Page 63 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
“I don’t want to speak of this,” he said.
He started to flee toward the door but Victoria stepped in front of him.“I know you don’t.And you don’t have to tell me.But I’m asking you…please…Gabriel.Please, tell me what happened to her.Toyou.”
His gaze found hers.And in them, she saw the regret, the grief, thetormentburning through them.She saw that he did not want to tell her anything.He was unwilling to share with her those last moments he had with Lenore, when she was alive and breathing.His gaze flickered to the papers and the journal in her arms, pausing there for a quiet beat.And then his shoulders sagged, as if the weight of the truth could no longer be withheld.As though he was ready to share with her what happened so long ago.
“You were right about Lily.She drowned in a neighbor’s pond during a summer barbeque.We thought she was fine with the other children.Then we heard the screams.”Slowly, his gaze lifted to hers and in them, she saw the pain still lingering there.“It was too late to save her.Lenore…she was…heartsick.I could not console her.She refused to bury the girl.Said she was afraid of the dark and would never put her in a pine box, alone, in the dark to rot away forever.”
He paused here, swallowed hard.“Then Lenore—I tried to stop her.I tried to tell her not to do it, but she wouldn’t listen.She was driven mad with grief.She…tried to reverse Lily’s death.And…”
“Oh, gods,” Victoria whispered.She pressed cold shaking fingertips to her lips.Was she ready to hear the rest?
“It all went horribly wrong.”Then, suddenly, he was overcome with his emotions and reached for her.His hands gripped her upper arms, his fingers clutching her tight.He gave her a little shake out of frustration.“Don’t you see?She’s trying to pull you in with her.I couldn’t saveherthen.I can’t saveyounow.”
“Gabriel, I—”
He jerked her toward him, wrapping his arms around her in a sudden, fierce embrace.
Victoria gasped.The movement was so swift, so unexpected, it knocked the air from her lungs.Her father’s journal and loose pages were crushed between them, pressed awkwardly against his chest, but he didn’t seem to notice.His body trembled.His grip was unyielding.
Whatwasthis?
He was warm and cold all at once.Solid, real.Not a ghost.Not a vision.Gabriel.
Her thoughts scattered.She didn’t know whether to push him away or bury herself against him.Her hand hovered, unsure—until she found his back, lightly, hesitantly, as though touching a wound she couldn’t see.
Was he trying to protect her?Or apologize for failing Lenore?
Or was he afraid he might fail again?
Her heart ached at the thought.That he carried all of this inside him—the sorrow, the guilt, the curse.Alone.
He couldn’t save Lenore.He believed he couldn’t save her, either.
But maybe he didn’t need to save her.
Maybe…she was here to save him.
The window over the sink frosted over.A cabinet door opened and slammed shut.Just as quickly as he pulled her to him, he released her and stepped back, raking a hand through his dark hair.
She wanted to go to him, to comfort him.But she sensed Lenore’s agitated presence lurking, swirling, moving around them and between them.As though she were desperate to keep them apart.
“Go back to the city, Victoria.Forget about Ravenfell and me.”He turned, tortured eyes meeting hers.“Save yourself.”
And then he was gone.
Chapter 25
Hedismissedherandleft her standing alone in the kitchen with her father’s journal and the crumpled pages.
It hurt.Sharp and deep, cutting her to the core.She stood there a long moment, staring at the closed door, the air still shuddering from his abrupt exit.
She didn’t understand why his rejection stung so badly.She should be grateful for the reminder of what awaited her in Crown Hollow.The security of her aunt’s house, a tidy life mapped out for her, a marriage of duty that would keep her safely removed from this drafty, haunted place and its brooding master.
Only the thought of leaving made her stomach twist.
Because despite everything, despite the whispers in the halls, the shuddering windows in the dead of night, the way Gabriel seemed determined to push her away, she couldn’t stop thinking of him.Of the grief in his eyes when he spoke of Lenore.Of the way his hands had tightened on her arms, not in cruelty, but in desperation.As though he feared she might slip away before he could save her…or perhaps before he could admit he didn’t know how.
A part of her wanted to run.But a deeper, quieter part—the one that had been awake since she first stepped over Ravenfell’s threshold—wanted to stay.
