Régine stroked a hand through my hair before shaking her head, a signal that she had been won over for the moment.
"I will ask Monsieur Picoux. For now, the animal can remain inside." She glanced at Yvain with a small smile on her lips. "And the fawn may stay as well."
I made uncomfortable eye contact with a distressed Yvain as Cosette looked at me with a perplexed expression and asked, "What animal?"
I muffled a laugh but was still too loud, and the young man's disdainful eyes fell on me, a tired scowl rising up on his lips.
"Where's Beauty?" I asked when I realized I hadn't seen her.
Again, my sister became quiet and looked out the drawing room window.
Then Belle was outside looking for me too, and by the appearance of the empty drawing room, Yvain’s brother and Herr Leopold may have gone with her.
"Beauty will be in good hands, Perrin is an excellent guide. We've been here since we were children." Yvain, who was still being quite brave, planted a hand on Régine's shoulder.
I'm sure she thought about moving it between the thoughts of Papa and Belle, all the real dangers they could be facing and even the impossible ones as well.
My stomach felt uneasy at the sight of the pale hollows of my sister’s eyes as they scoured the black horizon past her own frantic reflection. I quickly picked up the fawn who had been nuzzling Cosette’s hand and brought it into the kitchen.
Marguerite Picoux was already there, waiting, and she crouched by a dresser, removing bandages and bottles of yellow liquid that left an acrid scent in the air.
She pivoted on the tops of her knees and held up a woolly blanket to me. "May I, Acel?"
I nodded and placed the fawn on the ground so that Marguerite could wrap the small, shivering lump. Cosette crept behind me silently and crossed her legs under her skirts as she sat beside us.
“It’s very good luck to rescue a deer in winter,” Madame Picoux said as she wiped the awful smelling cotton along the frays. “Lore says that this will bring good luck and a long life.”
It was a little silly to think that saving an animal could bring any amount of luck, good or bad.
“Yvain called it a messenger of Life.” I patted the animal’s velvet ears, my thumb running along the tuft of fur inside. Cosette timidly stroked the fawn too and gradually, its shivers subsided.
“And so he is,” Marguerite Picoux whispered and wrapped the hoof in tensile bandages. “Deer are sacred here. We only take what we need and the fawn is a good omen. You might be rewarded greatly for your kindness."
I blushed, but Cosette puckered her lips and furrowed her brow so that she was smiling bitterly through a rueful expression.
A tinge of spite pricked my heart. After all, I had been the one to go outside and convince Yvain to rescue the fawn. Cosette hadn’t done anything.
"I think there are guests at the door." Marguerite interrupted and waved a hand to the hall. "Let them in, won't you, Acel? I'm sure they'll be glad to see you've returned safely."
Not yet seconds after Madame Picoux had spoken, a resounding knock echoed through the hall. I rose to my feet and exited the kitchen where Cosette was still sitting.
A thunderous banging much louder than the first shook the door.
A person would have shouted by now-
My hand shook as it grabbed onto the beam of wood wedged against the frame. There was whispering coming from past the heartbeats that were pounding the insides of my ears.
"I'm coming!" A shout rang from behind me and I scurried into a small, conveniently located armoire.
Yvain Lalumiere rounded the corner of the drawing room tightly and went straight for the beam fastening the door shut. I watched through a sliver of space between the coats in the armoire as Belle, Yvain's brother and Herr Leopold fell over the threshold when the door was thrown open by the elements.
Belle gasped, landing in Yvain's arms. "You returned before us, didn't you? You brought Acel back?"
There was such an urgency in her voice that I was shocked she was speaking about me.
"Yes, yes, the beastie is probably upstairs sleeping off our little adventure,"
Belle clutched to his hunting jacket which I knew he disliked and Yvain masked his mortification with a chuckle before taking great care to unlatch Belle's fingers from his coat collar.
"We brought back a pet."
"Pet?" Herr Leopold spoke from outside of my vision.
Yvain nodded his head quickly and laughed off the suspicious tone in the tailor's voice. "Yes. I would explain, but I haven't the time or energy, quite frankly."
Régine cried Belle's name and her arms wrapped around her shoulder's from in front of Yvain Lalumiere.
"Are you alright? I was so worried when you didn't come back with Acel- We must get you by the fire, you're practically frozen right through."
"No Giena, really," Belle huffed before pulling out of our sister's grasp. She straightened out her coat and then meticulously began unlatching the wooden buttons from their strings, "but Acel ought to be punished for this or she'll never learn. What if she's having those hallucinations again? She could have seriously hurt herself." Belle hissed under her voice while the men grumbled quietly to themselves about other matters.
Unknowingly, Belle opened the armoire and tossed the coat at my feet before closing the door once more.
Régine sagged. "I know. But we'll wait for Papa to return."
My stomach twisted. Everything went quiet as I craned my ears past the ruffling of winter cloaks.
"He should have been home by now," Belle whispered softly.
Régine ignored what she had said and took her out of my view. "Thank you for bringing my sisters back."
Herr Leopold bowed to my sister in silence.
"I'll come for the fawn tomorrow morning," Yvain Lalumiere spoke from the side as he moved out of my view and back towards the door. "I think it's best that Perrin and I return home before the servant's are sent out looking for us."
The door swung open with a creak against the wind and Régine guided Belle into the drawing room.
"I will meet you on the way there. Go on without me," Yvain told his brother and the door hit the frame with a soft thud.
There was silence again, I could almost hear the crackling of the fire in the other room. Slowly, I manoeuvred myself so that both Yvain and Herr Leopold stood past the sleeve in front of me. They had on serious, suspicious looks emphasized by tight lips and darkened eyes.
"What's this story about a fawn?" A third voice joined the conversation, and I recognized it as Monsieur Picoux's. His walking stick clunked against the wooden floors.
"We found its mother. The girl found her, actually- looked like the poor creature had been running for the forest's edge."
"Was it a wolf?" Monsieur Picoux asked.
Yvain's brow furrowed. "I– the claw markings were... scattered, like the beast attacking it wasn't right. And the carcass was just half eaten. I know wolves, they would eat a doe and her young whole and drag the remains out of town." Yvain pressed his thumb and forefinger against his temple. "No. I don't think it was a wolf."
"But?" Herr Leopold asked, low and quiet.
"But I don't know of any beast that would slaughter like that." When Yvain finished speaking, he looked torn. His eyes were flashing white at the corners, arms stiff like a soldier's.
"There are many more beasts besides a wolf," Gerard argued as he tapped his foot in thought. "Men travelling through Bora Les have even been talking of wild boars."
Yvain's expression turned from anxious to one of anger. His shoulders balled up and a snarl cut lines down his face.
"Even a little girl can see it wasn't an animal's kill." Yvain hissed under his breath and shivers rippled along my spine.
He had been so aloof in the storm, but regardless of whatever he had said at the time, Yvain knew the body was mangled beyond any animal's ability. And what he had seen frightened him.
"You're unnerving yourself, Yvain. What else could it have been if it wasn't man nor animal?" Monsieur Picoux whispered softly, not in scorn as Yvain steeled himself. "Acel is still a child who can believe in monsters. You're the best hunter in the village..." Monsieur Picoux laughed gently and was able to coax one out of Yvain.
The young man had lost the tension in his voice, willing to believe Monsieur Picoux. Perhaps he told himself that the body had been hard to see, that rot could have caused so much exposed flesh. Perhaps it was easier than reason. "It might have been a bear awoken from winter's sleep. They'd be near starving now."
Monsieur Picoux nodded slowly.
"No telling what it'd go after next. Hopefully not one of the Lalumiere's prized horses," Herr Leopold added in gently.
"Father would have the beast's head," Yvain laughed, but I could hear an uneasiness creep into his voice. "Maybe for this year's hunt it would be a good idea to track the creature down and get rid of it."
"Better than leaving it to chance," Monsieur Picoux pondered to himself. "I'll let Monsieur Imrich know later. No sense in causing a panic just before bed."
"I'm certain Imrich would do that on his own," Herr Leopold laughed deeply and began to head for the door as Yvain followed.
"It was providence you found Acel. The bear could have still been nearby." Gerard paused again with his crutch grinding hard into the wood. "Did she say why she went out in the first place?"
Yvain hesitated. "She may have seen someone- possibly one of Father's workers if he sent one out looking for us."
"I am sure they must have headed home. No sane man would be out too long in this weather- just a thought to you gentlemen." Monsieur Picoux laughed as he saw the two of them to the door.
"Even the insane would be headed for shelter," Herr Leopold answered from outside as the storm drowned out his words. "Farewell, Gerard!"
"Farewell," Yvain Lalumiere echoed.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Gerard waved from the door as I watched from behind the coats. "Travel safely."
The door shut swiftly just as the creaking of more footsteps tip-toed their way into the hall.
“Gerard, my darling, we should have sent Cosette home with Yvain.”
Monsieur Picoux’s eyes glared at the floor, raking up the coat sleeves and I thought the glint of my eyes must have alerted him.
“How is she?” he asked, the strong voice that had just tamed a raging Yvain growing brittle and careworn.
Sniffles met his unbearable silence. “She’s sleeping.”
“I let him leave on purpose. It is much too cold for her, Marguerite.” Gerard’s deep sigh tumbled over the brewing storm outside. “She should be able to sleep in our bed. You know how it is over there.”
Marguerite seemed even more distressed as she walked into the sliver of my vision. Her face had gone red and her smooth cheeks now glistened in the faint lamp light.
“Of course she can stay. I would never willingly send her back.” Marguerite’s voice was choked. Her melodious lilt running dry as the chords of muscle around her neck turned to coarse rope.
“But you know how Jochen Bonenfant is, too.”
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