Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

fever. Leave Mrs.
    Brackett to her.”
    “I suppose I must trust you, Munk,” she said quietly. “Take me to Mrs. Brackett at once. I must comfort her. ”
    “No!” Raven looked at Munk while Evangeline looked back and forth between them both, startled at his vehemence.
    “Have you had the scarlet fever yourself, Miss?” Munk looked down at her.
    “No, I never have.”
    “Then you are vulnerable to catching it.”
    “I cannot allow you to risk becoming ill.” Raven drew her gently away from the servant who strode off on silent feet. “I know you are angry with me, Evangeline, but please, do not put yourself in danger.
    I could not bear it if anything happened to you.” He said the last sentence with such quiet intensity that she could not for a moment break his gaze and she believed him completely. Inside the dim castle he no longer needed his spectacles and his eyes looked strangely golden instead of the usual harsh yellow.
    “Does Mrs. Brackett know I am here?” she asked.
    “Munk will tell her and perhaps in a week you can see her, but until then you must choose a chamber where you will be comfortable and I will have the servants light a fire. I want you to be happy.”
    “So you’re not going to lock me in the tower again?”
    “No, my dear, I’m not. I was wrong to do that. It served me very ill.” He walked up the main staircase with her, pointing out various chambers along the way, flinging open doors. “As you know many of the rooms here are unfit for use. The castle needs extensive refurbishment.” Evangeline looked quickly through each door, thinking none of the rooms looked fit for use. One after the next was 176
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    dark and chill, including the one she had stayed in briefly. “This is the chamber you shared for a night with Mrs. Brackett. Would you like this one again?”
    “I assumed Mrs. Brackett herself would be in there.” She looked up at Raven.
    “Not at all. She is in a room near Munk in the servants’ quarters, to make it easier for Munk to care for her.”
    Evangeline nodded. “Yes, of course, then I will stay in here.”
    “Are there some changes you would like?” he asked.
    “I doubt I will be here long enough. A week or two, no more.”
    “That’s true, but a week is a long time and you might as well make the chamber home while you are here. I am happy to oblige you.”
    “That’s very kind of you, my lord.” She looked at him suspiciously. It was a side of Lord Ravenscroft she had never seen before. “You are terribly obliging all of a sudden. You do know there is nothing you can do to make me marry you?”
    “Isn’t there?” he asked, reaching out one finger to touch her chin.
    “No sir, there is not.”
    “Won’t you let me try?”
    “No. You do not love me nor I you. There is only one way you could force me to marry you and that is to perform the abominable act you threatened once before.”
    “I will not do that, I promise you.”
    “Then I will try to trust you, but I remain firm that I will never marry you by choice.”
    His expression softened into acceptance. “What would you like done with the chamber?”
    Over the next two hours Raven waited in the darkest corner of the vast chamber watching, at first with amusement, then bewilderment as she directed five housemaids and a couple of footmen to make the room habitable. They threw open the long draperies to reveal windows wider than Evangeline dared hope for. All of the servants Sanguinarian 177
    shaded their eyes from the light and seemed to have great difficulty for several minutes before orienting themselves. One by one they managed to resume their work, some having more difficulty than others. Several pulled out tinted spectacles from their pockets and put them on.
    Evangeline looked at Raven. “This is your fault, my lord.”
    “What is?” he asked.
    “If you would allow your servants to open the castle shutters and draperies, they would not have such trouble with their eyes.”
    Raven bowed his head, smiling.
    The light which streamed into the room illumined every last corner, and Evangeline was able to supervise the removal of cobwebs which could not be seen in the darkness. She had the black bed curtains taken down and replaced with white satin ones which one of the housemaids had managed to find. The maid also produced a supply of bed linens in light colours. Evangeline sent another maid outside to gather any flowers she could find which consisted mostly of