Almost.
A shiver raced down my spine, and I turned in place only to catch a glimpse of brassy hair fading into nothing. My heart hammered against my throat. Somehow, I kept my breathing in check as I inched toward the fleeting image. The walls seemed to close in on themselves as I moved. They formed a winnowing tunnel ushering me forward. The thick carpet runner beneath my feet swallowed all sound, so that the only thing I heard was my thundering heartbeat. Or maybe it was the house’s demanding pulse.
Come.Beat.
Follow.Beat.
Find me.Beat.
Anxiety and curiosity vibrated through to my fingertips, but I couldn’t stop. Not until I neared the end of the hall and almost ran face-first into Lydia.
“What are you doing?” she sneered. “Forget how to find your room already?”
“No,” I said quickly. All at once the nagging sensation of eyes dispersed. Lydia raised an incredulous brow as I absently brushed my hands along my arms. “I thought I saw someone.”
“Yes, how entirelystrange.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Especially considering the number of people who actually live here.”
Her condescension was thick, and rather than try to argue, I simply turned away. “Right. Night, Lydia.”
“Lady Fernglove,” she called to my back, not bothering to hide the malice in her words.
I clenched my jaw tight as I picked up the pace and made it safely back to my room. Lydia’s disdain aside, I could’ve sworn I’d seen something. Rather, something had seen me—and it’d been watching me from the moment I’d set foot in this manor. The lines of the Fernglove family tree sprawled through my mind. Maybe an ancestor spirit still lingered in these halls. I shivered. Regardless of its origin, I’d somehow snared its attention, and there was little I could do to change that.
Twelve
The next morning, I woke with the sun, well before most of the household even dared to leave the comfort of their beds. Rather than wait aimlessly for my day with Seville, I dressed and moved through the quiet halls toward the kitchen. Shortly after, coffee and biscuit in hand, I headed for the library. I’d left the journals out on the table, and it took me only a few moments to settle on the sofa and reclaim my aunt’s diary. Again, I pored through every entry. Again, I fingered the remains of the missing page while I stared at Mavis’s name. I didn’t know what to make of any of it. It could be nothing. It could be everything.
An hour passed until the sharp clack of heels against the floorboards disrupted the stuffy quiet of the library, and I glanced up to find Seville sauntering toward me. She yanked the journal out of my hands and held it a few inches from her face. Her eyes softened, lingering on my aunt’s scrawl.
“Ah, Rowena. My favorite threadmender.” She snapped the book shut and handed it back to me. “She had a beautiful way with words.”
“You wouldn’t know it from her entries here.” I set the journal on the table. “Did she share other writings with you?”
“Some things here and there,” she said with a dismissive wave. “I don’t particularly feel like discussing it right now.”
“Ah, yes. Seville’s agenda or no agenda,” I murmured.
“A bit brazen this morning, I see.” She leaned against the back of the couch and braced her hands on the polished frame. With a wicked grin, she dipped her lips toward my ear. “Glad you’re getting the hang of things.”
Gooseflesh rippled down my shoulder, and I scooted out of her reach. “I’m guessing by your presence it’s time we visit the tailor?”
“Yes.” She flipped her lustrous hair off her shoulder, then straightened. Her stare shifted to my neck. “Probably best if you leave that thing behind.”
Thing?I followed her gaze to Ywena, who’d given a strange huff in response. She fluttered her wings and practically flattened herself to my skin.
“She’s not athing. And I doubt Rorik would be fine with it,” I said.
“Good thing I don’t answer to him.” She then waggled her fingers at Ywena in a shooing motion. “Go on. We’ll be trying on clothes, so there’ll be no place for you to perch anyway. Tell Rorik if you must.”
Ywena hesitated for a moment, her antennae twitching madly, and then she took off. She fluttered through the shafts of light spilling from the windows until she reached the foyer and then drifted out of sight.
A devilish grin tugged at Seville’s lips. “He’ll just love that. Off to Willowfell we go.”
“Willowfell?” A heaviness settled in my stomach.
“Where else did you think we would go? Some of our attendants are skilled with needles, but not to the extent we’re looking for.” Her thin brows inched together as she studied me. Then herface relaxed and her lips curled into a wicked, knowing grin. “You don’t want the townsfolk to see you with me. With an Ever.”
“No.”Yes. No. Maybe.I couldn’t really parse the emotions coalescing in my gut. For years, I’d been vocal about my disdain for Evers and their antics. Walking through Willowfell with one at my side would feel like the obscenest of hypocrisies. And I wasn’t even by Seville’sside. Not in that sense, not as an equal. But as an employee. It didn’t matter that I’d had little choice in the matter. I wasn’t even certain anyone in town knew about my whereabouts or what’d happened the evening my brothers succumbed to blight.
