Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
He kissed her quick. “And here is where we will stay together. Now let’s go see about that crumbling stone.”
Torin examined the stone. “The mortar is crumbling. I can have it repaired.”
“What if it is not meant to be repaired? What if it is meant to be unsealed, finally opened to free whatever has been locked away all these years?” Flora asked. “I know it probably sounds foolish, but I got the sense that I was led here for a reason, and I believe that reason is for this room to be unsealed and the keep freed of whatever secret it harbors.”
“I heard my grandda warn my da repeatedly and my da warned me repeatedly never to unseal the room.”
“They are gone, and you are here, and something haunts this keep, and the clan has suffered with worry over the ghost. The room will either prove that the tower windows allow the air to rush in through the keep and create the moaning sound everyone fears is a ghost or, possibly, free whatever has been locked away all these years.”
“And what if it is not meant to be freed? What if there is something in there that has been meant to stay locked away forever?” Torin asked, troubled with the decision he would need to make.
“Nothing stays locked away forever. Somewhere along the way secrets are revealed just like with my da and mum. I would have never believed they kept a secret from me, and they probably never planned for me to find out, but I did. While I can understand why they never told me, I wish they had confided in me. I know I shouldn’t, and it is foolish, but I somehow feel left out of their lives because of it.” She rested her hand on his chest. “You do not keep any secrets from me, do you?”
“Nay, Flora, I have no hidden secrets and I will not keep any secrets from you through the years, for I would not want you to do that to me. We share always, whether good or bad, we speak the truth to each other.”
“Aye, always the truth,” she agreed with a nod.
“As for this room, I still need to think on it. If the tower was a place where people were tortured, what would I release by opening it? And if not, then what else might reveal itself that was never meant to be made known? It is a serious decision to make, and I cannot make it quickly or lightly.”
She reiterated what she had once told him. “I understand and I will support whatever decision you make.”
“I am pleased you continue to understand. Now I need to have my daily talk with Kinnell and see if anything in the clan, besides the obvious, needs my attention. And you will remain in the keep, so I need not worry.”
Torin left Flora in the Great Hall talking with Anwen and went to his solar with Kinnell, his mind lingering on the tower room and his wife’s safety.
Flora lay awake, her husband sleeping soundly beside her. They had lingered in their lovemaking once in bed and she smiled at the memory of the way he had explored her body and how she had done the same to his. In the end, they had rushed to finish their need was so great for each other. She had thought she would fall asleep as fast as her husband had, so satisfied and at ease she felt, but sleep would not come.
She listened to the crackle of the fire, her husband’s easy breathing, and closed her eyes lingering in the warmth and safety she felt with her husband lying beside her. All was good and yet she felt an unrest stirring in her. She reasoned it was because of what she had learned about her parents and the threat to her life with no apparent reason for it. She was accustomed to discussing things with her parents and together they would reach conclusions, but they were not here to help her with this, and they could very well be the cause of the problem. They would not be happy knowing they may have brought her harm. Why, though, were they asking her for help in her dreams?
She shook her head, trying to chase away her relentless thoughts so she could finally sleep. She forced herself to keep her eyes shut, thinking sleep might have no other choice but to claim her.
She concentrated on the crackling and occasional pop of the fire when a sudden chill hit her feet beneath the blanket. It circled them as it had the other night, then began to creep slowly up her legs, sending an icy cold through her. The cold continued to make its way up her body, hugging at her waist, nipping at her breasts until it felt as if it completely encompassed her. She tried to reach out for her husband’s hand, but she could not move. She tried to call out to him, but she had no voice. Fear gripped her, not knowing what to do, not knowing what was happening to her.