Veil of Shadows Page 8

  “I need to speak with you,” she said. “I fear I may have done something rash.”

  He raised an eyebrow at that and rose. “Very well. You’ll pardon us, Mortimer? I had thought to go into the village this morning and speak with Father Thomas. Why don’t you accompany me and we can discuss it at length?”

  Getting out of the house, even if they did not go far, seemed like a wonderful way to begin. “If you’d be so kind as to ring for a maid to fetch my cape,” she said.

  Eldren reached into his desk drawer and retrieved the ancient leather bound book she had discovered in her nightly wanderings only the night before. She was rather relieved to get it away from the house.

  Within moments they were heading out to the carriage parked in the small drive before the house. As they settled onto the padded benches, Adelaide still didn’t speak.

  The silence drew out, stretching taut between them. Finally, Eldren spoke. “Adelaide, whatever it is, just say it. It cannot possibly be that bad.”

  “I threw Frances out. I banished her to the dower house here on the estate and told her that she can’t return to the main house until after her child is born… and I know we spoke of it, and that was not your wish, but, Eldren, it’s the right thing to do. I feel it all the way to my soul. There’s something occurring in the house that she is a part of. And I think it’s a danger to her as well as to us. But more than that, I think it’s a danger to the child she carries. There’s something dark afoot, something more wicked than we can even begin to imagine,” she said. The words had tumbled out, one atop another.

  “Take a breath, Adelaide. How do you know these things?”

  “Well, I don’t know them I suppose. But I feel them. And I think that might be even more important,” she said.

  “And Frances just agreed? That seems highly unlikely.”

  “No. She was quite vocal in her displeasure. And I imagine that she will seek you out and attempt to sway you to her cause by using her pregnancy and the child she carries to manipulate you.”

  He nodded sagely as he carefully opened the book. “Yes, she likely will. She’s been doing so since her condition was disclosed.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  He looked up at her then. “No. I’m not angry. It isn’t what we discussed, but I understand just how trying Frances can be. She’s made it a point to be as nasty to you as one person can be to another. More than that, I agree that she does have a significant role in the darker occurrences that are surrounding us. I’ll not be sorry to see her go.”

  “I am afraid that removing her from the house will cause things to intensify,” she warned.

  “Is this one of those things you know or feel?”

  Adelaide sighed. “Yes. I do know. I think Frances and the child had brought a tenuous peace to the house, not because of a truce or anything so benevolent, but because it was biding its time. That will have come to an end now.”

  He frowned again. “You spent most of the day closeted with Madame Leola yesterday. And now, you’ve suddenly been blessed with this plethora of insights… Are these your notions, Adelaide, or hers?”

  “They are mine,” she insisted, somewhat offended by his suggestion. “Madame Leola encouraged me to trust my instincts, to allow them to guide me. And that is precisely what I’m doing, Eldren. It feels right. It feels as if I have more control now, even though that may only be an illusion.”

  “Well enough,” he said.

  They continued on in companionable silence as the carriage rumbled over the slightly rutted lane. The houses and buildings grew thicker as they neared the village. Soon, the spires of the church were visible over the tops of the trees.

  “Do you think Father Thomas will be able to help with the book?”

  “I do. He and I… we attended school together. His father was a groundskeeper at Cysgod Lys. He has some understanding of the house and its, well, oddities,” he explained. “He has expressed interest in the past in trying to help us solve these issues via spiritual channels.”

  “Can he?” Adelaide asked.

  “No. Others have tried. My mother, when I was a boy, had his predecessor come in and it only made matters worse,” Eldren admitted.

  The carriage halted in front of the small church. “If you know Father Thomas so well,” Adelaide began, “Why did you not have him conduct our marriage ceremony?”

  “Because he counseled me against marriage… well, I should explain that he counseled me against the kind of marriage I initially proposed to you. He felt that it was a sin to embark upon the holy state of matrimony with such restrictions imposed upon it.”

  Adelaide blushed slightly. “Oh. I hadn’t thought you might have discussed it with anyone beforehand.”

  “Thomas and I, despite our stations, are friends. We have been since boyhood. He knew all along that I never intended to marry and that having children was something I could not in good conscience undertake in this life. The conversations occurred because he was aware of my determination before I ever considered making you such an offer,” Eldren admitted. “And yes, I offered for you because I assumed that your situation was such that you would be grateful of the offer and accept it regardless of my stipulations. I was a fool, Adelaide. In so many ways. And I cannot tell you how glad I am to have been so wrong about so many things.”

  Mollified by that apology, Adelaide smiled. “Let us go speak to your friend and see if he can help us to make sense of an ancient text, shall we?”

  12

  “It’ll be nice to be working in a smaller house, ma’am. Not traipsing up and down those stairs dozens of times a day on these old bones. And having a wee one in the house will be a nice bright spot, as well!”

  Frances said nothing as the housemaid, now promoted to housekeeper at the dowerhouse, waxed on about her new position. The woman hadn’t shut her mouth since they left the main house.

  “And don’t you be worrying about birthing that little darling. My mother was a midwife, you know? Delivered many a babe, she did. And I’ll be right there to help you. Now, I know some might be concerned what with how small your hips are, and whether or not you’d be able to birth a child but I’ve seen enough to know that it don’t much matter. Some women are cut out to bear that sort of pain and others aren’t. But I imagine you’re a strong enough woman that even such agony as that wouldn’t phase you… No indeed, Mrs. Llewellyn I think you’ll do just fine. Birth that babe and be back to yourself in no time. Or least ways as close as a woman comes to being back to herself, afterward. Don’t much matter what they say or what sort of fancy corsets the doctors tell you to wear during, no woman who has birthed a babe will ever have a flat stomach or a full and youthful bosom again!”

  “Are you quite finished?” Frances asked. She’d been regaled with tales of breach births, conjoined births, multiple births, births where both the mother and child died, births were the child died and the mother survived and vice versa. She was sick of hearing the words.

  “Oh, aye, ma’am. Don’t mean to worry you with my nattering on. Just excited to be bringing life back to the old dower house! Why no one has lived here since the late Lord Montkeith’s mother passed on. Oh, that woman was a beastly person to work for! I was just a girl when I came to Cysgod Lys and she was the very devil, ma’am!”

  Frances had never been so glad to see a dilapidated house in her life as the driver of the small cart set her out before the dower house. Small and cramped, with an ugly Tudor facade that hadn’t been painted in ages, the house was an eyesore and should have been torn down ages ago. And it was now her home. She could have returned to Bristol, but that would not allow her to uphold her end of the bargain with the powerful being that existed within the walls of Cysgod Lys.

  The servants that had been sent down to the dower house to see to her needs were older and would likely be pensioned off soon. But caring for a smaller house would be less taxing on their aging bodies and perhaps that was why they had been selected. Of course, F
rances had her own suspicions. Older servants were more loyal, after all. Would they report back to Eldren and Adelaide at every turn? It was likely, she thought.

  Climbing down from the cart, she stepped into the dusty main hall of the dower house and turned to her left. The furniture in the small sitting room had already been stripped of holland covers and given a cursory dusting. A maid was even then stoking the small fire that burned in the hearth.

  “Get out,” Frances said. “I don’t wish to be disturbed.”

  The maid scrambled to her feet and made for the door, bobbing a curtsy as an afterthought before she fled. When the door closed behind the departing servant, Frances sank down onto the dusty sofa. “I know that you’re here. You’d never have let her run me out of that house if you couldn’t get to me here.”

  I am always here. The house is the center of my power, but it is not my prison. I go where I please.

  “How do we stop this madness? How do I stop her and take my rightful place there?”

  Your rightful place? And what is that precisely?

  Frances once more touched her rounded stomach. “The vessel by which you will once more be flesh. Or have you forgotten our bargain?”

  I have forgotten nothing. But you forget your place, Frances. By taking your child, but entering your body and making myself flesh of your flesh, I am granting you the boon. I will be sharing my power with you.

  Frances laughed. “Is that so? And how many women over the past centuries have offered up their unborn for you?” The laughter ceased abruptly and Frances doubled over in pain, grasping her stomach as it robbed her of breath.

  More have than you know. But you are special, Frances. Do not make me punish you for your disobedience again. Get off your knees, dry your tears and take care of the child that I will inhabit. Trust that I will deal with Adelaide and Eldren in my own time.

  Still gasping, her face pale and her body trembling from the aftermath of pain more intense than anything she’d ever experienced, Frances struggled to her feet. “And Warren? What of him?”

  In due time, my dear. He’s no threat to us. Not now that you’ve taken care of your little footman.

  Frances knew when she was alone. The temperature of the room suddenly rose and she no longer felt the chill of it on her skin. Still shaken, still weak in the aftermath of such agony, she sank once more onto the settee and curled upon her side. Carrying a child did not terrify her. Even the threat it posed to her figure and beauty did not offer any real obstacle for her. But pain did. What she had just endured was only a taste of what she would feel as she struggled to birth a child. And that gave her pause. Reneging on her promise would have consequences, but she would have to find a way. Having experienced that pain, she now understood that birthing a fully developed infant was not something she would ever be able to do. Instead, that bit of flesh would meet its end when it was too small and fragile survive. A miscarriage. Something would occur early enough that the pregnancy would not ruin her body and so that the pain of birth would not destroy her.

  * * *

  “Eldren! And you must be Lady Montkeith! How exciting to see you both here in our small church. I was very sad to have missed your wedding,” Father Thomas said and the barb was rather pointed for a man of the cloth.

  “Enough, Thomas. Enough. Adelaide is very well aware of your feelings on my notions of marriage,” Eldren said. “But we are not here to talk about our marriage, dear friend. We’ve come on rather different business.”

  Thomas nodded. “I see. Do you require spiritual guidance, Lord Montkeith?”

  Eldren placed the cloth wrapped book on the table in front of his friend. “Historical guidance, in fact. Particularly related to the translation of a text recorded in Old English that may have rather damning information about my family. It would be better, Thomas, if we did not have to entrust this task to those who might not be inclined to discretion.”

  Eldren knew he’d uttered the magic words when Thomas’ eyes lit up and he began to carefully unwrap the book and open the cover. He gasped. He oohed and ahhed. Then he became very, very quiet. Eldren watched him and saw the moment that his friend became frightened.

  “What is it?” Eldren asked.

  “You’ve no notion what this book is?” Thomas asked.

  “None at all,” Eldren said. “I glanced at some of the pages but couldn’t really make any sense of it.”

  “Eldren, it is a grimoire,” the vicar said in a scandalized whisper.

  “A grimoire?” Adelaide repeated. “You can’t be serious!”

  “I am very serious, my lady,” Father Thomas said. “This is a book of spells and incantations… and unless I miss my guess, they were recorded by Igrida herself. And I fear history may have been far kinder to her than she deserves. These are not simple love charms and remedies. This is dark, dark magic… evil and unspeakable things. I cannot translate this for you my friend. It would be a violation of my honor and my obligations to the church.”

  “We need the translation, Father Thomas,” Adelaide said. “But not because we wish to replicate her actions. We are looking for some indication of what spells she might have used to bind her to the house the way that she has… You see, I don’t think it’s Alwen, despite what the previous history indicated. I think it has been Igrida all along.”

  Eldren heard the certainty in her voice, the confidence in her tone. He worried about the influence Madame Leola was having on her, but he also had to admit that thus far she appeared to be having a rather alarming rate of accuracy. That she had been led by some unseen force he could not deny. There was no other logical reason for her to have even discovered the book.

  Thomas looked at the book once before closing it firmly. “I cannot do this. But there is a man who may be able to help who lived in the next village. He is a retired professor from the University and is quite gifted with languages.”

  Eldren nodded. “I must ask you, Thomas, will you keep the book here until he can come to aid us? It isn’t safe at Cysgod Lys.”

  “I cannot keep it in the church, but I will take it to the rectory and put it away for safekeeping. If you would allow it, my friend, I would do a blessing for you and your dear wife today. I fear what may be happening in your home and what dangers you may face.”

  Eldren nodded his agreement. He had little faith in the religion that Thomas had devoted his life to, but a little extra luck or prayer for them would not be amiss.

  When it was done, Thomas escorted them outside. Eldren helped Adelaide into the carriage. When she was safely settled inside, he turned to his friend.

  “Thank you, my friend, for your assistance.”

  “No, Eldren,thank you,” Thomas said, grasping him in a tight embrace. “I know you have little use for all this, but God is good and merciful. He will see you through this if you put your trust in him.”

  Eldren shook his head. “I have no trust to place in your God, Thomas. With all that I have seen, how can I?”

  “There is balance in all things, Eldren. If such evil exists, can you not believe that goodness exists as well? Look at your young bride, my friend. She is what you needed when you did not even know you needed her. God put her in your path. That happened for a reason. Do you believe that?”

  Eldren considered that for a moment. “Yes, I suppose I do believe that. Perhaps you will make a convert of me, after all.”

  “I’ll be satisfied with knowing that you are safe. You and all of those at Cysgod Lys. I have said prayers for your mother daily. How does she fare?”

  She had not spoken since being taken to the asylum. The last report he had received fro her doctor’s had stated that she was having to be force fed, but that she was still failing. Eldren knew the truth. Following the horrible night where she had robbed Mrs. Alberson of her life, the house and its spirits were done with her. They no longer had any use for his mother and now she was failing. But he did not want to relay that to Thomas, not when they had already burdened him so much.
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  “Things are as well as can be expected,” Eldren lied.

  “I will continue my prayers for her… and for you both.”

  13

  Leola walked along the edge of the moor toward the small opening in the stone fence. She had not crossed that boundary yet, but she’d found herself drawn to the spot since they’d first arrived. John was still avoiding her, and in truth, she was pleased to have him continue doing so. Her heartfelt confession had left her pride very vulnerable and she wasn’t entirely certain she was ready to face him yet. Better to take her chances with the many spirits that wandered aimlessly at Cysgod Lys.

  Stepping beyond the stone fence and onto the moor for the first time, Leola felt the surge instantly. Power, dark and seductive, called to her. It pulsed beneath her feet, coursing up through her flesh and bone, as it invaded every fiber of her being.

  Leola’s head fell back as it simply overwhelmed her. She trembled and shook from the onslaught of it. It seemed as if a thousand voices were whispering inside her mind. They buzzed like angry bees, swarming and retreating in waves that left her disoriented and dizzy. Sinking to her knees, Leola pressed her hands over her ears. But the sounds were inside her head. That only intensified the sounds. They grew louder and more insistent. Voices tumbled one over another creating a cacophony inside her mind. Like a thousand daggers stabbing into her skull, she collapsed further until she could do nothing but writhe on the ground in agony.

  Gasping for breath, struggling to fight against the pain of so many voices penetrating the armor she’d built around herself for so many years.

  Stay here with us. Stay here with us. Stay here with us.

  Over and over again, the words reverberated with an intensity.

  When she thought she could stand it no more, some last unknown reserve of strength seemed to unfold inside her. “Enough!” The word erupted from her on a scream. It sounded primal and animalistic, half growl and half shriek. But in the wake of it, silence.