Veil of Shadows Read online

  Eldren lit the candelabra on the mantle. He had talked of having gaslights installed in the upper floor of the house. But until they had achieved some semblance of normalcy in the house, having workmen in and out of it was impossible. As it was, they were replacing maids and footmen at regular intervals.

  “Let’s have a look at what you found,” he said.

  Adelaide placed it on the table and carefully unwrapped the bundle. Whatever it was, it was ancient. The fabric was disintegrating at her touch, falling to nothing but dust. Inside, however, the contents were perfectly preserved. The leather bound volume was exquisitely preserved.

  Opening the cover, Adelaide frowned. She could read nothing.

  “What is it?”

  “Old English,” Eldren said. “I learned a bit of it when I was at university, but not well enough to translate something such as this. If Lord Mortimer’s areas of expertise do not extend to this, then I may know someone who can help.”

  “We need to keep this safe… and I don’t think it’s safe in this house,” Adelaide mused. “I don’t know that it’s safe anywhere. But I have to believe that it holds the key to all of this.”

  “We’ll take it into Machynlleth. Father Thomas may be persuaded via a sizable donation to hold it in the church. If it isn’t safe there, it won’t be safe anywhere.”

  Adelaide nodded. “First thing in the morning?”

  “First thing,” he said. “Now come back to bed. We likely won’t get more sleep, but at least we can rest and I can hold you for a bit before the day begins.”

  Adelaide moved toward the bed and carefully placed the book beneath her pillows. She was terrified of damaging it, but even more terrified of leaving it unguarded. “Everyday we are getting closer. I have to believe that.”

  “I want to believe it,” he replied, climbing into the bed next to her and pulling her close. “I have something with you, Adelaide, that I have not had in a very long time.”

  “What is that?” She asked.

  “Hope.”

  10

  Leola was awake. She rarely slept and if she did, not well. But in places such as Cysgod Lys, where her body all but hummed with the energy around her, sleep was unnecessary. From the moment she’d stepped off the train she’d sensed power, and the closer they’d come to the house the more keenly she had felt it. Now, standing at the epicenter of it, she was overwhelmed with it. The visions she’d been shown by Ulmer, the spirit who had guided her since she was a child, had left her shaken and it was that more than anything which kept her awake.

  The soft knock at her door startled her, a clear indication of how deep in thought she had been. It would be Lord Mortimer. John. While she never addressed him so outwardly, it was how she’d come to think of him during their time together. Her feelings for him continued to grow, but it did not take her extraordinary abilities to know that they were not returned. He would not allow himself to love another because he was too consumed with his own grief. And his guilt. She knew that he blamed himself for his wife’s death and it was that, more than anything else, which held him bound to her memory.

  Opening her door, she found him standing there in his dressing gown, a decanter of brandy and glasses in hand. “I couldn’t sleep and went to fetch myself a drink,” he explained. “I saw the light under your door and thought perhaps the events of the evening had left you equally restless.”

  Leola stepped back, bidding him enter. “This house vibrates with energy, Lord Mortimer. It surrounds me constantly.”

  He frowned. “Is it too much for you? Perhaps I should not have brought you here.”

  “On the contrary, they need me here,” she said. Uttering those words aloud, Leola felt the rightness of them. They did need her. If she’d had any doubt about the fact that moment dispelled them entirely. “And I think I need to be here. I have devoted my life to exploring my gifts and the phenomena that cannot be explained by traditional means. I cannot think of a better place to test the boundaries of both of those things than here at Cysgod Lys.”

  He nodded. “It is remarkable. Even I can feel it, and I am normally impervious to such things.”

  “But not to Lady Montkeith?” She knew that he had his own gifts, though he would not have called them such. John was a barometer for psychic phenomena, whereas Adelaide Llewellyn was a catalyst for it. “When you met her before you sensed she was gifted,” Leola replied.

  “I did. But I confess that I was unable to discern the nature of her gifts. Even now, I cannot identify them properly. It seems as if she is all things at once—clairvoyance, telekinesis, psychometry.”

  Leola accepted the brandy he poured for her. “I think that her gifts are tied to this place… She magnifies and mirrors that which is present, I believe. Without knowing her family tree in its entirety, I cannot say that she has a blood connection to this land, but I sense that she does.”

  “I would trust your sense of it more than I would trust the often manipulated records. I know half a dozen men whose heirs are not their actual offspring,” he said.

  Leola smiled. As the baseborn daughter of a gentleman herself, she understood it well. “I believe that whatever is inside her remained latent, present but dampened if you will, until she arrived here. And I think the longer she is here, the more her gifts will blossom, assuming this thing doesn’t manage to drive her mad, scare her to death, or perhaps engineer her death in some fashion before hand.”

  John strode to the hearth and leaned against the mantle in a typically masculine pose. “Do you really think it’s capable of such things?”

  A slight frisson of fear, a rare thing for her, snaked along her spine. “I know it is. I’ve seen what it has done to others. And if Lady Montkeith dies here, it will use her up like coal in a fire. And given the degree of power I sense inside her, that fire would burn hot and bright for a very long time,” she warned.

  He sipped his brandy and considered that carefully. “We must endeavor to not let that happen. By whatever means necessary. I fear for her in this place.” He paused once more. “I fear for you in this place, as well, Leola. You have been my friend and companion for many years now. Yet, I have never witnessed a scene such as the one tonight, no matter what sort of place we have been in.”

  “It was quite different,” she admitted. “I’ve never had spirits, or other entities, attempt to so forcefully push themselves into visions. Into my body. It was all I could do to fend them off.” It had been like a hundred sets of hands tugging and pulling at her, clawing at her flesh and clothes. Only the bright shimmering light of the spirit guide who had been with her since she was a small child had kept her grounded then. She would not risk another seance at Cysgod Lys. She would have to use her talents in a more indirect way.

  “No more seances here,” he said, effectively mirroring her thoughts. “I fear it would create more problems than it would solve.”

  “On that we are in agreement, Lord Mortimer,” she said softly. “I mean to begin working very closely with Lady Montkeith. Regardless of how the issues are resolved here, these abilities, now that they are awakening in her, will not be easily put to bed again. For her safety and for the safety of those around her, she needs to understand how to control them.”

  “And you’re certain you can teach her those things?”

  Leola sipped her brandy once more as she considered her answer carefully. “I’ve never seen myself as a mentor, but if not me, Lord Mortimer, then who? Those with such abilities are not so easy to find. By nature, many of us are secretive or shamed into silence. I will help her if I can.”

  He stepped closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. It was not a romantic gesture. It was intended to be comforting. She knew that. And yet, she thrilled at that innocent touch in a way that she knew would leave him both dumbfounded and mortified.

  “I know that you will, Leola. I should return to my own room and leave you to your rest. I hope you may find some peace this night,” he said.

  “Wi
ll you find peace, John?” she asked.

  He turned toward her. “You have never used my given name before.”

  “I have not,” she said. “It is time that things change between us. I cannot be your companion this way forever. You must know that.”

  The puzzled frown that crossed his face would have been comical had it not made her heart ache so much. “Have I offended you in some way?”

  “No, John. You have never been anything other than a gentleman. That is the problem, you see? I would have you be something other than that… I would have you see me as a woman first and a mystic second. And I cannot continue this way,” she admitted ruefully. “I am more than just my abilities, and I can no longer ignore my own wants and needs.”

  His hand fell away and he stared at her for the longest moment. If she were the kind of woman given to false hope, she might have sworn she saw something in his eyes—a longing for more. But she wasn’t, and wishing it was there did not make it so.

  “Good night, John,” she said, and there was a finality to her tone. Unable to continue facing him, she walked toward the window and stared out into the darkness beyond. After a moment, she hard the door open and close. Leaning her forehead against the glass, Leola let out a shuddering sigh and the very last shred of hope she possessed that he would ever see her as more. Tears threatened, but she blinked them away. While there was nothing so bleak as the absence of hope, she would hold onto what was left of her tattered pride.

  11

  Frances filled her plate from the sideboard as she listened to the low hum of conversation in the breakfast room. It was subdued between the guests. Lord Mortimer and that woman he’d brought with him appeared to have had, if not a falling out, at least a difference of opinion in some regard. After several tense moments, Lord Mortimer excused himself.

  Of course, Eldren and his bride were sickeningly infatuated with one another at present and it was all she could do to tolerate them. All of that would end soon enough, however. And as he vacated the room in the wake of Lord Mortimer, leaving only the three of them alone in the breakfast room, Frances decided to see what she might be able to stir up. If there was one subject guaranteed to send the new Countess of Montkeith into a spiral it was the impending birth of Frances’ offspring. And she needed them distracted. They were becoming a threat to her and all that she had planned.

  They didn’t understand the power of the house, or where it came from. They had yet to find the center of it. Only she knew that and only because it had shared it with her. Dropping her hand to her abdomen, she pressed her palm over the slight rounding of her belly. It wasn’t a child to her, a living and being thing. It was currency.

  “Are you well?”

  Frances looked up, noting Madame Leola’s concerned gaze upon her. “Quite well, thank you, madame. Tell me, what title precisely do you hold? Madame seems such an odd form of address.”

  “Madame is a terrible title,” she agreed. “But most in my line of work use it, and so I do, as well.”

  “And what line of work is that? Are you a companion of some sort?” The woman puzzled her and worried her. Frances couldn’t tell what she was thinking and that alone was cause enough for concern.

  “I’m a mystical advisor to Lord Mortimer… and in turn to your brother in law, Lord Montkeith and his bride, Lady Montkeith. I’m here to help them understand this house and how they might best survive in it given the dark nature of its other inhabitants,” Madame Leola replied. There was a threat in her tone, a certainty and a confidence in her abilities that prompted Frances to laugh.

  Collecting herself, Frances managed. “Do forgive me, Madame Leola, but I find it difficult to believe that my so very practical brother-in-law would tolerate such foolishness.”

  “I think Lord Montkeith would tolerate whatever was necessary in order to ensure the safety of his bride and his dear brother,” Madame Leola said. “Don’t you, Mrs. Llewellyn?”

  “Well, of course Eldren would. He’s so terribly bound by honor and family duty and obligation. Poor man,” Frances agreed. Unable to resist, she continued on, getting in her digs at Adelaide. It wouldn’t do to let the little mouse feel too comfortable. “I must say, it is quite admirable how he has taken to the role of husband after espousing bachelorhood so vehemently for decades. But then I suppose, Adelaide that you are such a quiet and meek thing, it’s probably not all that different from still being a bachelor, is it? Sometimes, I swear, it’s like you’re not even here. Invisible.”

  “I’m here, Frances,” Adelaide replied instantly. “I’m here and I’ve no intention of going anywhere. Don’t let my rather small stature fool you. I can be quite fierce when the occasion calls for it.”

  Frances arched her eyebrows in surprise at the rather testy retort from the interloper she so often dismissed. Perhaps there was more to Adelaide than she’d initially realized, though it was doubtful. Oh, certainly, the girl had some latent potential but she hadn’t the wit or the will to harness such a gift and use it.

  “Why, Adelaide, that sounds almost like a challenge!”

  “It is, Frances. I understand that the child you carry is the heir to Cysgod Lys and the earldom, assuming it is male, but be that as it may, I don’t have to tolerate you,” Adelaide retorted. “Not your comments. Not your schemes. Not your barbs and plots. I find that I’m at the end of my patience with you.”

  The room had grown quiet. The servants stationed at the periphery of it didn’t even dare to breathe as the new Lady Montkeith attempted to lay down the law. “I beg your pardon?” Frances said.

  “There’s a dower house on the estate. One that is in a decent state of repair. You shall adjourn there for now with a staff to see to your needs,” Adelaide continued. “When the child is born, you may return to the house. But only if your behavior continues to meet the standards I set. I’ll send a maid to help you pack.”

  Frances rose, her chair toppling over. “Eldren will never permit this! I am carrying his heir! Something you will never do if the servants’ gossip is to be believed!”

  Adelaide looked up at her then, “He will permit it. He will do what I ask because we are devoted to one another in a way that you, with your cold and icy heart, will never understand. The matter is decided, Frances. Please try to maintain some dignity in the matter.”

  “You have no authority!”

  Madame Leola smiled coolly, “Adelaide is mistress of this house, Mrs. Llewellyn. While this is certainly a considerable step to take, based on your behavior to her, it isn’t unwarranted. I have little doubt that Lord Montkeith will support her in it entirely.”

  They were throwing her out. Removing her and the child she carried from the power, the power she craved and the power that needed her. How on earth would she fulfill their bargain if she was not close enough when her time came? It was months away yet, but the plans had already begun to take shape.

  Go. Let them have their victory. It is only a single battle and not the war.

  The quiet whisper sounded in her mind and it stilled her. But she felt the measuring gaze of Madame Leola upon her. Had she heard it, as well? Frances dared to look at her and saw the condemnation in the other woman’s eyes. Yes. She’d heard.

  “You’ll regret this, Adelaide. You will!” She said and turned to storm from the room.

  * * *

  Adelaide watched Frances storm from the room. She’d done it. Without Eldren’s input or permission, without first discussing her plan with Madame Leola or Lord Mortimer, she’d simply allowed instinct to lead her. She’d acted impetuously and followed her gut, just as the mystic had encouraged her to do. It felt right. And she felt powerful, at least in that moment. But now, facing the realization of what she’d done and the notion that she would have to face Eldren’s disapproval, nerves were beginning to take her.

  “That was not part of the plan,” Madame Leola summed up. “I’m quite aware that Lord Montkeith had made peace with the idea that she should remain here.”

&n
bsp; “I’m not sure we have a plan,” Adelaide replied caustically. “And yes, Eldren had stated that she should remain. But after our discussion yesterday, Madame Leola, I have decided to follow my instincts as you suggested. And my instinct is very clear on one point. We are safer with her far from us and far from this house. I believe, wholeheartedly, that she and this terrible thing that exists within the walls of Cysgod Lys are feeding off one another. Only by halting that exchange of power, can we hope to be victorious.”

  “Then I suggest you go and find your husband. You’ll need to sway him to your course now or all may be for naught.”

  “Right enough,” Adelaide said and rose. “Excuse me, Madame Leola. I need to find Eldren and explain my highhandedness in this matter.”

  “Good luck to you, Lady Montkeith. For what it’s worth, I am in complete agreement with your assessment. I do think that separating Mrs. Llewellyn from this house is for the best. I hope he will concede.”

  Adelaide left the breakfast room and sought out the study where Eldren would likely be. As she neared the study door, she heard Lord Mortimer’s voice. He spoke in a hushed and subdued tone. She’d been aware that morning in the breakfast room that something had shifted and altered between Madame Leola and her patron, but what it was and how it might impact all that they were working toward there she could not guess.

  Pausing to take a deep and settling breath, she knocked upon the door. The conversation inside ceased and Eldren called out for her to enter.