Chapter 5 #2
“Don’t touch that!”
“Why not?” Ambrose said as his hand hovered over the handles, which were silver and intricately engraved with markings and jewels.
“I don’t know why. I just don’t want you to.” Tilly sounded testy now.
“Thus are the workings of a woman’s mind.”
“I will take that comment to task shortly, but right now I think we need to get out of here.”
He shot her a look and saw she was scared, eyes wide, face pale.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Tilly.”
She bent slightly and reached for something, and when she straightened, in her hands were a set of shackles. “This place is used for evil, Ambrose.”
He liked the sound of his name on her lips.
“And likely still is. Come, we will see if there is another entrance or any other rooms.”
“Why do you not sound as panicked as I?” she demanded.
“I have three sisters, if I showed panic every time I felt it, they’d eviscerate me.”
He watched Tilly move toward a rug on the floor. It had markings on it he didn’t understand.
“What are you doing?”
She had bent at the waist and was lifting a fringed corner. “I want to see if there is anything under it.”
“Why do you…” His words fell away as she pulled it back and revealed a stain. To him, it looked like either a substance the color of blood or actual blood stains. Ambrose had a feeling it was the latter.
Tilly dropped to her knees before he could stop her and bent to sniff it.
“Get up at once.” He hauled her to her feet.
“That’s blood,” she whispered. “Lots of blood.”
He shackled her wrist with his hand, then picked up the lamp and headed out of the room, pulling her with him. Moving farther down the long passage, they came to the end and a narrow door. There was a lock, but it was not in place.
“Wait here. I will see where it leads.”
“Absolutely not” was her response.
He didn’t sigh, but it was close. His sisters never took direction well either. Entering, he found himself pressed between walls with Tilly at his back. “I thought you disliked tight spaces.”
“I do, but I am strong enough to stand them and not fall about the place in vapors,” came her terse reply.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t give you the option to stay.”
He moved slowly down the narrow passageway with the lamp raised so she could see. The enclosed space didn’t overly appeal to him, but it didn’t have him cowering in a corner like it did one of his sisters either.
He felt a tug on the hem of his jacket but did not comment on the fact that Tilly was ensuring she remained attached to him. Ambrose kept walking until they reached the end. Another door. Upon opening it, he saw only crates stacked beyond.
“There are crates barring the way,” he said.
“Wh-where do you think it leads?”
“Under the street which means there must be stairs down here. As it was not locked, I wonder if the people who are using this place can no longer get in here due to the fact your club, and not a gentleman’s lodging house, is now next door.”
“It has not been that for two years,” she reminded him. “So that is merely speculation,” she added in a tight voice.
“But if your club was empty beforehand, would that not allow even greater freedom to come and go?” Ambrose asked.
“It could,” Tilly agreed reluctantly.
He locked the door because, while she was not convinced about his claim, Ambrose believed whoever was using the room down here was likely entering through it now, and he would not make continued access easy for them.
“We will leave now.” He turned in time to see Tilly hurrying back the way they’d just come.
Following her, he reached the next door and locked that too. Then they made their way back to the stairs.
“What should we do about this?” Tilly asked over her shoulder.
“I think for now we must remain silent, as we have no idea who is involved, or indeed what is going on down here.”
“That was blood in that room, Ambrose. I have read enough about satanic rituals to know what this looks like. If people—”
He cut her off. “I am fully aware that, like my sisters, you have an extremely active imagination, Tilly. But I must insist you rein it in in this case and remain silent,” he instructed.
“This is no game, and considering the blood stain we found, I think whatever is taking place down here is still going on.”
“Fern,” she whispered.
“Pardon?”
With a swish of her skirts, she turned to walk a few feet away from him, then came back again.
It was cold down here, and she was in a dress and little else.
“Would you like my jacket?”
Her eyes shot to his. “No, thank you. I am not cold, as I am clearly made of hardier stock than you, but we digress,” she said.
“And that’s what being a gentleman gets me.”
She spun back to face him, which put her close enough for him to see her eyes, which were wide. She was still scared, he thought.
“You’re safe, Tilly. I’m here, and I will let nothing harm you.”
“It’s the dark and damp. The walls are so close here,” she whispered. “But I can cope with it.”
He hadn’t even realized he was leaning closer to her until he inhaled a deep lungful of her scent. “Is it so wrong to admit something unsettles you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, not moving back as she normally would. “I had to be strong once, so I still am.”
“When?” As they spoke, it felt as if she had an invisible cord attached to him and was pulling it closer.
She didn’t answer, and he didn’t push her, because his lips were soon pressed to hers.