Moonlight Secrets (#2 Penderry's Bizarre)

Chapter Twenty One

The door to Bunny's chamber opened and the maharaja's chief of staff, Amjad, entered. Two servant girls followed with piles of beautiful clothes and jewellery. Amjad paused in the centre of the room while the girls spread a selection of sarees on the bed.

"Anju has requested you attend the wedding," he said. "As this is a royal occasion you will dress appropriately."

Poor Anju.

The wedding day had arrived too soon. They had tried to form a plan of escape, but with guards patrolling the gardens it was impossible. There was no way in or out, not without a fight. If only they had the resources, but they were outnumbered and in no position to tackle the supernatural creatures.

Amjad's eyes narrowed to slits. He clasped his hands behind his back and stared at her. "Don't give the servants any trouble. I expect you to be ready in one hour. This will all be over soon, Miss Spencer."

He left, and Bunny allowed the servants to guide her to the floor cushions. It will all be over soon. How would the pain of their ordeal ever be over? Everything they held dear had been ripped away. And now Anju was sentenced to a lifetime of unhappiness with Prince Sujit.

Unless...

Unless he meant everything would be over permanently.

A numb feeling settled over her. The servants held vibrant fabrics at her shoulder, debating which colour would best suit her blonde hair and bronzed face. She didn't care and let them decide. After a while, they agreed on a gold sari with jungle-green trim. One girl brushed the knots out of her hair, and soon she was dressed from head to toe in golden silk and bangles.

While one servant finished securing her hair in a long braid, the other tidied the room. Spare sarees lay strewn around the floor. The girl tutted when she picked up Bunny's stale, crumpled tunic. Her English gown was on the dressing table, wrapped in a scarf, and the servant opened the bundle. She shook out the dress and peered at it with interest. Neither servant noticed when something fell from the pocket and made a dull thud on the rug. A glass phial of pale brown liquid lay inches from the girl's feet.

Bunny's heart dropped to her stomach.

Oh, my. I forgot about you. So that's where you went.

Her eyes widened, and she waited for the servant to spot the wolfsbane. The girl stepped back, her slipper knocking the phial under the chest of drawers. She folded the gown and placed it with the rest of the clothing. The other servant finished tying Bunny's braid with a ribbon and stood. Together, they gathered the piles of clothing and exited the room, leaving Bunny alone.

Without wasting a moment, she scurried across the floor, her knees tangling in the folds of her sari, and reached under the drawers for the phial. Her fingers closed around the cool glass and she drew it out into the light. Jim's words came to her.

It will work if absorbed through the skin, or ingested. It won't kill a werewolf, but it will render one unconscious.

With a rush of hope, she hid the phial inside her cropped blouse.

***

The sweet scent of burning incense filled every recess of Chandni Mahal, and the haunting drone of singers and an Indian harp floated along the passages. Amjad escorted Bunny and a procession of servants into the wedding hall. Festoons of floral garlands hung across the ceiling and down the walls. In a corner, musicians played while a handful of family members congregated around a canopy in the centre of the room. The royals were a small pack, she had learned, comprising a few relations and adopted strays. Some remained on guard around the palace while close family attended the ceremony.