Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
I walk on Talia’s right, the two of us staying at the back of the small crowd of twenty or so humans who are being led by a guide up the long gravel driveway.
The formal Italian gardens have half gone to sleep thanks to autumn's chill, but there are still a few rose bushes and winter flowers blooming in the dark. My chest tightens, a prick of nostalgia twisting there as I remember a wrought iron bench and long conversations with Talia dressed in elegant gowns as we’d end our evenings there and talk until dawn threatened to break the sky.
“As you can see, this beautifully and elegantly built home belonged to the famous benefactors, one of the founding families of Edgemont, the Ashcrofts,” the guide says as he leads us up the drive and beneath the sandstone pillared archway to the main entrance of the home.
I lean down slightly to whisper in Talia’s ear as the guide continues explaining history that I've known for far longer than he has. “This was the site of our first kiss,” I say, motioning to the pillar on the left. I reach down, pulling her wrist to my lips and planting a kiss there, relishing Talia’s soft smile as we follow the group inside.
“I remember how terrified I was of you the first time I met you,” she whispers back as the guide pauses the group in the grand entryway, the ancient and slightly sweet smell of a home well preserved over the centuries swarming us.
I furrow my brow. “Did I do something to make you fear me?”
Talia shakes her head. “I was more afraid of the stories my father told me about you. The legend surrounding your hunter status.” She chuckles softly. “And you were just a young thing back then, with barely even half the arsenal you have now. That was intimidating enough, let alone the fact that my father had chosen you for me, and fate agreed. It was a lot to take in.”
The guide presses on, leading us to the right where the formal sitting room waits.
“I won your heart on my own,” I say. “And you stole mine the second you opened your mouth. Fate and your father had nothing to do with those two things.”
Talia smiles up at me, those lilac eyes vulnerable as they meet mine. “Well,” she says, pairing it with a little shrug. “I'm not afraid of you anymore.”
Her smile turns sharp and devious, spiking heat straight through my veins. It was no secret I couldn't get enough of this female, but we were on a mission, so I did my best to keep my hands to myself.
“The Ashcrofts hired European artisans to build the estate we're standing in now,” the guide continues as the group looks over the portion of the sitting room we’re allowed to stand in—the rest of it sectioned off by velvet ropes—furniture and trinkets from centuries ago on display on the other side. “All of these are original furnishings,” the guide says, motioning to the fabric-covered couches, floral prints, and embroidered gold. “And it's said, at least by a few of our night keepers, that Lady Ashcroft herself can be found sitting in this very chair, an ethereal figure who longs to remain in her home.”
Talia snorts, barely covering up her laugh.
The guide spots her in the crowd, tilting his head as he continues with the tour, leading us out of the sitting room and through the kitchen, then on to the formal dining room, and the morning room next to it.
“And this is the morning room,” he says. “This is likely where Lady Ashcroft and Sir Ashcroft took their morning breakfast, along with their daughter when she was born.”
“Actually,” Talia speaks up, and I do my best not to cringe. “The morning room was used as school room, not a breakfast spot.”
The guide seems taken aback, then smiles almost pitifully at Talia. “I'm not sure where you heard that information,” he says. “But girls weren't educated in the fifteen hundreds. Unfortunately.”
“Tell that to my mother,” Talia mumbles under her breath, but the guide continues on, leading us through other various rooms in the estate.
“This is another spot where our night keepers claim they've seen an apparition, this one a masculine figure that could be Sir Ashcroft himself.” He points to a long hallway that leads to several bedrooms, those sections roped off and closed to the public.
Talia laughs, and I see her fingers flick just slightly—
A stack of books topples over behind the group whose focus is on the opposite hallway. The humans jump, gasping as they look to the guide and back to the pile of books now on the floor, which had been resting upon a Victorian desk tucked against the wall in a roped-off section of an open study.