Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
brEN
The light through the tall windows had faded to amber by the time I strode through the castle door. I immediately searched the room for Selene and breathed lighter when I found her crouched near the base of a ladder, gathering the smaller tools and placing them into her work belt.
The others were also packing up for the day. As I made my way to the long table, Maeve lifted her head, focused on me, and sniffed. “What do you have there that smells so good?”
I set down the box and shrugged out of my coat. “Dinner.”
She studied the container and then widened her eyes. “That’s a lot of food for one man eating alone in his tower.”
I slid my gaze toward Selene as I answered Maeve. “Castle matters have come up that I need to discuss with Selene, and I’d hoped I could convince her to work a little longer if I provided dinner.”
She released a soft, humorous snort. “Castle matters. Right.”
I held her gaze for a moment, keeping mine a blank canvas, and said nothing.
Rian chuckled as he slipped into his coat. “That’s the way it is with old buildings, isn’t it? Something unexpected always pops up.”
He retrieved his backpack and glanced at her again. “I’ll give you a ride home, Maeve.”
I was quick to shake my head. “I thought she could take Selene’s car, and I’d drive the lady home afterward.”
Maeve’s suspicion deepened, and she turned to Selene, a hint of a smile in her expression as she lifted her brows in silent question.
Selene turned to her friend and gave a small nod. Then she turned to me, still carrying the chill she’d adopted days ago. “Is there a problem with the funding or with our work?”
I lifted a hand, rejecting her questions. “None of the sort. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d like a bit of food in me before we get to the details.”
Rian patted his stomach. “I’m right there with you.” He glanced at Maeve. “Feel like grabbing something at the pub?”
Her eyes lit up, but she shook her head. “I’d love to, but the place we’re staying at has a cook. I’d feel bad if she went to all that trouble for nothing.” She tilted her head and smiled. “But, if you’d like to follow me home, I’m sure Nora won’t mind feeding you. You can have Selene’s share.”
The idiot looked as if Maeve had offered him the keys to the kingdom. “Seriously? I haven’t had a decent home-cooked meal for a while now. Count me in.”
Maeve picked her coat up off the back of a chair. “Prepare yourself for a treat then.” Her smile faded back to suspicion as she regarded me. “Don’t keep Selene out late, and don’t make her mad. I have to live and work with her.”
Her words caught me by surprise, and I uttered a useless reply. “I won’t.”
Maeve turned to Rian with a friendlier look. “Let’s be quick about it. I’m starving too.”
At the door, she glanced back as Rian stepped out, and then followed him, pulling the door closed behind her. Their voices faded along with the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet.
The hall grew silent. Without Maeve’s vibrant personality and Rian’s calmness, the atmosphere became awkward. Selene studied me from across the room, her tool belt still in hand. She strode closer and set it on the table, her eyes just as suspicious as Maeve’s had been.
I could see from the wariness there that she expected our evening wouldn’t be a pleasant encounter. I set about correcting that. “There’s no castle matter to discuss.”
She tilted her head. “What?”
I nodded, backing up what I’d said. “I want to talk to you. The rest was an excuse to get everyone else out of the room.” I gestured toward the box on the table. “Dinner. The roast you like from Treyvaud’s.”
She looked at the container, then at me, and didn’t move.
I hadn’t expected things to go easily and continued my persuasion. “I’ve been wanting to light a fire since you finished the repairs.” I kept my voice even. “But I realized you deserved to be here when I did, and then I learned it needs at least three weeks to cure.”
A hint of a smile touched her lips but quickly faded.
My words hovered between us, and I reached for the bottle of wine to give my hands something to do. “If you don’t want to stay,” I added, “we can talk while I drive you home instead.”
Apparently, I hit the sweet spot. Her shoulders loosened, and she glanced toward the food. “I’ll never turn down a meal from Treyvaud’s.”
I exhaled and ignored how much relief was in it. I unpacked our entrées, bread, and the bottle of wine I had taken from my stock at home. I hesitated before emptying the rest of the box. “Do you mind if I light a few candles in place of the fire? Just to chase away the chill.”
She held my gaze for a long moment before she shook her head.
I pulled out the five beeswax candles and set them to the side before lighting them. The room changed almost immediately. The flames glowed against nearby surfaces, and the great hall took on a cozy feeling, something it hadn’t done in centuries.
Selene gazed at the one closest to her. “This is proper lighting for this room, anyway, don’t you think?”
I offered her a grateful smile as I settled into my chair. “It’s seen more candlelight than electricity. That’s for sure.”
I lifted the wine and set about uncorking the bottle. “You were right, you know.”
She didn’t respond, so I glanced up to find her studying me. I nodded and continued. “At the abbey. About the wraith.”
The cork popped, and I filled both glasses. “It’s my fault you stayed with it as long as you did. I should have told you more before that day. I didn’t, and then I chastised you for it.”
She was quiet for a long moment.
When she spoke, her voice was steady. “There’s so much I don’t know. About me. About you. About the Veil and what’s in it. I’ve been finding my way in the dark, doing the best I can with what little I have.”
“As anyone would.” I pushed a glass toward her, the flames flickering from my movement.
I considered what would help her and what would only frighten her, and I started with the part that mattered most. “I don’t want to argue again about what occurred in the abbey, but I need you to know the best thing to do if you encounter one is to run.
I know you were worried the wraith would get loose and hurt someone else, but that wouldn’t have happened. Not with a common one.”
She held defiance in her gaze as she shook her head. “Except it moved.”
I argued with a similar gesture. “I’ve been at this a long time, Selene. Common wraiths anchor to something solid. A stone, a headstone, a fixed point. They can’t move freely from it.”
She slid her glass closer but didn’t drink. “I know that’s what you claim, but I saw it, Bren. It was on one headstone, and then it was on another. I’m positive.”
I studied her face and could see that she was. “If that’s true, then you saw something I’ve never encountered.” My mind struggled to accept the alternative, but what if she was right? “Or something has changed.”
She stared at me for a long moment, her beautiful green eyes searching my face. “Is that possible?”
I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable that I didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. I suppose time will tell. Even so, I wanted to say you did well to contain the one in the abbey. I just want you to know that it’s okay to run and leave it behind. I’ll sense it and take care of it as I always have.”
She considered that for a long moment and then nodded. “Okay. Hopefully, I’ll never be that close to one again. They scare me.”
I snorted and slid the box containing her entrée to her. “Then you’ve a warrior’s heart, A stór, staying to build a wall of branches to protect others.”
Her soft smile eased the strain on my heart that had been there for days. Her spirit seemed to lift as she looked at me. “It terrified me, but once I had it contained, it felt good. Not for the victory of it, but just to know I’m not completely helpless.”
I smiled as I lifted my fork. “Helpless is not a word I’d equate with you.”
She arched her brow, surprised at my words. “No?”
I shook my head repeatedly for emphasis. “I’m sure you recall how you helped with that thorn wraith. You know you have powers, even if you don’t know the depth of them.”
A smile glimmered in her eyes, even though she withheld it from her mouth as I continued. “And you were anything but a helpless maiden when you encountered me in the silver grove the first time.”
Candlelight danced across her face as her cheeks colored. “I thought it was a dream.”
I chuckled, wondering at the truth of her statement. My gut told me she sensed the pull between us when we’d set eyes on each other at the pub earlier that evening.
That she found her way to my place shortly afterward hinted that something neither of us controlled was at play. I teased her with a grin. “Oh? Does that happen often with you then?”
Selene choked on a swallow and reached for her drink. Once she cleared her throat, she gasped. “Never.”
A chuckle escaped me, and I realized my heart hadn’t felt this light in weeks. I lifted my glass in a toast to her. “Then I must be special.”
Selene dropped her gaze to her plate, but I caught the smile. She stabbed a potato and pointed her fork at me. “Tell me why you asked me to stay after work, unless it was just to torture me.”
A smile landed on my lips but slowly faded. I had much to say, and none would be easy to hear. “I do need to warn you about something else. The things working against the Veil don’t always look like wraiths. Sometimes they look like people.”
She went still. “People I know?”
“Possibly.” I held her gaze. “I have suspicions, but I haven’t confirmed anything yet. But there are people who’d benefit if the Veil came down.”
I expected fear. Instead, her gaze hardened. “Are you talking about Margaret?”
“She’s the one I trust least. Doherty too. There may be others.”
Selene studied my face for a moment. “I haven’t discovered anything about Rian that’s not genuine; have you?”
As little as I wanted the man in my castle, I couldn’t lay his uncle’s choices at his feet. “He seems honest enough and interested only in the work. But you still need to be careful around him.”
Something brightened in her face that I didn’t enjoy. “I’m glad. He’s intelligent and knows his stuff. Maeve’s wonderful too, but restoration isn’t where her strengths are.”
I’d heard enough of his praises and arched my brow at her, keeping my gaze absolutely serious. “Should I have hired him instead of you then?”
Her jaw dropped. “Of course not.”
I let myself smile at her affront. “Don’t worry. I knew you were the right person the moment I met you.”
It was true, but maybe not in the way she’d hear my words.
I’d felt the disturbance the night she crossed into Killarney, the pressure shift at the edge of my awareness that meant something had touched the Veil and shouldn’t have been able to.
I’d gone to find the cause and found her.
The moment I’d spotted her in the pub, I might not have known how she’d impact my life. Only that she would.
My answer seemed to satisfy her. She slid a bite of roast into her mouth, and the careful distance she’d been keeping eased.
Beneath my boots, the stones gave the faintest tremor, there and gone. Selene gave no sign that she’d felt it. I said nothing either, giving us a moment to finish our dinner before I dove into the rest.