Page 8 of Scent of Desire
A ghost of a smile stretched his lips before Radcliff rose up. “Flower goddess, I never follow up on blackmail.”
As he’d have left at any second, I held him back by calling out, “I made the aphrodisiac.”
His eyes flashed. His Adam’s apple bobbed. His nostrils flared.
“It’s not ready yet.” For some reason, my heart hammered frantically. My instincts scolded me, whispering that this was all a bad idea, but I couldn’t lie to him. “It needs a couple of weeks of maceration still. We’ll have to wait, but I just wanted to let you know.”
His gaze remained firm, and I thought he’d leave without a word. I had accomplished the impossible, and he showed no sign of enthusiasm.
He readjusted the cuffs of his suit, focused on the task. “Then you deserve a reward.”
“W-what reward?”
“Meet me inside in a couple of hours. Mrs. Walton will deliver you a card.”
My eyes widened. “A card?”
“Yes, to keep the mystery, my little witch.”
On that note, he darted across me and went back to the gloominess of his manor as I watched him disappear inside like a ghost haunting the place. I let out a ragged breath and picked a daisy. I lay on my stomach on the grass and rolled the flower between my fingers, just like Radcliff used to do with his signature card.
Would I save Radcliff’s soul?
I focused on the question and brushed over each petal of the daisy.
Yes.I pulled out a petal.
Certainly.Another.
It’s too early to tell.Another.
Small chance.One more.
Never.Another.
I continued, my heart contracting each time I pulled out a petal. They were becoming fewer and fewer.It’s too early to tell.Dread twisted in my guts.Small chance.I froze on the last remaining petal, feeling engulfed by a pain in my chest.
Never.
Ghastly tendrils of fog blurred the view outside while ravens sang the melody of the damned. The gloomy trees and their greedy fingers of adoring acolytes tried to penetrate through the walls of the Devil’s house.
I shut the window and folded the letter into my dress’s pocket, along with the old metallic key Radcliff had sent me. The card he wrote me indicated: “Follow the path of darkness, to sweep the door of pleasure open.” To that, he had added the directions to follow. It was rather more mystical than explicative, but so was he. How many secrets was he hiding?
I grabbed the old brass candlestick with a lit-up candle—a scented one with sage that would clean the evils from the place. As I left my bedroom, the creak of the door filled the ghostly silence, and the heavy decaying air wafted up my nose.
The hallway was empty. It seemed endless with narrowing walls that would suffocate me as I passed through the paintings depicting the infernos. They glared at me to the point that I could hear their cries, their torture, the underworld calling me in a whisper.
The candle fluttered the moment I arrived at the child’s painting, the one with the expression so dark and tragic, holding a particular beauty. His eyes landed on me each time, no matter where I stood. They had the power to stop my heart and freeze my cells. The hair behind my neck raised, my body speaking the emotions I couldn’t quite describe nor remember. I wouldn’t be surprised if the phantom of the child haunted this place.
I put a hand around the flame to keep the air from turning off the light, but it continued to fidget as if his ghostly spirit was trying to communicate. There was no draft, but the flame blew sideways, and smoke rose. A gasp escaped my lips. My shoulders tensed. A silent scream threatened to come out.
The flame rekindled, and my gaze fell on the haunted painting. Now, I was convinced this child had died in the most atrocious way. I paced to the last door with the heavy clamps, and with shaking hands, I slammed it open with the key.
“What’s—” My breath caught, and I almost lost my balance in the rush.
Behind the door, there was only a stone staircase, which descended into the depths of the mansion. It looked like a spiraling tower, without any flicker of light.
“Okay, Lily, don’t freak out.” My footsteps echoed on the cold steps, like a stone falling into a deep well.
