Serafina and the Black Cloak - Robert Beatty Page 0,37

hand.

She remembered watching the boy the day he arrived at Biltmore and wondering about him. The servants said he came with no luggage, no belongings whatsoever other than the four black horses, which his uncle agreed to ship by train from New York.

Moving closer to Braeden, she remembered what he’d said to her earlier that night: These horses and I have been friends for a long time.

From that day forward, she had kept a lookout for the boy. She often saw him walking the grounds in the morning. He spent long periods of time watching birds in the trees. He fished for trout in the streams, but much to the consternation of the cook, he always released whatever he caught. When she watched him in the house, he didn’t seem comfortable around boys and girls his own age, or most of the adults, either. He loved his dog and his horses, but that was all. Those seemed to be his only friends.

She remembered overhearing his aunt speaking to a guest once. “He’s just going through a phase,” Mrs. Vanderbilt had said, trying to explain why he was so quiet at the dining table and so shy at parties. “He’ll snap out of it.”

But Serafina had a feeling that he never did.

His aunt and uncle lived in a world of extravagant parties, but from a distance, Braeden seemed to find more accomplishment in riding a horse or repairing the wing of a wounded hawk than dancing with the girls at the resplendent proms. She remembered prowling around outside the windows of the Winter Garden when it was all lit up for a ball one summer’s eve. She watched the girls in their lovely gowns sashaying this way and that, dancing with the boys, and drinking sparkling punch from a giant fountain in the center of the room. She’d always wanted to be one of those girls in a fancy dress and shiny shoes. She remembered listening to the orchestra play and the people talking and laughing. Crouched down in the shadow beneath the windows, she could look over and see the silent gaze of the stone lions guarding the front doors of the house.

She didn’t know how Braeden felt about her, but there was one thing for sure: she was different. Different from any girl he had seen before. She had no idea whether that fixed her as friend or enemy, but it was something.

It was the middle of the night now, and she knew that she should sleep, but she wasn’t tired. The day hadn’t left her exhausted. It had exhilarated her. Suddenly, the entire world was different than it had been the day before. She’d never felt so alive in her life. There were so many questions, so many mysteries to solve. She kept praying that somehow, some way, despite everything she had seen, Clara, Nolan, and Anastasia were still alive, and she could save them. She wanted to go outside and hunt through the woods in search of clues about the Man in the Black Cloak.

But she decided to stay where she was, content to remain curled up beside Braeden.

After a while, it began to rain a heavy rain, and she listened to the sound of it on the leaves of the trees and the roof of the carriage, and she thought it was a perfect sound.

Her eyes and ears open, she vowed that if the Man in the Black Cloak came again that night, she’d be ready.

When Serafina awoke the next morning, the gentle rays of the rising sun filtered through the carriage window, bathing her and Braeden in a soft golden light. Braeden slept soundly beside her. Gidean lay at their feet, quiet and restful.

Suddenly, the dog raised his head and perked his ears. Then she heard the sound as well: trotting horses, turning wheels, the rattle of approaching carriages…

She sprang up. She didn’t know whether the carriages were bringing friends or enemies, but either way, she didn’t want to be seen. If she stayed in the carriage, she was trapped; she needed space to watch, to move, to fight.

She hated to leave him, but she touched Braeden on the shoulder. “Wake up. Someone’s here.”

Then she slipped out of the carriage and darted into the forest before he had even awoken.

Hiding in the bushes and trees some distance into the undergrowth, she watched Braeden and Gidean exit the carriage. Braeden rubbed his eyes in the sunlight and looked around for her, obviously wondering where she’d disappeared