Page 29 of A Governess' Forbidden Flame
“I think so.” He nodded, swallowing heavily. The air around them was thick with anticipation.
He moved slowly, half expecting someone to jump out and attack them both, so he was ready. Cautiously, he was inspecting the hidden doorway.
“Did you know about this?” she asked, although the answer was obvious.
“No.” He shook his head in confession. Then, he turned to her with a victorious smile. “My brother and I went through the whole house, and we never stumbled upon anything like this.”
She couldn’t even begin to imagine what this must have felt like for him, the revelation of something he had been searching for his entire life. Silently, she allowed him a few moments to gather his thoughts, then they exchanged a silent acknowledgment. They had both forgotten completely about the reason they hadmet there that evening. It seemed that fate had different plans for them, and she was more than all right with the change.
***
Sebastian felt his entire body tremble as he grabbed a candle and stood in the doorway of the hidden passage. His mind kept playing memories of him and his brother passing through this library a million times in their lives, passing by this very shelf, never suspecting that there might be something behind it. It was incredulous to think that this had been underneath their noses the entire time, with them oblivious to its existence.
He would have been furious if he had not been so ecstatically overjoyed by this serendipitous stroke of good luck. Besides, he had no time to ponder on the ways of fate and why something happened the way it did. He refused to question good luck. He turned to Amelia, his eyes asking a silent question, which she immediately understood.
“I’ll be right behind you.” She smiled reassuringly.
He hoped she would because he didn’t want to do this without her now. She was a crucial part of this discovery. He hoped she knew that without him mentioning it aloud.
As they stepped through the concealed doorway, all of a sudden, a cool draft greeted them, carrying with it the scent of aged wood and dust. He recognized it. The narrow passage,illuminated by the flickering light of the candle Sebastian carried with his hand cupped around the flame, revealed walls made of centuries-old stone. The atmosphere was hushed, as if the very air remembered the secrets whispered within these hidden corridors.
The passage twisted and turned, an intricate labyrinth leading them through the bowels of Ravenscroft Manor. The occasional creaks underfoot hinted at the weight of history that bore down on the stones beneath them. Cobwebs adorned corners, remnants of the passage’s long neglect, yet there was an undeniable sense of preserved antiquity.
The air was thick with the scent of ancient secrets, and the walls seemed to hold the whispers of countless tales long confined within the manor’s depths. It was as if they had stepped into a realm untouched by time, a clandestine sanctuary that bore witness to the ebb and flow of the manor’s enigmatic history.
The corridor finally came to an end in what appeared to be a hidden library, bathed in the warm light of Sebastian’s candle. It unfolded before them like a forgotten treasure trove. The air in this clandestine sanctuary carried the fragrance of aged parchment and the faint hint of beeswax, a testament to the countless hours spent in the pursuit of knowledge within these hidden walls. The shelves, lined with dusty tomes and weathered scrolls, whispered tales of bygone eras.
Sebastian looked around, confused. He didn’t understand what he was seeing.
“Another…library?” he wondered aloud.
Shelves, sagging under the weight of disheveled books and forgotten manuscripts, lined the walls. The once-elegant wooden frames had weathered with age, and cobwebs draped across the forgotten tomes like ethereal shrouds. The covers of ancient volumes bore the scars of time, their leather bindings cracked and faded, yet retaining a certain allure.
A thick layer of dust coated every surface, undisturbed by the passage of time. In the corners of the room, forgotten cobweb-covered chandeliers hung, their delicate threads capturing the essence of centuries gone by. A few moth-eaten tapestries adorned the walls, their once-vibrant colors muted by years of neglect. Strangely enough, it seemed like nothing else but another library, ravaged by time.
Then, something caught his attention. He approached a weathered table situated in the center of the forgotten library. The table, once a polished masterpiece, now bore the scars of age and neglect. On the table lay a tattered journal, its cover bearing the faded remains of intricate patterns and a faint hint of what might have once been gold leaf.
He gasped silently. With a trembling hand, he reached for the journal, opening it reverently. But he didn’t need to do that to know who it belonged to.
“Did you find something?” he heard Amelia’s voice from somewhere behind him. She sounded as if she were lost in a cave somewhere, a faraway place, and he was barely able to hear her from the ringing in his ears.
He turned around, feeling blood drain completely from his face. The entire chamber started to spin slowly around him, making him disoriented.
“This…” he started, feeling his throat parched, but he pushed on to finish his sentence because he wanted her to know, “…is my brother’s journal.”
Chapter 16
Sebastian knew he could not waste a single moment. Frantically, he started to leaf through his brother’s journal, his eyes drinking in the words, the scribblings, the drawings, endeavoring to make some sense of it all.
“No, no…” Sebastian shook his head.
“What is it?” Amelia walked over to him, placing her hand gently on his shoulder for reassurance. He was grateful for her presence, although he didn’t say it aloud. Her touch grounded him, if only for a few precious moments before he was back inside the mystery that had opened itself before them.
He was unable to stop reading through the journal, worn by the ages. It was a poignant reunion with a piece of his family’s history that he thought had been lost to him forever. As he turned the fragile pages, he was met with the echoes of his brother’s thoughts and fears, each new realization gripping his heart, tugging at it with anguish that never healed.
The journal unfolded a narrative of intrigue and danger. His brother, it seemed, had been aware of a looming threat, a malevolent force seeking the Templars’ long-lost treasure. The incomplete chronicles in the journal suggested a race against time, an attempt to decipher the clues that would lead to the elusive treasure. Sebastian’s heart quickened as therevelation sank in. His brother’s pursuit of the truth had been abruptly halted, leaving behind a haunting legacy of unresolved mysteries.
“My brother knew that someone was after him,” he explained as simply as he could. “That same someone was also after the treasure, believing the two were intricately intertwined. It seemed that my brother bore the brunt of someone’s desire for power and wealth…”
