Darkest Dreams Read online

  “Well,” said Cassie firmly, “I’ve decided that the first book I am going to pen will be about how the Killdaren brothers broke the Dragon’s Curse. From their birth on, I am going to document how these Killdaren twins saved each other instead of killing each other.”

  The earl looked back from where he walked next to Prudence. “I’d like to add to that book if you’d allow me to,” he said. “The only real curse is allowing fear to rule your life.”

  Cassie smiled warmly. “I think I’ll have all the Killdarens write a part, and we’ll keep passing it on to future generations to continue the story.”

  “Fools,” Sir Warwick muttered.

  The earl glared at Sir Warwick. “Not only am I weary of a fool’s company, but I’m realizing too late that those who think they’re the wisest are the biggest fools of all. Myself included. Take your ridicule home and don’t bring it back with you, should you return.”

  Warwick’s monocle popped loose as he gaped at the earl, who’d turned his attention back to Prudence. No one spoke again, for I daresay we were all a bit shocked to hear the earl be that harsh to Warwick. Not that Warwick didn’t deserve it, but the usual banter behind their words was gone. Once we reached the center hall, Sir Warwick stalked out the door without saying a word to anyone. Mr. Drayson and Lord Ashton took their leave as well after exchanging a polite good night.

  “I think I’ll go to bed now,” said Gemini. “My head still aches.”

  Cassie slipped her arm around Gemini. “I’m coming with you. I don’t think it will hurt to have someone close by for a day or so, do you?”

  Gemini gave a wobbly smile. “I think that would be most welcomed.”

  “Ahem, Pru,” said the earl. “Would you care to enjoy a game of cards in the drawing room before retiring?”

  Prudence blinked, so stunned that no words came from her opened mouth.

  “Of course she would,” I said.

  “But Rebecca—”

  “Will be just fine with Bridget for another few hours, so don’t hurry. In fact, I will run up and check on them right now.”

  Cassie, Gemini and I all left before Prudence could say a word. We ran quickly up the stairs, and once we were in the corridor, slightly breathless, we giggled like we did as children up to no good. It made my heart sing to hear Gemini laugh even for a moment.

  I left Cassie and Gemini at Gemini’s room and went to Prudence’s quarters.

  Bridget answered the door. She appeared both saddened and strangely at peace. Inside I could hear Rebecca giggling and cocked my head to the side.

  “Stuart brought Timmy and my Mum up to play with Rebecca. Stuart’s been entertaining us all with magic tricks.”

  “I love magic. I came to tell you that Prudence is going to play cards with the earl and won’t be coming immediately back from dinner.”

  “Good, it’s about time they spent an evening together.” She leaned closer to me. “Besides, my mum and brother could use some more time to laugh.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I haven’t told them everything about Flora. I wrote a letter from Flora telling them how much she loved them and that she was sick with a fever. Then Stuart wrote an official-looking short note saying that Flora died peacefully in her sleep. I couldn’t tell them what happened to her.”

  “You did the right thing for them. They are so lucky to have you.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “And I’m so lucky to have Stuart.”

  She dashed at her tears and I forced a smile. “Now go spend time with him and your family.” She nodded and shut the door, and I started toward my own room. The thought of being in there all alone was unappealing, though, and I crossed back to the room where Alex had stayed last night. In all of the upset, the maids hadn’t been in to clean it, and the bed was still mussed.

  My heart nearly stopped at the sight of my drawers on the bed. I ran over and snatched them up, quickly folding them into a ball and stuffing them inside my dress.

  Looking about, I didn’t see anything else to indicate that I’d been here last night, and decided to at least pull up the counterpane. When I leaned over the bed, his scent reached me. I set my hands on the bed and inhaled deeply, already tingling with need.

  “Don’t move, lass. You’re in the perfect position.”

  I stood up to see Alex entering the bedroom and then locking the door. “Now I’ll have to get you back into position. Remember that first figurine, Andrie? Don’t you want to feel me every way that you can?”

  My insides melted so badly that my sex was drenched. “What are you doing here?”

  He grinned and crossed the room. “I seemed to have misplaced my Dragon’s oil. I expect it’s on the bed somewhere.” He stepped up behind me and pressed himself against me.

  I shut my eyes and leaned back against him. He slid his hands around to cup my breasts. Suddenly he urged me forward until my thighs hit the soft mattress.

  “Why don’t you look for the Dragon’s oil while I find some interesting things to give my attention to?”

  “I can’t reach the bed much less think well enough to see straight when you touch me like this.”

  Moving a hand to my back, he pressed my upper body to the bed as he moved his arousal against my bottom. We were fully clothed, yet I felt as naked as ever as I braced myself with my palms, smelling his scent again, feeling his insistent need demand more and more of me as he thrust me against the soft mattress.

  His hand slipped inside my bodice, and he tugged at my skirts. “Did you find the oil yet?”

  “No. I can’t see,” I gasped.

  He laughed. “Just feel then, Andrie. Feel.”

  I did feel everything, with my skirts and drawers at my feet and my bodice only partially unbuttoned. Alexander was Great indeed. Before dawn, he’d used at least five of the three hundred sheaths he’d bought. When he left, I barely had the strength to make it back to my room and to crawl into bed. I didn’t know if there was any real truth to his Dragon’s oil tale or not, but I thought he’d made a wise purchase.

  I’d risen late and was in the middle of writing Alex a note, telling him that I would return to work the next day because I thought it best to be with Gemini today, when Cassie burst into the room.

  “Andrie!”

  In all that we’d been through, I’d never seen her so shaken. “What is it?”

  “Alex. Constable Poole has arrested him for murder.”

  My anger flared. “That is ridiculous. Just because that instrument was in the mansion doesn’t mean—”

  “No, Andrie. Another woman was murdered last night. A woman from the village. She was killed in the Circle of the Stone Virgins and the symbol that was carved on Mary and Lady Helen was on her as well. Alex’s sword from last night was used to kill her. He was found on the beach this morning, naked. He hadn’t been home all night.”

  “It could be anyone who was here last night and witnessed Alex and Sean’s duel. Let’s go,” I said, grabbing her hand. “I have to see the constable.”

  “Why?” Cassie asked, keeping pace with me.

  “Because Alex never left here last night. He was with me all night. Tell the maids not to clean the room he used. Believe me, there’s enough evidence to convict me as the worst harlot who’s ever been born.”

  “Let’s get Sean and Stuart. I have a feeling this is going to get very unpleasant, Andrie.”

  Unpleasant didn’t even come close to describing the next few hours. I truly did become the worst harlot imaginable. Constable Poole questioned me repeatedly with contemptuous disdain about the entire course of my relationship with Alex. When the constable pressed for graphic detail about the previous night, Sean called a halt to the interrogation and demanded Alex’s release. We had yet to see Alex.

  The constable made us wait until Alex admitted to where he was last night, which he refused to do until he was informed that I was here. Even then, it wasn’t until Dr. Luden confirmed that the woman had died long before Alex left me at dawn
that the constable released him. Jamie had already been released that morning.

  The moment Alex entered the constable’s office I went to him and set my hand on his arm. One clear thought came blazing through his anger. He had to marry me.

  I snatched my hand back, but before I could speak, Alex did. “I need either a special or a civil license to marry immediately. Which one can I get the fastest?” he asked the constable.

  He made the declaration before everyone and didn’t even look at me. And though I’d never planned to marry, though I knew our time together wasn’t a forever joining, I thought I’d meant more to him than to be a burdensome obligation, like a chore that had to be taken care of.

  “No, you don’t,” I said emphatically. “Unless there’s a different woman you’re marrying. Remember? I’m not marrying anyone ever.” Turning abruptly, I quit the room, amid a crowd full of stunned faces and gasps. The most shocked were Constable Poole’s deputy and secretary. I had little doubt everything that had transpired all day would spread like a fire through town. I ran from the building. With each step my heart felt as if little pieces shattered off to painfully stab me everywhere. Tears burned my eyes.

  Diving into the carriage and snapping the curtains shut, I buried my face in my hands, realizing just how big a fool I really was. I thought I could walk away from Alex and quietly live my life alone in some obscure corner, protected from the demons lurking in the minds of others, the demons that clawed at my peace of mind. What I didn’t know was that walking away from love for any reason would rip the very heart of me apart.

  That was the real monster hidden beneath the surface of life. The destruction of love. I’d proven to be my own worst enemy, for I’d not only chained myself to love’s unrequited rock and unleashed a monster to devour me, but I’d slain Perseus as well.

  “You shouldn’t have rejected Alex so thoroughly in front of the whole world,” Cassie said as she paced the floor of my room.

  I’d spent the remainder of the day in my room. My untouched tray sat on my desk, and I’d sent everyone who tried to see me away. Cassie hadn’t taken no for an answer and had filched a key and intruded into my misery anyway. I’d already prepared for bed, had the lights off, and the covers over my head. I knew Alex wasn’t coming. Not tonight, and maybe never again. I felt as if I had a six-foot-two hole in my heart, and I couldn’t seem to stop the tears.

  Cassie had snatched the covers back and started pacing the room. “We have to do something, Andrie!”

  I dabbed at my eyes. “Cassie, things are better off left as they are. You didn’t read his thoughts about marrying me; I did. I won’t marry any man who feels that he has to marry me. That’s not love.”

  “Are you sure that’s how he felt? When Sean first declared that he was marrying me, I thought he was doing the honorable thing as well, but he loved me.”

  “A man can lie with his words, and with his actions for a time, but his thoughts will always tell the truth of it. I’m sorry I’ve brought this upon you. When I involved myself with Alex, I knew I would be impugning my reputation to some degree, and that there would be whispers. But I didn’t expect I would be shouting my affair before the entire village.”

  “Hush, Andrie. I don’t give a fig for what people say anymore, and you know that. And the Killdarens thrive on controversy, so they’ll not be calling any kettles black.”

  I didn’t tell her that once we’d ridden Dartmoor’s End of the evil stalking and murdering innocent women, I would leave. There would be time enough to cross that bridge in the future. Since I couldn’t cower, I too felt the need to pace. Getting out of bed, I walked over to the window to gaze out at the night and the gardens. Alex was so very close. I wanted to just reach out my hand and touch him one last time, to feel the warmth of him, the vitality. I wanted to know the heat of his desire deep inside of me one more time, even though that once more would never be enough. Tears blurred my vision again.

  Cassie joined me at the window. “It’s hard to believe a woman died last night. That she died just beyond the stables while we slept.”

  I shivered. “I know. Why didn’t anyone hear her screams? Surely the groomsmen who slept in the quarters next to the stable should have heard something.”

  “I don’t know,” Cassie said. “This time the killer murdered a stranger to us, yet I feel as if the circle of death he is drawing around us is closer than ever.”

  “Cassie, I hate to say this, but I think that circle is even closer than we’ve ever realized. Alex was framed with his own sword that he used here last night.”

  “I know. Sean knows. He sent messages to Lord Ashton, Mr. Drayson and Sir Warwick, telling them that we wouldn’t be receiving callers for the next few weeks. Thinking that the killer is either the earl or Stuart is almost like thinking Sean or Alex guilty.” She drew a deep breath. “Right or wrong, I can’t do that. Though the weapons were inadvertently left on the terrace last night where anyone could have taken a sword, Sean doesn’t want to take any chances. I also overheard him and Alex planning something else as well.”

  “What?”

  “Alex is readying his ship. I expect that in the next day or so we’ll be asked to pack a small bag, and we’ll take a tour of the coast.”

  “As much as I would dearly love to do that, it won’t solve the problem here, only delay it. This murderer hasn’t been caught in eight years. He’s smart and he’s deadly and he bides his time. He’ll wait until we are least expecting it, and then he’ll act.”

  Cassie shuddered. “Andrie, you scare me. That is not a very reassuring prediction. I may just suggest to Sean that we take those whom we know we can trust and disappear to America.”

  Before I could ask just exactly who we could trust, I saw a sudden flash of fire in the darkness outside my window. My heart thudded, remembering the fire at the Kennedy Mansion. Though this light came from the gardens, it still frightened me.

  “There’s a fire in the gardens.”

  Cassie gasped, pressing closer to the windowpane. “Oh, no!” She ran over and doused the lamplight, drenching us in darkness.

  The flash of fire erupted into five different lights that outlined about a dozen people standing together. Then a huge blaze caught, and the image of a woman hanging on a rope from a tall pole came into focus as she was set on fire.

  I screamed.

  “It’s an effigy, Andrie,” Cassie said, grabbing my arm. “It’s not a real woman.”

  Half a dozen lantern lights appeared from the direction of the stables, and the distinct pop of a pistol sounded.

  The torch carriers began to separate.

  Cassie gasped. “I hope that’s the groomsmen sending a warning. I’m going to get Sean.” She ran to the door, then turned back. I couldn’t seem to do anything but stare at the burning figure, feeling the hot flames sear my soul. “Andrie, see if Prudence and Rebecca are in their quarters. I left them in the drawing room, but that was some time ago. Tell them what’s happening and get Gemini. All of you meet me in the drawing room.”

  She left, and I stuck my feet in my slippers and slid my robe on as I ran across the corridor and knocked on Prudence’s door. Receiving no answer after my second knock, I opened the door and saw the flickering light of a lamp from under the door of the adjoining room and thought Prudence and Rebecca might have fallen asleep.

  “Prudence,” I called, dashing across the darkened sitting room. Getting no response, I opened the door and gasped in shock. Prudence and Rebecca lay bound and gagged on the bed. I took one step, and something heavy slammed into the back of my head. Searing pain blinded me. Though I couldn’t see, I knew I was falling. Then everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I awoke to a suffocating blackness, gagged, and from the pain at my wrists and ankles, I knew I was tightly bound. My head throbbed so badly that I feared I would be sick. A man carried me over his shoulder, a man who struggled with every step, a man whose pent-up rage screamed through my mind lik
e a gale-force wind. It made it very difficult to see the images flashing through him, like trying to see in a blinding rain in a horrific storm.

  I didn’t struggle. Instead I focused on looking into his mind.

  The more I saw, the more confused I became. I thought that rage would be directed at me, but it wasn’t. At the center of this man’s anger was the earl. I didn’t see more than that before he dumped me on cold, hard stone. His slow steps and labored breathing disappeared, and I lay in confused darkness, wrapped in a blanket.

  I listened for a while longer until I was sure I was alone, then I struggled to sit up, but was too tightly bound. After several frustrating attempts, I decided to roll. My efforts had me falling through the air and landing painfully hard, face down. I cried out and had to fight the nausea trying to consume me. Once I could think again, I felt the blanket was looser so I fearfully rolled again. This time I didn’t fall, and I eventually freed myself from the rough material, but still didn’t know where I was. Total blackness surrounded me, one that smelled dank and musty and gnawed at the edges of my memory.

  Before I could feel around, the sounds of footsteps returned, and light filled the room. I blinked with sickening dread at the medieval torture devices in front of me. I was in Alex’s dungeon. Whipping my head around, I found Sir Warwick entering the dungeon from a stone door in a far corner nowhere near the stairs leading up to the main castle.

  “You harlot. What are you doing?” Scowling angrily at me, he set down the lamp and marched toward me. I flung myself back against the stone floor, lifted my bound legs and kicked him in the knees. He cried out and fell to the side.

  “What in the hell is going on in there?” a man roared. Just as I was trying to place the voice, Constable Poole ran into the dungeon from the same direction as Sir Warwick. Relief flooded me until the constable smiled. “You ready for your punishment, whore? You’ve dishonored all of mankind and must die.” He walked over to the shelves and picked up a deadly looking contraption. “We’ll use a number of these tonight, but I think I’m going to enjoy this one the most. It’s called a pear, did you know that?” He held up a long bulbous thing with needle sharp points on the end. He pressed a lever, and the bulb snapped outward into four deadly spikes. “And when I’m done, I’m going to rip you open to see just how well your cleansing went. Blood washes away sins, and your sins are great.”