The Secrets of Clover Castle

by Martin, Holly

  He studied her face for a moment then broke into a huge smile. ‘So we’ll just see how it goes after this week.’

  She nodded. ‘I’d like to carry on seeing you if you want.’

  ‘I’d like that too.’

  Milly smiled. Cameron leaned forward to pick up the meat board. He selected a slice of meat and popped it in his mouth. ‘Did they say anything else, any more predictions from Mystic Lavender?’

  She bit her lip. She supposed this would be the true test to see if Cameron was in this for the long haul or just a bit of fun. ‘Well, she said I’m going to be pregnant within a year,’ Milly laughed and Cameron did too.

  ‘Well she was right about us being married.’ He shrugged as he grabbed some bread and camembert.

  Milly looked at him. ‘Are you not freaked out by that?’

  ‘Not really. There’s no point worrying about something we can’t control.’

  She reached up to stroke his face.

  ‘You might be a dad this time next year.’

  He ran a gentle hand over her stomach. ‘I cannot frigging wait.’

  Milly couldn’t help the huge grin from spreading across her face.

  * * *

  Cameron watched Milly fast asleep next to him on the picnic blanket, the early morning sunlight kissing her pale cheeks. He could watch her sleep forever and not grow tired of it. His very own Sleeping Beauty.

  They had talked and kissed and talked some more and then they had made love under the stars.

  He had never been particularly romantic with women but last night as they lay beneath the moon and the stars, her hair glistening in the silvery glow of the moonlight, the warmth of the summer surrounding them, the scent of the sea mixed with the summer flowers, he couldn’t deny it, it had been magical.

  He brushed her hair from her cheek and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled when she saw him and cuddled into his chest. He pulled the blanket over her shoulders, protecting her from the early morning chill.

  ‘Thank you for last night, it was incredible. The picnic, the stars, the dessert.’ She waggled her eyebrows mischievously.

  ‘Yes that was probably my favourite bit too.’

  She sighed, contentedly. ‘I love this place, the silly turrets and the blue roofs, that amazing view over the sea. If we stay together, I’d love to live here. We could make love under the stars every night.’

  ‘Might get a bit cold in the winter.’

  Milly laughed. ‘There is that.’

  She stretched out and sat up. He stroked her back. ‘Fancy searching for that treasure today?’

  ‘Yes, we should have a look around the dungeons and maybe ask Sophia, if she is around.’

  Cameron got up and started getting dressed and Milly followed suit. They packed up all the picnic stuff and walked back down towards the kitchen. It was still early and there was no sign of Olivia, which Cameron was thankful for.

  ‘I’m going for a shower, you want to join me?’ Cameron said.

  ‘In a minute, I just want to check my emails first, the test results should be back by now and I didn’t get a chance to check yesterday.’

  Cameron nodded and went into the bathroom. He had only been in there five or ten minutes when Milly burst in.

  ‘Change your mind, there’s plenty of hot water left?’

  ‘Cameron, I got the test results back and …’ She reached into the shower, turned the water off and passed him a towel.

  ‘Milly, I still have shampoo in my hair,’ Cameron blinked through the soap trails that were trickling down his face.

  ‘This is important.’

  He wiped his hair and face and quickly tied the towel around his waist. He gave his fullest attention to Milly who looked like she was ready to burst.

  ‘The oldest room of the castle seemed to be the old kitchen, but I’ve taken very small samples of mortar and paint from several parts of the castle and sent them off to the lab. They’ve dated them at 1135.’ She hopped from foot to foot and then, seeing the look of incomprehension on his face, she thrust an open leather book into his hands. He took it and looked at the page, which showed a large house labelled ‘Cleaver Court’.

  ‘What’s this?’

  Milly pointed to the date underneath the picture. 1135.

  ‘Are you saying this house was what the castle looked like before it was turned into a castle?’

  ‘Yes. I think this house was your castle before all the additions were made. Look at the similarities, the doors and windows. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Plus the name, Cleaver Court, Cleaver Castle, Clover Castle. I think that’s why I couldn’t find anything on Clover Castle. It started off life as Cleaver Court. Although there might not be anything about Cleaver Court either. This house in the picture was built as part of King Stephen’s estate and we know he had quite a few properties in this area. Constance said that the decree for marrying people at the Summer Solstice celebrations came from King Stephen. He may even have stayed here.’

  Cameron couldn’t help but smile at Milly’s enthusiasm, though he had no idea how this affected him.

  ‘What does this mean?’

  ‘It means that Castle Heritage will probably take you on, not only because of the castle’s age but because it might have once been part of the royal estates. If they don’t, their sister company National Heritage almost certainly will. They’ll probably help you to restore it to its former structure, but they will finance most, if not all, of that. It means getting rid of all the turrets and the blue roofs and maybe even the towers and the drawbridge and all the silly stuff I love but it would mean you wouldn’t have to sell it on as a hotel, you could keep it in the family.’

  Cameron felt the smile fall off his face. After everything he had been through with the castle he didn’t know if he wanted to go down the route of stripping it of all its splendour.

  Milly registered his look of concern and her smile vanished too. ‘Isn’t that what you wanted all along? Selling the hotel to Jamie or Palace Hotels was never your first choice.’

  ‘No, but things have changed. I don’t know, Milly, I need some time to think about it.’

  ‘OK,’ Milly looked disappointed that her exciting news had fallen so flat.

  ‘It’s great news, I’m just not sure I want to revert the castle back to how it was. These turrets and towers are as much a part of its history as King Stephen staying here. Let me just think about it for a few days.’

  She nodded, brightening slightly. ‘And we have that treasure to find. You never know, we might be knee deep in rubies and sapphires by the end of the day.’

  Cameron smiled. Milly never stayed down for long.

  ‘I need a shower too,’ she said, quickly undressing. ‘And don’t look at me like that. You’ll have to wait till later.’

  Milly stepped into the shower and, resisting the urge to touch her, which would only end in sex again, he quickly rinsed his hair of the last residues of shampoo. He smiled when he felt Milly’s hands in his hair, helping him.

  He left her and got dressed and a few minutes later she was standing in the kitchen ready to go too.

  ‘So, how are we going to play this? Are we just going to go down to the dungeons and ask Sophia to show us where the treasure is?’ Cameron asked.

  Milly shrugged. ‘I guess.’

  ‘She doesn’t even speak and I don’t think it’s likely that she will be able to draw us a map.’

  ‘What harm will it do? If the treasure is here, then she knows where it is. Besides, I have something to sweeten the deal,’ Milly said, plucking the cameo from the box.

  ‘You’re giving her your cameo.’

  ‘I think it’s more hers than it is mine and I’ve already worn it on my wedding day, so she can have it back.’

  Cameron stared at her for a moment and then grabbed his torch in one hand and her hand in the other. ‘Come on then.’

  They walked through the banquet hall and down into the dungeon, switching on the
lights as they went.

  The dungeon was unusually quiet today, no banging or moans and Cameron was disappointed not to see Sophia when she had been down here almost every other time he had visited. They walked down the corridor slowly, checking all the cells and entered the large chamber at the end. Cameron switched on the light but there was no one there.

  ‘Maybe Olivia scared them all off,’ Cameron muttered.

  ‘Sophia, are you there?’ Milly called out. Cameron wasn’t expecting a reply but a gust of wind or a rattle of chains would be something.

  ‘Come on, there’s no one here. We can try again later,’ Cameron said.

  They turned to go and came face to face with Sophia, who was waiting for them in the corridor.

  Milly stepped forward slightly. ‘Sophia, I thought you might want your cameo back.’ She held it out for the ghost to see and Sophia stared down at it. Her pale fingers reached out for it and seemingly touched the surface of the brooch. It was the most interaction that Cameron had ever seen from her. Sophia smiled slightly and then shook her head.

  Cameron felt a bit disappointed for Milly that her plan hadn’t worked, but then how would Sophia be able to take the brooch even if she did want it?

  ‘Sophia, we wondered if you know where the treasure is, Boris’s treasure …’ Milly trailed off as Sophia suddenly walked straight through them. An icy feeling sliced through his body and they both shuddered.

  ‘Well, I’m officially freaked out,’ Cameron said. ‘I may have nightmares tonight.’

  ‘Me too.’

  They turned back towards the chamber and Sophia was waiting for them in the corner of the room. They stepped towards her and she turned and walked straight through the wall, vanishing from sight.

  ‘Damn it, I actually thought she was going to show us then,’ Cameron said.

  Milly stared at the wall where Sophia had disappeared and walked slowly towards it. ‘Do you think this could be another secret passage?’

  ‘If it is, I can’t see anything that could be a door.’

  The wall was made from large stone bricks arranged in a haphazard way, big bricks on top of smaller ones with large cracks in between. She inched closer and reached out to touch the wall but as she did it moved under her fingers. She pushed the wall a bit further and a section of bricks swung out to reveal a dark passageway beyond.

  ‘Ha!’ Milly laughed triumphantly.

  Cameron rushed to her side. ‘How did we not see that?’

  ‘Look at the door, the bricks are all jutting out in different places,’ Milly pointed out the jagged edges of the door. ‘It just looked like part of the wall.’

  Cameron clicked on the torch, grabbed her hand and walked down the passageway. He hoped that Sophia would reappear again to show them the way, but she didn’t.

  The passageway was muddy and wet and as with the tunnel that led to the cove, the roar of the sea got louder the further down they went.

  They came to some steep steps that led downwards and daylight flooded the tunnel from beyond. They went down four steps and had to crawl under the low roof. In front of them the tunnel sloped steeply up a ramp into what looked like a cave. Cameron scrambled up and then turned back and offered Milly his hand, pulling her out into the cave with him.

  Cameron looked around. The cave was in two parts, a narrow path that led straight from their tunnel out into the sea and a slightly higher part that was filled with rocks. He couldn’t tell if the lower path was a natural occurrence formed by the tide coming in, or whether it had been manmade like the tunnel into the castle. It was quite a low cave; the roof was just a few feet above his head and it wasn’t deep, it stretched maybe ten metres from the mouth. The sea lapped at the edges, white waves crashing on to the rocks just inside the cave. The tide was clearly on its way in and already there was a large pool filling the front half of the cave and slowly pouring down the narrow path towards the tunnel entrance. The edges of the cave were rough and jagged and on one side there was some kind of natural shelf that ran along part of the cave wall.

  ‘There’s a metal peg here and some rope tied to it. Maybe boats have moored in here whilst their occupants have gone into the castle,’ Cameron said, pointing to a rusty pole at the back of the cave.

  ‘Smugglers?’ Milly asked.

  Cameron shrugged. ‘Maybe, or just the people in the castle who wanted to make a quick and discreet getaway.’

  A big wave crashed into the cave, splashing them with salt water.

  ‘I can’t see anywhere that might be capable of hiding any treasure, no nooks or crannies,’ Milly said.

  Cameron moved around, exploring the cave. ‘Maybe we need to come back once the tide is out, the water could be hiding a multitude of secrets. I bet our tunnel gets partly flooded too once the tide is properly in.’

  Cameron looked back at the opening of the tunnel. Based on the water marks and the line of moss on the cave walls, he guessed the tide would fill up at least as high as the shelf and certainly would flood the entrance to their tunnel.

  ‘Look,’ Milly suddenly pointed to the other side of the cave where the shelf was. He clambered over the rocks towards it. Milly quickly followed. As he approached, he could see a crevice in the cave wall that had been well hidden from where they had been standing. It was narrow but big enough to take a human. It stretched back a few metres from the cave wall and then disappeared round a corner where a shaft of daylight seemed to fill the void where they couldn’t see.

  ‘Let’s take a look,’ Milly said, already trying to clamber up onto the shelf, but Cameron stopped her.

  ‘The tide is coming in fast and I don’t want us to get trapped. We could go back to bed for a bit and come back down here later when the tide is completely out. The crack in the wall will still be there then.’

  Milly laughed. ‘You just want to go back to bed, do you only think of sex?’

  ‘Pretty much, come on,’ he turned to go back to the tunnel.

  Cameron stepped carefully over a few rocks and turned back to make sure she was following. He missed his footing, and suddenly stumbled. He fell heavily on his side, his head smacked on a rock and then everything went black.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘CAMERON!’ Milly screamed, scrambling quickly to his side. She shook him, and tapped him lightly round the face but he didn’t wake up. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’

  She looked around, desperate for some solution. She had to get help. Waves crashed onto the rocks inside the entrance, the large pool getting bigger and bigger and the narrow path quickly filling with water. Within a few minutes the area where Cameron was lying would be covered. If she ran back up the tunnel now, she could call for help, but would it reach him in time? Would she be able to get back to him before the tide came in? If there was a lifeboat station nearby, they could come and get him before he was washed out to sea. But if there wasn’t then that would be useless. Phoning the ambulance and the fire brigade would be equally hopeless as neither would be able to get to him. Maybe someone from the village could help. Igor had a boat, could she get to him in time? She looked at the waves inching closer and knew there wasn’t a moment to lose. She was the only help he had. She grabbed hold of his T-shirt and started trying to drag him towards the tunnel entrance. If she could just pull him to safety, then she could get an ambulance after that. He didn’t move and she didn’t know whether it was because he was wedged between the rocks or because he was so heavy. She grabbed an arm and pulled with all her strength. He didn’t move at all. She knelt down next to him, tapping him round the face again.

  ‘Cameron, please wake up, please.’ She eyed the water that was lapping at his feet and felt a sob burst from her throat. ‘You have to wake up, I broke the curse, remember. I’m your soul mate, we’re supposed to be together.’

  He didn’t move.

  She stood up and looked around desperately. Water was already trickling over the edges of the entrance to their tunnel, the narrow path almost completely under water.
It was coming in so quickly. She pulled again on his arm, using every ounce of strength she had, but she couldn’t move him an inch.

  The water was already lapping over his hips now, soaking his clothes.

  She quickly scooted round to his head and carefully lifted it onto her lap. She watched as the water sloshed over his stomach, his chest, and started filling up the tunnel, blocking their escape. The water crept over his neck and she leaned his head up, hoping she wasn’t doing more damage. It touched his chin and she managed to shift herself further under him so he was half sitting up. Water swirled around them both, soaking their clothes, the cold biting into their skin.

  Sophia suddenly appeared on the shelf and she pointed into the crevice. If she had found the treasure, Milly couldn’t care less.

  Milly’s tears mixed with salt water as she cried at the hopelessness of it. She glanced at her star bracelet and wished harder than ever that he would survive this.

  She stroked his face. ‘Please wake up, you can’t die on me. I love you. Please wake up.’ She kissed him on the gash on the side of his head. ‘I love you.’ She kissed his nose. ‘I love you.’ She kissed his lips and felt his lips move under hers, his hand weakly holding the back of her neck.

  She pulled back, tears of relief and joy blinding her. ‘You’re awake.’

  ‘From this slumber, you shall wake, when true love’s kiss, the spell shall break.’

  Despite everything, Milly couldn’t help but laugh, wiping away her tears. ‘Can you stand?’

  Cameron looked around blearily and then realised the danger they were in. He sat up but was clearly still feeling the effects of the bang to the head. She pushed him from behind. With a bit of an effort from him and a lot of effort from her, she managed to get him to his feet. He was now up to his knees in water.

  The entrance to the tunnel they had come through was completely submerged, and waves continued to crash against the cave entrance.

  ‘We could swim out,’ Cameron suggested, holding his head. ‘The cove can’t be too far from here, if we can get to the rope ladder we’ll be OK.’