I scowled, and watched him walk to the door, grinning back at me from the threshold before he slipped into the hall, leaving the door ajar behind him.
I’d never been good at leaving something undone. I was too curious. So, I followed him. As soon as I was in the hallway, Henri was at my side, his arm slipping around my waist. “I know that this dreary castle can be tiresome. I just want to remind you that that’s not all you will find here.”
I was silent as he led me through the dark hallways with a lantern in hand, and up to the ramparts, where a breeze cut through my clothes. “Is it much farther?” I asked, exasperated.
“Not much.” Henri led us to a turret and up a winding staircase. It was one he’d shown me previously, with a telescope and star charts on the walls. It was a lovely room, but I didn’t have the patience for it at the moment.
“Henri, I’m not …” I paused as he pulled aside a curtain to reveal another staircase. But weren’t we already at the top of the turret? I frowned.
Henri nodded toward the staircase and held out his hand. “Come on.”
With reluctance, I gave in, and he led me up the staircase.
We came out on top of the turret, jagged stone partially obscuring the view around us. I wondered what Henri could have possibly had in store for me when I noticed blankets sitting out on the floor.
I blinked. “What is this?”
“A reprieve from your miserable apartment below,” Henri said, walking over to the blankets and pulling one over his shoulders.
I rubbed at my arms as I followed his example, cocooning myself from the chill of night.
“When I couldn’t stand this suffocating castle as a boy, I would sneak out here,” Henri confessed. “It wasn’t just the telescope below that made me love this turret. It was this view, the freedom I found when I was no longer smothered by dark stone and shadows.” He took a deep breath and let it out, eyes fixed overhead. “I would just lie here and watch the sky for hours until I fell asleep.”
I looked up and gasped. I hadn’t noticed the brilliance of the sky earlier, purples and blues lit by millions of shiny pinpricks. I felt like I could hardly comprehend what I was staring at.
I turned to face Henri. He was closer than I’d thought. “Not everything is terrible in the world, Emile.” He pushed a strand of my hair back from my face.
I swallowed hard. “Henri, I …”
But my words were cut off as Henri’s lips covered mine in a slow, tender kiss that burned me from the inside out. I was panting by the time it ended, but Henri didn’t push it any further than that. He pulled me into the crook of his arm, and we watched the night sky together, warm beneath our blankets.
The next day, I combed through the library, hoping to discover some portal that would manifest upon pushing on a bookshelf or disturbing a particular novel, but nothing appeared. I was about to give up my search when I recalled the recess in the wall of the gallery. I shuddered when I remembered the skeleton that had seemed to come alive, but I knew that was just fancy. No visions would plague me in the middle of the day, with sunlight streaming in through the windows. The recess, however, had been real.
I retraced my steps to the gallery, mulling over the previous night with Henri. I’d wanted to tell him everything that I was feeling, had considered begging him to flee with me, but I hadn’t the courage. I couldn’t trust that Henri wouldn’t impede my escape. As much as I enjoyed his company, and how he treated me with such tenderness, I couldn’t give myself over completely to someone who was clearly still harboring secrets from me. I was still unsure of the extent of Henri’s knowledge of Montoni’s activities, including the murders he’d committed. That didn’t sit well with me. Until he confessed everything he was holding back, I wouldn’t be able to let him in the way he wanted me to.
I sighed, trying to slough off the feelings of warmth thinking about Henri had allowed to creep in. I couldn’t let my resolve waver. If last night had illustrated anything, it was how dangerous Henri was. He could make me forget myself. I couldn’t afford that. Not now, not ever. I would find a way out of this infernal place if it was the last thing I did, even if it meant hurting Henri and leaving him behind. Hadn’t that been Bram’s advice? Take what you need to and look out for yourself above all others?
The thought of Bram sent a pang through my chest. I missed him as well. His kind heart, his astute advice. He seemed to have the ability to cut through the noise in my head, to get to the truth with little effort. If he were here, he would uncover a way out of this mess with ease. If I did manage to escape, would I be able to find my way to him without Montoni’s forces tracking me down? If I was to lose Henri, I didn’t want to lose Bram as well. My heart ached terribly at the thought of losing either of them, even if that was the inevitable outcome of a heart torn between two men.
Still attempting to put my thoughts of romance aside, I stalked into the gallery. It continued to be dark and foreboding during the day, but the small amount of light from the opposite end of the room was enough to fuel my resolve. I went directly to the recess before I could think about what I was about to do, or what I might find, and flung aside the tapestry.
The recess was empty. Of course it was. As I examined the small space, I saw nothing to indicate that a body had occupied the space recently, not even a strand of hair. Getting to work, I felt about the interior of the space, pushing and prodding. After a minute, I wondered exactly what I was looking for. A hidden spring? A button? The penny dreadfuls I’d consumed throughout the years had been vague on this point. Eventually, I pushed on the back of the recess and gasped as I found that it moved under my weight. I stopped and glanced up the gallery to make sure I was alone, and then squirmed into the recess, pushing into the back wall all the while, a grinding noise issuing forth that set my teeth on edge. Before I knew it, the wall had moved a good six feet, revealing a gaping passage to the right. I hesitated only a moment before crawling inside.
There was enough room to stand, and I drew up to my full height as the sound of stone scraping behind me recalled my attention to the recess. The backing of the recess was returning to its initial position. I swallowed hard as the last vestige of light disappeared, leaving me in complete darkness. It had been foolish of me to venture forth without a lantern, and apparently I was to pay for it. I felt along the wall that had closed before me, and found a stone that shifted beneath my touch. Pressing on this, the recess began to withdraw into the wall again. Satisfied that I wasn’t completely trapped, I turned to examine the passage ahead of me before the light disappeared once more. That was when I noticed a torch perched in a sconce on the wall. I grinned as I hefted it from its cradle and felt in my pockets for a light. Luckily, I’d had the foresight to keep a flint handy.
The torch roared to life before the light faded again behind me, and yet I hesitated to push forth into the unknown. I had to do so however, if I was to find a way out of the castle and escape my captors. Muttering a nonsensical prayer under my breath, I proceeded along the secret corridor.
I stumbled across many turns and bends, and the path sometimes led me up or down flights of stairs, but it never branched off, so I wasn’t worried about losing my way. I paused often as I came across points of light in the walls. The first time I noticed a stream of light penetrating the dark space ahead, I stopped to examine its source. Lining my eyes up with the holes, I found myself peering out into a study. I wasn’t sure whose study it was, or where in the castle it lay, but I was intrigued and made a note of the room’s contents should I see it from the other side.
After this discovery, I gazed out upon a sitting room, the dining room, and then a bedroom. I knew where the dining room was located and was distressed to imagine someone spying on the family as they sat to eat, but I was even more disturbed by the sight of the bedroom. From the trunks, I was able to determine that this was Blanche’s room. I was in the west wing then. And as I moved up the corridor, I found views into Montoni’s chamber, Schedoni’s, and even Henri’s. I bristled as I stared into Henri’s room. He was flopped across his bed, reading. It didn’t sit right with me that someone could look in on him whenever they wanted. But then again, someone could do the same to me, I supposed.
I shuddered as I continued my trek through the passage. I ran across doors, all locked, and more spy holes, until I finally came to a sight I was familiar with. Back in the east wing, I looked in on my own room. From the point of view afforded to me, I determined that I was staring out from the direction of the fireplace. I saw a door nearby, but it wasn’t situated correctly to be the second door in my bedchamber. I still hadn’t a clue where that led.
It wasn’t much farther up the tunnel when I came upon a dead end. I felt around the wall like I had at the beginning of this journey, and found a loose stone once more. Pushing on it, a scraping sound resounded, until a recess was revealed to me. I wasted no time in scrambling into the space, anxious to be out of the dark tunnel. I blew out the torch and tossed it back into the corridor before it was closed off to me, then scooted out of the recess to find myself in a circular room. There was a door ahead of me, and winding stairs going up into darkness. I tried the door and found it unlocked. When I pushed through, I found myself standing outside, near the courtyard I’d discovered earlier with the goddess statues. I gazed back at the room I had just left and lifted my head to follow a sizable turret jutting into the sky.
So, now I knew of two ways by which to enter the secret tunnels. That was a good start.
Before I was missed, I made an appearance to take tea in the drawing room with my aunt. Blanche played at the piano, the atmosphere of Udolpho clearly coloring her music choices, melancholy and dark. She didn’t leave her seat the entire time I was in the room, and I decided that it must be that she didn’t wish to speak to me. Which was fine.
