"She said we looked well together."
"I don"t want Ysabeau to be furious with me the whole time we"re here."
"Pay no attention to her," he said serenely. "Her bark is worse than her bite."
We pa.s.sed through a doorway into a long room with a wide a.s.sortment of chairs and tables of many different styles and periods. There were two fireplaces, and two knights in glistening armor jousted over one of them, their bright lances crossing neatly without a drop of bloodshed. The fresco had clearly been painted by the same dewy-eyed chivalric enthusiast who"d decorated the hall. A pair of doors led to another room, this one lined with bookcases.
"Is that a library?" I asked, Ysabeau"s hostility momentarily forgotten. "Can I see your copy of Aurora Consurgens Aurora Consurgens now?" now?"
"Later," Matthew said firmly. "You"re going to eat something and then sleep."
He led the way to another curving staircase, navigating through the labyrinth of ancient furniture with the ease of long experience. My own pa.s.sage was more tentative, and my thighs grazed a bow-fronted chest of drawers, setting a tall porcelain vase swaying. When we finally reached the bottom of the staircase, Matthew paused.
"It"s a long climb, and you"re tired. Do you need me to carry you?"
"No," I said indignantly. "You are not going to sling me over your shoulder like a victorious medieval knight making off with the spoils of battle."
Matthew pressed his lips together, eyes dancing.
"Don"t you dare laugh at me."
He did laugh, the sound bouncing off the stone walls as if a pack of amused vampires were standing in the stairwell. This was, after all, precisely the kind of place where knights would have carried women upstairs. But I didn"t plan on being counted among them.
By the fifteenth tread, my sides were heaving with effort. The tower"s worn stone steps were not made for ordinary feet and legs-they had clearly been designed for vampires like Matthew who were either over six feet tall, extremely agile, or both. I gritted my teeth and kept climbing. Around a final bend in the stairs, a room opened up suddenly.
"Oh." My hand traveled to my mouth in amazement.
I didn"t have to be told whose room this was. It was Matthew"s, through and through.
We were in the chateau"s graceful round tower-the one that still had its smooth, conical copper roof and was set on the back of the ma.s.sive main building. Tall, narrow windows punctuated the walls, their leaded panes letting in slashes of light and autumn colors from the fields and trees outside.
The room was circular, and high bookcases smoothed its graceful curves into occasional straight lines. A large fireplace was set squarely into the walls that b.u.t.ted up against the chateau"s central structure. This fireplace had miraculously escaped the attention of the nineteenth-century fresco painter. There were armchairs and couches, tables and ha.s.socks, most in shades of green, brown, and gold. Despite the size of the room and the expanses of gray stone, the overall effect was of cozy warmth.
The room"s most intriguing objects were those Matthew had chosen to keep from one of his many lives. A painting by Vermeer was propped up on a bookshelf next to a sh.e.l.l. It was unfamiliar-not one of the artist"s few known canvases. The subject looked an awful lot like Matthew. A broadsword so long and heavy that no one but a vampire could have wielded it hung over the fireplace, and a Matthew-size suit of armor stood in one corner. Opposite, there was an ancient-looking human skeleton hanging from a wooden stand, the bones tied together with something resembling piano wire. On the table next to it were two microscopes, both made in the seventeenth century unless I was very much mistaken. An ornate crucifix studded with large red, green, and blue stones was tucked into a niche in the wall along with a stunning ivory carving of the Virgin.
Matthew"s snowflakes drifted across my face as he watched me survey his belongings.
"It"s a Matthew museum," I said softly, knowing that every object there told a story.
"It"s just my study."
"Where did you-" I began, pointing at the microscopes.
"Later," he said again. "You have thirty more steps to climb."
Matthew led me to the other side of the room and a second staircase. This one, too, curved up toward the heavens. Thirty slow steps later, I stood on the edge of another round room dominated by an enormous walnut four-poster bed complete with tester and heavy hangings. High above it were the exposed beams and supports that held the copper roof in place. A table was pushed against one wall, a fireplace was tucked into another, and a few comfortable chairs were arranged before it. Opposite, a door stood ajar, revealing an enormous bathtub.
"It"s like a falcon"s lair," I said, peering out the window. Matthew had been looking at this landscape from these windows since the Middle Ages. I wondered, briefly, about the other women he"d brought here before me. I was sure I wasn"t the first, but I didn"t think there had been many. There was something intensely private about the chateau.
Matthew came up behind me and looked over my shoulder. "Do you approve?" His breath was soft against my ear. I nodded.
"How long?" I asked, unable to help myself.
"This tower?" he asked. "About seven hundred years."
"And the village? Do they know about you?"
"Yes. Like witches, vampires are safer when they"re part of a community who knows what they are but doesn"t ask too many questions."
Generations of Bishops had lived in Madison without anyone"s making a fuss. Like Peter Knox, we were hiding in plain sight.
"Thank you for bringing me to Sept-Tours," I said. "It does feel safer than Oxford." In spite of Ysabeau In spite of Ysabeau.
"Thank you for braving my mother." Matthew chuckled as if he"d heard my unspoken words. The distinctive scent of carnations accompanied the sound. "She"s overprotective, like most parents."
"I felt like an idiot-and underdressed, too. I didn"t bring a single thing to wear that will meet with her approval." I bit my lip, my forehead creased.
"Coco Chanel didn"t meet with Ysabeau"s approval. You may be aiming a bit high."
I laughed and turned, my eyes seeking his. When they met, my breath caught. Matthew"s gaze lingered on my eyes, cheeks, and finally my mouth. His hand rose to my face.
"You"re so alive," he said gruffly. "You should be with a man much, much younger."
I lifted to my toes. He bent his head. Before our lips touched, a tray clattered on the table.
""Vos etz arbres e branca,"" Marthe sang, giving Matthew a wicked look.
He laughed and sang back in a clear baritone, ""On fruitz de gaug s"asazona.""
"What language is that?" I asked, getting down off my tiptoes and following Matthew to the fireplace.
"The old tongue," Marthe replied.
"Occitan." Matthew removed the silver cover from a plate of eggs. The aroma of hot food filled the room. "Marthe decided to recite poetry before you sat down to eat."
Marthe giggled and swatted at Matthew"s wrist with a towel that she pulled from her waist. He dropped the cover and took a seat.
"Come here, come here," she said, gesturing at the chair across from him. "Sit, eat." I did as I was told. Marthe poured Matthew a goblet of wine from a tall, silver-handled gla.s.s pitcher.
"Merces," he murmured, his nose going immediately to the gla.s.s in antic.i.p.ation. he murmured, his nose going immediately to the gla.s.s in antic.i.p.ation.
A similar pitcher held icy-cold water, and Marthe put this in another goblet, which she handed to me. She poured a steaming cup of tea, which I recognized immediately as coming from Mariage Freres in Paris. Apparently Matthew had raided my cupboards while I slept last night and been quite specific with his shopping lists. Marthe poured thick cream into the cup before he could stop her, and I shot him a warning glance. At this point I needed allies. Besides, I was too thirsty to care. He leaned back in his chair meekly, sipping his wine.
Marthe pulled more items from her tray-a silver place setting, salt, pepper, b.u.t.ter, jam, toast, and a golden omelet flecked with fresh herbs.
"Merci, Marthe," I said with heartfelt grat.i.tude. Marthe," I said with heartfelt grat.i.tude.
"Eat!" she commanded, aiming her towel at me this time.
Marthe looked satisfied with the enthusiasm of my first few bites. Then she sniffed the air. She frowned and directed an exclamation of disgust at Matthew before striding to the fireplace. A match snapped, and the dry wood began to crackle.
"Marthe," Matthew protested, standing up with his winegla.s.s, "I can do that."
"She is cold," Marthe grumbled, clearly aggravated that he hadn"t antic.i.p.ated this before he sat down, "and you are thirsty. I will make the fire."
Within minutes there was a blaze. Though no fire would make the enormous room toasty, it took the chill from the air. Marthe brushed her hands together and stood. "She must sleep. I can smell she has been afraid."
"She"ll sleep when she"s through eating," Matthew said, holding up his right hand in a pledge. Marthe looked at him for a long moment and shook her finger at him as though he were fifteen, and not fifteen hundred, years old. Finally his innocent expression convinced her. She left the room, her ancient feet moving surely down the challenging stairs.
"Occitan is the language of the troubadours, isn"t it?" I asked, after Marthe had departed. The vampire nodded. "I didn"t realize it was spoken this far north."
"We"re not that far north," Matthew said with a smile. "Once, Paris was nothing more than an insignificant borderlands town. Most people spoke Occitan then. The hills kept the northerners-and their language-at a distance. Even now people here are wary of outsiders."
"What do the words mean?" I asked.
""You are the tree and branch,"" he said, fixing his eyes on the slashes of countryside visible through the nearest window, ""where delight"s fruit ripens. "" Matthew shook his head ruefully. "Marthe will hum the song all afternoon and make Ysabeau crazy."
The fire continued to spread its warmth through the room, and the heat made me drowsy. By the time the eggs were gone, it was difficult to keep my eyes open.
I was in the middle of a jaw-splitting yawn when Matthew drew me from the chair. He scooped me into his arms, my feet swinging in midair. I started to protest.
"Enough," he said. "You can barely sit up straight, never mind walk."
He put me gently on the end of the bed and pulled the coverlet back. The snowy-white sheets looked so crisp and inviting. I dropped my head onto the mountain of down pillows arranged against the bed"s intricate walnut carvings.
"Sleep." Matthew took the bed"s curtains in both hands and gave them a yank.
"I"m not sure I"ll be able to," I said, stifling another yawn. "I"m not good at napping."
"All appearances to the contrary," he said drily. "You"re in France now. You"re not supposed to try. I"ll be downstairs. Call if you need anything."
With one staircase leading from the hall up to his study and the other staircase leading to the bedroom from the opposite side, no one could reach this room without going past-and through-Matthew. The rooms had been designed as if he needed to protect himself from his own family.
A question rose to my lips, but he gave the curtains a final tug until they were closed, effectively silencing me. The heavy bed hangings didn"t allow the light to penetrate, and they shut out the worst of the drafts as well. Relaxing into the firm mattress, my body"s warmth magnified by the layers of bedding, I quickly fell asleep.
I woke up to the rustle of turning pages and sat bolt upright, trying to imagine why someone had shut me into a box made of fabric. Then I remembered.
France. Matthew. At his home.
"Matthew?" I called softly.
He parted the curtains and looked down with a smile. Behind him, candles were lit-dozens and dozens of them. Some were set into the sconces around the room, and others stood in ornate candelabras on the floor and tables.
"For someone who doesn"t nap, you slept quite soundly," he said with satisfaction. As far as he was concerned, the trip to France had already proved a success.
"What time is it?"
"I"m going to get you a watch if you don"t stop asking me that." Matthew glanced at his old Cartier. "It"s nearly two in the afternoon. Marthe will probably be here any minute with some tea. Do you want to shower and change?"
The thought of a hot shower had me eagerly pushing back the covers. "Yes, please!"
Matthew dodged my flying limbs and helped me to the floor, which was farther away than I had expected. It was cold, too, the stone flagstones stinging against my bare feet.
"Your bag is in the bathroom, the computer is downstairs in my study, and there are fresh towels. Take your time." He watched as I skittered into the bathroom.
"This is a palace!" I exclaimed. An enormous white, freestanding tub was tucked between two of the windows, and a long wooden bench held my dilapidated Yale duffel. In the far corner, a showerhead was set into the wall.
I started running the water, expecting to wait a long time for it to heat up. Miraculously, steam enveloped me immediately, and the honey-and-nectarine scent of my soap helped to lift the tension of the past twenty-four hours.
Once my muscles were unkinked, I slipped on jeans and a turtleneck, along with a pair of socks. There was no outlet for my blow dryer, so I settled instead for roughly toweling my hair and dragging a comb through it before tying it back in a ponytail.
"Marthe brought up tea," he said when I walked into the bedroom, glancing at a teapot and cup sitting on the table. "Do you want me to pour you some?"
I sighed with pleasure as the soothing liquid went down my throat. "When can I see the Aurora Aurora ma.n.u.script?" ma.n.u.script?"
"When I"m sure you won"t get lost on your way to the library. Ready for the grand tour?"
"Yes, please." I slid loafers on over my socks and ran back into the bathroom to get a sweater. As I raced around, Matthew waited patiently, standing near the top of the stairs.
"Should we take the teapot down?" I asked, skidding to a halt.
"No, she"d be furious if I let a guest touch a dish. Wait twenty-four hours before helping Marthe."
Matthew slipped down the stairs as if he could handle the uneven, smooth treads blindfolded. I crept along, guiding my fingers against the stone wall.
When we reached his study, he pointed to my computer, already plugged in and resting on a table by the window, before we descended to the salon. Marthe had been there, and a warm fire was crackling in the fireplace, sending the smell of wood smoke through the room. I grabbed Matthew.
"The library," I said. "The tour needs to start there."
It was another room that had been filled over the years with bric-a-brac and furniture. An Italian Savonarola folding chair was pulled up to a French Directory secretary, while a vast oak table circa 1700 held display cabinets that looked as if they"d been plucked from a Victorian museum. Despite the mismatches, the room was held together by miles of leather-bound books on walnut shelving and by an enormous Aubusson carpet in soft golds, blues, and browns.
As in most old libraries, the books were shelved by size. There were thick ma.n.u.scripts in leather bindings, shelved with spines in and ornamental clasps out, the t.i.tles inked onto the fore edges of the vellum. There were tiny incunabula and pocket-size books in neat rows on one bookcase, spanning the history of print from the 1450s to the present. A number of rare modern first editions, including a run of Arthur Conan Doyle"s Sherlock Holmes stories and T. H. White"s The Sword in the Stone, The Sword in the Stone, were there, too. One case held nothing but large folios-botanical books, atlases, medical books. If all this was downstairs, what treasures lived in Matthew"s tower study? were there, too. One case held nothing but large folios-botanical books, atlases, medical books. If all this was downstairs, what treasures lived in Matthew"s tower study?
He let me circle the room, peering at the t.i.tles and gasping. When I returned to his side, all I could do was shake my head in disbelief.
"Imagine what you"d have if you"d been buying books for centuries," Matthew said with a shrug that reminded me of Ysabeau. "Things pile up. We"ve gotten rid of a lot over the years. We had to. Otherwise this room would be the size of the Bibliotheque Nationale."
"So where is it?"
"You"re already out of patience, I see." He went to a shelf, his eyes darting among the volumes. He pulled out a small book with black tooled covers and presented it to me.
When I looked for a velveteen cradle to put it on, he laughed.
"Just open it, Diana. It"s not going to disintegrate."
It felt strange to hold such a ma.n.u.script in my hands, trained as I was to think of them as rare, precious objects rather than reading material. Trying not to open the covers too wide and crack the binding, I peeked inside. An explosion of bright colors, gold, and silver leaped out.
"Oh," I breathed. The other copies I"d seen of Aurora Consurgens Aurora Consurgens were not nearly so fine. "It"s beautiful. Do you know who did the illuminations?" were not nearly so fine. "It"s beautiful. Do you know who did the illuminations?"