A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness [205]
“Was Diana all alone?”
All alone, my mother said.
“I don’t think I like this story.” I pulled up my childhood bedspread, a patchwork quilt in bright colors that Sarah had bought at a Syracuse department store in anticipation of my visit, and slid down to the floor of the oubliette. My mother tucked me against the stones.
“Mama?” Yes, Diana?
“I did what you told me to do. I kept my secrets—from everybody.”
I know it was difficult.
“Do you have any secrets?” In my mind I was running like a deer through a field, my mother chasing me.
Of course, she said, reaching out and flicking her fingers so that I soared through the air and landed in her arms.
“Will you tell me one of them?”
Yes. Her mouth was so close to my ear that it tickled. You. You are my greatest secret.
“But I’m right here!” I squealed, squirming free and running in the direction of the apple tree. “How can I be a secret if I’m right here?”
My mother put her fingers to her lips and smiled.
Magic.
Chapter 30
Where is she?” Matthew slammed the keys to the Range Rover onto the table.
“We will find her, Matthew.” Ysabeau was trying to be calm for her son’s sake, but it had been nearly ten hours since they’d found a half-eaten apple next to a patch of rue in the garden. The two had been combing the countryside ever since, working in methodical slices of territory that Matthew divided up on a map.
After all the searching, they’d found no sign of Diana and had been unable to pick up her trail. She had simply vanished.
“It has to be a witch who took her.” Matthew ran his fingers through his hair. “I told her she’d be safe as long as she stayed inside the château. I never thought the witches would dare to come here.”
His mother’s mouth tightened. The fact that witches had kidnapped Diana did not surprise her.
Matthew started handing out orders like a general on a battlefield. “We’ll go out again. I’ll drive to Brioude. Go past Aubusson, Ysabeau, and into Limousin. Marthe, wait here in case she comes back or someone calls with news.”
There would be no phone calls, Ysabeau knew. If Diana had access to a phone, she would have used it before now. And though Matthew’s preferred battle strategy was to chop through obstacles until he reached his goal, it was not always the best way to proceed.
“We should wait, Matthew.”
“Wait?” Matthew snarled. “For what?”
“For Baldwin. He was in London and left an hour ago.”
“Ysabeau, how could you tell him?” His older brother, Matthew had learned through experience, liked to destroy things. It was what he did best. Over the years he’d done it physically, mentally, and then financially, once he’d discovered that destroying people’s livelihoods was almost as thrilling as flattening a village.
“When she was not in the stables or in the woods, I felt it was time. Baldwin is better at this than you are, Matthew. He can track anything.”
“Yes, Baldwin’s always been good at pursuing his prey. Now finding my wife is only my first task. Then I’ll have to make sure she’s not his next target.” Matthew picked up his keys. “You wait for Baldwin. I’ll go out alone.”
“Once he knows that Diana belongs to you, he will not harm her. Baldwin is the head of this family. So long as this is a family matter, he has to know.”
Ysabeau’s words struck him as odd. She knew how much he distrusted his older brother. Matthew shrugged their strangeness aside. “They came into your home, Maman. It was an insult to you. If you want Baldwin involved, it’s your right.”
“I called Baldwin for Diana’s sake—not mine. She must not be left in the hands of witches, Matthew, even if she is a witch herself.”
Marthe’s nose went into the air, alert to a new scent.
“Baldwin,” Ysabeau said unnecessarily, her green eyes glittering.
A heavy door slammed overhead, and angry footsteps followed. Matthew stiffened, and Marthe rolled her eyes.
“Down here,” Ysabeau said softly. Even in a crisis, she didn’t raise her voice. They were vampires, after all, with no need for histrionics.
Baldwin