Undead and Unsure by MaryJanice Davidson

Author:MaryJanice Davidson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

My wife and my sister-in-law fell off the world and I could not stop them.

To my shame, I did not try. I stood like a weakling child and watched. And then I went away inside myself because, at my core, in my essential self, there was always the weakling child who could not prevent the deaths of those he loved, and who lacked the courage to follow them on their journey.

I spent decades not following them; I expected to spend centuries. And for the first time since I met my queen, I realized anew that immortality could be a curse to the cowardly.

“. . . my king? Sir? Sir?” A familiar voice, one I had loved long. “Eric? Eric?” Ah. This is where I am. This is what we are doing. Following her foray into familiarity, Christina Caresse Chavelle would now bite her lip and do something she hated. I was comforted by a routine that had begun when I was four and recovering from rubella. The uproar over the consequence

(ah . . . consequence . . . such a familiar word today . . . my queen would say it is the word of the week)

of my illness had hit my parents hard. I did not know it at the time, but the stress caused me to sleepwalk. If not for Tina’s timely slap, I should have blundered into one of the ponds and drowned. She woke me, she comforted me, and the next day she began teaching me to swim. It would not be the first time, or the last, I was saved by a quick-thinking woman who loved me.

Father, you thought my rubella-rendered sterility would put an end to the Sinclair name; you thought having no grandchildren by your son was the worst thing that could happen to our family. You made us believe it with you. Oh, my father, you were correct in many things; why not this one?

I caught Tina’s hand an inch from my face. “I am fine,” I said distinctly. “You may restrain yourself, however tempting your impulse.”

She gifted me with the ghost of a smile, gone so quickly it might never have been on her sweet face at all. Beyond hers was a ring of others, all wide-eyed and fretful.

I stood

(when did I lie down?)

and apologized. I noted the dining room table had been shoved across the room and there was a sizeable mess of broken plates and spilled drinks everywhere.

I apologized again.

“That’s okay,” Jessica said at once. From behind Detective Berry, I could not help but note. At some point in the last—I glanced at my watch—four minutes, he had seized her elbow and tugged her behind him. This was wise, if ultimately useless. “Listen, it’ll be okay. You know we’ll get her back.”

I did not.

“I think she’ll have to get herself back.” My mother-in-law reached for my hand. “But she can, I’m sure. And if not, you’ll think of something. Just—don’t worry. Okay? You’ll figure it out. Ah—we’ll all figure it out.

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