Chapter 27 #3
Another step back, her heart racing. The sun touched the back of Nessa’s neck, and she dared another glance behind. The way to the path was drowned in water, but not an impossible journey.
I should run … but if I do that, he might stop me.
“Tell me,” Nessa pressed, hoping to distract the man. “What happened?”
His lip curled in disgust. “I was a fool; that's what happened. I believed that she loved me, and after years of living a lie, I told her the truth of it. What was more, I demanded that she leave Alaric for me. I begged her!” He screamed that final word, and it crashed through the shallow cave.
“That was when she told me that she could not do so, and that the love I felt was not returned.”
“And then you killed her …” Another step back.
“I did not!” he screamed in fury. “I never could! But I was furious with her – embarrassed. I threatened her. I told her that I would show Alaric these letters. That I would make the world see who she truly was. How sad and desperate she was, so that she might understand my pain. I …” He took a step toward Nessa.
“I forced her hand, and that was how she died.”
“How?” Nessa asked, unblinking, waiting for the moment she could turn and run. “I do not understand.”
“She knew I would come here,” he began as he took another step toward her.
“So, one evening, she stole down to the lake and took a boat for herself. I had been teaching her how to sail, and while she had come far, she was not nearly ready to go it alone. The next day, I realized what she had done, so I rushed down here, only to realize that she had not made it to this cave.” He winced as if in pain.
“And the horrible part was how thrilled I was – I laughed, if you can believe it? Knowing that she had failed. I wanted her to fail.”
Nessa took another step back, and the water reached her waist. She started to shake, but the cave’s exit was a foot away …
“And then, I went home. I figured that she would return soon enough, hoping that her failure might be enough for her to …” He shook his head and laughed bitterly.
“I do not even know. I was angry and jealous, and I did nothing. Aisling was out there, somewhere. I knew it, and I did not try to find her.”
“You blame yourself …”
“Of course I do!” he shouted again and swept his hand. “I ought to have searched for her sooner! I ought to have stopped her when I knew what she would do! But by the time I realized she was not coming back, it was too late. I knew she was dead, as I knew it was my fault.”
It was heartbreaking, and if Nessa were not so stricken with fear, she might have pitied Lord Crispin. But the man was broken, deranged, and Nessa did not wish to find out what that might see him do.
“Tell Alaric of this,” she said as she crept back further, forced to wade through the rising tide. “Tell him that you –”
“No,” he snarled. “I will not make excuses. I will not ask for forgiveness. I will live with what I did, as that is the least of what I deserve. Now …” He fixed his deranged gaze on her. “Give me that letter.”
“Why? What does it matter?”
“It is all I have left,” he pleaded. “I need … I lost her, Miss Kavanagh. She is never coming back. But those letters remind me of my love for her, and I will not leave without them. All of them. Now, give it to me.”
He lunged for her. Nessa gasped and turned to run. The tide was heavy around her waist; she stumbled, nearly fell, and Lord Crispin had her in his arms.
“Let me go!” she cried as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Give me that letter!”
“No!”
“Give it –” With one hand around her waist, he reached into the front of her dress and tore the letter free.
“Let me go!” Nessa swung her arm back, her elbow connected with his nose, and Lord Crispin cried out, released her, and fell back.
That was when Nessa ran for it.
She pushed through the deep waters; each step taken saw them rise higher so that when she breached the cave, they reached her chest. Turning, she cried out in alarm because the way back to the path was blocked by raging waters that smashed against the base of the cliffs.
“Miss Kavanagh! Wait –”
Nessa turned and looked up the towering cliff face. It was twenty feet high, sheer, steep, and treacherous. But she had no choice, no other means to escape, so she threw her body against the rock and started her climb.
The rocks cut her hands. Water smashed against her back. Her arms trembled, and her fingers bled as she clung and pulled herself up …
Then she heard it: the sound of a horse thundering against the earth.
It came from above, and Nessa looked up, just in time to see the horse reach the edge of the cliff above her.
On the horse sat Lord Thornwyck; their eyes met, and where she could not read his expression, she dared to smile as if he had come to save her … she dared to dream it.
Then another wave smashed into her back; she lost her grip on the rocks, the breath left her lungs, and her stomach rose quickly as she fell backwards, arms flailing, a scream reaching her lips only to become swallowed as her body plunged back into the water below.