Chapter Twenty-Five #2
A large moth landed beside my hand, with a skull-like marking on its thorax.
Its dark velvety wings buzzed—deep and melodic—then just as quickly as it came, it flew away.
I turned after it, watching it disappear into the thick nothingness of the tunnel, before I carried on, moving deeper between the stone walls.
I chose the passage on my left, opposite from where the moth had flown. The silence was deafening, broken only by the drumming of my pulse. The walls seemed to narrow the deeper I went, and I was about to turn around when I heard a noise that didn’t belong to me.
My body stiffened, my eyes landing on the shadow beside mine in the candlelight. My heart jumped into my throat as my fingers gripped the knife harder. Filling my lungs with calming air, I whirled around and pushed the person against the wall, pressing the knife firmly to their warm skin.
The candle fell out of my hand, the flame barely flickering on the stone floor. My chest heaved against theirs as I used my whole weight to pin them in place.
“It’s lovely to see you too, poison,” Preston drawled, his lips curling into a smile too calm with a blade at his throat.
“Taking an evening stroll, are we?” He plucked the knife from between my fingers like it was a bothersome rose thorn and brushed his shirt collar straight.
“Haven’t you heard the saying? Only fools and the cursed wander into old passageways alone. ”
He looked far too pleased with himself for someone who’d just been nearly stabbed, his blonde hair gleaming like tarnished gold in the shimmering light.
I scowled. “So which one are you?”
He leaned in, his voice low and lazy. “Who said I was alone?”
Something fluttered in my stomach. Could he have been meeting with someone? A girl, probably. I raised my chin higher, taking a step back. “Were you the one lurking on the other side of my bedroom wall?”
His expression shifted, his brows tugging together, subtle but visible as his smirk dimmed.
“What?”
“You heard me,” I said. “Were you the one creeping around behind the wall of my room?”
“Always the hunted, never the hunter, are you, poison?” His voice dripped with amusement. “So, you followed a strange noise into the bowels of the house, armed with nothing but a penknife and a pretty grudge. You really do like tempting fate, don’t you?”
The corner of his mouth twitched, and I hated how warm my face felt.
I narrowed my eyes, plucking the knife from his hand. “And you? I suspect you’ve a perfectly good reason to be roaming the passages like a Victorian ghost?”
“Please,” he huffed, as unbothered as always. “If I wanted to haunt you, I’d be far more creative about it.”
Wind howled through the passageway, raising gooseflesh along my skin.
“Alright then.” I nodded, still unsure if I believed him or not. “I suggest we both go our separate ways.” I grabbed the fallen candle and glared around the black tinted corridor.
Preston moved after me, placing a finger under my chin. My chest tightened, my stomach filling with small buzzing moths. I shifted away from his touch, just as his other hand curled around me, holding me in place. He forced my eyes up to the moulding ceiling.
“Take a deep breath,” he whispered, his breath kissing my cheek, turning my limbs numb.
He was far too handsome for someone this annoying.
I blinked, locking away all the emotions that thundered inside me, and did what he said. A grimace settled onto my face. There was a rotting scent lingering in the air I somehow hadn’t noticed. I scrunched my nose as the sickeningly sweet scent embedded itself in my nostrils.
“Did an animal get slaughtered down here?” I asked, keeping in the cough that tried to crawl out of my throat.
“That’s what I’m here to discover,” Preston replied, letting go of me and walking into the gloom.
Curiosity had driven me down into these tunnels, a desperate need to uncover the secrets hidden beneath the manor.
But now, as the scent of decay grew heavier with each step, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was truly ready to face what might lay ahead.
A corpse, perhaps, abandoned to rot in the dark.
I swallowed, then cursed under my breath, gripping my knife harder. I imagined this place to be filled with bats, and while I wasn’t scared of them, I didn’t want to cross their paths either. The thought of them getting stuck in my hair made a nauseous wave move over my body.
“Will you stay here, turning the corridor pretty, or will you come along?” Preston asked, and I blinked, getting out of the deep trance I had trapped myself into.
My heart throbbed in my chest faster, a treacherous sign of my nerves, as I watched the shadows dance over his sharp features.
I took a deep breath and sent him a vile look. “I’ll go ahead.”
I strode into the tunnel, hoping he didn’t notice the fright that must be showing on my face. I continued on the grey stoned path, the cobwebs swaying above our heads as the wind danced around us, screaming.
The walls seemed to draw closer, and the air chilled the deeper we went.
I ran my hands over my arms, wishing I would have brought a jacket instead of my sweater.
My senses sharpened as I eyed the darkness that slid away from the candle.
It felt as if it was staring back at me, enjoying the terror that it injected into my mind.
I knew that there was a low chance to encounter anyone down here, still, I couldn’t stop myself from remembering that I did hear something on the other side of my wall. Whatever it was it could very well still be down here.
“Rats do exist, you know,” he called from behind me. “You could’ve very well heard one.”
I shook my head. I had thought about that. “It was something larger than that.”
The scent of death became overwhelming, making my eyes water. It sickened me that I hoped we would find an animal carcass instead of something else. I wiped the corners of my eyes and peered back at Preston.
“Lovely, isn’t it?” he mocked, scrunching his nose from the decaying odour.
I grimaced, trying to blink away my uncertainty.
I needed a moment to gather my strength and keep going.
It wasn’t as if I was scared of what we might uncover.
I was just rather attached to my dinner and wanted to keep it down.
But before I could gather myself, Preston moved past me, gently pressing me against the cold wall and taking the candle out of my hand.
My skin grew hot. He stopped in front of an empty wall and ran his fingers over the stone.
I shifted closer, my curiosity relighting.
A door was built into the stone, I realised, too dark to notice at first sight. It was cracked open, and Preston inched it wider revealing a chamber behind. I hid my nose into the sleeve of my sweater, my dinner moving up in my throat as the rotting odour grew even more intense.
Preston stepped over the threshold and I took a deep breath through my mouth before doing the same.