Spirited Brides

by Amanda McCabe

  “What was misunderstood about her?” Lady Royce whispered.

  Antoinette shook her head. “I do not know. My powers are limited without my books and guides, unlike my mother, who could see things very clearly. And the daylight is too harsh.”

  “But I want to know!” Lady Royce cried. “I want to understand her.”

  Cassie quite agreed. They only wanted to talk to Louisa, to understand her. And anyone else who might be about.

  She thought Louisa was behaving like a little brat.

  Antoinette touched Lady Royce’s arm reassuringly. “We will soon find out. If you like, we can come back here at night, with my mother’s book of incantations. We will discover more then.”

  Lady Royce and Cassie enthusiastically agreed, even though Chat still looked doubtful. As they left the East Tower and walked back to the inhabited sections of the castle, Antoinette said, “Tell me about Lady Lettice, Lady Royce. The one who has not been seen here of late.”

  “I fear I do not know much about her,” Lady Royce said in a regretful tone. “She has not been seen since my husband’s parents’ time. She was the daughter of the earl, and served as a maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth. She never married or had children. I do not know why she would come back here after her death, or why she would leave.”

  “Hmm,” Antoinette said, tapping her finger thoughtfully on her chin.

  “Do you sense her presence?” Cassie asked.

  “Not now,” Antoinette answered. “But perhaps later . . .”

  “Oh, there you are,” a voice interrupted as they walked past the open door of the library. Lord Royce emerged from the dim depths of the room, like Merlin exiting his cave, and gave them all a polite smile. “You were certainly on your tour a long while.”

  “There is much to see in the castle, dear,” his mother said. “As you would know, if you did not spend all your time in just this one room.”

  He laughed. “Well, Mother, you will be glad to know I am going to remedy that. I was just going down to the stables, and wanted to see if Miss Richards would care to accompany me, now that your tour is finished.” He turned his lingering smile onto Cassie.

  Cassie examined him carefully, his smile and his coolly polite eyes. So, the Doubting Thomas wanted to be hospitable now, did he?

  Well, no one could accuse Cassandra Richards of forgetting the lessons her mother had taught her about not being a rude houseguest. She nodded and gave him a smile of her own.

  “Thank you, Lord Royce,” she said. “I would be happy to come.”

  Chapter Eight

  Cassie followed Lord Royce down the pathway that led to the stables. He was very quiet on their walk, and so was she; she wasn’t exactly sure what to say to him.

  She wondered if he felt like his mother was forcing him into taking her riding, and it made her feel rather awkward.

  Awkwardness had been an unaccustomed feeling until she came here. At home, in Jamaica, she had had her share of admirers. Her dance card was always full, and she never seemed to lack for conversation. And even at Aunt Chat’s house in Bath, where she often felt shy and strange, she enjoyed the company of the card parties and concerts.

  Why did she always feel so tongue-tied and awkward around Lord Royce in particular? He was just a scoffing scholar.

  Albeit a handsome one.

  Then they turned a bend in the path, and she lost any awkward feeling at the surprise of the beautiful view.

  They were at a lower level here than they were at the castle, nearer to the sea. A low stone wall lined the edge of the pathway, where it veered closer to the cliff. Cassie went to lean on the crumbling stone, wide-eyed, as she looked at the vista.

  From the castle, the sea was undeniably lovely, but here it was more elemental. She could hear the rush of the waves as they hit the pebbly shore and then receded.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lord Royce said, coming to stand beside her at the wall.

  Cassie smiled up at him, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun. “Very beautiful,” she answered. At least that they could agree on.

  “You sound rather surprised,” he said amiably, propping his hip against the wall so that he was half-turned to face her. “I don’t spend all my time immured in the library, you know. I do get out once in a while to breathe fresh air.”

  “And go riding along the cliffs,” Cassie murmured. She remembered her vision of him from this morning, galloping along like a wild pirate.

  “Yes. Of course.” He turned his gaze away from her, back to the sea. “Miss Richards, my mother looks very sweet and harmless, but she can be quite ruthless when she wants something. And she is not above using someone’s politeness as a guest to further her own ends. If you really don’t want to go riding with me, I will understand. We could tell her you did not find a horse to your liking. I am sure you would prefer to be looking for your ghosts rather than spending time with me.”

  Cassie turned to him, surprised. “Oh, no! I would like to go riding with you. Unless . . .” Her voice faltered as a thought struck her. Was he trying to get rid of her? “Unless you have work you must be doing. I would hate to keep you from it.”

  He gave her a startlingly charming smile. “Nonsense. No one in their right mind would rather be inside working than out in the sunshine with such a lovely companion. The Peloponnesian War can wait until later.”

  She smiled at him tentatively in return. “Why, Lord Royce. Was that a compliment?”

  He laughed. “Shocking, I know. But, despite what my mother may think, I am not completely socially inept. I can pay compliments as well as the next gentleman, when they are sincere.”

  “I never thought you were socially inept,” Cassie said, almost truthfully. Emboldened by his new, more comfortable presence, she said, “Do you know what I would really like to do today?”

  “No, Miss Richards. Look for spirits, mayhap?”

  Cassie peered at him suspiciously, but his smile was only teasing, not mocking. “I would like to take a walk down by the shore.”

  “Really? Well, that is easily done. The stables will always wait. But I fear it is rather chilly down by the water.”

  Cassie held out a handful of her heavy red cloak. “Oh, I am always prepared for the chill here!”

  “Then there are some steps just a little further down that way, that lead to the shore.” He straightened from leaning on the wall, and offered her his arm. “Shall we, Miss Richards?”

  Cassie eyed his proffered arm for a moment, half-afraid he might pull away and laugh at her. But when he just held it out a little farther and smiled at her expectantly, she slowly slid her hand into the warm crook of his elbow and let him lead her onward.

  The steps to the shore, made of stone at the lowest part of the cliffs, were steep and weathered. Cassie moved carefully on the thin soles of her half boots, but Lord Royce’s arm beneath her hand was steady and strong as he helped her down.

  Surely he did not spend all his time in the library, or the muscles that bunched and moved under her touch would not be so—so hard.

  Finally she was distracted from her very improper thoughts about Lord Royce’s musculature when they reached the shore, and her face was sprayed with a light mist from the sea. She inhaled deeply of the salty tang in the air, so strange but so familiar and sweet. Her footsteps crunched on the pebbles of the beach.

  She could not help herself. She let go of Lord Royce’s arm and rushed toward the water, until the waves lapped at the very toes of her half boots and dampened the hems of her dress and cloak.

  Cassie did not even notice. She was far too enthralled with being so close to the sea again. She gave a little laugh and knelt down to trail her fingertips in a receding wave. The water was much colder than in Jamaica, but it felt delicious on her skin.

  She stood back up and glanced over her shoulder at Lord Royce. She expected to find him disapproving of her impulsive behavior, perhaps ready to demand that they return to the castle at onc
e. She was all ready to stiffen her resolve not to let him spoil her joy.

  Instead, she found that he watched her almost as if he had never seen her before in his life. His expression was quite startled, his eyes wide. He was frowning a bit, but not in a disapproving way. Rather, he looked—puzzled.

  Cassie was not sure what to make of this. She moved one small step closer to him. “The sea is very beautiful, is it not?” she said slowly.

  “Oh, yes,” he answered in a quiet voice, the sound almost lost in the murmur of the waves. “Very beautiful.”

  Phillip watched Cassie run toward the water, her laughter echoing on the autumn air, and thought that she looked a bit like a clothed Aphrodite, emerging newborn from the waves. If Aphrodite had chosen chilly Cornwall to emerge from instead of the warm Mediterranean at Sicily, of course.

  At the castle, Cassie seemed happy and sociable, but also strangely uncomfortable at times. Almost as if she was afraid of saying or doing something that was in some way wrong. Here there was none of that in her demeanor. She ran toward the water, laughing, her hand stretched out.

  As she bent down to touch a receding wave, a lock of black hair fell from her carved ebony combs and brushed against her cheek.

  She looked so—so joyful. Phillip longed to join her, to feel that way again. To feel free, childlike, to not worry about books and logic and always being in strictest control. He wanted to absorb all her laughter and wonder into himself.

  Even to believe in spirits and fairies, perhaps?

  Then she looked back at him with her rich, dark eyes. “The sea is beautiful, is it not?” she said, looking at him with a rather puzzled air.

  “Oh, yes,” he murmured hoarsely. “Very beautiful.”

  Her eyes widened, as if startled, and he suddenly realized he was gaping at her like a moonstruck schoolboy. A small frown formed on her brow, and his longings of only a moment before vanished like so much mist on the water. He was recalled to himself, to where they were, to who they were.

  “There are underground tunnels near here,” he said, grasping for something, anything, to talk about. Anything that did not involve how lovely her eyes were. “They are said to have been used by pirates long ago, but they are mostly blocked up now to discourage smuggling. Except for one.”

  “Pirates! How very intriguing,” she said. She looked away from him, breaking the last vestiges of the strange spell. “I should like to see them.”

  “There is not much to see. The one that is still open is just used for storage. Local fishermen keep their boats there.”

  “I should still like to see it, and imagine the pirates that used to shelter there. I am sure Aunt Chat and Antoinette would like to see it, too.”

  “Maybe we could all have a picnic near there, one day soon,” Phillip said. He found himself grasping at the excuse to spend more time with this strange, intriguing woman. Even leaving his books yet again for a picnic by the sea.

  She smiled at him, quite as if they were almost friends. “Yes. I would enjoy that very much. We would enjoy that.”

  Chapter Nine

  Cassie was awakened in the middle of the night by the unmistakable tingling sensation of someone staring at her. She opened her eyes—and promptly gave a shriek. Quick as a flash, she scrambled up against the pillows.

  “Hello,” said the woman who perched on the edge of the bed. “I am sorry I frightened you.”

  Cassie pulled the sheet up to her chin and stared over it at the woman. She appeared quite solid: a real person, with long blond ringlets and a blue satin gown in the style of the Restoration. Only a faint, white glow around the edges betrayed her as something not quite human.

  Cassie recognized her face from the portraits. “You—you are Louisa, aren’t you?” she managed to stammer out. She wasn’t exactly sure how one should address a ghost. Should she have called her Lady Royce?

  But Louisa didn’t seem to mind the informality of being addressed by her given name. She just nodded, and lounged back on her elbow. “I am! I saw all of you in my tower today and thought I ought to introduce myself. I truly did not mean to scare you.”

  Cassie lowered the sheet slowly. “You did not scare me. I was simply startled. It is not every day a ghost comes and sits on my bed.”

  Louisa laughed, a rather strange, echoing sound. “Then I did not mean to startle you. I just wanted to talk.”

  “Then you don’t mind that we were in your tower?”

  “Mind? Certainly not. It makes a nice change from having only old Sir Belvedere to talk to.”

  Cassie relaxed back against the pillows. It was beginning to feel almost normal to converse with a slightly glowing, long-dead person. “Who is Sir Belvedere?”

  “He lives here, too. He was a knight who served the first Earl of Royce, in the fourteenth century. He was killed when the castle was being built, so he has been here for a very long time. Much longer than me.”

  “Killed? How?”

  “He tripped on some building materials and fell from the tower. He never talks about it, not in all the years I have known him. He was wearing his silly armor at the time. Truth to tell, he can be a bit of a bore, but he is better company than none. It has been rather quiet around here for a long time.”

  There was a clanking noise from the corridor. Cassie startled and looked toward the door. “What was that?”

  “Oh, that was just Sir Belvedere. He is hovering about in the corridor. He thinks it is improper for him to enter a lady’s chamber, but he is just as curious as I am.”

  There was another clanking sound.

  “If he does not cease doing that, he will wake the whole household,” Louisa said, but she did not really seem terribly concerned by the prospect.

  “Perhaps I could meet him later,” Cassie said hopefully. She thought it would be quite interesting to see a ghost in armor.

  Louisa gave her a secretive little smile. “Perhaps.”

  “Is he the only other ghost in residence here?”

  “At the moment, yes. There have been others, but they come and go. The only other people who have stayed as long as Sir Belvedere and myself were Lady Lettice and Angelo. We have not seen them for several years, though, so we think they must have moved across.”

  “Moved across?”

  “That is when the ghosts leave to go on to the next plane, a place I have not seen yet. I don’t know why some of us get trapped here and some move on right away. It’s a mystery.”

  “But if there are so many of you, why do the people living in the castle never see you?”

  “Oh, they do sometimes!” She laughed lightly. “You see, though, there is one great advantage to being a ghost, once you learn the trick of it, and that is that we can be visible or invisible as we choose. Just as I choose to be visible to you right now.”

  Cassie thought that must be quite an advantage. “And you choose to be invisible to Lord Royce?”

  Louisa shrugged. “It makes it more fun that way.”

  “So you and this Sir Belvedere have been the only ones here for a long time, except for Lady Lettice and this—Angelo?” Cassie had heard about Lady Lettice, but never of any Angelo. “Who is, or was, he?”

  Before Louisa could answer, the door connecting Cassie’s room to Antoinette’s opened, and Antoinette stood there, holding a candle and a bunch of herbs. She looked every bit the Yaumumi priestess her mother had been, in a flowing red dressing gown, with her thick, waving black hair falling over her shoulders.

  “I thought I heard voices.” She held up the bundle in her hand, eyeing Louisa carefully. “I brought herbs, in case there were evil spirits to be sent away. But I see they won’t be needed.”

  Louisa laughed, obviously quite pleased to be suspected of being an evil spirit.

  “Indeed not,” Cassie said. “Louisa isn’t the least bit evil. Come and meet her. She has been telling me the most interesting things.”

  Antoinette tucked the herbs away in the pocket of her robe and hurried over
to sit down on the bed across from Louisa. She placed her candle on the bedside table, and its golden glow made Louisa appear slightly more transparent.

  “How do you do,” said Antoinette.

  “So you are the one with all the spells and potions,” Louisa said, her eyes wide with wonder. “Sir Belvedere thinks you might be able to find what became of Lady Lettice for us.”

  There was more clanking and knocking from the corridor.

  “That is Sir Belvedere,” Cassie explained. “He thinks it is improper for him to come in here.”

  “Very polite of him,” Antoinette answered. She tapped one long finger thoughtfully on her chin. “I could certainly try to summon up Lady Lettice for you, if you would like to see her again. It would be an interesting challenge.”

  Louisa leaned forward eagerly. “Sir Belvedere and I would help you. Oh, it would be so nice to have some excitement here again! I end up playing chess in the East Tower with Sir Belvedere every night, and he cheats horribly.”

  “Vile slander!” a voice cried in the corridor.

  “It is an incantation I have never tried before,” Antoinette warned.

  “But I have every faith in your powers, dear Antoinette,” Cassie said with a thrill of excitement and apprehension at the thought of a new incantation.

  “We would have to try it this Friday, when the moon is in the right phase.”

  “Could we invite Lady Royce and Aunt Chat?” Cassie said. “I am sure they would not want to miss it.”

  Antoinette gave her a sly little smile. “And Lord Royce, too? Perhaps we could make a believer of him.”

  Louisa snorted in a most unladylike fashion. “Nay, not him! He is too much like my own husband. Cynical and doubting. William never saw the truth of what was before him, either.” She looked away, but before she did, Cassie saw her glowing blue eyes turn sad.

  “I think we should invite him,” Cassie said. “It might be quite interesting to have him there.” She laughed, but she could not forget that flash of sadness in Louisa’s eyes. Cassie wondered how she would feel if her own husband did not understand her. But then she shook her head. That would never happen, since she had no plans to ever take a husband!