Read Online The Equivoque Principle by Darren Craske - Free Book Online Page B

silence was borne between them. For a painfully long moment, he tried his best to avoid eye contact with the Frenchwoman, but he knew he couldn’t resist a glance eventually. More than that, Destine knew it too, and when he finally looked up from the tea, her blue-grey eyes were already beseeching him for the truth.
    ‘Has anyone ever told you that you would make a marvellous torturer?’ Quaint asked.
    ‘Frequently,’ replied Destine. ‘So there
is
something on your mind then?’
    ‘Yes, yes! There is something on my mind. Are you happynow?’ Quaint said, a little more harshly than he had intended. ‘You’re right again, as always. I just suppose…the date sneaked up on me a little quicker than I had expected.’
    Destine nodded, choosing her delicate words carefully. ‘I thought as much. It is never an easy time of year for you, Cornelius, so why does this
particular
year cause you more anguish than the previous anniversaries of your wife’s death?’
    The directness of Destine’s question made Quaint shudder, as if the words were forbidden, and by saying them aloud, some great taboo had been broken. The melodic control of her voice was like hearing each sentence as a symphony, deconstructed into its purest, most poetic form. Quaint had always said that Destine could read the cargo manifest of a spice merchant’s schooner and it would still sound like angels singing. But that was not to say her words did not sting his heart.
    Quaint locked eyes with her. ‘It’s November the twenty-third and with all that has been going on recently, I’ve hardly even noticed.’
    ‘Perhaps that is a good thing, my sweet. A sign that the healing process has finally begun?’ offered Destine. ‘It has been so many years now.’
    ‘Twenty-nine, to be exact,’ said Quaint. ‘But I have been distracted; Madame! This day almost passed by unnoticed, and I feel shame for that fact, as if I’m dishonouring her memory somehow.’
    ‘Poppycock! You remember Margarite in your own way at this time of year, Cornelius…within your heart. There has been much of late to occupy your attention elsewhere. That is not dishonour, my sweet. You have a life to lead, and one that is not frozen in time, locked in the past. As I said, perhaps you are now able to focus more clearly on other things. After all, does this day not normally put you in a most bedevilled mood?’
    ‘Do I not look to be in a bedevilled mood now, Madame?’Quaint leaned back in his chair, forcing the creaking wooden joints to complain. A broad sardonic grin forced itself onto his face. ‘I am always bedevilled—it is my lot in life. Even though I have subconsciously pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind, they are not forgotten. Maybe once I finally try and get some sleep tonight they will come back to haunt me once more. My bad dreams always seem to increase tenfold at this time of year.’
    ‘Is that why you are awake at this hour? Are you hoping to run from your nightmares, Cornelius, because I—of all people—can tell you that they have a nasty habit of recurring, usually when you least expect them,’ Destine said, as she moved her chair forwards, edging closer to the desk. ‘It does no one any good to dwell in the past. For what it is worth, I think all this talk of murder and death of late is the reason not why you
forget
Margarite’s death, but why you allow the
symbolism
behind it to taint every thought you have. After all, is death not everywhere we look recently?’ Destine made a point of a long pause, as she watched the cinders of recognition burn in Quaint’s eyes. This was an important message that she was trying to impart, and she hated giving good wisdom to deaf ears. ‘Your rage is a great fuel for you, Cornelius…just be cautious that once that fuel is burnt out, your soul is not so spoiled that it cannot function without it.’ Destine stirred her teacup noisily, chinking the silver spoon against the saucer, signalling an end to the