Chapter 31
I stared at Kamil's outstretched hand for a moment. His palm was slightly red, the lighter colored scars creeping up from the center of his hand into his wrist still prominent. He made no attempt to hide the marks that had rendered him useless as a surgeon, and for a long moment I thought of how he had somehow managed to steady his injured hands while treating me when I asked him to leave me.
At last I met his eye, unsure of what to think of his sudden appearance. His expression had not changed despite how I addressed him and rudely stared at his old injuries.
"Get out of my house," I seethed.
"We are not in your house, are we, Monsieur?" Kamil answered, his voice much calmer than mine. He still had not moved a muscle, his hand still outstretched as though I would reconsider and greet him. "It belongs to your new bride, I believe? You have taken up residence in the home behind this one for the last, what? Nine years now?"
My eyes narrowed, heart racing as I faced him and wondered how in the hell he knew this was Julia's home or how long I had lived within mine. If he wanted to see me falter, he would undoubtedly get his wish.
"Leave," I said under my breath.
At last the smile slipped away and Kamil lowered his hand to his side. "Very well, Erik," he said. His gaze settled on Madeline, who had not left the guest room. "No charge for my services, Madame...Giry, is it?"
"Yes, Doctor Khan," Madeline answered as she looked nervously from him to me.
"Written instructions are with your wife," he said, his voice still perfectly calm and pleasant. "I will see myself out. Good day to you."
I blinked, my chest heaving at the brief, unexpected exchange and apparent uneventful conclusion to our encounter. Without another word, he walked past me toward the front door and Ruby placed her hand on my forearm.
"Should I see him out?" she questioned, her brow furrowed. Clearly she had no idea what had transpired, but by the expression on her face she was bewildered by the exchange.
His visit did not sit well with me. I feared there was something worse on his mind, especially since he knew where I lived. I suspected he knew damn well Lisette and Alex were within my home and unprotected.
"No, stay with Julia," I said as I looked from Ruby to Madeline. "How is she?" I asked both women.
"Sleeping," Madeline answered. "Comfortably at last."
Her words provided a small sense of relief, but after my time in Persia I knew things were rarely as they seemed. I looked over Madeline's shoulder and saw Julia asleep on her side. The color had returned to her cheeks and she looked relaxed instead of fitful.
As long as Julia slept, she would not know I had left her side, I reasoned as I watched Kamil reach the end of the hall. "I will return in a moment," I said to Madeline, "If Julia wakes tell her I am still with the children."
"Erik, please," Madeline pleaded.
Ignoring Madeline's words, I stalked after Kamil toward the front door. I had every intention of following him out of Paris if need be.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" I asked as we reached the foyer.
Kamil inhaled and reached for his hat, which was on a hook beside his cloak and a leather bag that had seen better days.
"Tending to your wife," he said without meeting my eye. "Your son and step-daughter arrived quite frantically in search of a physician. Seeing as how my associate was not available, I arrived as soon as I could."
"Your associate?"
"He is under the weather. He was supposed to attend to another individual yesterday. Madame Lowry, your wife told me?"
"Why did he send you?"
"I sent myself because I am a physician and two children approached me near hysteria asking for assistance, and given my oath as a physician, I came at once. Or have you forgotten my skills as a doctor?"
I had no desire to remember a single moment of my time in Persia, but the scars along my back were a constant remind of torment much greater than my father or Garouche had ever issued. Kamil had placed himself in charge of my care, and he had made certain to refuse me death. Perhaps he had vowed to do no harm, but in my eyes he had not done me much good either.
"You said you were a surgeon in those days."
"Long ago, yes, but my hands were not steady when our paths once crossed and time has not healed those wounds." He looked from me to his hands and back again. "Some injuries last a lifetime, do they not?"
"How do you know where I live?" I asked, ignoring his question.
Kamil did not appear surprised by my query. "You are a man of routine."
My lips parted but I had no idea what to say to him.
"You walk the same path with your dog at relatively the same hour. I've seen you countless times as you strolled down the street in the middle of the night."
"That is far too simple an answer."
"Yes, it is," he agreed. "But I don't think you will like the real answer."
"Tell me."
"Christine de Chagny."
Again his words caught me off guard and I stammered for a reply. "What does she have to do with you finding me? Invading my home and seeing my wife?"
Kamil exhaled hard as though he had grown impatient with me. He had been the more civil and even tempered of the twins. His brother Arden had not cared for me much, especially at first. He thought I was arrogant and foolish-and he was not wrong.
"My uncle sent word to me once there was news of Comtess de Chagny singing at the fair. He assumed you would approach her."
My pulse quickened, which didn't seem possible considering it already felt as though my heart would give out if it beat any faster. Even though I had approached Christine, I still felt quite insulted by the Daroga's assumption-and the information he clearly had at his disposal to lead his nephew to not only my doorstep, but Julia's home as well.
"You traveled from Persia here to Paris because of a performance?"
Kamil offered an easy smile again. "Not in the least. I've been in Paris for five years now."
I took a step back from him unintentionally and found myself against the wall.
"You lie."
"What reason do I have to be untruthful?" he asked as he looked me over. "For as many times as we passed wordlessly on the streets, if I wished to do you harm or see you dead, I would have done so already. After all, you made it quite simple after a late night visit to the Wisteria Hotel."
His words elicited a sense of trepidation I had not expected. For most of my life I thought I was aware of my surroundings and mindful of individuals I passed on the streets, but clearly I had let my guard down for far too long.
I made every attempt to keep my emotions in check and expression blank, but I knew by the manner in which he looked me over I had failed miserably.
"I saw the Comte and a few of his associates lead you out of the building. I took a carriage home, and when Arden and I returned to the hotel and searched the surrounding areas you had disappeared. Honestly, given your past I should have suspected as much."
I had a feeling he had over simplified what he had witnessed, but I had no desire to hear him elaborate.
"Nadir asked you to keep track of me then? Like a dog hunting down a fox?"
Kamil shook his head. "You were always a man who teetered between a swell of undue arrogance and not a whit of self-confidence. I see that has not changed. My uncle expected you would approach the Comtess and he was correct, however, he did not expect you to be so...incapacitated, shall we say?"
I despised the condescending way in which he spoke to me, his tone much like the way his brother constantly addressed me as though I were little more than an ignorant fool. I had no qualms about being called ugly, but I would not tolerate being treated like I was brainless.
"My uncle was greatly disturbed by your encounter with the Comte and I am sure he is saddened by the news of the Comtess and her untimely death. And before you say another word, he does not think you were responsible for her death."
"Of course I had nothing to do with her death," I snapped.
"Of course," he echoed.
My temper threatened to get the best of me as I took his words as an insult. "If you do not want me dead, then what do you want?"
"Nothing," he answered as he donned his hat and cloak and turned toward the door. "As I have previously said, I tended to your wife and nothing more. There are instructions for her aftercare, and should she need additional services, call upon me at once."
My jaw clenched, but I remained silent.
"Most men do not like the instructions, however, for your wife's well being, you should follow what I advised. She will need six weeks without, how shall I put it? Performing martial duties?"
Heat rose in my cheeks and every muscle in my body tightened. "I will do whatever is necessary to keep her comfortable."
He nodded. "I had no doubt you treated her well."
I wasn't sure if he was being sincere or snide, but I glared at him nonetheless and silently dared him to say another word.
"My card is with Madame Giry. She is quite pleasant and I can see why you wished to send her word long ago."
My heart stuttered. I had not expected him to remember me asking for him and the Daroga to write to Madeline when I thought for certain I would die. I had pleaded quite desperately for them to fulfill my wish and send her word that I was well.
"What do you want as payment so that you may leave here at once?" I asked.
"Payment is not necessary."
His answer failed to satisfy me. "Then why are you really here?"
"Consider my services as repayment for debts from long ago."
My eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"
"For Shazeen," he answered. "You do remember my sister-in-law?"
A shiver rattled through my body and chilled the blood in my veins. I stood in silence, my lips parted and chest heaving at his words. For years I had woke screaming the name of a woman I could not save. I was far too young and foolish in those days, and despite the torture-both inflicted upon me and dolled out amongst many others-I thought I could buy her freedom.
"Julia," I whispered, my vision started to tunnel, my hands tingling as fear rattled through me and turned to sheer panic. I wondered if my wife was truly sleeping or if he had poisoned her. "What did you do to my wife?"
Kamil approached me before I started toward the guest room and grabbed me roughly by my left shoulder. Immediately I swatted him away and he took a respectful step back.
"I did very little, to be honest. When I arrived the worst of her condition had passed. Your wife had already miscarried when I came in." He offered a sympathetic frown. "I do wish we could have met again under different circumstances, Monsieur. Your wife has had nothing but compliments to say about you. It is a shame she did not carry the child to term."
His words provided no comfort, and I wasn't sure if that was what he intended. "What did you give her to make her sleep?" I asked. My voice was so unsteady I barely recognized the words coming from my mouth. "Will she ever wake?"
His features changed before my eyes, the pleasantness in his gaze hardening. "Do you honestly think I harmed your wife?" he asked as he shifted his weight and widened his stance.
"Repayment," I said. "For Shazeen."
The words fell from my lips, forced out with a hard exhale of breath. Her name was not one I said lightly. Every nightmare in which she appeared started with the sound of brass bells on her ankles and wrists jingling and ended with her throat slit and her body crumpled in the sprawling garden beneath the balcony or left in a heap on the marble floor of my apartment. Sometimes the location changed, but the result was always the same. She was always too far away for anyone to save.
Kamil inhaled sharply and nodded. "Shazeen is alive," he said.
My head snapped up and I met his gaze, unable to comprehend his words. I stared at him for a long moment and felt goose flesh rise along my arms. "But I saw her…"
"An illusion," Kamil answered. His features and posture had relaxed once more. "One straight out of the theater."
I swallowed hard as I leaned against the wall and gawked at the man calmly standing before me with his hands loosely clasped together and a passive look on his aged face. For over twenty years I had blamed myself for her death and this new information both relieved and rattled me to the core.
"You are certain? If this is another trick from that Godforsaken place I will-"
Kamil grunted. "I am quite certain and I have no reason to be dishonest with you. Those days are thankfully behind me, where they should be, and I dare say you have no desire to relive a single second of your residence in the palace" he answered.
I shook my head. "Residence is hardly how I would have described it."
"Indeed," he said under his breath. "But if it brings you any consolation, Shazeen is currently residing in Germany tending to my uncle."
"He is ill?"
"Trouble with his feet. Nothing serious."
"And Shazeen?"
"You would not recognize her, Monsieur."
My brow furrowed at his statement as I could not tell if this was better or worse than when I had known of his sister-in-law. She had been given to me as a gift of sorts and taken from her husband Arden as punishment.
For years she had been passed from prisoner to prisoner, her senses dulled with an addiction to morphine and whatever other concoction the Little Sultana gave to her. Every other prisoner had greedily accepted their gift, but I-having no experience with the fairer sex-had no idea why Shazeen had been tossed into my apartments. The proverbial fresh meat presented to the grotesque beast was little more than an annoyance turned challenge. Years of being used for the gratification of strange, violent men ended in the hands of the most ghastly monster.
Ruby cleared her throat to signal she had entered the foyer. She looked from Kamil to me with a great deal of uncertainty. "Forgive me, Monsieur Kire, but Madame Kire asked for you. Shall I tell her you will be with her in a moment?"
I nodded, and before I said a word, Ruby turned and marched back down the hall. In the same instance, the front door opened and quickly closed, and Kamil exited Julia's home without so much as another word.
For a long moment I stood awkwardly with my back against the wall, a thousand questions racing through my mind. Madeline walked down the hall, her uneven gait signaling her approach.
"That was him?" she asked as she looked me over.
I nodded.
"Ruby had no idea, and when he walked into the room with Julia, I did not know what to say," Madeline said apologetically. "I thought it best not to scream or cause any distress."
"Were you with them the entire time?" I asked.
Madeline nodded. "Of course."
I sighed in relief despite it appearing as though Kamil had no nefarious plans.
"He introduced himself immediately," Madeline said. "And he told Julia you were old acquaintances. Either he had no idea we were aware of who he was or he is a very good actor."
"Perhaps a bit of both," I muttered.
"He is in fact a doctor?" Madeline asked.
I nodded. "He was a surgeon long ago. Apparently he's been in Paris for the last five years."
"Do you think him paying a visit today is merely a coincidence?" Madeline offered, although she seemed unconvinced by her own words.
I eyed her briefly. "Not at all."
From down the hallway I heard Ruby telling Julia she would ask for me again.
"I will return home for a bit if you do not need me here. I'm sure Meg and Charles would appreciate a break from all of the commotion," Madeline said before I excused myself. "Have Ruby fetch the children when Julia is ready and I'll have them washed up before they see their mother."
I nodded. "Thank you."
We walked down the hall where Madeline headed toward the kitchen. She squeezed my arm briefly and gave me a sullen look. "Dr. Kahn seems like a good man."
"He was," I replied.
Madeline gave me a quizzical look. "Then why were you so concerned?" she asked.
"Because I was not."
A/N if you're confused about the character introduced in this chapter send me a PM and I'll try to clear it up for you.
Also, when I originally started looking up nobility titles the reference article I used had Comte/Comtess and I've been spelling it wrong since 2005, so it's something I'll eventually mass correct.
