Read Online Midnight Soul by Kristen Ashley - Free Book Online

her way. I wouldn’t
know, for outside her sharing gossip while she was attiring me or
doing my hair, or I was giving her orders, we didn’t speak very
much. But there were many, for reasons unfathomable, who were
thoughtful and benevolent to just about anybody.
    It appeared my maid was one of those
many.
    I didn’t know what to do with this. Outside
Antoine—and Kristian when I allowed him to do so—no one had ever
shown concern for me.
    Or kindness.
    Not in my life.
    “Yes, Josette, I’ll sleep,” I felt safe in
assuring her.
    To my surprise at this juncture I endured my
lady’s maid studying me , seemingly to determine if I spoke
truth, before it became clear she approved of what she saw. When
she did, she nodded again and made her move to leave, this time
following through.
    “Goodnight, Lady Franka,” she said as she
walked to the dressing room door.
    “Goodnight, Josette,” I replied and watched
her open the door, move through it, but she gave me one last, long
look before she closed it behind her.
    The instant I heard it click, I turned back
to the fire and whispered, “Antoine, are you there?”
    I waited. I listened.
    I heard nothing. I felt nothing.
    I studied the flames dancing in their grate
and came to the understanding Antoine was not coming to me as a
spirit to keep me company in the only way he could.
    It was just my conscience.
    Gods, my conscience came to me in Antoine’s
voice.
    I supposed it would considering I’d never had
one before him.
    I sighed and uncurled my legs from under me,
putting my bare feet to the thick rugs on the floor.
    The morrow heralded the beginning of an
eight-day ride to my brother through cold and snow.
    Even though it might be, after having had a
good sleep the night before, having been given chests of gold and
jewels, new trunks filled with the finest furs, the safety wealth
provided me, a plan for the coming days, months, years, that I
would sleep, I was not counting on it.
    So I might as well get down to it.
    Whether it bring victory…
    Or what I’d grown accustomed to.
    Defeat.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Attend your father.
    The hiss sounded in my ear and my eyes flew
open.
    I saw nothing but a dark room cut only by the
faint dancing of firelight from the grate.
    Attend your father!
    Oh no.
    Gods no.
    I shot up to sitting and threw the covers off
me, my gaze darting through the room.
    She wouldn’t come to the Winter Palace. She’d never come to the Winter Palace.
    But he would.
    He most definitely would.
    He did whatever he wished.
    And she did whatever she had to to make that
so.
    Thus, worse, she’d make it safe so he could .
    The buttery at the end of the hall off the
kitchens, the voice instructed.
    I felt the snake of panic and fear coil up my
throat, but I didn’t even waste the time to snatch my shawl from
the end of the bed after I jumped out of it and hurried to the
door.
    I just asked the room, “Do you have him?”
    I’m near.
    Oh gods. Gods.
    Never safe. Even with trunks of jewels and
gold I was never safe.
    And worse, neither was Kristian.
    “I’m going to him directly. Let Kristian be,”
I demanded as I put my hand to the doorknob.
    Accept your punishment, endure the length
of it, and your brother will be safe, the voice replied.
    At what I knew was to come, I felt saliva
fill my mouth and swallowed it down as I pulled open the door.
    The hall was lit with lantern sconces on the
walls, but faintly. Hesitating only a second, I made the decision
to seek the servants’ stairs, a more direct route and one where I
was sure not to run into one of my kind. I had no idea where those
stairs were but moved instinctively away from the main stairwell to
the back of the hall.
    I found them and rushed down the flights. The
light even more dim there, I held on to the banister to guide my
way, my bare feet making no noise on the risers.
    I made the kitchens, shifting through the
barely-illuminated, deserted area on darting feet, this being an
area I’d been