One of the jars Brighid had been holding clattered onto the counter, spilling dried herbs in the process. “What did you say?”
“Lady Isolda,” James dismissed. “A meddlesome ghost.”
Brighid lost a bit of her color and turned to Diana. “Does a ghost plague you as well?”
It was as if Brighid held her breath waiting for the response.
“Not one, but two,” Diana admitted. “Sir Orwen and Sir—.”
“—Gilbert,” Brighid finished and quickly gathered the jars before her and started putting them back on the shelf. Her hands were shaking so badly that she nearly dropped two of them.
“Go, both of you.”
“What of clarity?” Diana asked.
Brighid grabbed the mortar and tossed the mixture into the receptacle. “I cannot help. It is forbidden.”
“Forbidden?” James questioned. “I don’t understand.”
“Just go, and please do not come here again.”
Brighid came around the counter and practically pushed them from the apothecary and in a blink, James and Diana were on the walk and the door to the shop locked behind them.
“How very odd,” Diana muttered.
“Odd, indeed.”
* * *
The very reasonDiana had not wanted to return to the castle was because of Somerton. Now, here she was, abandoned by her sister in Bocka Morrow and standing beside the very man she wished to avoid.
“What did she mean that helping was forbidden?”
“I’ve no idea.” Diana shrugged. “Sir Orwen had mentioned that he and Sir Gilbert were in their predicament because of witches.”
They turned to take the cobbled road back to Keyvnor. Diana didn’t mind the walk, but Somerton may since he’d originally brought a carriage.
“Your knights, how long have they been haunting Keyvnor?”
Had they ever mentioned a length of time? She couldn’t remember. “Centuries.”
Somerton nodded. “Lady Isolda said her three hundredth anniversary will be the summer solstice.”
Though she shouldn’t encourage her knights with discussions or questions, Diana knew she needed to find out how long the two had been stuck and unable to move on. She glanced back at the apothecary and frowned. “Do you think your lady and my knights are connected somehow?”
Somerton shrugged. “They must be because Brighid immediately asked if you were plagued by a ghost after she learned Lady Isolda’s name.”
“This is very odd,” Diana murmured as she tried to reason it out. Why would Somerton’s ghost have anything to do with her knights? Neither Sir Orwen nor Sir Gilbert had ever mentioned her before.
“She wishes to be free,” he offered.
“As do the knights.”
For the knights, they insisted she needed to find love, not that she’d mention the same to Somerton.
Perhaps Lady Isolda had a different purpose for him and the two might not even be related. “Has Lady Isolda mentioned why she lingers?” Diana asked slowly.
“It doesn’t matter. She won’t gain what she hopes.”
