Lost in Time (Blue Bloods 6)

It was then that she knew she would never find out the truth of her own history. And while she still believed that under no circumstances would Michael, Pure of Heart—the greatest angel who ever lived—harm a mere human, Allegra was suddenly very, very afraid.

THIRTY-ONE

Gatekeeper

Schuyler flinched as the ladies-in-waiting did their worst.

They rouged her cheeks and lips, slicked her hair with hippo-potamus oil (a beauty secret that Nefertiti was said to have popularized), then curled it in ringlets and soaked her skin in greasy perfume. They told her to strip down to her underwear and forced her into a lacy white dress with a corset that nipped her waist and had a dangerously low neckline. As threatened, they padded her bustline with a pair of breast-shaped foam cutlets.

“Work with what we can,” the older woman sneered, tightening the stays until Schuyler felt she couldn’t breathe.

The younger one brought high-heeled slippers for her to wear. “Remember, it’s better not to fight,” she said kindly.

“There’s no getting out of it, so you might as well try to enjoy it.”

Schuyler did not reply. When they left her alone, she walked to the mirror, appalled at her reflection. She looked like a perversion of a bride: the dress bordered on indecent, with a slit up the leg that reached her thigh, and the fabric was almost see-through. She’d never worn anything this revealing in her life, not even at the beach.

She wondered how Deming and Dehua were faring, and hoped they would be able to take care of themselves. Had she led them into the worst danger of all? She thought of what was about to happen, and tried not to panic. She would find a way out of this, she told herself, with a hand on her stomach. She would survive whatever injury was awaiting her. She would be strong so she could live. She tried not to think of Danel’s hard, cruel gaze, and the images he had sent to her mind. Whatever happened, she would fight him. And if she could not, then she would concentrate on living beyond it. She would not give in to fear and despair.

The door opened, and Schuyler inhaled sharply, wondering if her time was up. She whispered a prayer to her mother to help her stay strong.

Another of the ladies-in-waiting, a white-haired woman wearing gauzy silk robes and jangly bracelets, entered the room. However, she had not come to fix Schuyler’s hair or check that she was adequately perfumed. “Come quickly,” she said. “We have a little time before the Croatan arrive. We must free the others.”

Schuyler followed her savior through the maze of hallways. “Who are you?” she asked.

The woman smiled. She had a serenity and grace about her that Schuyler found familiar. “I think you already know.”

“You’re Catherine of Siena,” Schuyler whispered, a little awed that, in the end, her plan had worked. “The gatekeeper.”

Catherine reminded Schuyler of her own mother. Allegra had the same graceful sense of purpose, gave the same impression that she was floating far above the problems of the world.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” Catherine said. “But when they took away your sword I knew I had to wait until they handed you over to the ladies. I had a better chance of getting you out then.”

“I came with two friends—”

“Yes. They’re being kept down here,” Catherine said, running a few steps that led to another long hallway. She tested a few doors in a row and finally found the right one. They burst into the room to find Dehua dressed in similar fashion. Her wedding dress was even more indecent—a jeweled bikini top and a low-slung skirt. She ripped off a gem-encrusted lace veil as soon as she saw her rescuers, and leapt to her feet.

“You are unharmed?” Catherine asked.

“Just let them try to touch me,” Dehua said with contempt. “We need our swords back.”

“I have them,” Catherine said. “They were in the armory. I was able to retrieve them before the greedy demons took them,” she said, handing the girls their weapons.

Dehua stuck her blade into her garter and nodded to Schuyler. “They found out you were Fallen as well?”

“Yes.”

“Where is my sister?” she asked Schuyler.

“I thought she was with you,” Catherine said, interrupt-ing. “I thought they kept the two of you together. I heard that they were selling you both as one unit.”

“No. They separated us when they handed us over to the devil’s handmaidens. I heard them say something about taking her to the ‘Castle Styx.’ I think Deming fought them—I heard a scuffle—and that was her punishment. She never waits. I wish she hadn’t shown her hand so early.”

Catherine shook her head. “That’s too far. The castle is beyond Limbo and right at the border of the Kingdom of the Dead. We can’t make it there and back out of the gate in time.”

“We are not leaving her!” Dehua cried.

Schuyler agreed. “We can’t leave her here. I brought them here. I need to make sure they get out,” she said to the gatekeeper.