Devlin stood still, his arms loosely crossed, and silently acknowledged me to continue.
I took a deep breath and said, “As small and shabby as my apartment in San Luis was, it was mine. My castle, in its own way. What I’m trying to say is that although I know you do not regret your sacrifice, I cannot help feeling a little bit sad and regretful for you every time it comes to mind.”
I gave a weak smile and spread my arms. “I’m sorry. And don’t worry, I’m selfish enough to thank the Celtic gods every day that you did make that sacrifice, or else I wouldn’t be here with you right now.”
Devlin seemed to accept my apology of sorts, because he closed the distance between us and pulled me close, kissing away any bad feelings that might have arisen.
“Shall we go back downstairs and see the rest of this castle, then?” he murmured.
I nodded against his chest. “I think that’s a very wise plan indeed.”
-Chapter Four-
Tour
The entrance hall was deserted when we finally made it back downstairs.
“Now what?” I wondered aloud.
“We can’t go nosing around the castle without Meghan, so why don’t we become familiar with this room first?” Devlin suggested.
That was as good a plan as any. The two of us split up, wandering the enormous space and taking in the details we missed earlier. I turned and trailed my eyes up the southern wall, quietly appreciating the craftsmanship of each stone cornice and corbel. The massive staircase took up most of the lower half of the wall, the spread of pale stone broken only by a small wooden door set into the side of the stairway. There was probably a large storage closet beneath the stairs, or maybe a passage to a secret, underground lair. I shook my head and smirked, telling my imagination to take a hike.
Above the staircase and running along the second and third floors of the walls were passageways partly hidden by balustrades and support columns. I narrowed my eyes and followed the passages, deciding that they were either built to allow people to spy on those loitering in the entrance hall, or to offer access to the towers occupying the two front corners of the castle. My guess would be they served both purposes. Several small windows, not much more than slits in the stone, adorned the walls of the walkways every few feet or so, letting in plenty of light.
The sound of Devlin’s boot heels cracking against the stone floor disrupted the relative quiet of this capacious place and I turned around.
“Find anything of interest?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “No, though I am very curious to discover what lies behind those doors.”
Devlin pointed his thumb in the direction he had come from. I peered around him to see what he was talking about. To the left of the hallway entrance, a wide wall sporting a pair of more carved, oak wood doors stood like the two shut eyes of a giant, slumbering beast. I felt my right eyebrow quirk up with interest. Suddenly remembering our first introduction to the great hall of Luathara, I let my gaze wander over to the smaller door to the right of the hallway.
“Personally, I’d like to find out what’s hidden away in Meghan’s study,” I said, smiling wickedly at him.
Devlin gave me a look of mild surprise. “What do you mean?”
I snorted. “Meghan’s behavior after telling us about it was a bit suspicious, don’t you think?”
Devlin furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. “How so?”
I waved my hand in the air. “The way she didn’t answer the question right away, and how she glanced away when she finally did answer.”
Devlin merely stared at me, his face devoid of expression. “So, you believe there is something of interest in Meghan’s study because she didn’t look you in the eye when you asked her about it?”
A disbelieving tone had crept into his voice and he was shaking his head slightly. “Robyn, I highly doubt there is anything behind those doors except for a desk and some bookshelves.”
I refused to consider the possibility that my suspicions had been a bit exaggerated. If I did, then I’d have to admit to defeat. Never!
“I think you’re wrong,” I insisted, jabbing my finger at Devlin’s chest. “You don’t know Meghan. She always got that same look on her face when we were in high school whenever there was something she wasn’t telling me and our other friends.”
“And I think you’re inventing proof of a dragon from a discarded piece of snakeskin,” Devlin responded with amusement. “Being trapped within the Weald for weeks on end will do that to a person, believe me.”
I sniffed and crossed my arms. “Trust me, Devlin. There is an interesting story behind that room. Maybe we should go have a look.”
Before I could so much as take a single step toward the door, Devlin reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned and gave him a perturbed look.
His bright blue eyes gleamed with mischief. “Care to make it interesting?”
I felt my own eyes narrow. “How do you mean?”
His slow smile was sinful, and warmth radiated up my arm from where his fingers touched my skin.
“A wager,” he said cheerily. “If there is some dastardly secret being kept quiet behind the doors of Meghan’s study, you win. If there is nothing, and you are simply reading far too much into your friend’s response, then I win.”
A thrill of excitement coursed through my blood. Oh yes, this would definitely make things more exciting. Although I was positive I knew my friend better than Devlin, I had started to wonder if he had been right. Both Meghan and I had been through a lot in the past few years, and surely our habits and mannerisms had changed in that time. And maybe my being somewhat isolated in the Weald had affected my judgment. Giving myself a mental shake, I pulled my arm free from Devlin’s grip and placed both hands on my hips.
“What do I get if I win?” I demanded.
Devlin put his hand to his chin and took on a pensive stance. He gave it some thought for a minute and then said, “A favor. Whoever wins gets to ask a favor of the other. It can be redeemed anytime in the future. So long as it isn’t anything impossible, and we have the freedom to negotiate, to some extent, once the favor is named.”
I hesitated for a moment. An unnamed favor was a dangerous thing to risk. Yet, the fact that it could be just about anything made the game even more thrilling. Besides, if I were to lose (which I didn’t see happening), I’d have to approve of Devlin’s favor, which ruled out any scenarios that might include me running naked through the village of the Weald during the midday meal. And if I won, I could ask any favor, within reason, of Devlin. A kaleidoscope of possibilities blossomed against my mind, some perfectly innocent, others, not so much.
Squashing down my desire to cackle maniacally, I settled on a devious grin and offered my hand to Devlin, shaking to seal our bargain.
“Deal,” I said.
I turned away and started across the hall, Devlin close on my heels. I was simply going to crack open the door and peek in. That’s all. Before I made it halfway to my destination, however, the very door I was headed for creaked open, and Meghan stepped out. I stopped dead in my tracks, my flare of mischief quickly losing steam.
Meghan finished shutting and locking the door with one of several keys on a huge metal ring before I could so much as glance past her shoulder. Great! How were Devlin and I going to see what was behind the door now? Suddenly, I felt like a spectator in a scene right out of one of those gothic romance novels we had to read in high school. The brooding lady of the manor, sneaking around the castle and keeping her deepest, darkest secrets locked away in a small room. I bit my lip and tried not to think about Devlin’s suggestion that I might be reading too much into this. Instead, I used the fact that Meghan kept the door locked to my advantage. A secured door only meant that there was something worth hiding, right?
My friend finished up with her task and turned. She spotted me right away, standing in the middle of the entrance hall like a ghost, then grew suddenly still. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a
second, then she released a small breath as a bit of color rose on her cheeks. Aha! I knew it! The only thing keeping me from winning this wager was a small wooden door and the key to unlock it. I resisted the urge to turn and give Devlin a smug grin.
Meghan cleared her throat. “Robyn! Devlin! You’ve finished settling in already?”
Her voice quavered a little as she spoke. Yep. She was definitely hiding something. I laced my arms casually over my chest and eased into a lazy smile. I felt Devlin take a few steps forward to stand just behind me, but I didn’t flinch when he placed his hands on my shoulders.
“We came downstairs only a few minutes ago and decided to wait here until someone found us,” he said.
The way Devlin’s fingers gripped my shoulders, firm but not quite digging into my skin, suggested he wanted to postpone our exploration of the room for the time being. Darn it. I wanted to prod at Meghan until she opened the door and invited us in, so I could prove to Devlin that I was right all along and to discover what she was hiding. Was the room haunted? Did she keep some terrifying, powerful Otherworldly object in there?
Meghan looked between the two of us, her slight flush fading as she smiled. “Are you ready to see the rest of the castle?”
“Absolutely!” I exclaimed, pulling free of Devlin’s grip. “Can we start with your study?”
Devlin flinched, and Meghan’s eyes grew wider.
“My study?”
She glanced over her shoulder and stared at the door for a good five seconds before facing me and Devlin again. Her face was impossible to read, but I could tell she was uncomfortable with my curiosity about it.
Finally, she turned her eyes back to me, some of the tension draining from her posture.
“You have an entire castle to explore, and you want to see my study first?” she asked calmly, as she crossed her arms and lifted a dubious brow. And then, a little more pointedly, she said, “Why?”
I opened my mouth to answer her, but Devlin reached out and squeezed my shoulder, harder this time. Ow! I turned my head to glare at him, but the look of stony chastisement in his eyes kept me from saying anything.
“We would be happy to see anything you’d like to show us, Meghan,” Devlin said with an easy smile. “I’m sure there are far more interesting places in Luathara than your study.”
Meghan darted her eyes suspiciously between us, but didn’t say another word. Instead, she stepped away from the door of her study (the locked door of the room of mystery that would torment me until I found a way to see it) and turned down the hall.
“We’ll start with the first floor, since we’re already here,” she announced over her shoulder, putting space between us.
“You’re welcome,” Devlin hissed quietly as we trailed after Meghan.
“For what?” I demanded under my breath.
“For saving you from making a fool of yourself. If you’d kept pressing, then Meghan might have opened that door and shown you a perfectly normal study, free of reprehensible secrets. I have just bought you a little more time to come to terms with losing.”
“Oh, please!” I retorted just as silently. “You only insisted we explore elsewhere because you are afraid of losing the bet, not me!”
Devlin snorted without drawing Meghan’s attention. He bent down and pressed his mouth close to my ear, his warm breath against my skin nearly causing my knees to buckle. “Oh, I’m afraid of nothing, mohr caelihn, and I can’t wait to use my favor when I win this wager.”
He quickly nipped at the skin below my ear, his teeth gentle, and this time, I did falter.
Meghan heard me stumble and stopped her forward progress to shoot me a curious look over her shoulder. I pressed my molars together. Devlin’s playful behavior, and not-so-subtle insinuations, were distracting me. If I wasn’t careful, he’d seduce me right into losing this bet. Meghan could fling the door of her study wide open to reveal an illegal endangered species smuggling enterprise or a counterfeit money operation and, blinded by Devlin’s charms, I would think nothing of it. Nope. The brightness of his smile would outshine whatever Meghan was hiding, and I’d have to admit defeat.
Letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I gave Devlin a stalwart look and hurried past him to catch up with my friend.
Devlin’s amused chuckle trailed after me, nipping at my heels, as I struck up a conversation with my old friend about the furnishings and architecture of her castle home. The competitive, independent part of me wanted to prove Devlin wrong, just so I could beat him, but the wild, impulsive side of me almost wished he’d win, if only to discover what sort of favor he might ask of me. With that tantalizing, and slightly terrifying thought, I forced myself to focus on what Meghan was saying. Later, I could daydream, but right now I needed to learn my way around Luathara.
* * *
For the next hour or so, Meghan dragged us all over the castle. During the first part of our tour, we explored the ground floor. Besides the main entrance hall, Luathara boasted a small informal dining room, a large kitchen and pantry, a study that Cade used when at home, a beautiful library, and finally, a huge formal dining room that also doubled as a ballroom.
“So this is what was behind those doors,” Devlin observed when Meghan led us out of the ballroom and back into the entrance hall.
He had shaken off his impish behavior from earlier, and like me, had become distracted by the wonders Luathara Castle had to offer.
“Do you ever use the ballroom?” I asked as Meghan closed the doors behind us.
“More than you would think,” she answered with a smile. “Any time we need to have a celebration of sorts, we open the entrance hall and the formal dining area to the people of Kellston.”
I closed my eyes and tried to picture the halls of Luathara brimming over with people gathered around, feasting and dancing and making merry. And then, I envisioned Meghan, my timid, somewhat awkward, quiet friend standing in the midst of it all. Of course, the Meghan from our high school days would have been horrified at the idea of hosting dozens of people during a Celtic celebration, but she wasn’t that Meghan any longer.
“Would you like to see all the rooms upstairs as well?”
My eyes snapped open, and I nodded. “Absolutely. And where do those passages lead?”
I pointed toward the narrow hallways along the walls, the ones that looked out over the grand foyer.
Meghan blinked, then laughed. “They lead to the towers.”
She indicated the slightly rounded corners of the walls above the two hearths.
“On the first floor, we use the space behind the fireplaces to store extra fire wood, armor and spare weapons,” she said as she lifted her skirts to walk up the main staircase. “On the second and third floors, however, the towers serve as sitting rooms.”
We reached the top of the stairs, and Meghan led us down the long hallway of the second floor. Besides the bedroom Devlin and I were staying in, there were also three smaller rooms serving as a study and two storage spaces. Across the hall from our room were two other bedrooms, both still undergoing renovations. At the very end of the hall on the left were a couple of tall openings in the wall. I stepped forward to peer through one of them and caught a glimpse of the library below, its lofty windows on the opposite side letting in plenty of bright light.
“Where does that lead?” Devlin asked.
I pulled my attention away from the library and followed his gaze. A dark, spiral staircase corkscrewed up what appeared to be another tower.
“You can access the roof and patio from there. It also takes you back downstairs,” Meghan responded.
Devlin nodded, and I filed the information away. Nice to know about a back exit should we need to escape in the night.
Next, Meghan showed us the third floor. Four more bedrooms, two not fully complete, awaited our scrutiny. This time, Meghan led us along the passageway that followed the edges of the entrance hall. As we traversed the narrow hallway, I stole glances between the support c
olumns. Yikes. We were pretty high up, at least thirty feet.
“Here’s one of the sitting rooms. Well, it will be a sitting room once construction is complete,” Meghan piped as she stepped into an empty tower room, Devlin and I close behind.
I arched a brow as I looked around. The room consisted of bare stone and windows that still needed to be set with glass.
“Are the other rooms below like this?” I wondered aloud.
Meghan shook her head. “No. The two second floor sitting rooms are completely finished.”
As we passed through the next tower and returned to the third floor hallway, Meghan filled us in on the details of the rebuilding of Luathara.
“When Cade first brought me here, only a couple of the bedrooms on the third floor were functional, and part of the roof was caved in. It looked more like one of the abandoned castle ruins in Ireland or Scotland then.”
We finished our loop around the main hall and stepped back into the third story hallway. Meghan opened yet another ornately carved wooden door on the left and then stood aside.
“This was the room I stayed in when Cade first brought me to Luathara,” she said, then grinned at me and added, “one of the times I asked you to cover for me when we were seniors.”
I peered in to find a comfortable space, smaller than the room Devlin and I shared, then quirked an eyebrow at Meghan.
“The room you stayed in? What about Cade?” I waggled my eyebrows, but Meghan merely sniffed, no blush in sight. Well, married life seemed to have banished her severe case of modesty.
“He stayed in the master suite. Unlike some people I know, he possesses some modicum of decency.”
She looked between Devlin and I, and I burst out laughing at the look on Devlin’s face.
“She’s just trying to get back at me for all the times I prodded her about Cade in high school. Don’t let it bother you.”
Caelihn Page 5