“Hello?” I called without receiving a reply.
This was silly. There was no one here. The sound must’ve echoed from a different location and my ears told me it came from inside this suite.
I’d turned to leave when someone whimpered out again.
Holding my breath, I stood in place, the hilt of my knife biting into my palm, before releasing a sigh.
The sound must’ve come from the bedroom on my right.
Still worried I’d walk in on something I’d rather not; Imoved stealthily to the door and placed my ear against it. When I didn’t hear even a rustle from inside, I cracked the panel open. I was greeted with more dust-covered furniture and even a few cobwebs networking the ceiling. No one appeared to be inside the room unless they were lying beneath the bed. I stepped inside and shut the door, moving away from the panel. My heart thrummed at an irregular pace, and my breathing puffed mist through the air as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.
Like the sitting room, the bedroom had been forgotten.
A four-poster bed stood to my right, shrouded by a once-bright red canopy now faded to irregular pink and fringed with neglect. Side tables flanked it, their surfaces layered with dust I was tempted to run my fingertip through like a naughty child. Dust shimmered in the sunbeams while thicker cobwebs draped across the corners.
Sucking down my urge to turn and leave, I moved around the room, the floorboards creaking beneath my boots. Unease twinged across my nerves, making them quiver while I took in one picture after another hanging on the walls. More creatures, though none of them moved. They were never real to begin with, or the creatures had given up and faded away to nothing. How long could anyone cavort for another’s pleasure before their body and mind gave out?
Bits of color glimmered through the grime on each picture, but I kept my wandering fingers away.
“Here,” someone whispered from my right, the sound more of a feeling than something picked up by my ears.
I was reminded of how the Liege lured me into his cave,how he’d wallowed in my blood, how he’d told me about the king. He’d set me on this course as if he was playing his own Wraithweave game and I was one of the players on the board. From what I’d discovered here inside the castle, the Lieges were Ivenrail’s devoted minions. Why had the one in the cave shared information that should’ve been kept secret? Not only that, but information that could bring about their downfall since they were so tightly woven with the king.
Unless the Liege felt the need for me to stop Ivenrail outweighed the benefits they received from his reign.
As for the cry I’d heard here, I knew what I’d find. I approached a picture hanging on the wall to the left of the bed.
A woman stood inside the frame as if posing for a portrait, turned sideways, her eyes staring at the wall in front of her. She wore a pale green gown and matching jewels adorned her earlobes and encircled her neck. Her graying hair had been swept up in an intricate arrangement on the back of her head. Her arms lay crossed on her lap, her hands lying limply at her sides.
She turned my way, and her gaze met mine. I sensed intelligence there. Humor.
And profound fear.
Aunt Vera from the first bone dream stared out at me from the frame.
What stunned me the most was her hand on my side of the picture.
Her ring finger was missing.
42
TEMPEST
Should I let on that I “knew” her? I’d visited her in a vision. Actually, I’d ridden inside her mind while she shared the scene, as if she was the one who’d called me there to make sure I saw it.
How had she called me to that scene with her own finger?
If so, who called me to the cave?
An ominous feeling engulfed me, stealing what little calmness I’d strived for since I entered this suite—no, since I was drawn into this suite by this woman. I knew that now; she didn’t need to name it.
Unsure what to say, I waited for her to speak. Each tick of my heartbeat echoed in my mind; a thready drum ready to burst into a furious pace.
Long moments passed while we stared at each other. Finally, I turned to leave.
“Wait,” she said.
With a roll of my eyes, I pivoted back. “Let me guess. You want me to free you from the frame.”
