“Can I eat it in here tonight?”
After dealing with so many people, she no longer had the energy to keep her barriers up.
“I’ll have to see.”
“Here’s my allergy card. Odessa said you might want it?” She pressed it into his hand and flinched a little; his palm was as cold as the window.
Thomas gave a slight nod before leaving.
And then she was alone.
Nadine pulled a shirtdress out of her duffel that she had brought with her to use as a nightgown, buttoning it up to the throat. Then she took out a thin red cardigan, which she carefully draped over the painting to hide the scene from view. The frame clattered against the wall when she lifted it gingerly by the corners and something slid out from behind it and fell to the floor.
Shit, she thought.I broke it. I broke the painting.
But the paper that had fallen out from behind was not part of the picture. It was thick, old paper, slightly yellowed.Vellum, she thought might be the word for it. Paper made from animal hide.
She smoothed it out where it had curled. The edges were painted with a thick gilt, which flecked away on her fingers where she touched it. The other side was ragged; it looked like it had been torn from something.
May 16th, 188X
On this day, I have taken down one stag, and one fine, plump-breasted sparrow. I smote the stag with my knife in the grove near the house. As for the sparrow, I chased her to the edge of a cliff amidst the oaks’ shroud before felling her with an arrow, whereupon I soon plucked her comely feathers so I could have my fill.
What was this? Some kind of hunting journal? She fingered the old-fashioned script, which had a strange, oily sheen. Why had it been hidden behind the painting? Had Noelle put it there?
She turned the paper over, hoping to find Noelle’s handwriting. But the other side was blank.
Nadine lowered the paper to her side and looked at the painting warily, which had become uncovered again when she had knocked it. She looked at the disturbing display of gore and draconian prowess encapsulated within the frame, and then leaned closer, frowning, until she could smell the tang of the old, decaying paint.
The man killing the deer was Caledon Cullraven.
C H A P T E R
S E V E N
? beneath the hellebore ?
Thomas told her that she would be “allowed” to eat in her room this once when he dropped the tray off, but added that she’d be “expected to dine with the family.” Which struck Nadine as a little sinister, but she was mostly just grateful for the reprieve—and the food. Potted rabbit, herb-roasted potatoes, cooked asparagus. It was all delicious, though not particularly vegan-friendly.
She wondered what Noelle had eaten in this house. Had they made special meals for her, too? Or had she been forced to bend to her husband’s will?
Almost immediately, she wished the thought hadn’t come to her, because it only made her wonder what Noelle was eating now.Or if she even is at all.
Nadine set her tray outside her door and crept down the hall to the bathroom to brush her teeth. The walls were so thick, they muffled sound, but she could hear the bang of the pipes in the wall when she turned on the hot water. The floorboards creaked pretty loudly too—she noticed that when one of the other Cullravens went by, on their way to bed—but apart from that, there was a real sense of isolation. The kind that could slowly drive people mad.
Shaking her head, Nadine shut herself up in her room, turned off the light, and curled up on the feather mattress to sleep while the ancient house creaked and groaned around her.
She dreamed she was somewhere cold and dark. There was a strange smell in this place that seemed familiar somehow: a damp rot, which clung so heavily to the air that it seemed to bead on her skin like clammy sweat. Candles gleamed mistily from the walls, throwing off strange glimmers that rippled like water.The mine, she thought, staring at the silver-strung walls with a sense of dawning dread.I’m in the mine.
No matter which way she turned, she couldn’t find a way out. She was sealed in, the rock rough and solid beneath her hands, burning to the touch.There’s no air in here, she thought.I’ll die if I don’t get out.
“Help!” she cried out. “Help, I’m trapped! Someone help me,please!”
There was a sound like a wild scream and Nadine thought,The walls are laughing at me.
It sounded just like a raven’s cry.
The floor flew out beneath her and then she was falling, screaming hopelessly in the dark—alone, but watched, for she felt the presence of unseen eyes. She fell for what felt like forever until she crashed against something that felt suspiciously like her bed.Is this a cave?Her mind whispered faintly. In the illogic of dreams, it appeared that she was no longer in the caves at all, however, but in a clearing out beneath the stars, surrounded by banks of hellebore.
