Chapter Ten #2
As soon as she was by his side, he just sighed. She was bold, and he knew it. Her overwhelming need to solve things was going to get them in trouble one day.
He could feel it in his…bones.
Ironically enough.
Ian was a little slower, and Gryphen was shocked. He must not have wanted to get his ass busted by his fiancé. Behind them both, Graham appeared, and he had a few extra lights in his hands.
“I grabbed these,” he said, handing one to Gryphen and one to Finn.
As he did, D’Artangnan was right beside him, hovering. It made Graham nervous because he was still caught up over being called ‘babe’.
His brain was trying to process it, as if it was some cruel joke, and the universe was waiting to laugh at him. Oh, he wanted to be his ‘babe’ more than anything, but what were the chances?
Slim.
To.
None.
As they began moving deeper into the corridor, it was wide enough for them to walk two-by-two. Graham was leading, since the castle was his duty.
The ceiling, or the pasture ground above them, was knotted with roots and a tangle of things that made it incredibly creepy.
“This looks like it was dug out for a reason,” Finn admitted.
Ian agreed.
“Most castles had a secret way in and out,” he stated. “How much do you want to bet that Duncan had the other end blocked off, too? Then, he put his lover in here for safekeeping?”
Only, they hadn’t found him yet.
All they had was the smell of dirt, dampness, and a chilliness.
“If we were getting close to finding Ciarán Begbie, wouldn’t the dead be with us? They haunt the whole place,” she admitted.
That was a good question.
It was cooler in the corridor, but there was no static of talking, or iciness in the air.
“Maybe they’re busy doing something else,” Gryphen admitted. “You know, like having ghost sex.”
Michael laughed.
“I mean, maybe they are. I hope there’s sex in the afterlife,” he admitted, his hand going to Graham’s ass to make that claim of who he wanted to do it with after he died.
Only.
Him.
From his position beside him, the man was about ready to freak out.
He could feel D’Artangnan’s hand on his ass cheek, and it wasn’t moving. It was proprietarily parked there, and he was trying to decipher all of this.
And he wasn’t paying attention.
When he kept walking, he missed the snake hanging among the roots above him.
Only, Michael didn’t.
He grabbed Graham, shoving him and himself out of the way, and tumbling into the corridor wall. Behind him, the snake hung down, and had nearly gotten Graham in the neck.
There was a click of a knife, and then, the snake lost its head.
Gabby gasped as it fell by her foot.
“Snake,” Michael said as Gryphen put his knife away.
Graham was pressed to the wall, and D’Artangnan was pinning him there.
His heart was pounding in his chest, and it wasn’t only because of the snake and how close he’d come to being bitten. D’Artangnan’s mouth was close to his.
“Thank you,” he said.
Michael just pushed off of him and it took all he had not to kiss him before too.
“That was close,” Ian admitted.
Yeah, it was, and Gryphen wasn’t playing.
“Give me your hand, Ian,” he said, and he did. “I’ll just hold onto you. That was too close.”
Yes, yes, it was.
Finn did the same thing, and Graham assumed that he would be the one left out, but D’Artangnan caught him off guard again.
He tucked his hand in his and then did something he never expected.
He kissed their joined fingers.
Oh, holy Hell’s bells.
Graham was on the cusp of having a breakdown. He wasn’t sure if this was real or not. Yes, this was something D’Artangnan did all of those years ago, but why was he doing it now?
Was he asleep?
Was this just because everyone else was around?
He didn’t know.
What he did know and enjoy was that the man beside him smelled good, and he was holding his hand. For the first time in a long time, Graham didn’t feel so lost.
He felt…seen.
Found.
As they continued walking, it didn’t take long to see that there was definitely something there.
As Michael swung his light onto the items there, they looked as if they were haphazardly placed there.
“We hit a treasure trove!” he admitted.
Well, yeah, if a bunch of old shit was your jam, then, yes, they ‘hit a treasure trove’. If it wasn’t, then this was not the place to be.
“This is a weird place to leave things,” Ian admitted. “Why would someone dump things here when it’s clear the tunnel goes back further?”
Graham wasn’t sure, but he took a stab at it.
“Maybe he didn’t get to take the items all the way to their destination. What if Duncan was in a hurry, and they carried this stuff halfway, but had to abort?”
It was a good theory, but honestly, they’d never know since Duncan couldn’t tell them that.
“I don’t see bones,” Gabby said, disappointed.
“Oh, no, we don’t have a dead body,” Finn stated. “How terrible.”
It made her laugh—specifically the monotone of his voice as he said it.
She slapped him on the ass.
“Don’t be spicy.”
Oh, well, if she kept slapping him on his ass, he most definitely was going to be ‘spicy’.
Call it a hunch.
Releasing Graham’s hand, Michael picked up a book that was sitting on a decaying old box.
When he blew the dust off of it, he saw it was a journal. Gabby was right next to him, reading over his arm as he opened it.
“It’s got Duncan’s name in it,” she said, so excitedly that Ian moved closer.
“This might give us something!” the other man admitted. “We have to go through it!”
Well, the other men all knew what they would be doing the rest of today.
Research.
Reading.
And whatever Ian and Gabby wanted.
Because if they were playing investigator, so were Gryphen and Finn.
“What’s that?” Graham asked, pointing past D’Artangnan toward something that was covered against the wall.
When the big man lifted the very old cloth, it almost fell apart in his fingers. It was dry-rotted, and definitely old, but underneath it, they found some paintings.
Surprise.
Surprise.
The castle was full of them in the storage room. Someone definitely liked their art.
“Let’s see,” Michael said.
Gently, he lifted the first one and as he did, Graham shined his light on it. In the very old oil painting, there were four people.
Two men, a young girl, and a little baby.
On the bottom was a gold plate, and on it, there were the names of the people.
And no surprise, it was the owner of the castle, and the people he called family in it.
Because of the people, they knew it was after Duncan and Ciarán got back from doing battle.
Together, they tried to read the names, but it was in a language half of them couldn’t understand.
“What does it say?” Gabby asked, and both Graham and Finn knew.
Graham translated it.
‘Lord Granndach, his man-at-arms, his second wife, and his heir.’
Ian touched the painting with his fingers to brush away some of the dirt and debris that had fallen on it over the years, as it was hidden in this corridor.
“This had to be the official family portrait. Tony said that back then, they got them done yearly in order to mark the time. Duncan had money, so this would be nothing to him cost-wise.”
The six of them huddled around the oil painting, checking it out.
“So that’s what they looked like,” Gryphen said. “Catherine was pretty,” he admitted. “But she was definitely a child. Her eyes are spooky,” he stated.
That they were.
They were the palest blue, and set off against her skin and dark curly hair.
“Well, at least we get to see Ceit’s sister. She can’t be more than thirteen here. This has to be right after Catherine was taken in by Duncan,” Ian admitted. “I’ve seen Ceit’s ghost, and she looks similar. Then again, Ceit was translucent, so she was difficult to make out…”
Gabby agreed.
“If I was looking at this painting, not knowing what I know now, I’d be angry with Duncan for marrying a child. She’s no older than thirteen.”
Michael was curious.
He wasn’t one to solve things, but he did want to help the dead here find peace. The last thing he’d want to do if he was dead was haunt something.
That was the truth.
“What happened to her?” he asked.
Gabby didn’t know. She’d found very little about her, but that was all online.
“We’d have to research her more. I just recently found out after Tony went back to the states, that she was taken as his next wife. I’m sure the archives have something, since she was technically Duncan’s second wife—or whatever he called her.”
Ian grinned.
“That sounds like a trip into the town to the church like the first time. I do love a fieldtrip where we get to go shopping!”
Gryphen sighed.
“Here we go. My man is on the hunt for answers, and I’ll be pack-mule-ing all the presents back to the States. It looks like we’re all playing investigator and shoppers.”
Ian bumped him in the hip with his own, and knew Gryphen really didn’t mind.
“We can get you another kilt,” he suggested.
Oh, well, sign him up.
Graham actually laughed.
“If the castle is a rocking, don’t come a-knockin’,” he joked, getting a wink from Gryphen.
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
Only, he felt the hand on his ass give him a little grope, and he had to wonder if D’Artangnan would like to shake the walls of the castle more.
God.
He hoped so.
Instead of going there, Graham looked around at the old bottles of alcohol in crates, the paintings, and the books.
“I don’t see bones,” he said. “So does that mean the lake bones are Ciarán’s?”
The second he said it, a wind started picking up, and that was weird because they were inside.
Oh, that wasn’t a draft.
So much for the dead being off having a booty call. That clearly wasn’t happening. They were there with them.
In the distance, out by the crypts, they heard the metal gate slam, and they all jumped.
“Is that a yes or no?” Ian whispered to Gabby, who was holding onto his arm for dear life.
She shrugged.
“I think only Tony can tell us that. We’d need to get them all out for him to reconstruct and maybe have Blue do a facial reconstruction.”