The Empress' Descent

Chapter 31 - Lady on a Deathbed

In the night, I donned the cloak Derek had given me.

It was time to visit an old friend.

I came to know of Lady Penelope's room by asking one of the servants. I snuck beneath the cover of the darkness, past empty hallways and snoring courtiers and patrolling guards.

Picking the door didn't require much effort. I opened it slowly, making sure the door did not squeak.

I shut the door with my back and strode toward Lady Penelope's canopied bed.

I halted on my steps as I found her withering gray-blue eyes already gawking at me.

She spoke. "I know you."

My knees buckled and my breath hitched.

I narrowed my eyes. "Do you now?"

Even with the dimness, I could make out Lady Penelope's once pearl-white complexion that had turned ashen. Her cheeks were hollow, the bones sharp and stark.

Poison or black magic. Black magic or poison. Perhaps both.

"Yes." I could tell such a simple word required a lot from her. "You are here to take me."

The air returned to my lungs.

Of course she did not recognize me. She was delirious and half awake. She'd mistaken me for the Soul Taker—the spirit who ferried the dead to the rivers of the Underworld.

She did not know who I was.

The lamp on her side table was turned off, the room swarming with nothing but shadows. A narrow gap in the curtains provided entrance for a thin stream of moonlight, the milky haze of dust floating about.

I stepped forward and settled onto the chair at her bedside. "No. I am not here to end you yet."

Then her glassy pupils became clear, the shadows beneath her sunken eyes darkening deeper as her head flicked fully to me.

"Athelina...no, Athelina is dead. You are her ghost. You have come to haunt me." She sounded almost hysterical. "There has always been something cruel and vicious about you. A dark sort of hunger. You have become a vengeful spirit, haven't you?"

My throat constricted, fingers digging into my skirt. I stifled the roiling emotions in my guts.

I pulled down the cloak's hood so she could get a better view of my face. "I am not Athelina, either. My name is Clarisse Lorraine, a friend of Cynthia's. I have questions for you, Lady Penelope."

She did not seem to hear me. She lifted her bony wrist, directing her trembling stick-thin point finger to my nose.

"I do not know why you've appeared to me as an apparition but I have nothing to offer you. So be on your way. Look for peace even if that is so difficult to find for you, Athelina." She seethed, followed by a cough. "You've shown yourself to the wrong person. Haunt him instead. He deserves every nick of your hatred."

My back jolted straighter. "Who?"

Lady Penelope stiffened, only realizing that her tongue had slipped. She whipped her head to the other side.

She did stumble upon something she wasn't supposed to know. I was right to seek answers from her. But she was keeping it from me.

I needed to push a little harder.

I planted my palms onto the mattress. "Who is this 'he', Lady Penelope? Tell me. I need you to work with me on this. Please."

She turned to me with wide eyes. The floor seemed to move when she suddenly let out a croaking cackle that sent shivers down my spine.