Page 100 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Five
It had allbeen a dream.
Surely it had to have been.
Though Senara tried to tell herself otherwise, the scrapes and raw pink skin of her fingertips were certainly not part of her imagination or some ridiculous dream.
But how could something so fantastical have been real?
“Did ye hear me speaking to ye?” Lady Edana’s voice snapped Senara from her daze.
“Forgive me, my lady. What do ye need?” Senara gave her a quick curtsey and rushed over to where her lady sat with rigid posture before a squared mirror.
Lady Edana lifted one of the many glass pots from the littered table in front of her and handed it to Senara to open. Senara complied, using the edge of her thumb and her ring finger to pull at the stopper, the two places most untouched by the evidence of the prior evening’s events.
There, lying on the table beside where the pot had been, was a simple cross made of wood affixed to a long chain. The kind of chain that might be belted to a monk’s habit.
Senara jerked back instinctively.
It was her. The dark-haired woman.
It was Edana.
Chills prickled over Senara’s arms and left the hairs along the back of her neck standing on end.
“It’s cold this morning.” Edana scooped some of the murky balm from the pot and spread it over the loose flesh on her cheeks. “Bring me my shawl.”
Senara turned from her mistress, grateful for the distraction to recover from the shock of having seen the monk’s cross among Edana’s things.
Balthasar.
A shiver squeezed down her spine and left her skin dotted with chill bumps.
It was cold, indeed. As though the chill had only now come on.
Senara added an extra log to the fire for good measure before grabbing the fine wool plaid for the lady.
She turned back to her mistress and froze.
There, beside Edana’s table, stood a man in a brown monk’s robes staring down at an unsuspecting Edana, who continued to smooth the face balm over her worn skin. His eyes were narrowed into slits of hatred and glowing with the same deep, cold gray they had the night before.
Balthasar did not shift his focus from Edana, not even when Senara approached and carefully placed the plaid over her lady’s thin shoulders.
Edana gave a visible shudder. “Took ye long enough. Now pass me the blue bottle.”
Senara glanced at Balthasar before hesitantly reaching for the bottle her mistress had indicated. Before she could curl her fingers around the smooth glass, Balthasar snatched up the cross from the table and hurled it to the ground where it smacked against the flagstones.
Edana gave a sharp cry and leapt up.
A cold grin lit Balthasar’s face and he faded from view.
Edana stared down at the cross for a long moment before turning her hard glare on Senara. “Ye wretch!” She pulled her arm back with the obvious intent to strike. Something dark flitted over her face, and her expression puckered to one of rage. She lowered her arm. “Get ye from my room.” Her voice was low and measured. “I’ll expect an apology from ye later.”
Senara nodded and bobbed a curtsey before readily complying with her lady’s wishes. The hall was far warmer than the room had been. Her chilled fingers tingled with the relief of it and then throbbed with the ache of her injuries.
The scent of the noonday meal tinged the air with something roasted and juicy. She would be needed in the kitchens to prepare her lady’s meal specifically, as she’d been told by Edana herself the prior day.
Not wanting to be late, Senara raced to the stairs and ran directly into Gavin.
