She stiffened, but didn’t know why. After all, how often had she and her sisters lamented Charles’ unfaithfulness to the agreement? Still, it came as a shock to hear it from this man.
She didn’t know where her sudden anger came from. Maybe it was the fear, because the ghost was now swerving around that corner like it would charge if she asked it to.
“What are you saying about Charles?” she said. “You’re his friend. Is this how your loyalties lie?”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
Siân gasped. “She moved again.”
“I see nothing,” he whispered vehemently. “Listen, Siân, I’ve lied.”
“She’s nothappy.”
“I don’t care about a ghost. I’ll protect you.”
She looked up at him. “From something you cannot see?”
“From anything!”
She pulled away then. It wasn’t the subject; it was the frustration and worry in his voice. He talked of something between them, and just his touch was enough to make her crave him more. Now he looked like he was bracing himself for her anger.
“This isn’t about the kiss, is it?” she said carefully.
“Charles saved my life, and we have been friends for years,” he said. “So I would do anything for him. Even agree to carry a letter to this woman with whom he had an arranged marriage.”
Siân turned her back on the ghost to face the man who was the true threat.
He looked over her shoulder. “The ghost?”
“She’s still there,” she said. “What letter?”
“The one Charles gave me to give to you.”
He’d deceived her? She placed her hands on his chest and shoved away. “You kept a letter from me? Why would you do that?”
“Did the wind pick up?”
“It’s the ghost. She’s swirling now,” she said.
“You want to run towards the horses?”
Not with him. She didn’t feel threatened by the woman, though her hair was flying about in some ghostly fashion. What she felt was… Siân had the odd feeling if she asked this woman for help, she would. Why would she feel any kinship with a woman who had been wronged—
“Oh!” Siân slapped her hand over her mouth. “I’m her, aren’t I? We’rethem. I’m to be married to Charles, and here I am trying to kiss his friend. No, worse! Having feelings for his friend. You’ve made me unfaithful, just like everyone else! And now there’s a letter professing his love for me and I’m to hurry to his side? You kept this from me?”
He shook his head, but she wasn’t done telling him off yet.
“All these years, and I didn’t think Charles cared for me,” she said. “Even when you showed up, there was still a part of me that believed he probably needed me to tend his leg and return home afterwards. But he wrote a letter about feelings, didn’t he?”
“No,” he said. “These words shouldn’t be said this way in anger or hurt. Please, I need—”
She held up her hand to stop his lies. “There’s only one reason you would have hidden it. It’s Charles’ declaring himself a fool for ignoring me all these years. That letter reveals Charles’ love, and you didn’t think you’d stand a chance if I read it because you wanted to have a bit of fun with me!”
“Siân, no, please listen,” he said.
But she didn’t feel like it, and the ghost seemed to agree.
“What’s happening?” He was glaring at the fire’s flames flaring and dimming, at the pebbles and dirt at his feet swirling and dropping.
