Page 98 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
One final stone remained when a soft cry escaped behind the wall.
The dark-haired beauty stared into the remaining hole with cold black eyes and turned away as the last stone was fitted into place.
Senara staggered backward against the force of a lifetime experienced in only a matter of moments. Or perhaps hours?
She had no idea.
The world was still dark. Too dark. Black.
The way Balthasar’s world must have been when the final stone was placed.
Her heart went wild with panic and her hands stretched out in front of her. And kept stretching.
She was not behind a wall. It must have been the candle, either snuffed or having burned out at some point.
Her throat ached and the darkness around her was so thick and black, it felt as if it were pressing into her eyes.
She put a hand to her chest and found her heart still racing.
A man appeared suddenly, his body cast in a milky light. He wore the plain brown robes of a monk. His thick dark hair was mussed and he looked as if he had not shaved in several days. But it was his eyes which turned all the blood in her veins to ice. White-gray and so deeply cold, they appeared to glow. He stared at her, unblinking and fiercely intense.
Her heartbeat stuttered in her chest. “Balthasar.”
He lowered his head in a nod and his form began to fade until only his eyes were left, chilly gray and staring.
Then it was dark and strong arms clamped hard around her.
*
Gavin had meantto calm Senara.
But her screams only intensified when he caught her in his arms. A sharp elbow jabbed into him and his hold loosened on her. She quickly darted to the other side of the hall and came up with a dirk pointed in his direction, her body crouched low and tense for a fight.
Her eyes were wide and wilder than he’d ever seen. They caught his gaze and widened further still.
“Gavin?” she gasped his name. The dirk fell from her hands and landed with a clang on the flagstones.
Even in the yellow-orange glow of the candlelight, her face was white, her expression stricken.
“Senara, what happened?” The hall was warm and the air thick with a suffocating stuffiness. Her candle stood upright on the ground, the wick black from where the flame had been snuffed.
“Did ye see him?” she asked and pointed behind her to where a stone was missing from the wall.
Gavin shook his head. “There’s no one there.”
“No’ now, but there was.” She kept her hand raised and pointing toward the spot in the wall. Her finger trembled.
The missing stone lay on the ground amidst a sifted white powder. Most likely the mortar from the stone.
Gavin reached for her and folded his hand over hers. Her flesh was so icy cold, he almost jerked back in surprise. “Senara.” Perhaps he’d said her name too harshly, but an urgency prodded at him, demanding something was not right.
She looked up at him. Her pupils were pinpricks of black in the sea glass green of her large eyes.
“Who did ye see?” He worked his fingers over her hand in an effort to warm her. She winced, and he realized her fingertips were all scraped raw. Clearly, it was she who had taken the stone from the wall.
She was silent for a long moment, watching him warm her small hands. She drew in a long, deep breath and blew it out. “It must have been a play of the shadows.”
He looked into her face and her gaze slid away. She was lying.
