by Lexi Post
“You know that. To prove to myself that I could do it.”
Valerie shook her head. “But why did you feel a need to even prove this to yourself?”
She hesitated. “Bryce.”
“Exactly. You struck out on this project because of what Bryce said. Do you still feel the need to prove yourself?”
Did she? “No, not as much, but now it’s become financial. I have no choice.”
Valerie looked at her shrewdly. “Why don’t you need to prove yourself?”
“Because Bryce admitted he was wrong after he caved in to his own sexual desires. I finally saw him for all that he was thanks to Synn.”
Valerie raised her brow, but didn’t say anything.
Synn’s presence in her life had given her a new confidence about everything, so much so that even before Bryce had enjoyed the Masque, she had seen through him. That Synn had arranged Bryce’s fall had not been for him, but for her. Great, just what she needed right now, to start being grateful to Synn.
She lifted her gaze to her friend’s. “Like I said. Shit. I’m stuck between a rock, a hard place and a brick wall.”
“I don’t think so.” Valerie stood. “Let’s think this through. First, let’s start with the ghosts. I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown pretty fond of them.”
Rena nodded. She was more than fond of them. Some of them she’d actually been intimate with, but Valerie didn’t need to know that.
“So if we open this place as you planned, wouldn’t we be using them, much like a sideshow oddity?”
“Oh my God! I hadn’t thought of it like that. I never expected them to be so real. I can’t do that to them.”
Her friend crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow again.
Rena’s stomach tightened. “So even if they don’t leave, I would sabotage myself by not advertising their presence. I would protect them, wouldn’t I?”
Valerie nodded, a sympathetic smile on her face.
“I’m going to fail again, aren’t I?”
“Not necessarily. I think what we need is a planning session like we used to do in college. I know we can brainstorm something.”
Rena let the doubt creep into her voice. “Right. So say we figure out a way to make the Abbey successful without the ghosts, I still need to have sex with Synn again in order to release them, but we aren’t even on speaking terms at the moment.”
Her friend shrugged. “I’m afraid that’s up to you. You need to decide what you want from Synn. Will it be a last-night stand or do you want something more?”
Rena closed her eyes, the pain in her heart making it clear she wanted more from Synn than he might be able to give.
Synn moved through the dining room wall and back into the entryway before materializing. The play of emotions on Rena’s face had almost caused him to appear. He hadn’t realized how much she cared for him. The image of them together as a couple like Jonathan and Eve was too enticing. He had to crush it. Being together would be no way for her to live her life. He’d had his chance before the Red Death and missed it. He wouldn’t do that to her. He cared too much for her.
Meandering through the colored rooms, he relived the exciting sex he’d had with Rena in each. Her shy exuberance had made him see each room through a new lens. He was her first with every experience. She was a true Masque virgin. His body warmed inside at the connection they had made. They were bonded in this. So how were they to accomplish a “last-night stand” as Valerie put it? How could he let her go?
He stopped in the Black Room. The image of the fateful night when the prince had touched the dreaded mask he’d worn and dropped at his feet tore through his mind in vibrant brilliancy. His own shock and despair as more dropped dead traveled once more through his veins. Twenty-one bodies surrounded him, still, silent, when but a moment earlier they had been carefree, happy. He covered his face with his hands and swayed.
“Synn!” Rena ran to him and held him upright.
He looked into her worried gaze and saw his salvation. Without thought, he cupped her face and kissed her like a dying man. She opened for him, tangling her tongue with his, grasping his upper arms, pulling him against her. Then, as if she’d suddenly remembered something distasteful, she pushed away, putting a wingback chair between them.
He leaned on the one next to him for support at the sudden loss of her. “Rena.”
She gripped her chair as if it were her only defense against him. “You looked about to fall. Are you all right?”
“No. I’m not. I need you.” He closed his mouth before more selfish thoughts escaped. That he needed her for more than completing the Masque. He gazed at her, careful to shutter his face. He had promised that he would beg her if he had to. “Rena, I understand now what I did. I’m sorry. All I ask is that you consider the others who exist here. I know I deserve your disdain, even hatred perhaps. But I ask you, beg you, to complete the Masque for their sakes.”
Anger, sympathy and confusion crossed her features before she shook her head. “I don’t hate you. I do care, about you and about the ghosts. I just don’t know what to do right now. There is a lot at stake. Even more than you know.”
He grasped for meaning behind her words. “If you are worried about not having ghosts, I pledge to you that I will haunt every visitor that stays here in order to make the Abbey a success. I will do whatever it is that you need.” Especially since he didn’t have a reason for existing once his friends were gone, except for Rena.
She pushed away from the chair and straightened her shoulders. “That’s a generous offer and I promise to think about it. These people have become my friends too, as have you.” She turned and walked to the archway before facing him again. “Jamie was asking for you. I believe he is upstairs near Valerie’s room.”
Her strength, in face of their conundrum, impressed him. It had always been there, just buried. To see her blossom made him proud. “Of course. I will find him immediately.” Happy to be able to help and have something to do, he bowed with a slight quirk to his lips before vanishing and floating through the ceiling.
* * * * *
“Rena?”
At Valerie’s voice, she lifted her head off her arms. Damn, she must have fallen asleep on her desk.
“Rena? Were you sleeping?”
She focused on the open marketing book on her desk and quickly closed it. She’d been trying to figure out a strategy for bringing people to the Abbey. That she had fallen asleep wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t slept well the last couple nights. “Just resting my eyes. What’s up?”
Valerie and Jamie walked into the room. As her friend sat in the wingback chair opposite the desk, Jamie stood behind her. Val didn’t hesitate. “Jamie and I were talking. He’s lived in this area his whole life, and we were brainstorming ways to get people to stay at Ashton Abbey even without it being haunted.”
Rena’s brain woke up. “Really? What did you come up with? I’ll try anything.”
Jamie put his hand on Valerie’s shoulder. “Valerie says you are a master at planning events. This town has no special draw. It’s like every other town on Cape Breton—quaint, near the ocean, with beautiful mountains. We don’t stand out.”
Okay, that certainly wasn’t going to help the Abbey be a success. “And what does this have to do with my event-planning abilities?”
Valerie leaned forward. “You are good. In fact, I think you could create an event that could put this town on the map.”
“Like what?”
“We don’t know.” She fell back against the chair. “Jamie and I get stuck at that point. Maybe a May Pole celebration or a Jack-O’-Lantern festival?”
Jamie jumped in. “Or you could use the Abbey as a haunted house for the Halloween season, a rather large haunted house. The colored rooms could be turned into the haunting at night. All these servants’ corridors could be useful too. I could cut into a few to make hidden doors like the one in the dining room. Of course, I’d need Synn’s help.”
Movement behind them caught Rena’s attention as Synn strode in. “What do you need?”
Jamie looked back at him. “We were talking about making this a Halloween town with the Abbey at the center. I would need your help to make modifications to the structure since Valerie tells me you designed this place.”
Rena stared open-mouthed at her friend.
Valerie shrugged. “What? I had to tell him. His workmen are going to disappear one day. I thought he should know he would soon only have Matt to boss around, but that Synn would still be available.” Valerie smiled up at Jamie and he put a hand on her shoulder before she continued. “Besides, Jamie’s friend is the chair of the chamber of commerce here, so you would have an inside track. You could put the whole town on the map!”
Rena’s mind raced. A Halloween town. They might just have something, something she could work with, build on, especially with a history of real ghosts. Her gaze locked with Synn’s and her stomach clenched. His face was unreadable. She returned her attention to Jamie and Valerie. “I think I can work with this, but as you said, Synn would have to be our consultant.”
Jamie faced Synn. “What do you think? You know the Abbey best.”
“I could help.” He turned to her. “If that is what you want?”
What she wanted right now was to cry, but that wouldn’t solve anything. “Val, I think it’s a great idea, but Synn and I need to figure out a couple other issues before we tackle that one, okay?”
Valerie jumped up. “No time like the present. We’ll let you guys mull this over. You know you both have our full support.”
Rena stared at her friend. Valerie fully approved of Synn. When did that happen?
As the couple exited the room, Synn moved forward and leaned against a bookcase. “It sounds like you were planning how to make the Abbey a financial success without ghosts. Does that mean you have made a decision regarding the completion of the Masque?”
Rena played with the edge of her tank top. Had she made a decision? It was more that she’d made half of a decision. “You said if we complete the Masque all the ghosts will cross over.”
“Yes. When the prince held the Masques, the clock struck midnight, which pushed a lever that changed the rooms. The night I arrived, it had already started striking and the Masque had begun, but everyone died without finishing. By the following night, I was the only one left alive and the clock stopped just before midnight. The pathway will open if the clock starts again.”
So, that was why he had delayed the clock repair. It was involved in the imprisonment of the souls. “What will happen to you then?”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that they finally rest in peace.”
His words had her heart pumping hard. She gripped the edge of the desk. “It does matter. It matters to me.”
Synn stared into her eyes blankly. He really didn’t see any other reason to exist beyond helping his friends cross over. Where did that leave her? If he cared for his friends to the point of excluding her, then his interest in her was no more than temporary. She sighed.
As if sensing her resignation, Synn stepped around the chair, his movement stiff with tension. “I imagine I will continue on here at the Abbey for eternity. That is my curse. Why? Do you want me to leave too?”
The look of hurt on his face gave her hope. “No. I want you to stay. This is your home.”
He frowned. “This is my prison.”
He was right and yet he didn’t rail against it. His acceptance of his fate grated on her nerves. Of course, she hadn’t had to live with it for as long as he had.
She stood and moved to the front of her desk, no more than a foot away from him. She gazed into his eyes where hope and need battled for supremacy. He needed her and if it was in her power to help, she had to. Why did giving him his heart’s desire have to break her own? Though her heart told her she risked too much, her mind demanded she help him so the ghosts could cross over. She would miss Mrs. McMurray and Eve and Jonathan and everyone she had met, but they deserved to move on. It was what she must do. Would Synn turn from her once his need was filled?
Her heart constricted and she had to force the air past her voice box. “I will complete the Masque with you.”
He grasped both of her shoulders. “Are you sure? Your financial needs?”
She shrugged. “You heard Jamie and Val, we will turn this place into Halloween town and generate the income I need to survive.”
Synn picked her up and twirled her around. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes. Vomiting on the man didn’t seem appropriate at the moment of his joy.
He finally stopped and put her back on her feet. His eyes shone with a new light, his blue shards sparkling and her heart filled. He had been handsome before, but now he was downright breathtaking. His whole body glowed.
“Rena.” His voice was but a whisper, but his eyes shone with unshed tears. He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her.
His lips were tender, reverent, and her heart cried.
When he released her, she stepped away and held her stomach, tight with uncertainty.
He took her hand. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little uneasy. Probably indigestion from the spinning.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “I apologize. I’ll try to remember, no spinning in the future.”
She nodded in response because his assumption there would be a future closed her throat to all vocal sound.
“I promise you, Rena. I will do all in my power to make Ashton Abbey successful.”
His smile brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to yell at him that the promise she wanted was that he love her back and to hell with the Abbey, but instead she returned to her seat. She shuffled paper on her desk to hide her reaction. “I better get started on this new plan of Val’s.”
Synn spun and strode for the door. “And I will let everyone know the good news.” He stopped at the exit. “Rena, you have saved me.”
She watched him as he slipped around the corner, her vision blurred by her tears. “But how do I save my heart?”
Chapter Seventeen
Synn paced the wall-walk, his thoughts a jumbled knot, his muscles tensing with every stride. Despite her agreement to complete the Masque, Rena had been distant, her focus appeared to be taken by the Abbey renovations. In his gut, he wondered if she was planning to leave when they were done. There was no reason she couldn’t hire someone to oversee the boarding house business and move back to Maryland. His chest tightened. Would she?
Two days had passed and still Rena was hesitant to enter the Black Room. They hadn’t found Eric, so he couldn’t promise her the lickfinger wouldn’t watch, but his friends were running out of time. In another couple days, they would begin to disappear. He had no idea if that would matter, but they didn’t want to leave half-formed.
Synn rubbed the back of his neck. First, he had to be sure Rena enjoyed the Bondage Room. When he thought about having her tied and blindfolded and—
“Blast!” A loose stone almost sent him over the edge and he caught himself against the battlement. After taking a deep breath at the near miss, he squatted to examine the area. He’d walked these walls forever and there had been no erosion, no cracks, not even a chip. So why was he looking at a piece of stone the size of his fist that had clearly fallen from the inside section of the outer wall?
This was the same spot where Rena had tripped. He stood and perused the area. There was no sign of someone chiseling the stone. It was as if the rock in his hand had simply decided it didn’t like being part of the crenellation anymore.
“Synn?”
He turned toward the roof access and found Trent standing just inside. Putting the rock on top of the outer wall, he strode to the door. “What is it? Did you find Eric?”
Trent stepped back, allowing Synn to enter. “No, not yet, but we think we may be able to by tonight.”
“You do?” He made the do
ubt in his voice obvious.
Trent crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. I do. The fact is, we found Eric’s clothes.”
That made sense since Eric preferred to meander around naked no matter what time of day it was, completely flouting the rules the prince had instituted. “Where are they?”
“They’re in the wine cellar.”
Synn grinned. “Of course. You never see the man without a glass of wine in his hand. You think he will return for his clothes at some point.”
Trent nodded and uncrossed his arms. “And we will be there waiting for him. That is if you will let me use Darby and a few other footmen.”
“Of course. I’ll stay with Rena. I will have her in the Bondage Room tonight. We can’t wait any longer.”
Trent nodded and turned toward the stairs. Synn was following when the large man stopped suddenly. Synn’s momentum took him into that broad back and almost sent Trent down the stairs. “What?”
Trent turned around. “I know we’ve waited for this a long time, but I think I’m going to miss this place…and you.”
Synn swallowed. Hard. “Yeah, well, I’m sure where you are going will be a lot better than here.”
“Right.” Trent’s voice was gruff, but he gave a quick nod and proceeded down the stairs.
As Synn followed, an image rose before him of himself playing ghost for guests of the Abbey while Rena remained far away at her parents’ home. The hopelessness of his existence buckled his knees, and he leaned against the curved wall to steady himself. This is what he had worked for, to send the people he’d killed to their final resting place. Then his conscience could rest, which was all he had ever wanted…until Rena.
Slowly, he moved away from the wall and made it down to the third story. When had he fallen in love with her? Was it her defense of Mrs. McMurray, her interest in sex, her willingness to complete the Masque?
It was everything. She had a body made for passion and a soul made for heaven. He finally had what Eve and Jonathan had. Except he couldn’t keep it.
He slowed. This was the final cruelty, the true curse for the murders he had committed. The prince had the last laugh, for he had gone to the other side while Synn would be imprisoned for eternity in the Abbey with no friends, and a woman he had to let go. His feet stopped of their own accord as if his heart were unwilling to pump any more blood to make them move. He stared at nothing as his gut churned.