How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days (The Embraced #1)

Luciana noticed a pile of wet, recently washed dishes next to the sink. “Shall I dry these for you?” She grabbed a clean linen towel.

“N-no,” the scullery maid stammered. “That is much too hard for your ladyship.”

Luciana grinned as she dried a pewter plate. “Not hard at all.” She dried a second plate and stacked it on top of the first. “So how have you all been?”

The servants stared at her, then at one another.

“My dear child.” Yulissa smiled tremulously, her eyes soft with emotion. “It is good to see you again.”

“I think it’s been ten years,” one servant whispered.

“Aye,” another agreed. “Ever since the … accident.” She gave Yulissa a sad look.

Accident? Luciana picked up a goblet to dry.

“I have such fond memories of your ladyship and my sweet Christopher.” Yulissa blinked as tears glimmered in her eyes. “The two of you would help me roll out the dough for pies and biscuits. And then I would give you a few biscuits fresh from the oven. You were such good friends.”

One of the servants clucked her tongue. “Poor Christopher. He was such a darling boy.”

“Aye, taken from me so young.” A tear ran down Yulissa’s face and she wiped it with her apron.

“Tatiana!” a young voice cried out.

Luciana gasped and dropped the goblet. It landed with a clatter on top of the other dishes.

“Oh, my!” The scullery maid lunged forward to keep the dishes from cascading off the table.

Another servant gave Luciana a sympathetic look. “I’m afraid this work is too difficult for you.”

“No, I’m fine.” Luciana waved a dismissive hand. “It’s quite easy, really.” It was seeing the charred face of a child ghost that had been difficult. Christopher had popped out of nowhere, giving her quite a shock. The poor boy had obviously died in a fire. His hair and skin were burned away on the right side of his head, and he was grinning at her with half a mouth.

“Tatiana! You came to see me, right?” he asked.

He looked so hopeful, she couldn’t bear to ignore him. “I’ll fetch the vegetables you need.” She grabbed a basket from the table next to the door and hurried outside, hoping the young ghost would follow.

Pirate trotted alongside her to the nearby garden. Thankfully there was no one else there. She knelt down by the row of carrots and took the hand trowel from the basket. Pirate sat beside her.

“You have a dog?” Christopher grinned. “I didn’t know you have a dog!” He tried to pet Pirate, but his hand passed right through him.

Pirate jumped up and whirled around in a circle.

He was sensing something, Luciana thought, and patted the dog on the head. “It’s all right. Just stay here, and if anyone sees me talking, they’ll think I’m talking to you.”

Pirate tilted his head with an inquisitive look.

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Christopher knelt on the other side of her. “Now we can talk all we want.”

She took a deep breath and reminded herself not to cringe. He was a child. Frozen in time at the age of eight or nine. She turned to smile at him. “How have you been, Christopher?”

“I’m great, now that you’re here. I kept hoping you would come to visit. I knew you could see me ’cause you looked right at me during the funeral. Then you screamed.” He hung his head. “I guess I look kind of scary now.”

“I’m so sorry that you suffered.”

He shrugged. “It was my fault. Mama warned me so many times not to play close to the fire.”

The poor boy must have been lonesome all these years. Luciana dug around a carrot.

Christopher giggled when Pirate moved right through him, sniffing the ground. “I like your dog.”

“So do I.” She rubbed Pirate’s ears, but he looked at her and made a whimpering noise. “You know, Christopher, if you passed on to the Realm of the Heavens, you could return to your normal handsome appearance.”

He laughed. “I was never handsome. And I like to stay close to my mom.” His face grew sad. “I just wish I could talk to her.”

“Is there anyone else you can talk to?”

He stuck out what was left of his bottom lip. “I tried to talk to you a few times, but you ignored me.”

Luciana winced. “I’m sorry. I’ll do better from now on. I promise.”

He smiled briefly before making a face. “There are a bunch of ghosts in the catacombs, but whenever I go there, they chase me away and say I’m too horrid to look at.”

She ripped a carrot from the ground. “That’s terrible.”

“They call me Crispin.”

She winced.

Pirate collapsed on the ground with a mournful whine. She gave him another pat on the head. The poor dog looked so confused.

Christopher jumped to his feet. “If I get too lonely, I go see your mother. She’s—”

With a gasp, Luciana dropped the trowel. “My mother?”

Christopher nodded. “She’s always nice to me.”

Her mother’s spirit had remained here? Luciana’s heart thudded in her chest. “Wh-where is she?”

Christopher pointed at the southwestern tower of the outer wall. “That’s her favorite place. She loved it so much, she had a room made for her there. It’s where she gave birth to you, you know.”

Luciana gazed at the tower as tears crowded her eyes. “Thank you for telling me, Christopher.”

“She told me she came from a village along the coast. She likes to look out the tower window at the sea. I guess she gets homesick.”

“I can understand that.”

“Do you want to hear everything that’s happened with the servants?” Christopher asked.

“Yes. Please.” Luciana dug up more carrots, onions, and cabbages while the boy talked and talked. He was actually a valuable source of information, she realized. By the time he was done, she felt like she really knew the servants.