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We both laughed, but I wasn’t lying.
How had I ended up here?
Glenroch Castle itself wasn’t two hundred meters away, but that barely mattered as we approached. We were barely past the sign when the castle came into view. It was nestled in the hills, with the loch on one side and expansive gardens on the other.
The photos I’d seen did not do it justice.
Glenroch Castle really was a fairy-tale come to life. It was a mix of baroque, Palladian, and Gothic-style, with three main floors and a tower at all four corners, each with a conical roof that stretched high into the sky. Every window was slightly inset into the thick stone walls, framed by an arch, and as we drove closer along the long, sweeping driveway, I could see that the doors were huge, thick wood that was carved in a way I couldn’t make out from this distance.
The closer we got to the castle, the more imposing it appeared. Almost as if it were raised up from the rest of the ground around it, and even though we were driving up a gentle slope, we still weren’t quite getting close to it.
It was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen in my life.
And I’d grown up in an extravagant manor house, so it shouldn’t have been anything new to me, yet it was.
It was just… magical.
“Wow,” I whispered.
William dipped his chin as he pulled up outside the front of the castle. “Yeah, it’s something.”
“It’s beautiful,” I replied, smiling at it. “Truly.”
His lips twitched to the side, and he got out of the car. I knew I should wait for him, but I wanted to see the castle for myself without the window in the way, so I popped the door handle and pushed it open.
Will’s eyes flashed with amusement. “I was going to get that for you.”
“I know, but…” I leant against the door and took in the vision of the castle before me.
Look.
I’d seen castles.
Every British person was familiar with castles. They were everywhere, they were gorgeous, they were history. They were a part of us.
But some were special, and Glenroch Castle was… oh. So special.
“Oh, wow,” I whispered, gripping the top of the car door. “The pictures do not do this justice.”
He leant against the front of the car, lips tugged up on one side, and slowly bobbed his head. “Yes, it really is beautiful. I forget that sometimes, I think.”
I skirted my gaze across the entire castle, from the conical roofs of the towers to the middle part that seemed to stretch up two stories higher than the rest with a stone that gave away its much older build, to the doors.
That were opening.
“That’s my grandparents,” Will said quickly. “They saw us coming.”
I took a deep breath, picked up my handbag from the footwell of the car, and straightened my spine. “Let’s go.”
He looked at me. “What?”
“Let’s go.” I pushed the car door shut. “What, do you think they’re here for a picnic?”
Will pushed off the car and turned to me. “Grace, do you know—”
“William, you’re back!” The elegant, older woman in front of us preceded her husband in approaching us, holding her arms out wide in an obvious demand for a hug from her grandson.
She was clearly the Duchess of Glenroch.
