“Look!” A ghost who carried a severed head in the crook of his arm pointed at Luciana. “She can see us.”
Luciana turned away, but it was already too late.
The chest-wounded ghost sneered. “Then she can watch us beat up the boy.”
“I think we should bugger him,” the giggler announced.
“Christopher, leave!” Luciana shouted.
The boy pulled away from the hanged ghost. “I don’t want to leave you here.”
“Tell my mother and sister I’m here. Please go!” Luciana exhaled in relief when he disappeared.
“Bitch!” Chest-Wound snarled at her. “You took away our fun.”
The giggler floated toward her, grinning. “Let’s grope her till she screams.”
Luciana grabbed the broken femur and whirled in a circle, slicing it through the ghosts. “Back off!”
“How can you make us?” Severed-Head smirked.
She tried the tactic that had worked on the dead Captain Bougaire. “When I’m rescued, I’ll track down all your families and make them suffer!”
The ghosts chuckled, the giggler two octaves higher.
“You think we care what happens to the living?” Chest-Wound smirked as he pointed at the hanged ghost. “Why do you think they executed him?”
Hanged-Man grinned. “I killed my wife and baby.”
“Let’s get her!” the giggler announced, and the gang of ghosts closed in.
“I’m a witch!” Luciana tried a new strategy. “I’ll put a curse on you for all eternity!”
They paused.
“C-can she do that?” Giggler asked.
“We’re already dead,” Chest-Wound growled. “What can one witch do to us?”
“How about two witches?” Luciana’s mother asked as her form solidified.
“The duchessss,” Hanged-Man hissed, and they all floated back.
“Leave her be,” Ariana ordered. “Or I’ll have my husband clean all the bones out of here, throw them in the sea, and fill these tunnels with sand.”
“We’ll have nowhere to go,” Giggler whined.
Luciana ran to her mother’s side. “Thank you.”
Ariana smiled. “Thank Christopher. He told me where you were. Jensen has the entire castle guard looking for you. I asked Tatiana to come up with a way to contact them.” She cast a disgusted look at the ghosts. “Meanwhile, I’ll take you away from the filth.”
“The priest said there was no way out.”
Ariana snorted. “He lived here only a few weeks. He may know about the main escape route, but I know a secret one. Your father showed it to me years ago.” She motioned to the torch on the back wall. “Take that with you.”
Luciana pulled the torch from the wall bracket. “I’m not sure I should leave. If anyone comes down here to rescue me, they could be killed in the trap that Father Rune set. I need to stay here to warn them.”
Ariana shook her head. “They’ve just begun to search the keep and towers along the outer wall. We can be out of here before they even start on the catacombs.” She pointed to a skull with a red X painted on its brow. “Underneath this skull is a lever. Pull it.”
Luciana did as she was told, and with a loud creak, a section of shelves swung back to reveal a narrow opening. She held the torch aloft and spotted a steep, stone staircase descending into a dark pit.
“Let’s go.” Ariana glanced back at the ghosts. “Do not follow us, or I’ll have the catacombs destroyed.”
Luciana took one last look at the trap on the other side of the iron gate and said a silent prayer that she was making the right decision.
Down into the darkness she went, planting her feet carefully on each damp stone step. She couldn’t afford to slip. How far she would fall she had no idea. But she couldn’t afford to go slowly, either.
She was in a race against her rescuers. If she didn’t reach them first, they could venture down into the catacombs and die.
Chapter Twenty-eight
After charging across the drawbridge, Leo reined in his horse and quickly dismounted. He removed his helmet as Nevis and Edmund ran toward him. “Have you found her?”
“Not yet.” Nevis glanced at the drawbridge. “Where are your personal guard? And the rest of your party?”
“A few miles behind me.” Leo pulled off his chain mail and handed it and his helmet to Edmund. “Did you send out some trackers in case she’s been taken away from the fortress?”
“Yes,” Nevis replied. “But it’s hard to detect anything when the army left behind so many tracks when they moved out this morning. And dammit, Leo, why didn’t you stick with your guards?”
“They’re too slow. And you’re too slow. Get everyone in the fortress involved in the search.”
Nevis huffed with annoyance. “Don’t you realize Father Rune may have taken her just to lure you out and make you easier to kill? And you played right into it!”
“I don’t give a shit!”
“Do I have to knock some sense into you?” Nevis yelled.
Leo dragged a gloved hand through his hair. He didn’t want to admit it but Nevis was right. He’d made himself vulnerable by riding ahead of his party. It wasn’t like him to behave this recklessly. Even in battle, he always remained in control. But the second he’d heard that Ana was missing, something crazed and desperate had seized hold of him.
Ana’s father was distraught, too, but he’d been unable to keep up with Leo. He’d charged ahead like a madman, pushing his horse to the limit. “Edmund, will you take care of Fearless?”
“Aye, my lord.” As Edmund took the reins, he gave Leo a hopeful look. “Maybe Father Rune doesn’t have her. Maybe she just went to a secret place to be alone for a while.”
“And not tell anyone?” Nevis grumbled. “Why would she do that?”
Leo didn’t dismiss the idea like Nevis, not when he knew Ana had secrets. Could she have gone to the sea to send another message by seals? “Did you check the beach?”
“No. Hey, where are you going?” Nevis shouted as Leo dashed back across the drawbridge. “Dammit, you’re not wearing your armor!”
Leo kept going. As long as he was running at lightning speed, an assassin would find it difficult to hit him with an arrow. He darted down the path to the beach.
The flat rock where the seals gathered was empty. He sprinted along the beach, calling her name. No reply. She wasn’t among the boulders.
Had she been caught by the undertow? Swept out to sea?
Panic ripped through him so hard, he fell to his knees. No! He couldn’t lose her. Not beautiful, brave, and clever Ana. She was the one who believed in him, the one who gave him hope that he could be a man and not a Beast.
He needed her. She was the strength of his body, the beat of his heart, and the yearning of his soul. The thought that she could be suffering or afraid paralyzed him with a fear he’d never felt before. And there on his knees, the truth struck him hard.
He loved her.
An eternity had happened in the seven days since he’d first met her. An eternity that had bonded her soul with his.
“Leo, what are you doing?” Nevis called as he descended the path to the beach.
He had to find her. Leo jumped to his feet and sprinted back to the path. “We need to enlarge the search. Have you gone into the wine cellars or catacombs?”
“Not yet. They’re—” Nevis lifted a hand to shield his eyes as he gazed out at the sea. “What is that?”
Leo spun toward the water. Please don’t be a body. “Where?”
“There.” Nevis pointed at something black moving through the waves. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s just a seal.”
A surge of hope replaced the panic that had sizzled through Leo. Could it be Brody? In dog form, he’d be able to track Ana’s scent. “What perfect timing!”
“Huh?”
Before Leo could explain, the seal shifted into a dog.
“What the hell?” Nevis stiffened, a stunned look
on his face. “Is that … Brody?”
“Yes.” Leo grinned as he started down the path. “He’s back!”
“Huh?” Nevis followed him. “He went somewhere as a bloody seal? You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Not a word to anyone,” Leo warned him.
Nevis scoffed. “Who the hell would believe me?”
Brody splashed through the shallow water, then halted with a jerk when he spotted Leo and Nevis coming toward him.
“Thank the Light you’re back,” Leo told him.
Brody shifted into human form and sat in the shallow water, breathing heavily. “Now you know.”
Nevis gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t know what the hell you are. No offense.”
“We’ll discuss it later,” Leo said. “For now, I want—” He stopped when Brody collapsed onto his back. “Are you all right?”
“Exhausted.”
“I bet!” Nevis continued to stare at him. “How far did you swim? How many animals can you turn into?”
“Later!” Leo shot him an annoyed look. “Right now—”
“There’s something important you need to know,” Brody interrupted.
“It can wait. I need—”
“But it’s about Lady Tatiana,” Brody insisted as he sat up. “She’s not—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Leo yelled, surprising Brody and Nevis and even himself. Brody might have uncovered Ana’s secrets, but Leo wanted to hear the truth from her first. He wanted her alive, and he wanted her trust.
If only he had trusted her from the beginning. Then he wouldn’t have sent Brody away, and the dog shifter would have been here to track down the remaining assassins before Ana could have been exposed to danger.
“Ana is missing,” Leo told Brody. “We believe she’s been kidnapped by the third assassin, and we need to find her. Can you do that?”
“Sure.” Brody ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. “What happened to the second assassin?”
“Dead,” Nevis replied. “Along with the first.”
“We’ll explain later.” Leo headed back to the path. “Meet me in the courtyard. I’ll bring something Ana wore to help you detect her scent.”
With lightning speed, he dashed back to the keep and into the dressing room he now shared with Ana. He stuffed one of her work gowns and slippers into a knapsack, then ran back to the courtyard.
Nevis was there with Brody, back in dog form.
“Here.” Leo emptied the knapsack, and Brody sniffed at her clothing.
“Where was she last seen?” Leo asked Nevis. “We should start there.”
“The dungeons,” Nevis replied, and all three headed across the courtyard as Jensen joined them.
“Any sign of her?” Leo asked.
The guard shook his head. “I left her for only a moment in the dungeons. The jailer said she was going to the library, but she never arrived. I-I’ll accept whatever punishment you—”
“We’ll discuss it later.” Leo opened the door to the dungeons.
Brody trotted down the stairs, then wandered toward the dungeon door. He paused, then retraced his steps to the stairs.
“Did she leave?” Leo asked.
Brody turned and padded back down the corridor, this time passing the dungeon door and continuing down some steps into the darkness.
“What’s down there?” Leo asked.
“The catacombs,” Jensen replied.
“Get some torches,” Leo ordered. “We’re going in.”
* * *
By the time Luciana reached the bottom of the stairs, it felt like the narrow stone walls were closing in. Now she and her mother were inching along a dark tunnel. She’d been forced to slow down because the ceiling occasionally dipped down so low, she had to stoop to get through.
Her footsteps echoed eerily about them, along with scurrying sounds that she suspected were rats. “How much farther?”
“I’m not sure,” Ariana replied as she floated along behind her. “I never had to use this passage.”
“Can you tell me more about yourself?” Luciana asked, eager to take her mind off the rats and the prospect of her rescuers being killed in the catacombs.
“Well, let me see,” Ariana began. “After I realized I was giving birth to twin girls, we started making preparations. We sent for a midwife and wet nurse from the Isle of Moon, for we knew they would worship the twin goddesses and consider you and your sister a blessing. We knew they could be trusted to keep your existence a secret.”
“So no one else knew you were having twins?” Luciana asked.
“Not a soul. We couldn’t let anyone else know, or your lives would have been in danger.” Ariana sighed. “Everything was planned out so well. The oldest daughter would remain here as the heiress, raised by Lucas.”
“And that was Tatiana.”
“Yes. And the second daughter, you, would travel with me to the Isle of Moon, where I would raise you in secret.”
Luciana halted and looked back at her mother. “You were planning to go with me?”
Ariana smiled. “Yes, my dear. Your father and I couldn’t bear the thought of either of you being raised without a loving parent, so—”
“You were going to separate?”
Ariana nodded. “It was the only way.”
“But you and Father love each other so much,” Luciana protested.
“We didn’t arrive at that solution easily. The thought of separating was heart-wrenching—”
“Mother, I’m so sorry.”
“My dear child.” Ariana reached out to touch Luciana’s cheek, but her fingers passed through like a cold shiver. “Someday you will have children, and you’ll understand. There was nothing we were not willing to bear in order to give you and your sister the love you deserved. I’m just so sorry that I—”
“No, don’t say that. You gave your life for us.”
Ariana nodded slowly. “If only I had foreseen the lightning.”
“What?”
Ariana motioned toward the darkness in front of them. “We must keep going. I’ll tell you what happened.”
Luciana continued along the tunnel as she listened to her mother’s story.
“I was in the tower room, sewing baby clothes, about a week before you were due, when a storm began. The rain was coming in the windows a bit, but I thought it best to stay there rather than run back to the keep in the rain when I was so heavy. Everything was fine until a light flashed outside the window overlooking the sea, and a streak of lightning shot straight through.”
Luciana glanced back at her mother. “That’s what left the scorched mark on the wall?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, the lightning splintered and a shard struck me—”
“You were hit?” Luciana whipped around.
Ariana nodded. “Knocked unconscious. When I came to, I realized my water had broken and my labor had begun. When the storm finally stopped, Lucas found me in bed, having contractions. He immediately brought in the midwife and nurse. Tatiana and you were born that night.”
“When the twin moons embraced.”
“Yes. We knew, then, that you would also be Embraced, so you were both in great danger. Unfortunately, the lightning strike had left me extremely weak—”
“It was a wonder it didn’t kill you,” Luciana said.
Ariana smiled sadly. “It did, eventually. But you and Tatiana survived. I was so heartbroken when I realized I would not be making the trip to the Isle of Moon with you.”
“Mother, please don’t feel bad. I had a very happy life at the convent.”
She nodded with tears in her eyes. “The midwife and nurse took a sacred oath to protect you. The nurse remained here and became Tatiana’s nanny. The midwife promised she would take you to a safe and loving place on the Isle of Moon where she would watch over you.”
“Then I know her?” Luciana asked. “What is her name?”
“Ginessa. Do you remember her?”
Luciana exhaled with a short laugh. “Of course! She took me to the Convent of the Two Moons, and now she’s in charge. She’s Mother Ginessa.” With a smile, Luciana resumed her trek through the tunnel. No wonder Mother Ginessa had sent all her practice pages and illustrations to Father. She was already acquainted with him.
“I’m so relieved it worked out all right for you,” Ariana said with a sniffle.
“It did.” Luciana glanced back with a grin. “I grew up with four sisters. We’re all Embraced, so we were taken to the convent as babes so we would be safe.”
“Tell me about them,” Ariana urged.
“Well, Brigitta is the oldest of the four, just six months younger than me.” Luciana rounded a corner and narrowed her eyes. “Is that a light up ahead?”
“I believe so.”
“We’re almost there!” Luciana lifted her skirt in one hand and the torch in the other as she rushed forward.
The light grew until it began to take the shape of an arched entrance. As they approached, she spotted bars. A gate?
The stone floor gave away to sand, and the sound of seagulls reached her ears.
“It’s the beach!” Luciana ran to the gate. She passed the torch to her left hand to push the gate open with her right.
It wouldn’t budge.
A quick inspection showed no locks. Apparently, the water level had risen high enough in the past to flood the tunnel, and the gate had rusted shut.
She found a crack in the wall where she could wedge the torch, then she attacked the gate with both hands, shoving with all her might. Still no luck.
“Hello! I’m here!” she screamed as loud as she could, but she couldn’t be sure if anyone in the fortress would hear her.
“Help me!” she yelled, pushing at the gate. If she threw the torch through the bars, would anyone see it? No, she couldn’t risk losing her only source of light in case she had to go back to the catacombs. And the terrible ghosts.
Panic threatened to return full force. “Goddesses help me, what should I do?”
“We’ll think of something,” Ariana said.
“If I can’t get out, I’ll have to go back to catacombs. I need to warn Leo before he and the others are killed!”
“Stay calm. I’ll see what I can do.” Ariana shimmered and vanished.
How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days Page 28