Chapter 15
The sun came out the following day.
After a long, agonizing night cowering beneath her covers, a hint of light pierced her drawn curtains in her room. Relief trickled through her as she threw off the blankets and rose from the bed. She’d barely slept.
Fatigue pounded through her, but she decided to forge onward. After breakfast, a walk to the local village would be good for her to get some fresh air and stretch her legs. It would also be a good time to check and see if there were any letters for her at the post.
She didn’t want to tell Gabriel this, as she wanted time to go alone and to think. To work out everything that had happened to her these last few days in the manor.
When Gabriel was busy in the kitchen, she pulled on her gloves and hat and slipped out the door.
Everything seemed so fresh and bright this morning after the previous day’s rains. The lawn still glistened, shining in the morning light. It was a welcome sight after being stuck inside the dark and dreary manor.
Victoria inhaled a deep breath, enjoying the clean breath of air. Her step was a little livelier as she headed down the footpath and into the village.
The village was bustling with morning activity. With the vendors setting up their carts and the people milling about heading to market. But she was interested in the post and headed there first.
The bell jingled her arrival as she headed inside. The same young man was there as the day she posted the letters. He smiled and nodded as she approached the counter. The post office was otherwise empty.
“Good mornin’, miss. What can I do for you?” he asked, his eyes were bright and his voice cheerful.
“I came to see if you had any letters for me. Miss Victoria Ravenwood,” she said.
“Ah, yes.” He nodded and turned away to the wall of mailboxes behind him. He searched through them until he found the one he wanted and pulled it down. “This came just yesterday.”
He handed it over. She recognized her aunt’s handwriting immediately. Not the sort of letter she was hoping for, exactly.
“Is there nothing else?” she asked.
“’Fraid not, miss. Ain’t your gentleman with you today?” His keen gaze glanced around behind her, as if waiting for him to pop into the building unannounced.
“No,” she said. “I came alone. I was hoping there were responses to my inquiries to hire staff.”
“At the manor?” He drew his brows together.
“Yes. Ravenfell.”
“I don’t ‘spect you’ll be getting any responses, miss,” he said. “Not with the way things are up there.”
Heat pounded through her. “What does that mean?”
“Just that…well…no one seems to keep a job there very long. The hauntings, they say.”
Her mouth turned dry as she stared at him. He mentioned the hauntings before when she was posting her letters. “What do you know about the hauntings?”
The boy shrugged. “Not much. Just what I’ve heard.”
“The lady who died there,” she said. “What have you heard about her?”
Victoria knew she was prying, but since Gabriel wasn’t forthcoming with information, perhaps she could find out something from this young man.
“I think her name was…Loraine? Leena? Something like that. I don’t really know much. It was a long time ago.”
Lenore. The name whispered through her mind.
“How long ago?” she prodded.
He thought long and hard about it before he answered. He whisked his hand over his smooth chin. “I can’t really say. But I know it’s been many years.”
Clearly, she wasn’t getting anywhere with him. “Thank you for your time.”
Clutching the letter, she turned toward the door. She almost reached it when he stopped her.
“Oh, miss? I do recall there was another family that lived there long before yours. A man and his wife—they had a little girl, too.”
She turned back, pausing to look at him. “Are you sure that wasn’t me and my parents twenty years ago?”
“I’m sure. It was before that. Several decades. Maybe more. Reckon the little girl died, too. That’s how the story goes, anyhow. I heard tell the man was so distraught after his lady wife died, he never left the place again. Don’t know what ever happened to him.”
Victoria thought she knew.
A shiver of ice moved through her as though someone had walked over her grave.
She took her time walking back to the manor. With every step, the dread increased. A shiver ran through her at the thought of returning to that desolate place where shadows crept and mist whispered along the halls. She had longed for Ravenfell. Now it felt like it was swallowing her whole.
Her aunt’s letter was clutched in her hand. She glanced down at it, saw it was wrinkled from her tight grip. What news did her aunt have for her?
For the briefest moment, a flash of longing went through her. Of the sun-splashed parlor in their brownstone in the city. The hum of the noise from the streets. The soft warm glow of the lamplight in her room.
If she wrote to her uncle telling him she’d changed her mind about Ravenfell, she had no doubt he would welcome her back with open arms. Her aunt would be more than delighted to find her a husband.
But that’s not what she wanted at all. Living her life under false pretenses was something she could never accept. The idea of a husband being found for her filled her with defiance. She preferred not to live in the shadow of her larger-than-life aunt.
Victoria sighed. Even as she dreaded the manor, she could not stop her feet from carrying her toward it. Toward an uncertain future in a place that was likely haunted.
When she arrived back home, she headed to the parlor to sit and read the letter her aunt sent her.
She lowered herself to the chair, ripped the letter open, and began to read.
It was nothing more than her aunt’s ramblings about city life, her uncle returning to his banking job, the dinner party she threw for several of his colleagues and a few more in high society.
I was so pleased to meet the Honorable Earl of Berkhampstead.
Perhaps you’ve heard of him? He remembered your father.
It seems they traveled abroad together attending galas and the like.
He was quite interested in you when I mentioned you’d inherited Ravenfell and asked if you would mind ever so much if he called on you.
Of course, I told him yes, that you certainly wouldn’t mind—
Victoria stopped reading as a strangled gasp escaped her. Oh, Gods, what had she done? And why was she telling strangers—an earl, no less!—about her and Ravenfell Manor? She crumpled the letter in her fist out of frustration.
How could Aunt Eloise do this to her? Now, Victoria would be on edge wondering if and when this earl would make an appearance. She didn’t need him here snooping around, nor did she want that sort of intrusion here. If he did show up, she’d then have to explain his arrival to Gabriel.
He’d warned her once before the house didn’t like changes or accept them very well. How would this earl’s arrival affect the manor? Would the ghostly presence of Lenore ramp up, then?
She didn’t know. She shot to her feet and paced the small area of the parlor, nerves jangling.
“Is everything all right?”
Gabriel’s voice from the doorway startled her. She yelped, pressing a hand against her racing heart as she halted.
“Oh! You scared me.” She blew out a breath. He was very good at skulking about the manor, unheard.
“Apologies, miss. I didn’t mean to. You seem agitated. Everything all right?” he asked again.
“I’ve received a letter from my aunt.”
He lifted a dark brow and, for a moment, amusement flickered over his face. “Judging by your face, I take it the news was less than delightful.”
She wanted to laugh, but somehow kept it from bubbling up her throat. He didn’t know just how distressing the letter was. And she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. She couldn’t share with him their solitude might be invaded by the Earl of Berkhampstead. So, she played it off with a smile.
“My aunt is…well, she doesn’t think I should be living here.”
Curiosity flickered across his face. “And why is that?”
“I’m a single woman. I’m sure you can guess why.”
“Ah, of course. She thinks you should be married.”
“Married and living in the city, bearing children like a proper wife.” The words tumbled out of her, unbidden. She hadn’t realized how bitter she felt about that until she said it aloud. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
He leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest giving him a causal air that seemed quite out of character. Perhaps things had shifted between them, allowing him to feel a bit more comfortable around her.
“Don’t be. I’m sure it puts you in a difficult situation having her wanting to marry you off.”
He sounded as though he understood her plight and empathized with it.
“Yes, it does.”
His dark eyes remained on hers, studying her intently. “Do you not wish to marry?”
It was an unexpected question. He sounded wholly curious and interested in her answer.
Though why, she did not know. As she considered her answer, she fiddled with the crumpled paper in her hand.
Did she wish to marry? It seemed like an unobtainable goal.
Something she had never really considered.
After the tragic death of her parents, her life came to a halt.
“I think…” she started, choosing her words carefully. “I think perhaps someday. If—” She stopped herself from saying if the suitor is the right man.
Her gaze met his. Was he the right suitor?
She wasn’t sure. But she relished how he caught her in the doorway and held her in his arms. She recalled, with a sudden, sharp memory, there was something otherworldly in his scent, like frost caught in sunlight.
Crisp, fleeting, and gone before she could name it.
It gave her comfort, soothed her, made her want to keep him close.
And yet, she needed to keep him at a distance.
“If?” he repeated, his voice low.
She smiled then, pushing away the thoughts. “It’s nothing. I’m just being silly.”
“I doubt that.” He pushed off the doorway then. “I have work to do in the greenhouse this afternoon.”
It was an announcement he intended to be outside most of the day. She nodded as he walked away.
As Gabriel disappeared down the hall, her gaze drifted upward toward the west wing. Perhaps it was time to stop being afraid of shadows and walk straight into them.