Dirty cloth hung off her body, so indistinguishable that I couldn’t tell if it had been a nightgown or a trench coat. Strands of hair stuck straight out from her skull in clumps, leaving the rest bald. Any humanity that had once existed here was so barely visible that I wondered if I should ask Elyse?—
My wandering mind snapped back to attention as it moved farther into the room. The head moved minutely, enough for the one eye left to focus on first Sky, then the man, and back to Sky again. A slow, horrific grin spread across her face, revealing black, busted teeth. A long black tongue slipped out of her mouth, licking across her lips as she zeroed in on Sky.
That tongue…holy goddess help us all, that tongue. It had left her almost translucent lips red and clotted. Vomit rose in my mouth as she took another step forward?—
Chapter
Ten
HighPriestess
As soon asKingston’s body fell into the stillness of dreamless sleep, I slipped from his room and into my own. “I’m sorry, Lee. I know you wanted me to wait, but I can’t. I just can’t take it anymore. Did you see how long it took my potion to work? Not even the incense soothed him tonight.”
“I know?—”
“No, don’t tell me you know.” I’d rarely yelled at my love, my heart and soul, in all the years we’d been together, but we’d waited so long. Maybe too long. “I know it hasn’t always been you. Sometimes I’m the one who’s wanted to protect him from the truth, but we can’t any longer.”
“Shh, shh, Rosie,” Lee said, drawing me into his arms. He swayed me in his arms like he had when we first met, back so long ago. “I know you’re right.”
Anxiously, I barreled on. “I don’t know what my little prince found inside that castle that made his legs move like he was sprinting a marathon, but I know what I saw up in the window.”
“The castle window?” He tilted his head, reminding me of the horror I’d just seen, and I turned away.
“Yes, he’s been called to the castle where the two towns meet, and one of the lost stood up in the window, watching. His neck was elongated, bent, and broken, and when Kingston disappeared into the structure, his dead-eyed stare darkened with malicious intent. Toward my?—”
“Rosie,” he barked. “Did you follow him? Did you walk with him?”
“Shit,” I breathed out, then turned to face him. “Yes. Yes, I did. And you can’t be mad at me. I just watched out for him. You weren’t back from the manor yet, and I didn’t think. I had to. He’s losing weight and avoiding his friends, and I thought maybe…”
He blinked out and back into existence right in front of me, taking my old, weathered hands in his own. He’d been taken from me too soon, but he’d changed his appearance to age with mine. My sweet Lee. Always so good to me. Still so dignified and handsome, even with a head full of white hair that reminded me of plump clouds or a pile of freshly fallen snow.
“My love, you musn’t go with him. You musn’t. What if you got trapped or lost in the veil between? And I’m most certainly not ready for you to meet me on this side. Our grandson will need your love and guidance.”
He pulled me in, cuddling me close. “You can tell him tomorrow. Let him rest for tonight.”
Tears of gratefulness welled in my eyes, but there was also fear. “He can’t do this alone, though, Lee. What if he gets?—”
“Shh, shh.” He rocked me, soothing me with gentle rubs across my back. “The young man. Skylar. He’s the one, Rosie. I’m sure of it. Things started to change once they vanquished the poltergeist at the manor, but I don’t think that’s it. I believe his one has found him.”
Drawing back, I stared into his beloved face. “Are you positive?”
He nodded solemnly.
I exhaled a long sigh, feeling sad for both of them. “I did so want them to fall in love without the burden of this. Feel like they had a choice.”
He snorted. “Oh, that Skylar’s fallen for our boy, alright. Don’t you worry about that. And if the rumors circulating around the spirits who live there are true, I think our Kingston’s pretty smitten himself.”
“Really?” He smiled, and the tightness in my chest eased. “So maybe this won’t be too bad.”
Lee swooped me into his arms, laying me back over one arm, making me giggle. “It tis fate, my love. Destiny.” He stared into my eyes with a lifetime of love and adoration. “Just like us.” Then he kissed me.
Chapter
Eleven
Skylar
BeMy Little Babyby the Ronettes sang out from my phone, startling me. That was the song I’d set for Kingston, but he never reached out to me first. My heart thudded in my chest, and anticipation zinged through my veins.
