The Curse of Land's End by Rose Lorimer

Author:Rose Lorimer [Lorimer, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781686973987
Published: 2019-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Darcy

I woke up with a door banging and jumped to my feet.

The door of our bedroom was closed, but… No! Elizabeth’s bed was empty!

I stood up and went to the door. She must have gone to find some food. Or a chamber pot. I began looking into the other rooms. In the worst scenario, I would find her in a delicate position. She would forgive me, if that was the case. But I could not wait. I needed to find her.

I looked in every room upstairs. At every opened door, my frustration increased. I headed downstairs. Everything was silent. Too silent. I hated the way the moonlight illuminated the inside of the house, tricking my perception. Ten minutes had already passed, and I had not found her.

The hairs on the nape of my neck stood again and I knew what that meant. Damnation! This time, it was not just an impression. I knew something was there, hidden in the shadows.

Passing the threshold of the drawing room, I peeked inside. Another noise and, then, silence again. I looked around, but the only sound now was the creaking wooden floor beneath my boots. The white sheets were still moving, dancing at the sound of the dry branches scratching against the broken windows. But that was not the sound I was looking for.

There! That was the noise! It sounded like a whimper from behind that curtain.

I approached, stretching my hand and noticed it trembling. I lowered my arm and barely could control my breathing. I stretched my hand again, my heart like a horse in a race, deafening me.

I pulled it.

“Good God!” A pair of widened green eyes stared back at me. “Elizabeth!”

Her breathing was fast and short as she rested her gaze on me, mumbling incoherent words. A dark liquid was trickling from her nose.

Blood? “What the—” I cupped her face, cleaning her nose with my thumb, her skin burning under my touch. “Elizabeth! What happened?”

“T-The… the shadow, William… I saw it… again! I-I ran and… hid here,” she stammered between gasps.

“What happened to your nose? Did it hurt you?” I asked, reaching in my pocket for a handkerchief. She did not respond. “Did it hurt you?” I shouted, shaking her shoulders.

“N-No, no,” she finally answered, blinking and shaking her head. “No. I-It did not hurt me. I felt… I needed… I needed to relieve myself… I was in the corridor, looking for a place, w-when I heard a noise and when I… turned, it was there again, l-looking at me. I was terrified and ran, but… my leg… my leg hurt too much!” she said, almost as hysterical as before.

She stopped and her eyes went even wider, her breathing stopping. She looked over my shoulder, lifting a trembling hand, pointing to something behind me. The terror in her eyes triggered a wave of cold sweat through my body.

I turned.

“Merciful Lord!” I whispered, every fibre in my body denying my eyes. I shook my head, willing myself to wake up from that nightmare.

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