Read Online Sleeping Helena by Erzebet YellowBoy - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Erzebet YellowBoy
Tags: Fantasy
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lids.
“Thekla, I think now, had the hardest time of it, though she brought most of it on herself. She was wearing herself ragged taking care of you all. She was only eleven years old and I feared for her health. I suggested she might leave with me to distract her from her self-imposed duties. It worked, if only for a time.”
“And then you left without her. What did you think that would do to her?”
Eva could not imagine how betrayed Thekla must have felt, but she was beginning to understand why her sister had held her grudge against Kitty for all of these many years. She would have, too.
“I don’t know. I was selfish — yes, I admit it. I could not stay there any longer.”
“Well, that certainly explains some things. I can’t say I approve, but I do appreciate your honesty. However,” Eva cleared her throat, “you’ve still not answered all of my questions. Do you intend for your gift to harm Helena?”
Kitty gazed at the window and out of it, lost for a moment in her thoughts.
“Leave it to Thekla to take my gift at face value and then blow it out of proportion. I can assure you,” Kitty said, “that my gift will not harm the child.”
It was all she would say.
Eva, sensing the conversation was over, rose to her feet. Kitty nodded her goodbye as Karl showed Eva to the door.
Eva, on the step, watched it close behind her. The latch clicked, the birds perched on the porch began singing and the sun came out from behind a cloud. These things fell into Eva—an end and a beginning. It was a new era for them all.
Kitty had seen her sister coming, but had got no sense of what the visit would be about. Eva was not, of course, the toddler Kitty remembered. She’d felt like a mouse, trapped by a cat with one swipe of her paw. Kitty flinched and rubbed her hands together as her knuckles pressed through her skin like little rusted knives. The old familiar ache was creeping through her thighs and her vision blurred with pain. Kitty had missed all of the years that had made Eva the woman who’d sat across from her, waiting for an answer. Kitty had been willing to have the conversation, if only to give Eva a measure of peace, but there were places she still would not go, not even if asked. Kitty had to bear this burden alone.
Kitty did not dream that night. Her sleep was filled with memory, flashes like in a picture show, still-lifes flickering one by one in front of her vision. A moment of Louis and then Magdalena, there Eva as a child, there Papa before his demise, his black coat still neatly pressed, even though sorrow had him all wrinkled up.
If she could go back far enough, she would topple a tree on that golden sleigh, tear Ludwig from the seat, and leave him lying in the drifts of snow that had piled beneath the window. She would have listened for his knock and answered the door, told him to be on his way. No matter that he was king or mad—she did not care. She would do anything to keep that night from happening. Why had the blizzard ever blown him in?
He would have snared her brother anyway, she reasoned in her half-stupor, as consciousness crept over her and then slid off again. It was not that night, but another, far fouler night, that she must prevent. As sleep began to claim her, she saw Louis’ lifeless face hanging just beneath the surface of the lake.
Chapter 12
Thekla’s design became clear as time went on. After the mirrors and the locks on the doors, she had every sharp object in the house removed, except for those needed by Hope to manage her cooking. When they took Helena’s favorite music box away because of its sharp brass corners, Helena tore down the hallway curtains in her outrage. Even that did not stop Thekla. She would do anything to keep Helena safe from Kitty’s gift, she said, and everyone soon realized she meant it.
It was a slow progression. Some days the sisters woke to find carpenters in the back hall, sanding and painting the woodwork. Other times men appeared
“Thekla, I think now, had the hardest time of it, though she brought most of it on herself. She was wearing herself ragged taking care of you all. She was only eleven years old and I feared for her health. I suggested she might leave with me to distract her from her self-imposed duties. It worked, if only for a time.”
“And then you left without her. What did you think that would do to her?”
Eva could not imagine how betrayed Thekla must have felt, but she was beginning to understand why her sister had held her grudge against Kitty for all of these many years. She would have, too.
“I don’t know. I was selfish — yes, I admit it. I could not stay there any longer.”
“Well, that certainly explains some things. I can’t say I approve, but I do appreciate your honesty. However,” Eva cleared her throat, “you’ve still not answered all of my questions. Do you intend for your gift to harm Helena?”
Kitty gazed at the window and out of it, lost for a moment in her thoughts.
“Leave it to Thekla to take my gift at face value and then blow it out of proportion. I can assure you,” Kitty said, “that my gift will not harm the child.”
It was all she would say.
Eva, sensing the conversation was over, rose to her feet. Kitty nodded her goodbye as Karl showed Eva to the door.
Eva, on the step, watched it close behind her. The latch clicked, the birds perched on the porch began singing and the sun came out from behind a cloud. These things fell into Eva—an end and a beginning. It was a new era for them all.
Kitty had seen her sister coming, but had got no sense of what the visit would be about. Eva was not, of course, the toddler Kitty remembered. She’d felt like a mouse, trapped by a cat with one swipe of her paw. Kitty flinched and rubbed her hands together as her knuckles pressed through her skin like little rusted knives. The old familiar ache was creeping through her thighs and her vision blurred with pain. Kitty had missed all of the years that had made Eva the woman who’d sat across from her, waiting for an answer. Kitty had been willing to have the conversation, if only to give Eva a measure of peace, but there were places she still would not go, not even if asked. Kitty had to bear this burden alone.
Kitty did not dream that night. Her sleep was filled with memory, flashes like in a picture show, still-lifes flickering one by one in front of her vision. A moment of Louis and then Magdalena, there Eva as a child, there Papa before his demise, his black coat still neatly pressed, even though sorrow had him all wrinkled up.
If she could go back far enough, she would topple a tree on that golden sleigh, tear Ludwig from the seat, and leave him lying in the drifts of snow that had piled beneath the window. She would have listened for his knock and answered the door, told him to be on his way. No matter that he was king or mad—she did not care. She would do anything to keep that night from happening. Why had the blizzard ever blown him in?
He would have snared her brother anyway, she reasoned in her half-stupor, as consciousness crept over her and then slid off again. It was not that night, but another, far fouler night, that she must prevent. As sleep began to claim her, she saw Louis’ lifeless face hanging just beneath the surface of the lake.
Chapter 12
Thekla’s design became clear as time went on. After the mirrors and the locks on the doors, she had every sharp object in the house removed, except for those needed by Hope to manage her cooking. When they took Helena’s favorite music box away because of its sharp brass corners, Helena tore down the hallway curtains in her outrage. Even that did not stop Thekla. She would do anything to keep Helena safe from Kitty’s gift, she said, and everyone soon realized she meant it.
It was a slow progression. Some days the sisters woke to find carpenters in the back hall, sanding and painting the woodwork. Other times men appeared
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