Chapter 14 #2
Madeleine only asked three more questions before declaring the game over, but for each of those questions, Nicholas’s answers felt like a private message to Sadie. She didn’t know what to make of it.
“And our winner is Sadie,” Madeleine announced. “And in second place is Abigail. They will sit next to Nicholas at supper. I will also announce our next round of activities for the coming week tonight.”
Sadie shot out of her seat the moment Madeleine finished talking.
She needed a moment away from everyone and their thoughts in order to put her own in order.
She wished she could retreat to the brewing room, but Jane would surely head there next.
Pippa came and went from her suite at random times.
If Sadie really wanted to be alone, there was only one place she could go.
She made it out of the manor without issue and turned toward the Gloaming Forest. Her thoughts weren’t alone in her head though.
Someone was within range of her power, which extended out about the same size as the parlor she had just left.
She turned, unsurprised after the anger her magic was picking up to see Abigail marching toward her.
“You cheated!”
Sadie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. At least Abigail’s thoughts and words matched. “It was a game, Abigail. And you will be sitting next to Nicholas tonight at dinner, too.”
Wouldn’t that be fun?
“But you cheated! You never could have guessed so many of his answers otherwise.”
“We weren’t supposed to be guessing his answers, but writing our own honest opinions,” Sadie pointed out.
“We all know that wasn’t what the game was about. And you must have been looking at what he was writing. How else could you have answered the same as him so many times? I’ve never even seen a spring, so how could you know it exists, let alone claim it is your favorite place?”
“The spring is in the forest. I can take you to it right now.”
Abigail lifted her chin higher. “Fine. Show me this spring.”
Well, damn. Sadie had hoped the offer to take her into the forest would be enough to get rid of Abigail. She underestimated how far the other woman would go to win over Nicholas, however.
If she does know where this spring is, then I need to, too. It could be the perfect spot to seduce the baron, since he likes it so much.
“You want to go into the Gloaming Forest?” Sadie asked, hoping to make Abigail reconsider.
“I knew you were bluffing. You don’t know where the spring is at all.”
Sadie sighed again and resumed her walk toward the woods. She looked back over her shoulder at Abigail. “I’m going to the spring now. You can follow me if you want.”
Abigail followed.
Sadie stayed several strides in front of her and took the opportunity to lick her thumb and trace the glyph on her amulet once more.
Abigail’s thoughts faded from her awareness.
Once they were under the trees, however, the younger woman sped up and closed the distance between them, clearly less sanguine about entering the forest than she had pretended.
She jumped when a bird cawed directly overhead. “Why would the baron want to spend time out here?”
“Most of Marstede is in the forest. It would be odd if he were afraid of his own lands.”
“But he doesn’t have to live out here! He has a house in Linzen. Who would choose the wilds over civilization?”
Lord Nicholas Huxley. And Sadie Winsel.
Sadie didn’t reply, though, for the answer was obvious. They walked a few minutes longer in silence. Abigail started at every twig breaking or chittering of a squirrel.
“Do you actually know where you are going?” she demanded, her voice shrill with genuine fear. “Are you trying to get me lost in the woods?”
“Abigail.” Sadie didn’t like her, and didn’t appreciate that she jumped to the worst conclusions, but she could understand not reacting well when afraid.
“I’m walking right next to you. If I tried to get you lost, I’d have to get lost myself, too.
I promise, I know where I’m going. But we can turn around if you don’t want to see the spring anymore. ”
“How are you so calm?” Abigail demanded. She shivered. “Can’t you sense how evil the spirits are here? They don’t want us in the woods.”
All right, there was maybe something a little sinister about the woods today, a coolness that couldn’t be accounted for solely by the shade of the trees, a sense of being watched.
But Sadie was not about to run back to the manor gibbering about spirits haunting the place.
The difference between today and her last trip inside the forest was her companion.
Abigail’s superstitions were simply making her look at things differently.
Sadie turned around. “I guess we’d better head back then.”
Abigail walked a little faster once they had turned, pulling ahead of Sadie on the path. There was no chance she’d get lost. They’d followed the main path the entire way, and the only branching led to a path so minor there was no way to confuse it with the main one. Sadie let her take the lead.
Her position a pace behind gave her the perfect view when the large spider dropped from an overhanging branch directly onto Abigail’s head.
Sadie sucked in a breath, startled, and a little freaked out by the creature, honestly.
She wasn’t afraid of spiders, necessarily, but she didn’t like them and this one was … all right, it was a little scary.
Need to get inside.
The thought washed over her, more focused than Abigail’s earlier worries about leaving the forest. She must have reached the point where she had to focus on that goal in order not to panic.
Sadie didn’t understand. Even with the forest feeling a little darker than it had during her walk with Nicholas, it wasn’t that bad.
Then the flow of Abigail’s thoughts cut off. They were locked behind a mental barrier Sadie could push through, but wouldn’t. Abigail rarely contained her thoughts that way. It wasn’t intentional now, but a sign that she had turned her focus inward.
This would be the worst possible moment for Sadie to point out the spider. Just reminding Abigail that she wasn’t alone might startle her, let alone mentioning a creepy crawly nesting in her hair.
Sadie almost wanted to speak up just to see the reaction. But one woman running from the woods to the manor screaming was enough for the week.
She should probably say something before they entered the manor, though. Or try and discreetly knock it off without Abigail noticing. Sadie shuddered at the thought.
They neared the edge of the forest, and she knew she had to make a decision soon. Then Abigail reached a hand up toward her head. Sadie tensed.
Abigail held her hand close to her hair, directly next to the spider, as if she already knew it was there. The spider scurried over her blond hair and onto her palm. Abigail casually lowered her hand, flicked the spider into the trees, and stepped out of the forest.
Sadie stopped, gaping. She wasn’t one to assume all women were afraid of insects and spiders, but she admitted she had assumed Abigail was. The woman couldn’t even stand being in the forest for a quarter of an hour.
Well, it hardly mattered. The spider was gone, Abigail was safely back at the manor, and Sadie could finally take the time for herself that she needed.
She turned away from the house. The forest no longer had that extra shiver of menace.
She must have only imagined the chill and deeper shadows because of the influence of Abigail’s thoughts.
Now that she was alone in her mind, it was once more an inviting haven of solitude.