Chapter Thirteen
Sabrina.
The ferryman waves us off as we drive off the boat and onto the dock, then down a long, winding, narrow road, where I can see the manor from where I sit in the passenger seat.
It sits high on a hill overseeing the entire island, a lighthouse at the edge of the cliff.
Another kilometer and we’re passing through an old wrought-iron archway, where it seems the gate was either ripped off its hinges or there’s simply no need for a door because nobody comes here.
I will my knees not to bounce at that thought.
I am cool, calm, and collected. I am here for answers.
My nerves grate at me as I straighten in my seat, staring up at the humongous Gothic Greystone sitting stoic against an angry sky that looks as though it’s empty save for a few lights on in the windows. It feels haunted even from this distance. What spirits reside here?
My curious mind wants to ask all the questions, but I really don’t want to hear Kane’s voice.
Are there other Syndicate members waiting there?
There are large grounds from what I can see.
Lots of places to hide. I keep sweeping my eyes over our surroundings just in case I do have to run and hide.
I’m so glad I brought my fur-lined boots and not my trainers. Looks like I may need them.
“What do you think?” Kane asks from beside me as we finally park in what looks like a newly constructed garage.
I smile. “It’s beautiful. And it’s just us?”
He nods my way, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “Staff come in the morning and leave in the afternoons before sundown.”
I relax a little. It means we won’t be alone until tonight. But then what? I’ve promised something I can’t give and have no interest in giving. “Lovely,” I reply with a bit of a flirty undertone.
“Right.” Kane says, hazel eyes bouncing between mine, and gets out, letting a blast of the cold air into the vehicle, leaving the keys in the ignition.
He rounds the front of it and opens my door.
I go to the boot, and he scoffs. “Leave it. Staff will get it later. I don’t want you carrying anything heavy, darling. ”
“Kane,” I smile bleakly. “A lady needs her things. I just need to grab my purse, if you’ll unlock it? I promise not to carry anything heavy.”
He steps to me and squeezes my arms over my coat, leaning in to give me a chaste peck on the forehead. Uggghhhhh. As if I wasn’t nauseous enough from the fucking ferry ride. I never understood how Charlie could stand the sea. The amount of motion the waves cause is atrocious.
“Ohhh, Sabrina. You know I can't deny you anything.” Ugh, gag me. “Let me just… go…” He gives me a slight nod and points to the front of the car, leaving me to grab my purse.
The boot opens and I squeal when I see Raven on top of my luggage with my purse in her hands.
“Is everything alright?" We hear the driver’s door shutting.
She throws me my purse and grabs the little string hanging from inside in case one is kidnapped and pulls it shut quickly. “Yes! Yes.” I throw my hand over my chest dramatically. “Just a little mouse.” I swallow, moving away from the vehicle.
Kane hugs me. “Odd. I thought mice hibernate.”
I shrug. “Probably trying to find somewhere to go before the snow starts.”
He grins a lazy smile, the kind that used to warm my heart when I would look at him as a teenager. “You might be right. Come, I’d like to give you a tour and have some tea with you in the drawing room like old times. Would you like that?”
I nod. He cups my elbow, and soon we’re inside the eerily silent manor’s back foyer.
There’s no chatter, no footfalls on the marble flooring from the staff.
I can hear my own pulse in my ears as we stride out of the hallway and into a kitchen where there’s a little redheaded woman standing over a pot, mixing whatever she’s poured in, and it smells delicious.
“Oh, Master Kane,” she greets, stepping away from the large stoves.
Master? Blegh.
“Hello, Patty. Is that for dinner?”
She nods. “Aye, I’ve got the stew for dinner. They’ve announced snow on the radio, and I thought you’d like it.”
Kane grins. “You know I like whatever you make, Patty. This is Sabrina, she’ll be staying with me until further notice.”
I don’t let the shiver run through me. I walk toward her. “Hello, Miss Patty. I’m Sabrina G… Winters. It’s very nice to meet your acquaintance.”
Brown eyes stare at me wide-eyed as if she can’t believe I chose to speak to her of my own volition.
It makes me a bit sad. “Yes, ma’am. It’s very nice to meet you as well.
Are you hungry? I’m just going to make a bit of eggs and toast, if you’d like.
But I can make whatever you’d like. Won’t take me much time. ”
I grin. “Eggs and toast would be lovely, Miss Patty, thank you. The boat here made me a bit nauseous.”
“Aye.”
There’s a noise from behind me and I realize it’s a phone ringing.
“I’ll take that,” Kane says rather quickly and leaves.
I follow after him and see he’s taken the call.
It’s not just a regular phone. It’s a fucking landline.
Shit. My brain works it out. If they’re using dinosaur methods of communication, that means my cell phone won’t work here.
I blink and go back to Miss Patty. Surveying the kitchen again, I realize it’s all gas stoves. About four of them side by side.
“Miss Patty?”
“Yes?” she asks, shutting the refrigerator door closed with a basket of eggs.
“Kane said you all leave before sundown.”
“Aye,” she replies, cracking the eggs into a bowl.
“I sometimes need a bit of warm milk to sleep well throughout the night in new places. How does one turn on the range? I don’t see a microwave.”
She laughs out loud. “Oh, luveen, not much for electronics here, I’m afraid. The Ainsworths are a wee bit old-fashioned.”
In more ways than one, it seems.
“Here, let me whisk these and I’ll show you how to turn on the burners. Two birds, one stone.”
I nod. “Alright.”
I keep my eyes on Miss Patty, watching her every movement when a familiar feminine silhouette stands by the threshold.
Raven watches from the shadows but doesn’t say anything.
I blink at her, and she gives me a solemn nod.
When the chef is done wicking the dozen eggs, she shows me which button to push behind the stove that allows for the gas to begin to travel through the pipes connected behind the stove that lead to the burners. All sixteen of them.
I turn, my eyes flicking to Raven’s, who slinks back until I can’t see her anymore. She’s just taken in all of the same information I did. I relax a bit more.
“Course, we haven’t had to use them here in quite some time. Mrs. Burton hasn’t hosted a party here in a while. So there's been no need,” she says, grabbing a spatula, and begins to mix the eggs and flip them.
“So then we’re alone here?” I ask.
Miss Patty looks over at me. “Other than myself, about three maids, and the house manager, Lincoln, you’ll be alone come nightfall.
” She lowers her voice, grips my wrist, and pulls me down to her level, so close I can smell her breath.
“Do be careful, Miss. Visitors tend to have accidents here, and some… some never make it back home.”
My blood runs cold at her warning.
She lets go of me as soon as we hear Kane’s footsteps on the marble. “Ah, good. Breakfast. Sabrina?”
I turn to face him. “Yes?”
“Let’s eat quickly, shall we? There’s so much I want to show you.”
I smile and bob my head. “Sounds good.”
During hours of being shown the most important parts of the manor—the drawing room, the library, the music room, the theater, etc…
—like I’ve been trained, my eyes sweep every room for the entrances and exits, and I casually try to make sure every window is accessible.
I now know too much history of this house and every person in every gilded portrait who lines its halls.
I have to ask for a moment to refresh myself, to which Kane shows me to a bedroom on the second floor.
I’m in a large bedroom with a Jack and Jill bathroom that connects to a second bedroom on the other side of it.
The furniture is antique, to where you can tell it’s been around for a very long while, yet there’s not a speck of dust. I draw open the heavy, red velvet drapes to see the grounds now coated in a small blanket of snow.
I unlatch the window and it opens easily outward.
I let out a breath. Okay. At least I have that going for me.
But other than Raven and Miss Patricia, I have not seen a single other person whatsoever, not even the staff. I’ve never felt so uneasy.
There’s a knock on my door and I close the window quickly, putting my hand to my pendant and turning my torso slightly as though all I've been doing is gazing outside. “Come in!”
A stout woman with lots of grays in her dark hair comes in. “Hello, Miss. I’m Nelly. I’ve just brought fresh linens, an extra duvet, and towels, just in case you need them later and we’re gone.”
I grin and go to her, taking them from her. “Thank you, Miss Nelly.”
“It’s going to be a cold one. Would you like me to get the fireplace going?”
I arch a brow and look over at the only thing in this room that seems to have been modernized. “Is it also gas powered?”
She grins. “Yes, ma’am.”
Fuck, I wish I had my laptop so I could do a bit of research. “I think I’m fine for now on the fire, seeing as Kane wanted to show me the sunroom. But could you teach me how to power it on for later?”
“Of course.”
I put the linens down and watch intently. It’s like the one I have in Brooklyn Heights, but mine’s electric. “Are they all like this? In case we end up…” I hike a brow suggestively “in a different room.”
The tops of her cheeks tint pink. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Miss Nelly. I appreciate the information.”
She does a little curtsey and leaves the room.
A curtsey.