Chapter 43 Good News
#44 of Fox Hunt
Good News
Chapter 43
Aina sat beside Red Mane in the carriage as it bumped along the cobbled road. Outside the window, rain pelted the streets in endless symphony, and the hooves of the horse pulling them along seemed to fall in rhythm with each pitter patter.
Red Mane had come for Aina early that morning. He unlocked her box, opened the lid, and paused to look at her in sympathy before untying her. The queen had been keeping Aina in a coffin-like box for months. Bound and gagged, she had been under the king and queen's bed for the duration of her second stay at Wychowl, brought out twice a day when the Beaucerons needed to care for her. Red Mane took her by the waist and pulled her out, and she was surprised when he wrapped his own coat around her shoulders, lifted her in his arms, and carried her from Wychowl Castle without so much as a word. His eyes were empty but for dull pain, his mane was tousled, his clothes as haphazardly fastened as if he had prepared for the journey in the dark. She was large with child and stepping up into the carriage was difficult, but he helped her with as much chivalry as if she could have been his wife.
Now they sat side by side in the carriage, in silence, as the rain streaked outside the window. The chill wind rolled in against them, but Red Mane didn't seem to feel it. Aina sat cold and hunched in his coat, listening with flat ears to the distant hooves of other carriages. They still hadn't left the town, but the countryside was certainly near. It had been a few hours, and Red Mane had spent those hours staring listlessly out the window. He seemed drained. As if someone had sucked the last remnants of life out of him. No more was he the fiery predator. Something had broken his spirit and left it battered in the dust.
Aina couldn't stand the silence. And she couldn't stand not knowing. "Where is Gentle Eyes? Where is . . . Eveleen."
Red Mane's throat tightened. "Charlie stayed behind for the funeral. I couldn't." His voice cracked on the last word, tiny and feeble. He continued to stare out the window.
Aina's voice was a sob, "Funeral?"
Red Mane looked at her sadly, his ears flat. "I'm so sorry, darling." He held out his arm. She fell into it and sobbed hard. He held her tightly, stroking her mane, kissing her head. "Hush, love," he whispered. "I'm going to take you home. I'm going to take care of you now. Evie would want me to."
Whatever else happened was a blur. Aina couldn't remember the rest of the carriage ride, and by the time they reached Howlester, her face was streaked with tears and she couldn't use her voice. She couldn't walk or move. Red Mane had to carry her. When he managed to step down from the carriage with her in his arms, Long Face came forward and offered to take her. Red Mane declined, instead ordering the servant to run ahead and prepare his rooms. A hot bath was awaiting Aina when they got there, and she sat in the bubbles and foam, sniffing quietly as Long Face bathed her, his movements heavy and sad.
The room was so still, Aina thought she would explode. Red Mane was sitting at his desk, pouring over papers and bitterly sipping from a glass while miserable little Mousey stood behind him, holding all the papers he would need to look at after his long absence.
Aina glanced around at all the sad faces and felt the room a sharp contrast to what it had been almost a year before. Only one year ago, they'd made love to her in this same bath, while Mousey looked on with jealousy and spite. Now Mousey glanced at Aina with nothing but pity, and Long Face looked as if he was going to cry. Aina had to remind herself how much he had loved Evelyn. Perhaps Mousey had loved Evelyn too: her face was the perfect picture of woe, her movements sluggish as she handed off the papers, her steps sluggish when she moved around the room.
Red Mane kept sipping from his glass as he read and signed, read and signed, his quill scratching loud in the silence. Every now and then, a tear escaped his eye, but he ignored it. Aina wanted to hold him and let him cry in her breasts. He had been so kind to her during the carriage ride, it was the least she could do.
Aina turned her eyes away and instead watched as Long Face sadly bathed her. The sound of the water trickling each time he wrung out the washcloth was almost soothing. She closed her eyes and could feel her cub kick. As he smoothed the washcloth over her belly, Long Face felt it too and smiled at her. She wondered what would happen to the cub once she was gone. Red Mane told her during the carriage ride that he intended to take her on as a servant, the way old Fassil had been serving the court at Howlester for generations. Her and her cub would be safe with him, he would care for her, and she would be happy again one day. He promised. Aina had only cried harder: Red Mane had no idea that there wasn't going to be a "one day." Not for her.
What Aina couldn't understand was how Ti'uu could lie to her. The spirit bird had told her Evelyn would be her reward. But instead, Evelyn was dead. She clenched her fists under the water and almost cried. Why was she surprised? Ti'uu was a distant and uncaring god who only stepped in when it suited him. Perhaps he had fed her the lie just to make sure she protected his unborn child.
"How are you, lad?" said a voice.
Aina looked around: Nana, the old Pointer, had stuck her face in the door. The look of misery on her face would take some getting used to for Aina, who was so accustomed to nothing but scolding and nagging from the old dog. Now her long face was sad, her eyes even echoing pain. Like everyone on the estate, she was dressed in black mourning and even wore a black bonnet over her long mane. She came into the room with her paws folded on her white apron and a concerned frown on her brow.
Red Mane hardly looked up from his papers. "How do you think I am, Nana?" he muttered and dipped his quill in the inkwell.
Nana looked at Mousey. "D'you tell him about Jonathan?"
Mousey's eyes grew wide, and she shook her head so hard, her golden mane tumbled in her eyes. "No, Ma'am. Figured it wasn't proper!"
Nana snorted. "Don't be absurd. He could use a bit of good news in light of all that's happened."
Red Mane's lips tightened irritably as he looked over yet another document. "Is it proper to speak in riddles before ones employer, Nana? I can't recall."
Nana made a face and opened her long mouth to retort.
"Please, Nana!" Mousey burst. "Don't tell him yet! I'm not ready!"
Red Mane looked at Mousey's breathless fear in amazement. He tapped his glass, and she lifted the decanter to pour him another drink. He was lifting the glass to his lips when Nana shouted with a determined heave of her breasts, "You're a father!"
Red Mane choked, spraying his liquor across the document.