Throwing caution to the wind, Caius put his arms around her and held her tightly in one of the better moments of his life. She was so sweet and soft and warm.
His heart began to race, just a little.
“Be brave just a while longer, please,” he murmured into the top of her head. “Caspian is waiting.”
She was pressed up against him, burrowing deep as her body shook with sobs. But his soothing words had her pulling away, taking deep breaths to force away the tears. She wiped furiously at her wet face.
“Of course,” she said. “Forgive me. I mustn’t keep him waiting.”
Caius was sorry she’d pulled away, but he was glad at the same time. He’d very much liked the feeling of her in his arms, but he also did not want anyone to think he was sympathetic towards her, considering that he was trying to maintain a mostly neutral position in all of this.
But that was a lie.
He wasn’t neutral at all.
With a grip on her elbow, Caius gently led her to the spot where William was standing just as those inside managed to free the entry door and yank it open. Dust and bits of snow and wood rained down upon them, and Emelisse brushed the debris from her shoulders and from her carefully coiffed head. She looked up, seeing the old soldier standing in the entry. As she watched, a worn ladder was lowered from the doorway.
She stepped back as the ladder found its footing at the base of the keep. Caius helped steady the ladder to make sure it did not slip out from underneath whoever might be climbing it, because in this case, it would be Emelisse. When she moved to mount the ladder first, he held her back.
“For safety’s sake, I will enter first,” he said. “Come up after me.”
Emelisse didn’t argue with him. She stood back, watching his big frame mount the ladder and climb lithely to the top. As he came off the ladder, he crouched down next to it and held it steady for her.
“Come along, my lady,” he said.
Emelisse obeyed, taking the rungs of the ladder cautiously because her dress was so long. She was afraid she was going to step on it and end up falling back into the muddy snow. She was just nearing the top when Caius reached out and grasped her, helping her up the last two rungs.
Finally, she was home.
Emelisse took a moment, simply breathing it all in. This was the place where she had spent most of her time, as a child and even as an adult. This was where she had most of her fondest memories and the smell of the keep flooded into her senses, filling her with memories of the family she no longer had. The memories were both beautiful and taunting, causing her to be terribly torn now that she was finally here. This had once beenthe place of her greatest comfort and now it was the source of her greatest pain.
Pain for everything she had lost.
Her gaze fell on the old soldier and she went to him, forcing a smile as she reached out to touch his arm.
“Harcourt,” she said appreciatively. “I am glad to see that you are well.”
The old man’s eyes crinkled, happy to see his young mistress. “And you, my lady.”
“Where is my brother?”
“In his chamber.”
Taking a deep breath for courage, Emelisse headed towards the spiral stairs that were built into the corner of the keep. One staircase went between all floors and this was the only access. Mounting the stone stairs, her pace slowed the nearer she drew to the top, knowing what would be waiting for her when she got there.
It was like a bad dream she would never awaken from.
The top floor of the keep had two large chambers. Her brother had one and she had the other, the larger chamber of the two. Memories came back to her as she came off the stairwell, seeing the narrow landing that separated the two chambers. As children, she and her brother would fight over why she had the larger chamber. A smile came to her lips as she remembered her brother, quite young, and his determination to confiscate her chamber on behalf of his greedy little heart.
Caspian always thought he should have had the larger of the two since he was not only the male of the family, but the eldest. It had been a source of contention when they were younger, and he had seen the need to try and lay siege to her chamber door many times, but her father would always beat him back.
Funny how she remembered that now.
She found it ironic that the smaller chamber he felt so beneath him had now become his final resting place, and more than likely, that was where he had died. But she could not think about that now. When she was feeling stronger, she would ask for the details of his passing.
But not now.
Now, she simply needed to see him.
