The Chronicles of the Tempus by K. A. S. Quinn

Author:K. A. S. Quinn [Quinn, K. A. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782397236
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd

Chapter Fourteen

DuQuelle’s Nurse

‘He bled words? I still cannot believe it.’ Alice held on to Katie’s arm, as they walked through Green Park on an early autumn day. Princess Alice was not usually allowed out without an adult chaperone, but fate had led her back to London with a tiny grain of independence. The Queen was in a ‘delicate condition’ – there was going to be yet another little prince or princess. When Alice developed a skin inflammation, Dr O’Reilly feared measles. The Queen’s unborn child had to be protected, so Alice was rushed back to London, while the rest of the Royal Family continued on to Balmoral, their home in the Highlands of Scotland. It turned out Alice only had a rash – the result of too much vigorous sea-bathing. It subsided in a few weeks, but she got to stay at Buckingham Palace, albeit under the guardianship of the sour old Baroness Lehzen.

‘It was really creepy,’ Katie said. ‘All this glittery silver stuff came out of DuQuelle. And then it became, like, famous words, stuff they teach you at school. I could have learned a lot, if I hadn’t been so afraid that he was dying.’ Katie didn’t share just how relieved she was that he hadn’t died, or that she had been writing to him at Half Moon Street since the accident.

James walked on the other side of Alice, stiff as a sentry. They were out in a public park in London. He must make certain no harm came to the Princess. ‘I believe you were right in the first place,’ he said to Katie. ‘I don’t think DuQuelle can die – but he can stop being human.’ The conversation came to an abrupt end, as they all contemplated gloomily – just what would Bernardo DuQuelle become if he stopped being human . . . It wasn’t a pleasant line of thought.

But such a bright, Indian summer day was not the time for gloom. James was safe, and Bernardo DuQuelle was recovering. Lord Twisted had fled London and was now in the Crimea with the British army, his young ward Felix in tow. Grace’s health had improved dramatically with the return of her brother, unscathed, and the departure of Lord Twisted. It even looked as if they might win this war.

‘It is wonderful news, the victory at Alma. And I believe Grace had a letter from Jack today,’ Alice said. ‘Have you seen it?’

Katie hadn’t. She was avoiding any type of reading at the moment. She couldn’t even read a copy of Tatler without seeing hundreds of women swirling around a ballroom. Her reaction to words was worsening.

James had read Jack’s letter. ‘The troops are marching on Sebastopol,’ he told them both. ‘It is a major Russian naval base. If Sebastopol falls, the Russians will be powerless in the Black Sea. The war will end. The battle at Alma was the first step.’

‘And Jack is OK?’ Katie asked, with a tightening in her chest.

‘He’s fine,’ James replied. ‘Furious but fine.

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