Dead Tempted - BOOK 1 - Pomegranate Seeds

PART ONE - VIII

Bronwen's next sleepless night was thankfully less tedious than the first. This time she did light a lamp, using the curtain of her enclosed window seat to hide the light. In the burrow she had made, Bronwen read most of a book, did a small amount of embroidery, without much thought as to what she was designing and drafted yet another letter to Josette, never to be sent.

She had no idea what she should tell her friend. Josette was a liberal woman with strong beliefs about what she considered freedom in society but she was also a strong believer in God, so Bronwen was not sure how she would take the news that her friend was an undead, reluctant concubine of the Devil.

The last few hours of the night, Bronwen again spent watching the servants of the house and was found thus by Alda.

"It is not Ladylike to be staring out of the window like some love lost widow," she scolded, fully opening the curtain that Bronwen had been peering around.

"I thought that was the purpose of a woman," Bronwen replied sarcastically. "To stare wistfully upon the horizon for her husband to return to her."

"I will have less of your cheek, domina domus, the day is still young and I am not."

Bronwen smiled at Alda, knowing she was also jesting.

"What would you like to do today, milady?" Alda asked once Bronwen was dressed.

"I thought I might take a ride along the river."

"Outside? But it looks like it might rain and it is so muddy by the river this time of year."

"I do not expect the horses will mind and I shall be back before the rain begins."

Bronwen smiled. She had been expecting Alda's answer and had prepared herself for a battle. She knew exactly how she wished to spend her time. The quicker she could find those that cursed her to her fate, the quicker she could put herself to rest and be rid of more demons than just Thanatos.

"Why not take a turn about the fields instead?" Alda suggested. She refused to ride a horse but would not let Bronwen out of her sight. Alda would rather stand sinking in the mud of her father's fields than ride a horse or let Bronwen out alone.

"Alda, I cannot have you stand in the cold and I wish to explore the river. You should remain here."

"You cannot go out on your own, not after what happened last time."

There was a shamed look in Alda's eyes and Bronwen suddenly realised that Alda felt guilty about what had happened to her in Lowell's shop. Donovan had not let her accompany Bronwen, saying that she would be perfectly safe with the carriage drivers. Perhaps her father was feeling just as guilty, which was why he had been acting so strangely since her return.

Bronwen laid a kind hand on Alda's arm. "I will not be alone. I have my own bodyguard now. Mr Whyms will go with me."

Alda gave Bronwen a sceptical look. Apparently, she did not entirely trust Adam either, but Bronwen was adamant. She had had an entire night to contemplate how she might set about finding her killers and had decided to start where it had all ended; the clearing where she had been taken.

Still, it took quite a bit of persuasion to convince Alda and in the end, Bronwen had been sent with Alda's grandson Mervyn in tow to satisfy her overprotectiveness. He was strong from heaving loads and was used to riding horses from working on the farmlands attached to Metrom Hall, which provided all the household food.

Bronwen did not see the logic in sending two men out with her rather than one but was glad she would not be alone with Adam. As she settled herself onto her horse, she contemplated the ridiculous notion of being afraid of one's own bodyguard and decided that she would take this time to get to know Adam Whyms, in the hope that the unnerving feeling she had around him would ease.