The Unexpected Flavor of Forever: A Severine DuNoir Historical Cozy Adventure (The Mysteries of Severine DuNoir Book 8) by Beth Byers

Author:Beth Byers [Byers, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2021-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Severine had to admit that her skin was crawling again that night. Charles had gone home before their self-control evaporated. Alone in the metal bed with only the books for company, the quiet she had enjoyed was now a pall of the unknown and somewhat terrifying. Perhaps pulp style fiction Twinnings wrote was not proper late night reading material.

She regretted purchasing this giant house when alone like she was. The others all had taken bedrooms on the lower floors and she was three floors up by herself and the dogs and the unnerving mirror. Every time Anubis stared too long toward any direction, she was spooked. If he and the girls hadn’t been with her, she no doubt would have fled to the lower floors.

Severine couldn’t stand it any longer. She wanted to be married, be past the shyness, back from her honeymoon, and in a house filled with furniture.

It was possible, however, that the terrible choice of the café au lait was causing this. She felt as if her skin were crawling, and her legs were twitchy. She threw back her covers, grabbed the heavy dressing gown she’d bought after coming to London, and slipped on her sturdiest pair of shoes.

“Let’s go see the fog, boy,” she told Anubis. Both of the girls lifted their heads and then flopped back down as if to say, Better you than me.

She hurried down the back steps and then walked through the hallway where Bernadette, Sister Sophie, Solange, and to Sev’s surprise, Edmée slept. They were, all of them, sleeping on terrible beds. Severine felt a rush of guilt. She needed to do better. This house was nothing but cold stone floors and old stone walls. If not for the fireplaces in every room, they’d all be shivering. The water was iffy at best and the wiring spotty. The windows were drafty and the doors creaked. The empty rooms made the house twice as big and twice as disconcerting in the middle of the night. Everything needed to be updated.

Sister Sophie and Edmée were too elderly to be suffering from discomfort. The doors to their bedrooms were open, a fact that surprised her, and Severine glanced in on sleeping face after sleeping face. She was startled, however, to find Bernadette sitting up in her bed.

“Are you all right?” Sev asked, speaking low. She glanced back down the hallway and then stepped into the bedroom. Unlike the others, Bernadette had made it her own. She’d hung her own drawings of plants on the walls and put a quilt she’d bought from a local shop on the bed to make it look more homey.

Bernadette’s gaze narrowed, and she swung her feet over the side of the bed. “You drank more coffee today, didn’t you?”

Severine paused and then shrugged.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking Anubis out.”

Bernadette eyed the dog for a long moment before she crossed to put on her own thick dressing gown and shoes.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Severine said. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.