her throat.
“You are quite the troublesome minx and I love you for it!” He slurred. I was worried then that the aristocrat would notice that Mademoiselle d’Harcourt’s chest was pillowy soft in the wrong way, and the Adam’s apple at her throat was not feminine! But no, he didn’t seem to notice at all. He rested his head upon her fraudulent bosom and Evie stroked his golden hair as if she were a nursing babe.
“Do not fall asleep Leo. You promised me we would have some fun!”
“I did, didn’t I!“ Leopold sluggishly rolled off Evie.
“Benedict, my friend—“He announced all of a sudden. “Do you have a taste for cock and quim, or simply cock?”
I was stunned to hear such crude words come from this whipper-snapper. It appeared that all measures of social niceties were moot and this educated young man was showing me his true face. I was quite flabbergasted and lost for a response, but then Evie rolled off the bed, and with her hands seductively planted on her hips and her dress in a tangle, displaying her shapely calves she strutted towards me.
“I do hope that, whatever your tastes, they include me, Benny-wenny.” Evie mocked as she pulled up the skirt of her dress and the frou-frou of pink petticoats then straddled my thighs. She took my hands in her own and placed them on her backside. I was murderously embarrassed and aroused in equal measure, but I played along, squeezing Sebastian’s firm arse—and given the chance, I would do worse as punishment for making a show of me in front of the German hellion.
Leopold sat up in bed. “Let’s play a game, ja?” He slurred. I slapped Evie’s bottom and ejected her from my lap.
“A drink, gentlemen?” She asked. Evie grabbed the bottle of Brandy from the nightstand and took it to a credenza on which a tray with a bottle of Port and four glasses sat.
“Port, if you’d be so kind”, I said,
“Brandy, bring me more Brandy,” Leopold ordered. He staggered from the bed over to a round table. I pulled out a chair for him and he managed to sit in the chair, and not fall on his arse. I sat across from the boy. I removed the floral arrangement and lace doily that had adorned the table and laid them on the floor. Leo opened the packet of cards and began sluggishly shuffling them.
I glanced at Evie as she prepared the drinks and in that split second, I saw that Cavell dropped a little while pill into one of the drinks. I did not like this one bit. I had, after all, been on the receiving end of unknowingly consuming an illicit drug. But, what could I do? I knew that Cavell’s actions were for altruistic reasons and this time I did not believe that the drugged drink was for me! Now that I had witnessed the drugging of Leopold’s drink I was sure that Cavell’s plan was afoot and the German aristocrat would not be returning to Benjamin Cavendish’s townhouse tonight!
“Tell me, how did you become entangled with Blake and his lot?” I asked conversationally. I knew I had to broach this subject very gently as I did not want to arouse suspicions.
“My father permitted me to attend a lecture last year when the famous American Theosophist Lawrence Blake visited Thuringia. We rarely get such visitors to our Barony. I attended and was intrigued by his passion and knowledge of all things mysterious. I arranged that we would meet privately afterward. I have always believed in the occult, you see. Living in a castle full of history and death makes one aware of, as Blake would say… the tenuous thread between this life and the next.”
“Oh, yes, indeed.” I was disquieted by this subject and the boy’s willingness to accept the phantasmagoria of Lawrence Blake. I shot a querulous look in Sebastian’s direction. He was lingering by the credenza, allowing Leopold the time to unburden.
“The things you did… that erotic ritual. Did you want what they did to you?”
The inebriated boy’s face lit up. “Oh, Mein Gott! Ja!” He said enthusiastically. “I have waited for so long. It is my destiny. Do you not understand? It is written. I am the vessel. I am the key to immortality.”
“That is—“ I wanted to say, preposterous, but with a second’s hesitation I changed my exclamation to “Remarkable!” I was unsure if the Baron was merely highly suggestible, or not the full-shilling, but Leopold was so