The Black Unicorn by Heather E. F. Carter

Author:Heather E. F. Carter [Carter, Heather E. F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blinky Publishing
Published: 2021-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

The weather matched my mood the following day as I tromped through the wooded park.

The night before, the massive darkness of the lonely moorland had pressed threateningly upon the house. A bitter wind howling down from the north sounded like the cries of lost souls left to haunt the chilly heath. It was a wind that brought with it evil tidings as it railed against my windows.

And now the sky, an ominous greenish grey, appeared to be pressing the bloated clouds too close to the earth. A chill north wind picked up by the second; it threatened to tear my bonnet from my head, whipping me in the face with the strings tying my pelisse. It was weather for staying indoors, to be sure. But I was on a mission. I was headed towards the patch of yellow pimpernels, where part of me hoped to find Ashby.

The other part hoped not to find him at all.

A light rain began to fall, slanting through the trees. I clutched my pelisse closer around me as the rain hammered down harder. If I did not find Ashby in the flowers, I would return immediately to the house. I would not wait for him. We’d had our tryst, and it was time to end it. Ashby could have all the young heiresses he liked.

The rain came down harder still, and I realized tetchily that whether I found Ashby or not, I would soon be soaked through. There would also be some explaining to do back at the house, since I’d pled a headache earlier so I could meet Ashby instead of attending Sunday service. If I believed in such things, I might have thought this was God’s way of punishing me for my lie and truancy from church. As it stood, I would have to come up with another lie—and an inventive one at that—to explain why I’d decided to go out for a walk in the rain with a headache.

A shiver ran through me, and I pulled my head down between my shoulders. The rain seemed to grow steadily colder. But if memory served, the bend just up ahead was where I’d found Ashby before. I could smell the inviting scent of a wood fire burning in someone’s fireplace close at hand. Probably the game-keeper’s cottage, and no doubt that worthy soul sat enjoying a hot cup of tea next to the blaze at this very moment. I would join him in spirit, I decided, as soon as I returned to the Towers.

The wind continued to pick up, and I felt mildly uneasy. The world around me grew darker by the moment, and besides the sound of rainfall, everything fell eerily silent. No birds chirruped from the trees, and the woodland critters were nowhere to be seen. Following the path around the bend, I found Ashby’s clump of pimpernels vacant with the little star-shaped flowers closed tightly against the dark skies. I sighed and felt a pang in my heart, a phantom twinge of loss for something I never really had in the first place.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.