Page 6 of The Curse of McMillan Castle
“Lift it in front of me so that I might look at her more closely.”
Standing, Duncan did as instructed and held the picture high enough so that the strange woman’s eyes were level with his mother’s.
He watched as she stared at it for a long while. Eventually, after studying it, she reached out and brushed her finger across the signature at the bottom, before pulling back to look at her own finger.
“Ye may set it down now, lad. The portrait is signed in someone’s blood. I would wager her own. If the woman in the painting is dead, her soul may be trapped within it. Best ye return her home and find out. She is unlikely to find any peace here.”
Duncan swallowed hard as he lowered the portrait to the floor.
“Ye canna be in earnest, aye? Such a thing couldna trap a soul.”
She nodded firmly. “Aye. It can, and I believe it has. Ye should wrap her up and leave at once.”
“And where precisely am I to go with her? How do ye ken where her home is?”
His mother pointed to the bloody signature. “Osla McMillan. Ye must go to McMillan territory.”
McMillan territory was at least a four day’s ride from their own. With weather as cold as it was now, it might take him even longer.
Before he could utter a word, his mother spoke up again. “Doona worry, son. I shall let Tabitha into yer house each night and let her out each morning. Ye do ken that ye are the owner of a cat now, aye?”
He shook his head as he stood and reached for the portrait. “I ken no such thing.”
His mother laughed as he walked toward the door once again.
“It doesna truly matter whether ye ken it or no’. ’Tis true enough. Safe travels, son. See this lassie safely home. Help her find some peace. Then ye shall sleep soundly again, I’m certain.”
Chapter 4
Rosie
All of the candles in Rosie’s room were burned down to stubs, and her vision blurred after hours of reading through the night. Goosebumps covered both her arms as she breathlessly turned one page after the other. Never in her life had she read such a scary story. Never in her life had she enjoyed a book so much.
Maybe, just maybe, life in the seventeenth century wouldn’t be so horrible after all. At least there was now somewhere for her to escape to when everything just seemed like too much. So many things had seemed like too much lately. The move to this time, her mother’s never-ending unhappiness, the lack of privacy everywhere within the castle, the horrifying discovery that she was starting to grow boobs. The whole year had just been rough.
Yawning, Rosie finally closed the nearly-finished book and pushed herself out of the window seat where she’d spent the whole night reading. She’d not slept a wink, and no one had known the difference. Her new room was officially her favorite place in all the world.
Turning back toward the window, Rosie looked out into the night sky to try and gauge the time. Still dark to be sure, but nearly morning. Cooper would be awake.
Truth was, she didn’t mind the kid. But there was no way she could let him know that. He was already in love with her. Rosie feared that if Cooper knew that she really did consider him a friend, his affection for her would become unbearable. She couldn’t have that.
Today, however, Rosie knew she should make an exception. After what Cooper had done for her with this room, the boy deserved a little bit of kindness.
And after a long, sleepless night of reading, Rosie was starving. She knew there was a cake for her somewhere in the castle kitchen. Perhaps, Cooper would be up for a little bit of mischief.
Smiling, Rosie dressed and looked herself over in the mirror.
Thirteen. Was there possibly a more complicated age? Surely not. No longer a child, but certainly not a woman. It was the most stuck-in-the-middle age ever. If it were up to her, she would just skip all the way to eighteen and be done with it.
Tucking her red curls behind her ears, Rosie brushed the sleep from her eyes and quietly made her way out of her bedroom tower.
She’d never been up and about in the castle when it was so quiet. It brought to mind the ghost story she’d just been reading, and despite her love of all things spooky, her feet moved a little more quickly than was absolutely necessary as she ran through the castle hallways in her search for Cooper. When she reached the dining hall and saw a candle burning, she knew she’d found him.
“Cooper.” She whispered his name, and gently knocked on the wall so he would turn toward her.
“Rosie?”
Rosie could see Cooper twist toward her, but realizing that he probably couldn’t see her in the darkness, she hurried toward the candlelight.
