That was a statement I could readily believe.
“Add Jamie to the list of riders too,” Bridget whispered.
Stuart sat back in disgust. “He never chooses to ride anywhere.”
“Not always,” Bridget said. “He rode up and down the beach looking for Mary for days, and he rode like a man who could handle a horse.”
Mrs. Murphy cleared her throat. “Well, there haven’t been any strangers around. And everyone else we know wouldn’t have harmed Mary. So there’s no sense in believing what Rebecca said. She’s blind and delicate and must be confusing the sound of the sea with that of the horses.”
Bridget and Stuart glared at each other. Everyone added their agreement, and I swallowed my denial. Nothing more would be accomplished by arguing tonight. Part of me wanted to accuse Stuart or the viscount or the earl or Sir Warwick or even a stranger, just so I could remove any doubt that shadowed Sean from other people’s minds. For I knew with my whole heart he was innocent. His kindnesses didn’t stem from any guilt, but from a pure heart.
But then I found a tiny burr under the smoothness of that thought. I found myself wondering, why? Why did Sean want me, a mere maid? Mary had called him a special friend, and they’d obviously shared more than a conversation or two for Mary to paint the sea for him. Was he attracted to me because I reminded him of Mary? Did people ever really know each other? And could the person who harmed Mary be sitting here at the table? I had to answer yes to that. No one could ever really truly know another. I’d lived among these people for over a month, but none of them really knew me. I’d learned that I didn’t even know myself.
Exhausted, Bridget and I skipped reading the end of “Forbidden Fruit” and went to bed early, but neither of us could sleep.
There was no note from Sean. I looked everywhere before going to bed. On the floor, under the bed, in my pillowcase and under it. But there had been nothing. I listened for the screeching sound of him hoisting his telescope into place, but only heard the sea and wind. His silence this night told me as deeply as his words that he meant what he’d said about the Dragon’s Curse and fate.
He’d made a pact with his brother that there’d be no future generations of Killdarens to suffer the curse.
I huffed and tossed and turned myself, fighting the urge to go to him.
“Cassie,” Bridget whispered.
“Yes.”
“Do you think Flora is all right?”
I hesitated. It seemed to me that Bridget’s sister would have surely been able to write or send a telegram by now. But could I tell Bridget that yet? It was still possible that a post was delayed. The red scarf wasn’t necessarily Bridget’s sister’s. “If she went to Paris, I daresay it might take a bit longer for her to send a regular post, especially if she had any difficulty getting there or settling in. I wouldn’t worry just yet,” I said, though I felt the niggling worry within me. I think that had more to do with my concerns about Mary’s disappearance, though.
Bridget sighed. “You’re right. Perhaps by the time I hear from her, the doctor will know exactly what ailment my mother has and I’ll know what I need to do.”
“Yes, don’t worry. Whatever needs to be done, we’ll make it happen.”
“Blimey, but I believe you, Cassie. You give me hope.” She paused. “What do you think about what Rebecca said? That a man on a horse took Mary?”
“I think she’s telling what she knows. I think there was a man on a horse.”
“Blimey,” Bridget said. “Almost makes you wonder if you should go to sleep at night.”
Bridget didn’t say more and I soon heard her soft snore.
I felt as if I would explode from the thoughts of Mary and Sean swirling around inside, building my frustration and my hopelessness to the point that I wanted to scream. I fervently wished that I could find hope for myself.
Unable to sleep, I finally rose and pulled out the box of Mary’s letters to read.
They all started with Mary’s thoughts of her mother and my sisters and me, wrenching me with the care and hopes that she had for us. In them she told about everyone in Killdaren’s castle. Her care for Rebecca and Prudence and Flora and Bridget and Stuart and Jamie and Mrs. Frye and, finally, Sean.
I’d almost reached the end of the letters, my eyes drooping, when I read a passage that gave me pause.
Our secret is out, my training Flora to sing. He found us in the music room today, upset that a mere maid was making use of the beautiful room with so many tragic and horrible stories. I fear I wasn’t the lady you raised me to be, Mother, for when he insisted that we leave, I quite rudely told him what I thought of his highhandedness. I find I have little use for the injustices social classes impose on one another.
Who was he?
I read the letter twice more, but didn’t find the mention of a name. In her haste or upset, she’d forgotten to name the man.
After perusing the last four letters and learning nothing new, I set them in the box and pushed it beneath my bed, then found the pheasant shell on the desk. I’d neglected to carry it with me lately. Holding it, I thought about Mary, of her life here, and of the sea, and what must have happened to her. Tears filled my eyes and fell unheeded. I cried for her, for myself and for Sean.
Mary had been harmed in some terrible way. I hurt for her. Sean believed he could never be free from the shadow of a curse and would live his life alone in darkness. I ached for him. And I was bound by…propriety? The thought of allowing such a thing as society’s dictates to keep me from following my heart struck me deeply as being very wrong. But I had my sisters to think of, and I could not bring such a scandal upon them. I was bound and torn by my love.
I must have drifted off to sleep hearing Bridget’s soft breathing and the sound of the waves relentlessly crashing ashore, because I heard Mary calling to me again.
“Cass. Cass, wake up. I must talk to you.”
“Mary? Where are you? It’s so dark. I can’t see you.”
“No one can see me. I’m in a dark, dark place. Nothing but stone now.”
“What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is what is happening now. Come with me. Hurry. It’s almost too late.”
“Where?”
Mary didn’t answer. I scrambled around in the dark, searching desperately. “Mary! Answer me!” I saw a light in the far distance and ran toward it as hard as I could. My breath rasped, my legs and chest hurt with the effort to reach the light before it disappeared. Just before stepping into the room, the light blinded me. I moved forward anyway and found myself falling, as if I had stepped off a cliff. Suddenly, I could see. I saw Killdaren’s Castle from above, as if I were a gull swooping down. Moonlight and mist bathed its stone walls an eerie blue, deepening its shadows. A keen sense of evil reached out to me, tried to grab hold of me. I escaped by flying higher. I would have flown away, but on a ripple of wind passing me I heard a tiny cry and looked back.
Rebecca clung to the roof. I dove back toward the castle, fighting the sense of evil trying to stop me. Before I could reach the child, I saw her slipping, screaming, calling for help.
No! I tried to scream as I woke from the dream, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe either. A gloved hand had covered my mouth.
Chapter Sixteen
I realized two things simultaneously. I’d been dreaming about Rebecca falling to her death, and I wasn’t dreaming about the hand over my mouth. Before I could fight or try and really scream, a voice whispered in my ear.
“Cassie, don’t scream. I’m sorry to frighten you. I need to speak to you, please.” Sean’s voice sounded tight with pain.
I nodded and he slid his gloved hand from my mouth. “I’ll wait outside your door.”
Scrambling up, I rose, but felt as if my stomach fell into a bottomless pit. Rebecca. The same sense of dread that had haunted me after my first dream of Mary, and those of my grandparents, sat coldly in my chest. Grabbing my robe and slippers, I rushed to the door
then turned back and shook Bridget awake. “Get Stuart and go to the roof, now. Don’t ask why. Hurry.”
Sean stood in the hall with a small lantern. “I had to see you. I have—”
“There’s something wrong. We can’t talk now. It’s Rebecca. We have to hurry.” I pulled him down the corridor.
He grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. “What are you talking about?”
“I can’t explain. We must get to the roof. Rebecca is on the roof somewhere.”
He shook me. “Good God, woman. Have you lost your mind?”
“I pray so. But please, just take me to the roof. There’s no time. It may already be too late. It always has been before.” My voice broke as wrenching pain tore through me. “Please,” I whispered, desperately.
My panic got through to him. “Follow me.” He turned, but instead of going to the stairs, he went the opposite way, his cane-aided stride so fast that I had to run. At the end of the corridor was a tiny, padlocked door.
I groaned with frustration. “Key?”
“No need.” A swift kick splintered the door open.
The entry and passageway weren’t meant for a man of Sean’s height and he had to stoop to an almost unbearable angle. Even I had to duck my head. “Where does this go?”
“A back way to the bell tower at the other end of the castle.”
“Hurry.”
“Why?”
“My dream. I saw Rebecca falling from the roof in my dream.”
He stopped.
I ran into him and pushed him out of frustration. “Go,” I said. “If I’m wrong you can throw me from the roof.”
He didn’t comment, but moved ahead. Reaching the bell tower, I passed four large bells with roping and ran to the opening, peering into the darkness. “Rebecca!” I screamed. “Rebecca!”
The wind seemed to take my cry and run away with it, leaving my hair ruffled and my heart crying with frustration. “Rebecca!” I yelled louder, determined to beat the wind.
Sean’s hands settled on my shoulders. “Cassie. This is ridiculous. Calm down and tell me what this is about.”
“I can’t. Not until I’m sure what I saw isn’t real.” I shut my eyes trying to remember where I’d seen Rebecca on the roof in my dream. It was the other side. She’d been opposite the side of the sea. Turning, I found the opening on the other side of the silent bells, boarded up. I ran to it, pushing against the wood.
Sean grabbed my hands. “Cassie!”
“Take it down,” I cried. “Please.”
“It’s boarded up because the stone is crumbling. It’s not safe.”
“Please. Oh, God, please.” I tore at the wood, breaking my nails.
“Move.” Sean slammed his palm through the wood, pulling it aside.
“Rebecca! Rebecca!” I leaned forward and Sean jerked me back as pieces of stone crumbled away. I heard them skitter against the roof and then nothing but the wash of the sea upon the shore and the low whip of the wind through the tower. I prayed that I was wrong, but I couldn’t let go of the feeling that Rebecca was in danger.
“Rebecca! Please!”
Sean shook my shoulders. He looked wild, as windblown and desperate as I. “Cassie. This is far enough. What in the bloody hell is going on?”
A weak squeaking cry, like that of a wounded bird sounded. Rebecca.
Sean whipped around to the opening, carefully holding the lantern out as he looked. “Good God! Hold that out and for God’s sake whatever you do, don’t lean against the stone.”
Cane in hand, Sean went to the other opening and climbed out.
I held the lantern and saw a little patch of white on the roof not far away. My breath caught and suddenly I was back in my dream seeing Rebecca, feeling the evil, hearing her cry for help and seeing her fall. The wind gusted upward just as Sean came into view, crawling slowly along the edge of the steep pitch. He hadn’t quite reached the patch of white when I heard Rebecca scream as she had in the dream, and I knew she was sliding.
“Rebecca!” Sean shouted. My heart dropped as he lunged forward and caught hold of the patch of white. I died inside as they both slid downward. Surely they were going to plunge to their death. But rather than just moving closer to the edge of the roof, Sean wrapped his arm around Rebecca and rolled sideways, hooking the end of his cane on a chimney and stopping their fall. My muscles hurt as I watched him painfully strain his every tendon to its limit as he pulled himself and Rebecca up enough to rest against the chimney.
Thank you, God! I whirled around looking for another miracle. I needed something to reach them with. In three steps, I saw the ropes hanging from the bells and went for one of them. Only I couldn’t reach high enough, nor did I have strength enough to unknot the rope from the bell. Jerking on the rope sent the bell clanging horribly loudly.
Frustrated to the point of tears, I was about to run back into the castle when I spied a knife on the floor. Grabbing the knife, I cut two of the ropes from the bells, tied them together and then tied the end to the rope still attached to one of the heavy bells. I tested the knot as well as I could and then hurried to the crumbled opening.
Sean and Rebecca were still against the chimney, but more securely situated than before.
“Sean.” I held out the rope. “I’ve attached the bell ropes together. I don’t know if it is strong enough to hold you yet. Test it.”
“Be careful. The stone will crumble. Throw the rope here.”
My toss slid the rope close to them. Sean hooked it with his cane, and as he pulled on it, snapping it tight, more of the opening broke away, sending a shower of large stones down on them.
“Wait,” I shouted. Retrieving the knife, I carved a groove in the mortar at the most solid section of the opening and slid the rope into it. “Try that. Wrap it around both of you and tie it, so you’ll be safe.”
After maneuvering the rope around, Sean pulled hard on it. Dust fell, but no stone.
“Good,” he said. “We’re coming up.” He drew closer and I saw blood covering the left side of his face. One of the crumbling rocks had to have hit him. He moved up the side of the roof, nearly flattened against it, with Rebecca between him and the roof. He pulled himself and the child, who clung to his neck, up in an agonizingly slow process of gripping the rope then adjusting his footing and anchoring the cane on the tile.
I was surprised and grateful to realized that a jagged knife blade jutted from the cane, puncturing the roof.
He was going to need more help. Swallowing my fear, I went to the sturdy opening and gingerly slipped onto the roof. The wind caught at me, my knees shook, and my heart jolted at the sight of how far away the ground was. I closed my eyes a moment, focusing on Sean, then inched my way around the bell tower until I could see him.
Closer than before, I saw that blood streamed down his face and had soaked his shirt. My stomach wrenched. He was breathing heavy, his muscles stretched beyond strength.
“Sean. I’m here.”
“Bloody hell. Go back.”
“No. Not without you and Rebecca.”
He wrenched on the rope. Only then did I realize he didn’t have the rope tied around himself, but around Rebecca, who held onto him. Just his grip kept him from falling to his death.
My heart railed at him. For the next eons of minutes, my heart only beat with every pull that brought him closer to safety. Had the man no regard for his life?
No. Remember, he’d give it up in a heartbeat. It doesn’t matter.
Something happened inside me, something that told me I couldn’t let that happen, ever, no matter what the cost.
Everything mattered.
He stopped, dug the cane into the tile, tested it then let loose of the rope, and pushed Rebecca up. “Get her. I need to rest a minute.”
“Why don’t you have the rope around yourself?” I cried when I got Rebecca into my arms.
“I would have crushed her if I fell. Get to the tower.”
I held Rebecca tightly. “Everything
’s all right now, poppet. Just hold on to me.”
With no rope, Sean hung onto the side of the roof with only his quivering muscles and his cane between him and death.
“Go.” Sean’s voice was weak, blood was everywhere.
I prayed harder than I’d ever prayed and I glared at him determined not to lose him. “Not without you.”
Balancing against the bell tower, I untied Rebecca and slid the rope back down to Sean. Whether I was delusional or not, I felt balanced enough on my perch to hold Rebecca a moment until I was sure Sean was safe.
“Blimey, Cassie! Don’t move.”
Looking up, I saw Bridget in the opening and heard Stuart coming around on the roof.
“Give me, your hand,” Stuart said.
“No. Get Sean up first.”
“Bloody hell.”
Stuart and Sean spoke at the same time.
Anchoring himself on the roof with his body and holding the rope, Stuart reached down and grabbed Sean’s wrist. This gave Sean enough leverage to grasp the rope. Moments later, both men were up on the ledge with me.
“Now get them inside,” Sean said to Stuart.
I didn’t argue. Minutes later I was handing a whimpering Rebecca to Bridget.
Bridget gathered Rebecca to her, comforting the child with soft words and secure arms.
Turning with tears in my eyes, I watched Sean limp back into the tower, blood on his face and shirt and so weak he had to lean against the wall to stand. His cane no longer sported the deadly blade.
The fool. I loved him. Had likely loved him from the moment I saw the man beneath the myth, but now could no longer hide from the truth of it.
I turned to Sean, wanting put my arms around him, to touch him in some way, just to feel for myself that he was alive. “You’re hurt.”
“Not so hurt that I can’t hear what in the bloody hell is going on.” His angry tone brought me to a halt.
Stuart handed Sean a handkerchief and Sean pressed it to his head.
“Why do you have Jamie’s knife?” Stuart asked, picking the knife from where I’d left it.
Midnight Secrets Page 25
