Page 75 of The Curse of Penryth Hall
She wrinkled her nose. “I do. Edward adored them, she must have forgotten—though I can’t think why she would. I suppose it’s a good thing my stomach is in knots. Do you want to take them with you?”
The flaky crust was perfection. I peered at the tray, debating the merits of taking her up on the offer when she stood and turned. The pale underskirt flashed slightly beneath the light-pink netting. Catching in the wind. And the image of that first night returned to my mind in force. The figure all in white.
Doubt washed over me like high tide. I’d been watching from such a distance that I couldn’t be sure—not entirely—of what I’d seen that night.Who.And were I not blindfolded by my feelings for her, perhaps I’d have given it a bit more thought before this very moment. My breath grew short.
Largesse to a woman in dire straits did not negate the possibility she killed her husband.
My hand hesitated over the tray. “Tamsyn, I would understand if you’d done it, you know.”
“Done what?” she asked, blinking.
“If you hurt Edward. No one would blame you. I don’t know how… but I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll find a way to get you out of—”
“Why would you say that?” Her face grew stricken. “Why would you think I’d harmed my husband?”
One would have thought I’d run her through with the elaborate fire poker sitting on the hearth. Or worse, perhaps she was able to hear my thoughts the way Ruan could.
Her face screwed up in an expression somewhere between surprise and pain. Then suddenly her green eyes flashed in anger. “After all these years, you are unable to see what is right before you. You say you hate the past, but in truth you refuse to let it go, Ruby. You cling to your grief and I won’t play this game anymore.”
“Game? A man is dead, Tamsyn. It’s not a game.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t know why I even try to explain myself to you. It’s senseless. You can’t even stop doubting me long enough to listen to the truth. But it doesn’t matter. None of it does. You’ll be gone soon and I’ll be left here and I intend to be perfectly, blissfully happy for whatever time I have left at Penryth. Without you.”
Yes. Yes, I would be gone without question. Coming here had been a mistake, just as I’d told Ruan last night. Spending time with her doubly so. My stomach ached. “It’s a simple question, Tamsyn. And not an unreasonable one. You are the one person he’s harmed the most. You and poor Nellie—” My stomach knotted tighter. “All I’m saying is, I wouldn’t blame you, and I would help you. I promise that.”
She whipped around, eyes flashing with a fervency that I hadn’t seen before. “And how can I trust you?”
Her words cut through my gut. Sharp and hot through the heart of me. This was how it was to end—she and I—with angry words and misunderstandings destroying everything that had come before. “You doubt me?”
Tamsyn turned back to me, her eyes glistening. “I don’t even know who you are anymore, Ruby. Go. Just leave.”
“Tam—” I began to sweat. I hated arguing with her. Hatedthis feeling that had come over me. A physical pain. No wonder people claimed to die of broken hearts. I might do the same right here on the parlor floor.
“Get out!”
Without another word I turned and walked out the door, knowing I would never ever set foot into Penryth Hall again.
I’d made it almost as far as the gate when my stomach began to roil. I was going to be sick. I’d never been one to cast up my accounts over nerves but it seemed there was nothing for it. The pain came again, sharper this time, making me double over. I heaved again. And again, stumbling a little farther down the path. The ground beneath me trembled unsteadily—or perhaps it was me that shook.
One step. Two. The road began to quiver as I carried on, counting to keep myself upright. A small child appeared in the distance, dressed all in rags. Its feet bare.
It beckoned and I followed.
Like in one of my dreams, except this was all too real. Stumbling through the undergrowth and brush. Intermittently the ragged little one would pause long enough for me to catch up—then turn and gambol on ahead, leading me on a not-at-all-merry chase. Miles and miles I must have walked over increasingly rough terrain. The path grew more treacherous and yet I kept on, unable to turn back. Unable to do anything else. I stumbled again, falling to my knees in the mud, and that’s when I saw it—a great dark stallion beneath a stunted tree. And in an instant the ragged child was gone.
My strength had fled. I tried to pull myself to my knees to crawl, but fell back to the boggy earth, and the last thing to flicker through my addled mind was a single name. A plea.Ruan.But it was hopeless. He’d never hear me now.
And then there were no more thoughts. All that remained was white, furious pain. And death.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREELong-Forgotten Secrets
Iwas swimming. Deep in a fathomless lagoon, with ice-cold water rushing over my limbs surrounding me. Somewhere neither here nor there. Cold water touched my brow. A dribble ran down over my eye, then slipped like tears to settle in the hollow of my throat.
It took every ounce of energy I possessed to crack one eye open. Then the other.
Ruan.An echo of my futile prayer on the moor.
The edge of his mouth curved up slightly as relief washed over him. “Good morning, Miss Vaughn.”
