. When I dressed, I made very sure I put the knife in my pocket, something I'd let myself grow lax at doing. I also determined to get my father's pistol back from Sean tonight as soon as I saw him.

Bridget, Prudence and I spent time in the music room as I taught Rebecca part of a song to sing and showed Prudence the repeating notes from A to G on the piano. Bridget kept walking about the room, taking the hem of her dress to polish a spot here and there on the glass or to straighten a chair. I finally had to insist that she come and sit with us on the piano bench and learn too.

Later, in the ladies' salon, Prudence had her maid bring out a number of trunks, which to my amazement contained the most exquisite tapestries I'd ever seen.

"Where did these come from?" I knelt, carefully going through them. Some were scenes of history. Others were like pages from a storybook, showing knights and battles and castles of medieval times.

"I did them," she said softly.

My eyes boggled. There had to be dozens. "But how?"

She blushed. "I can't paint, but I love color. It's what beauty I can make. And Rebecca can feel the things on the tapestries, so it makes us both happy."

I realized then that what made the tapestries so unique was that the images on them were raised above the backgrounds, giving them depth and character. Braille tapestries.

"H-h-horse, p-p-please," Rebecca said.

Prudence handed her a tapestry with several wild horses running and Rebecca traced her finger over them. "H-horses."

"How do you make them that way, Miss Prudence?"

"I can teach you and Bridget." She was excited. "Whatever you want to stand out you embroider over it four or five times, following the same stitches each time."

"Blimey," Bridget said, her mind seemingly incapable of thinking of any other words at the sudden change in her life.

"I would love to learn," I said.

The work would have made any tapestry take so much longer to complete, and Prudence had finished so many. I had more respect for Prudence, a cropper's daughter who'd had a child out of wedlock, than I did for a number of women I'd met in respectable society.

I could never go back to "Cassiopeia's Corner", and perhaps writing important articles wasn't what I was meant to do, for I suddenly felt that there was another story I would want to tell. A story of love, in which a mother had loved her blind child enough to figure out a way for her child to see.

The high spot of the day was seeing Bridget sit down to tea. After serving Prudence and Rebecca, I passed Bridget a plate of scones and sugared tea in a cup with a saucer. She sat completely still for a moment then looked at me, her blue eyes filling with tears. "Cassie. You have to help me write this down. Tonight I want to write every minute of today so I can go back and read it over and over again no matter what happens."

"I promise." Tears stung my eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Prudence smile, and I realized that she'd reached down and brought Bridget and me out of the servants' realm on purpose. Not to ease her life, as most women in her position would, but to bring ease to ours, to thank us for helping to save her daughter.

"Miss Prudence?" Her maid came in. "You said to let you know when the doctor was leaving. He's doing so now."

"What doctor?" Was Sean more injured than he led me to believe?

"For the Killdaren. I'll be just a moment." She set her cup aside and hurried from the room. I stood to follow her, but the door shut and I realized I couldn't. I'd not the right, and it would always be that way should I stay on at the castle. The only time I could go to him, the only time I could let my heart be free, would be in the dark of the night, when the world lay silent as the grave. Not much different from the vampire story of Armand and the maid. The choice I could not understand before, I was almost ready to commit myself to now.

I went back to the tea table, carried the conversation, told Rebecca more about Alice at the tea party in Through the Looking Glass, and had to fight hard to keep my sentences coherent. Ten minutes into my story, Rebecca fell asleep in her chair, and I fell silent. Bridget was still agog at the treats.

Prudence returned with tears in her eyes.

My heart skipped then pounded. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "His headache is worse than this morning. The doctor thinks the Killdaren's injury last night has caused a relapse of the swelling in his head. It took him years to recover enough to be able to stand the sunlight again. I just don't know what he will do now." She started to cry. I handed her a napkin, trying and failing to stem my tears. Prudence didn't notice them. Bridget did. She gave me an odd look, telling me an explanation was due.

"What can be done?" I bit my lip to keep from crying aloud. I'd sent the rocks crashing down on him. It was my fault.

"Nothing. He won't let anyone near when he's in such pain. I'm sorry to do this, but I think I'll retire with Rebecca. She's so exhausted from last night. From now on, I don't care how improper anyone thinks it is for a mother to care for her child; she'll not leave my sight. I'm not a real lady anyway."

Reaching out, I touched Prudence's arm. "You're more of a lady than a number of ladies I've met."

She gave me a sad smile. "Only in my own little world here. Nowhere else." With her maid's help, she collected a sleepy Rebecca and left.

Bridget set her cup down. "Cassie? Tell me what has you so upset? I mean, it is sad, but he'll recover."

"It's my fault. I made the rocks fall and I...I...I love him."

"You were saving him and the wee one, Cassie. But blimey. In love with the Killdaren? How? Ah, love at first sight. Sorta happened the first time I saw Stuart when I was just fifteen. Mary often read a proper lady's column called 'Casopia', she did. I remember Mary telling us the advice for love at first sight, is to wait a year before letting the gentleman know, gives him time to prove himself worthy and makes him know she'll be a right proper wife. And I decided that was exactly what I wanted to be."

I laughed and cried harder at the same time. "Bridget, you're going to be the best proper wife ever, but don't follow that advice. Follow your heart."

"Do you think so?"

I nodded, and knew I would.

After Bridget and I bathed, I kept the door to our room slightly ajar, hoping by some miracle Sean would recover and pass by, or I'd hear news of him. The corridor remained empty and I knew I had to go to him tonight. I had to know what his condition was.

The moment Bridget fell asleep, I stole from the bed and dressed in the worn cotton dress of my own I'd brought with me. Dusk had fallen only a short while ago, and as I made my way to his doors, just a few steps away, my heart hammered as if I'd run all the way from Oxford.

I had my hand on the door handle when a man's hand settled over mine from behind me. It wasn't Sean's. I nearly screamed as I swung around to face Stuart.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Odd. I was just about to ask you the same thing. I'm guarding the fortress as requested. Your turn."

"I must see him. I must know how badly he's hurt."

"Going to take the thorn from the lion's paw, little mouse?"

"If I can."

"I don't know what you expect the outcome of your venture will be, but I wouldn't go in there unless you're prepared to accept whatever it is."

"I don't have a choice. Not anymore."

"I don't think any of us have a choice anymore. You've set things into motion that will unravel this world. My biggest question is who is going to be around to knit it back together." Stuart left.

I felt odd entering Sean's room with Stuart knowing I was there, but I pushed that and Stuart's words to the back of my mind as I slipped inside. I'd run out of time and patience for propriety. All I had room for in my thoughts at that moment was Sean. I saw him the instant my eyes adjusted to the dark. He lay on his bed, his arm flung over his eyes, his fists clenched. I thought I heard a low moan coming from him. I ached for him.

I didn't want to frighten him, but I didn't want to give him the choice to send me away either. Moving as silently as possible, I went to the wash basin and poured some cool water into it. Then using a clean, rose-scented handkerchief from my pocket, I dipped it in the water and approached Sean.

"I told you I didn't want to be disturbed. Leave now."