The Heirs (The Heart's Edge Series, Book #1)

Chapter 10

The night dragged on but my sleep was long gone. I circled the room before resigning myself to sit in front of the fireplace. A storm was brewing outside and no doubt will hinder our investigation tomorrow. Ravenswood stuck his head into my chambers and watched me before speaking, "Are you just going to sit there all night?"

I frowned in frustration, "Why are you bothering me? Sleep if you want to."

He invited himself in and leaned against a wall. "I can't sleep either. Something is wrong with this house." His eyes traced the walls around us and I sighed in my seat.

Julius was right. This house felt the same as the library in the castle. A strange sense of danger lingered over the place. At first I had signed it off to the recent passing of a member but I could not shake the feeling of being watched. Instead of feeling sorrow for the family of the deceased I felt the urge to get out of this place. It was like a huge dark cloud hung above the house which meant to bring forth a storm only for this place. Dread crept up my spine. Somehow, it also made me worried for Julius. Ever since he had pointed out of the keyhole being recently used, I had felt as if he might have found out a secret. Like he had found out something he wasn't supposed to know.

I closed my eyes and tried to reason with my fear. The clean keyhole could easily be explained by a member of the staff using the room during the day. The loud noise, however, could not be explained. It was far too loud and forceful to be something falling over in the wind. The door shaking on its hinges was not the work of a candle falling over or a cat seeking refuse indoors. Something or someone was up there.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes only to find Julius sitting on the bed and watching me. He ran a hand through his hair and they stuck up in several places. "This could be completely unrelated to our case, you know?" He said. "You don't have to worry about this."

I nodded briefly, "Perhaps it is. But I can't just ignore this, can I?"

The corners of his mouth curled up, "Do you always worry about everything so much?"

I frowned, "This is a serious matter, Julius. Lady Sandra is dead. Her sister might be the next target."

He considered that for a minute, "I am very lost, Colfield. And I don't like being lost at all." He rubbed his chin and rested his elbows on his knees. Leaning forward, he said in a lower voice, "I find everybody in this house very suspicious. Even the staff."

I frowned and sat forward, "Why is that? We haven't even met anyone."

"That's what makes me suspicious. If anything happened to my sister I would be the first person to volunteer any help I could provide, I'm sure you would be the same if any harm came to Adriana. It's very strange that nobody in the family has provided any information about Lady Sandra and what she might have been doing prior to her death. There is no news her parents coming here or anyone asking for her body for burial."

I caught onto his line of thought, "And if Lady Sandra was poisoned in the house, why did nobody notice her falling sick or call for a doctor? If she was poisoned outside, where was she going at five in the morning, even before the sun was out? Why did nobody look for her until we found her four hours later?"

Julius met my eyes, "There is only one person who can tell us if Lady Sandra was poisoned before or after she left the house and where she was going. We need to find the man driving her carriage."

My worry for the grieving sister reduced now that I had ground to doubt her. A loud knock startled me and Julius tensed up at the noise. Another frantic knock came as exchanged a nervous glance. I walked up to the door but Julius sprung in front of me before I could reach for the handle and asked, "Who is it?"

"Your majesty, there is urgent news for you and Princess Rose." We recognised the butler who had escorted us to these chambers.

"Who sent the message at this hour?" Julius asked.

"Your uncle, your highness." He replied from the other side of the door.

Julius hesitated a second before opening the door. "What is the message?" He asked carefully.

"There has been-" The butler paused, "They have found another dead woman." Silence loomed in the room.

I sucked in a breath. Professor was right. This was not going to stop at one murder. I whipped my head around and flung my cloak on, completely forgetting that I was wearing my nightgown. Etiquettes be damned, a woman was dead. Julius, still in his shirt and pants, tugged on his jacket.

"Call our carriage, please." I requested to the butler who nodded feverishly and almost ran.

Just as I was about to follow him, Julius caught me by my arm. "There is a storm outside. I will tell you everything I see, please stay here."

I frowned, "Absolutely not. The skies can rage all they want, I'm going with you." I pulled myself away and left the room. He silently followed me as we both made our way down the staircase. The house was silent and dim lights cast golden shadows in the middle of the floor which bled into darkness towards the corners. I cast a glance around the room before getting to the door and throwing it open. Snow immediately flew into my face from the storm and I braced an arm in front of myself. As the cold rush stopped hitting me with full force I looked up to see Julius who had taken off his jacket and was holding it in front of us. He craned his neck around to look for the carriage as I folded my arm under my cloak.

Soon enough, hooves were heard on the ground and Ravenswood lead me to the carriage door. The inside was much warmer but the long journey ahead of us was unbearable. Once the carriage started moving, the mountains came into view and the snow flurrying past the window made them ever the more sinister. I couldn't take my eyes off the dark giants in the distance as they looked over the Black Sea of trees in front of us. Wolves howled in the distance and the sound was lost in the storm. I felt several pairs of eyes on us- as if whatever ancient beast prowled these woods was watching us. It was waiting with its jaws wide open for us to fall into its mouth. Like the whole forest was waiting for us with baited breath to enter. It made me feel that we might never return once we were inside.

The green jacket of leaves had abandoned the trees in the harsh winter and I couldn't help but think of them as a black sea separating us from the rest of world. It was just the two of us - me and Ravenswood- trying to get across, unharmed.