by Kat Cotton
“Larimore wanted us to eat in the formal dining room tonight but normally we’d eat upstairs.”
“Larimore is the old man you were speaking to?”
Ren nodded. “He’s the head butler, been with us since before I was born.”
“And Mrs. Cavendish too?”
“Both of them. Most of the other servants haven’t been around as long.”
They were the two I’d have to target. One of them knew what had happened to Mrs. Worthington, I bet. The old, trusted family servants always knew the secrets. That had been proved by every book and movie ever. I bet it was Mrs. Cavendish who knew.
“And the chauffeur?”
“Tom. Not so long but he joined the staff when I was a baby.”
I didn’t want to get into the complicated explanation of why the housekeeper had a title while the chauffeur was referred to by his first name. It seemed strange and random.
Ren put his finger to his lips as Larimore entered with a tray. Mrs. Cavendish followed him. I wasn’t sure why. I assumed she was the housekeeper and housekeepers didn’t do that. Then I realized everything I knew about people with servants came from watching Downton Abbey and maybe the Worthington’s did things differently.
If I got friendly with Mrs. Cavendish, she’d open up and answer all my questions.
I smiled at her. She scowled back.
“Is everything to your liking, young master?” Larimore asked as he served Ren.
I got the giggles at that. “Young master”. Ha. I tried to hide my laughter but Ren caught my gaze and I snorted. He knew I’d never let him live this down.
Then Larimore served my dinner and I looked at the plate of food, thankful that I’d eaten those strawberries. It looked so stodgy and unappetizing. I mostly just moved it around my plate until Ren finished eating.
I’d slip around the house tonight and find out as much as I could. Somewhere in this place, there had to be clues to Mrs. Worthington’s disappearance. That thought shouldn’t make me shiver.
Chapter 18
“DO YOU WANT TO PLAY something?” Ren pointed a remote control at the wall of his living room and massive TV seemed to glide out of the ceiling. That amazing bit of technology contrasted sharply with everything else about this house.
‘Not really.” I didn’t want to get caught up with gaming and miss my chance to gather information.
I sat on the sofa and Ren sat beside me. A hum flowed through my body when the two of us were in harmony, like a purr of contentment.
Ren kept hold of the remote control but didn’t turn on the TV.
“What do you think of my home?” he asked.
Yikes, trick question. Could I really tell him I thought the place had the ambiance of a funeral parlor? I tried to think of something positive to say.
“It’s... big.”
Ren scowled. “It’s not like you not to hold back.”
“I dunno. It’s cold, really cold and there’s a bad feeling in the air and I don’t like the darkness. It’s just creepy. Okay.”
I didn’t look at him but he grabbed my hand.
“You feel it too?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure what Ren felt exactly but whatever it was, I felt it too. It wasn’t just the darkness and the cold but something that went right to the core of the house. Poor Ren living here with just his unfeeling father and a bunch of servants after his mother died.
“Were things different when your mother was alive?”
Ren shrugged. “I’m not sure. I can’t remember back that far. I guess they were pretty much the same.”
His fingertips touched mine and while that made my body buzz, I didn’t want to call attention to it. I wondered what it’d be like for him to slip his arm around me, for us to curl together on the sofa watching a movie and fooling around. Was that even possible? For us to do normal things like that.
I wasn’t sure about sleeping in that creepy room alone but after a while, I said I was tired and needed to get to bed. As much as I wanted to stay with Ren, I had to be alone if I wanted to investigate this place further.
“Are you sure? There’s a great movie that I know you’ll love.”
I fake-yawned. “It’s been a long day.”
I left without looking at him, not wanting to be tempted to stay.
Ren’s rooms hadn’t seemed especially heated but the cold hit me full force when I stepped into the hallway.
I ran to my room. Before I went snooping, I gave myself a quick check, sniffing my armpits and my clothes. Even if people couldn’t see me, they’d be able to smell me and hear me.
First, I tried Mr. Worthington’s suite, figuring it would provide clues about all kinds of things not just his wife’s disappearance but the doors were all locked. I’d leave that and come back tomorrow night with a hairpin.
I crept back the other way, holding my breath as I passed Ren’s rooms. He had no reason to leave his room but if he did, he’d be able to see me and he’d want to know what I was doing.
The back stairs seemed much creakier than they had when I’d come down earlier. I tried shifting my weight so I didn’t make noise but no matter where I stepped, that creak rang out like an alarm bell.
I made it to the bottom without anyone noticing and tiptoed through the living rooms. On reaching the dining room, I headed in the direction that Larimore had come with the food.
Creeping along another hallway, I could smell the kitchen before I saw it. And that kitchen smelled of cake.
I kept to the shadows, knowing I’d be invisible to the human eye. The kitchen at the back of the house was modern and airy compared with the rest of the house. Also, warm. Very, very warm. Warm enough to make me feel drowsy.
While the kitchen was empty, voices came from a room at the side.
I got as close as I could without being seen.
“I don’t know what he thought, bringing her here.” That had to be Mrs. Cavendish. She meant me. I knew she hated me. “She’s taken what’s rightfully his.”
“You know that’s not true.” I assumed that was Larimore.
“There’s something wrong about her. I sense it. The whole plan isn’t right. I could’ve told them that from the beginning, when her parents came here.”
I jumped, knocking a shelf and making dishes rattle. She knew who I was? I’d not considered that but my parents must’ve come to this house.
Holding my breath, I waited to see if anyone came to investigate the noise.
“It’s a terrible situation, one that’s not going to get better any time soon.” Larimore’s voice sounded weary but neither of them had been startled by the noise. I guess they were both old and probably didn’t have good hearing.
They talked for a while about household matters and what the young master would have for his dinner. I guess I couldn’t expect them to blurt out Mrs. Worthington’s location conveniently while I was listening but the number of tablecloths that needed to be laundered didn’t make for interesting conversation. My mind drifted from the conversation to those little cakes cooling on the bench. Would they notice if I took one? I’d hardly eaten at dinner time and I’d never sleep with an empty stomach.
It’d be too risky. I was probably wasting my time here anyway. I should just go back to bed. Then I heard a name and my ears pricked up. Grace. Ren’s mother? Mr. Quiller had called her Grace.
Then Mrs. Cavendish said something. “Sunnyhill.”
I tried to inch closer since her voice was low but a noise startled me.
Ren laughed. “You’re sneaking food too?”
He raced for the little cakes. I raced too.
Mrs. Cavendish came into the kitchen and smiled when she saw Ren. “I made them especially for you.”
“Thank you.” Ren gathered up a bunch of cakes, wrapping them in a tea towel.
When I reached for one, she coughed with disapproval but I ignored her. I wasn’t planning on starving to death.
I had to return to my room at the same time as R
en. I debated trying to get into Mr. Worthington’s rooms but I’d crept around this house enough for one night.
Sunnyhill. What did that name even mean? It could be a village or an institution or a house name. I tried Google for a while but that turned up a zillion results with no way of knowing if she had any connection to any of them. I didn’t even have any idea what name she’d be using. Surely, she’d changed it when she fled the house.
I threw my phone aside. This was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Chapter 19
THE NEXT MORNING, REN fetched me to have breakfast in his rooms. I thought I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep in that cold room but I’d slept like a log. Who’d have thought?
The young girl I’d seen when we arrived brought our breakfast up.
“Why do you keep so many servants on when no one’s living in the house?”
Ren frowned and nodded towards the girl as if to say not to discuss family business in front of her. I cringed. That’d been rude of me.
“Sorry,” I said to the girl. “I didn’t mean... well, I guess...”
I had nothing to justify what I’d said. I wondered why a young girl would want to work here as a live-in servant. It must be lonely and boring for her. And cold.
The girl was about to say something but then her gaze darted around and she closed her mouth and kept serving us.
Ren didn’t speak until she’d left, except to thank her. “We have to keep on the staff. Most of them have been with us a long time. We can’t just turn them out on the street.”
“Of course.” Thinking about it, why did they even need a bunch of staff anyway? Couldn’t rich people do things for themselves? “But that girl seems so young to be stuck here.”
“Miranda? She’s been with us for ages. She used to look after me when I was a child — after... well, when my mother left. She must enjoy working here. It’s not like she’s not free to leave.”
Ten years? I’d have sworn she was barely older than me. Something about her seemed nervous too, like she hadn’t been doing the job long and was scared to make a mistake.
“Who runs things now? With your father gone, someone has to be in charge, right?”
Ren buttered his toast, not seeming too concerned. “Our lawyers. I’ve organized for one of them to visit tomorrow to speak to you. There’s been a trustee appointed to look after the estate. Basically, everything has to be left running as though Father is alive.”
“Isn’t there any leeway? This whole thing about you getting nothing seems strange. You could protest it.”
Ren shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m not missing out on anything. It was all my family’s anyway. I’ve got my scholarship and Thunder’s looked after.”
“Who inherits the business if you don’t?”
“There are some distant cousins. One of them will.”
Ren had told me before that he hadn’t wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and he’d have been glad to be free of it all. But then it’s easy to say you don’t want money when you have it.
When we’d finished eating, Ren said he had a place he wanted to show me.
“Are you sure you don’t want to study instead? I am your tutor, you know. And you’ll pass those end of year exams if it kills me.”
Ren just laughed. He wouldn’t get out of this easily, though.
We went down the back stairs but went out a door to the garden. Normally, I hated the sunshine but it sure felt good to be in the warmth. I even had to strip off one of my hoodies.
“This is much nicer than being stuck inside studying, isn’t it?” Ren led me across a manicured lawn.
“You won’t be saying that at exam time. Anyway, if you don’t want to take over the family business, what do you plan on doing?”
Ren slowed so that his pace matched mine.
“I’ve been thinking about that since I started working in the stables.” Ren’s eyes shone with a seriousness I hadn’t seen before. “I want to work with animals. I’ve helped with some of the sick horses and this might sound stupid but I want to study to be a vet.”
“Doesn’t sound stupid to me.”
Neither of us said it out loud but there was a real possibility that we would never have a choice over our destiny, that fate had something planned for our special powers.
We reached a hedge and walked around the side of it until we found a gap.
Through the gap, sunflowers filled a garden. The flowers weren’t in bloom but I knew those plants and I knew the smell. I knew everything.
I only had one memory of my mother. We’d been in a garden filled with sunflowers. I’d never known if that was real or only a dream until I met Ren. Then I remembered more. Another woman and a boy I’d played with. That boy had been Ren and the woman was his mother.
Just a snippet of memory. Ren as a child, reaching up to pick me a sunflower, his tongue out the side of his mouth. The two of us laughing and playing. My mother and Ren’s mother talking together and watching over us. A promise — the sun and the star.
Only later, did I learn about our birthmarks. Mine a star, Ren’s a sun.
The time in the garden had ended abruptly.
Mrs. Worthington whispered, “he’s coming,” and took Ren’s hand, running from the garden. My mother rushed away with me in the other direction.
Mr. Worthington darkened the garden like dark clouds gathering overhead.
I had no memory of the house or the rest of the estate. I’m not sure where we ran to. Later that day, my parents died in a car crash and Mrs. Worthington disappeared.
“I’ve never been back here since that day.” Ren reached out for my hand. “The garden was fenced off after that but I asked them to open it up.”
I took a deep breath and held his hand tight. I’d never thought I’d return to this place.
My chest tightened and I inhaled, telling myself I’d be fine. There was nothing in this place that could hurt us. Mr. Worthington was long dead, no longer a threat. The only thing I had to fear was the memories trapped inside me.
“There’s a bench...”
Ren nodded and we walked in that direction. Despite being locked up, the garden wasn’t overgrown with weeds. The sunflowers still grew and the paths were clear of debris. Maybe the gardeners had tidied up after they took down the fence.
I trembled as we walked, anticipating something... I wasn’t sure what but surely this garden held a clue.
Chapter 20
WE REACHED THE BENCH seat in the middle of the garden and sat down.
“The sunflowers don’t look so tall now.” Ren laughed. “They used to tower above me.”
“Well, most of them have wilted a bit. Did someone have access to the garden or do they just keep growing?”
“I’m not sure.” Ren faced me. “Our mothers made a promise here. Do you remember it?”
I’d never mentioned the promise to Ren, not wanting to look stupidly sentimental. I wasn’t even sure if he’d heard it that day or even if I’d remembered it right.
“I remember.” I bowed my head, afraid to look at him. Instead, I focused on my hands folded in my lap. “The sun and the star. I wondered for years what that meant. We’re stuck with each other, I guess.”
“I don’t remember them saying that.” Ren looked away. He was hiding something. “Just that our fates were entwined.”
My heart clenched. What was this about? He wanted to break that bond? Even now I wasn’t sure if they’d meant a romantic bond or the bonding of our powers together.
“If you think a stupid promise made by our mothers is a burden, you’re free to walk away.” I frowned, sick of his attitude.
He was dumping me? Could you even do that without a relationship to start with. I tried to fold my arms and turn away but Ren took hold of me, his hands clutching my forearms so I couldn’t move.
I didn’t meet his gaze but that didn’t stop him looking at me, looking long enough for my face to burn. I waited for some snarky remark but i
nstead, he brought his hand up to caress my cheek.
Stupid stomach, getting all flip-floppy just because he touched me.
“I don’t want to walk away.”
I kept my gaze down even though I was drawn to look at him. Ren had kissed me twice. The first time to activate our powers and stop Mr. Quiller from killing everyone, the second time because he wanted to trick me into returning to safety while he fought his father. I wasn’t sure if the time with that fire demon even counted.
We’d never kissed just for the pure fun of kissing.
Would he?
“Why won’t you look at me, Cherry?” With his fingers under my chin, he raised my face to his.
I bit my bottom lip. Could he hear how hard my heartbeat? Could he feel my body heat?
I wanted to put my arms around him but didn’t dare.
Around us, a soft breeze blew through the dying sunflowers but no sound came from outside the gardens. We seemed to be in a world away from the house, away from everything. Nothing but the two of us.
Ren pulled me closer. Still, my fear stopped me from moving. The distance that had grown between us had left with me so many doubts. I’d thought we’d never be together like this again.
But the heat of his body warmed me and the need inside me burned. The flip-flopping in my belly turned to a stampede. I didn’t want to look at him because when I did, the knowledge would be cemented inside me. That promise our parents had made wasn’t just a frivolous thing. We were bound together, the two of us for life. And that thing seemed too immense. It rocked me to my core and buzzed through my body like a storm.
I didn’t want to feel like this. I was too young, too stupid and naive. If only I could put this moment on hold until I developed the sense to deal with it. Because, right now, I felt like if we kissed, the impact of that would blow my body to pieces, each cell disconnecting from the other and never being able to reform in the same way.
