The Bet

by Rebecca King

  “Get away from me with that,” Eva protested, glancing around her desperately in search of a way out of her predicament.

  The old woman continued to incant something, all the while swinging the bag, her gaze locked hypnotically on Eva.

  Estelle clung to Myles, unsure what was going on but too scared to interrupt.

  “He needs your soul as payment. The Divine Master decrees it so. A soul for a soul. A life for a life. That is the way of the afterlife. Eternal ever after is for the righteous only. All murderers will be cast into Hell forever after.” The woman’s chant became louder and louder and swirled around them as it was captured by the winds.

  Estelle stared in horror. The sound of the raging waters seemed to increase in volume, and grew steadily louder until they drowned out the old woman’s voice. The old woman stepped forward once more, her bag swinging wildly now. Eva, her eyes locked on that swinging pouch, instinctively stepped backward, away from it – and stepped far too close to the water’s edge. She looked down when the ground beneath her feet began to shake and crumble.

  “Wait!” Myles cried. He stepped forward to try to grab a hold of her but was too far away to do anything before the ground fell away from beneath her, and dropped Eva into the raging waters of the river.

  “Leave her,” the old woman ordered when Myles rushed to the water’s edge. She nodded once at them as if satisfied that the job had been completed to her satisfaction. She then looked down at the pouch in her hand. She spoke without looking at them again. “She has gone now. It is too late to save her.” With that she lifted her arm up and threw the pouch into the raging water. “May God have mercy on her soul.”

  Estelle clung to Myles, and slid both arms around his waist tightly as she watched the old woman turn around and walk toward the trees.

  “Who is she?” Myles demanded harshly.

  Estelle shrugged. She had no idea. After what she had witnessed she couldn’t be sure of the woman was good or evil herself. Stunned, all she could do was stare after her and hope she never saw her again.

  Myles looked down the river but could see no sign of Eva. The waters had long since sucked her under. He suspected that at some point, once waters had receded, her body would be found. If not, then she would truly have been taken never to be return as the woman had prophesised. Until then, as far as he was concerned, her life was over anyway because life behind bars was not truly a life at all. That was the only life Eva faced after the events of the last few days.

  “Are you alright?” he murmured, looking down into the eyes of the woman who matter more to him than anything.

  Estelle reached up and touched several small cuts on Myles’ face with tentative fingers. She looked deeply into his eyes but was too overcome with emotion to say anything.

  Myles looked up into the storm clouds over their heads, and the blue patches of promise already starting to make an appearance. He knew it was a harbinger of good times yet to come, in more ways than one, and sighed with relief that they might, at last, be able to put the troubled times behind them.

  “It looks as though this storm is clearing,” he murmured, his voice betraying every ounce of the delight he felt.

  “Now that we have a way in and out of the house, I need to go and see my grandma. She will undoubtedly be frantic by now,” Estelle replied.

  Myles frowned as he contemplated that. The urge to ask her to stay a while longer was so strong that he didn’t move to follow her when she started to walk back toward the house. When she was near the front door, he began to follow her. While he wanted Estelle to stay, he knew that there was a lot for all of them to come to terms with. Two deaths in as many days, the attempted murder of Isaac, and the duplicity of two people whom the family thought could be trusted, the figures in the woods who had yet to be rounded up and handed over to the magistrate.

  Was it right to ask Estelle to stay in the middle of it?

  He looked at her. She looked so incredibly beautiful with the wind tugging at her hair in such a way that it flowed out behind her like a silken veil of ribbons. He wanted to touch it but didn’t want to interrupt the display of gold, amber, and brown tresses that flew about in riotous abandon. The wind had already teased some colour back into the gentle curve of her cheeks, but could do little to help the darkened circles beneath her eyes; a testament to just how little peace she had found within the house he called home.

  Was it right to ask her to endure more of it? He supposed it wasn’t. She had already been through. It wasn’t right to ask more of her. He suspected that even if he did ask, and she agreed, she wouldn’t settle properly anyway.

  Oblivious to his thoughts, Estelle waited for him in the doorway.

  “Who do you think she is?” Estelle asked. To her surprise there was no sign of the woman in the gardens. “Where has she gone?”

  Myles looked in the direction he had last seen the woman and shook his head. “I don’t know who she is or where she has come from but Eva seemed to know her.”

  Estelle shivered and looked at the river and then the spot where the old woman had vanished.

  “Do you think-?”

  “I don’t know,” Myles replied. It was clear that Estelle didn’t want to put her suspicions into words, and neither did he. “I think it might be best if we don’t know.”

  She nodded and suspected he was right.

  “Come on, let’s go back inside,” he suggested gently.

  Together, they began to make their way into the house.

  “So what happens now?” she asked, then winced when she realised he might perceive from her question that she had expectations.

  Myles looked at her. Once again, the urge to ask her to stay with them was strong but common sense had to prevail.

  “With Vernon and everything,” she hastily added. “And the people in the woods.”

  Myles sighed. “Well, it is going to be another couple of days before the river levels fall enough for us to be able to cross the moat, or look for Eva’s body. The only good thing to come out of all of this is that we have at least discovered a way in and out of the property when it rains.” He smiled at her but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  Estelle wasn’t lost to the fact that the closer they came to the property the wider the distance grew between them. For the first time ever, their conversation became stilted and awkward. She sensed it was because they both wanted to say things they knew were inappropriate given the circumstances and tried not to feel bad about it, even though she was filled with heartache.

  “I need to see my grandma,” she said softly.

  Myles looked at her when he heard the wistfulness in her voice and nodded. “I am sure she will be greatly relieved to see you are well. I will, of course, leave it to you to decide what to tell her.”

  Estelle looked at him and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

  Myles caught that look. His brows lifted. “What?”

  “You sound so full of pomposity,” she chided him ruefully.

  He opened his mouth to argue with her but closed it again with a snap when he contemplated what he had just said and realised she was right.

  When she disappeared into the main body of the house, he ducked his head and followed her.

  Later that morning, Estelle stared out across the lush grounds of Icklehampton Hall but saw little of the neatly tended box hedgerows, or the abundance of riotous colour the numerous flowers and plants valiantly displayed in spite of the recent battering from the storm.

  “Thankfully, it is all over now,” Bobbi murmured gently from behind her.

  Estelle looked at her over her shoulder. Her thoughts immediately turned to Myles.

  I hope not but I cannot see how it could continue; whatever it is that we shared.

  “What is?” She asked blankly.

  “The storm, Miss. It will take two or three days more before we can cross the bridge, but at least you can get out a bit and enjoy the sunshine.”

  Estelle sighed heavily. “
But I am going home. We have found a route out of the house, did you not know?”

  Bobbi looked confused. “No, miss. I never heard such a thing.”

  Estelle nodded. “It is why I have requested my dress. It is time for me to go home.”

  “Aye, I am sure your grandma will be worried,” Bobbi replied.

  “I am sure she has been,” Estelle said with a sigh.

  When Bobbi turned her attention back to tucking in the corners on the bed, Estelle turned to stare blankly out of the window again, until a quiet knock on the door heralded the arrival of Myles.

  “Are you ready?”

  Estelle studied him and felt her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. While she had no yearning to ever experience the last few days ever again, she dreaded the thought of not being able to spend any more time with Myles. He had become so important to her that she felt as though she had been cast adrift, and wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. It was impossible to know where they went now, or if she would ever see him again. The thought of never seeing him again was painful enough to bring a fresh wave of tears which threatened to overspill at any moment.

  She nodded. “I-” she lapsed into silence because she didn’t know what else she could say.

  Myles nodded to Bobbi, who quietly let herself out of the room. Once they were alone, he walked toward Estelle, but there as something on her face, a distance perhaps, that stopped him before he had taken no more than three steps into the room.

  Determined not to cry in front of him, Estelle offered him a brave smile and tipped her chin up.

  “Let’s go then. I am sure you are eager to meet with the magistrate and get the villagers rounded up.”

  When Myles merely nodded but didn’t offer her any small ray of hope, Estelle stepped around him and walked to the door. It was obvious that the feelings she had for him were not reciprocated. She certainly wasn’t in any position to throw herself at him. She was a commoner, nothing more.

  Of course it is ridiculous to contemplate a future together. He is aristocracy. They marry their own kind. Besides, you don’t really know him all that well.

  It hurt to even think it but she forced herself to keep it in mind, especially when she opened the door only for Myles to speak.

  “Estelle.” He hesitated. The urge to kiss her probably for the last time was strong. He turned to face her.

  She waited. Their eyes met. Estelle knew she would embarrass herself if she stayed any longer and so quietly left the room and began to make her way through the house toward the tunnel entrance. She was aware of Myles walking quietly behind her all the time but he didn’t attempt to stop her, or speak. For that she could only be grateful because she was positive she wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with him without bursting into floods of tears.

  Their journey was made in stoic silence. It wasn’t stiff and awkward as she had dreaded but neither was there any of the easy-going camaraderie they had shared previously either. It was as though this was the end of their association as well as her brief foray into the realms of the aristocracy and neither knew what to say about it. Now, they were left with only the memories of what they had shared, and bittersweet regret of what might have been.

  “Are you going to be alright?” Myles asked when her grandmother’s house came into sight half an hour later.

  “Yes, I think so,” she whispered.

  No. No, I won’t ever be alright. She looked at him with longing in her eye she made no attempt to hide.

  “Estelle,” he whispered in a voice heavy with regret.

  Estelle heard that regret, and offered him a smile that wobbled alarmingly.

  “Thank you for accommodating me. I am sorry for everything you and your family have endured and wish you well,” she whispered.

  “We are still going to see each other, Estelle,” Myles warned her.

  “I know, but it won’t be the same, will it?” she replied.

  Myles sighed. “No, I don’t suppose it will. I wish I could do something to make things different but there is so much going on at the moment-”

  Estelle nodded. She hated that he felt the need to set her down gently. The feelings she had for him were something he hadn’t asked for, or even done much to earn. She hadn’t made any attempt to quell them, and had instead indulged them to the point that they had grown so much they had changed her view of everything.

  She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘goodbye’. Instead, she smiled and began to walk to her grandmother’s door.

  Myles watched her go. Thankfully, the street was deserted and politeness didn’t force him into conversation with anybody. He turned around to head home.

  Suddenly, he knew he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t allow their parting to be this harsh. Without caring who saw him, he stalked after her, and caught up with her when she was about to open her grandmother’s front door. Swinging her around he hauled her against his chest and kissed her the way he truly wanted to. Words couldn’t convey the feelings that were pummelling him so he allowed the kiss to speak for him.

  He couldn’t put into words the emotions that coursed through him. After all, it had only been a few days since he had sat in the tavern in London and placed a wager that he would avoid matrimony for the next twelve months with his friends. Now, only a few days later, he was contemplating throwing his life on its head and asking Estelle to be his wife.

  But so much has changed he mused. My family is no longer as it was. Is it not time I changed as well?

  He knew the answer, but the difficult times the family had yet to face kept him quiet. When he lifted his head he rested his forehead against hers for several moments until he knew that if he was going to leave he had to do it now before he did something foolhardy like make her promises were likely to bring her more upset.

  Without saying a word, he turned around and walked away.

  Estelle watched him go. It wasn’t lost on her that the first time she had seen him their meeting had concluded with her watching him walk up the cliff path. It seemed bizarrely fitting that their last meeting concluded with her watching him walk away.

  This time, though, she knew they weren’t likely to meet again.

  EPILOGUE

  One month later

  The bluff high on the cliff overlooking the tiny fishing village was starting to become her most favourite place in the whole world. Her daily climb up to the top of the hill was only hindered when it rained. Today, the sun was shining and afforded her a clear view not only of the coastline, but the glittering azure ocean laid out before her like a carpet of sparkling promise.

  She sighed when the winds buffed her cheeks and made her skin tingle. While she revelled in the sensation, it did little to eradicate the heavy weight around her heart. She knew what it was, and where it had come from, but could do little about erasing it.

  Not even when her grandma had given her a letter this morning from her father’s solicitor and she had learned she had inherited the farm and a fortune back in Northampton, did the feeling ease. The grief she felt at not having Myles in her life any more was a part of her now, and as deeply affecting as the death of her parents had been.

  She hadn’t seen him since the day he had kissed her goodbye outside of her grandma’s house. She knew he had been to the village, on several occasions, with the magistrate when he had arrested the villagers involved in the satanic rituals, but he hadn’t made any attempt to call by to see her.

  “I shouldn’t have any expectations. He gave me no hint that he was inclined to consider me anything more than someone he had injured and then accommodated for a while,” she whispered.

  Strangely, this morning, her foray to the top of the bluff didn’t bring her the peace it usually did. Today, she felt edgy and restless.

  I wonder if it is because I have received that letter?

  It had brought her choices, but did she want to take one of them?

  Was she ready to live her life elsewhere? Did she even want to? She
could go back and try to rebuild the farm but had no idea what she would do then. She revelled in being able to stand so close to the abundant energy of the ocean. Could she live without that as well?

  She was still contemplating these questions when she let herself into her grandma’s house several minutes later.

  “Good morning, Miss Matthews. How are you this morning?”

  Estelle froze at the sound of that achingly familiar voice.

  “Myles!” she cried. When her grandma tutted a warning at her, she immediately regretted her faux pas, and lowered her gaze as she dipped into a curtsey. “Sorry. My Lord.”

  “Now, I shall have none of that. It is Myles,” he replied firmly, issuing her grandmother with a brilliant smile that made the old woman blink. He bowed in response to her curtsey. “I wonder if I might prevail upon your good nature to escort me on a walk this morning?”

  “Me? A walk?” Estelle blinked in surprise. “Of course, I would love to.”

  She looked hesitantly at her grandma, who nodded her agreement.

  “Well, let’s go then.” Myles turned to her grandma and bowed. “I shall have her back in an hour.”

  “Take your time,” Wynne murmured.

  She watched them go and then shook her head in amazement. As soon as the door was shut, she hurried to the window and watched the couple walk down the road. In contrast to their previously glum faces, both now looked animated and carefree.

  “There’s trouble afoot, I don’t doubt,” the old woman muttered, unsure if she should be panicking or not. Aware that there was little she could do about their association after Estelle had already stayed in the Hall with him, Wynne turned her attention back to her bread-dough, and hoped her grand-daughter knew what she was doing.

  “How have you been?” Estelle asked him when they had left the village and were strolling amiably down the road.

  “I am well, thank you,” Myles replied. “I have just returned from London.”