Page 55 of Haunted Hearts

Serena looked down the table and her eyes opened wide. “You’re right. Oh, Lillith, I’m scared. I don’t want to see any spirits tonight.”

“Neither do I.”

They both jerked backward when the cat named Sam jumped atop the table right in front of them, looking for scraps. Lillith noticed food on the cat’s whiskers as well as his huge belly. She realized now who had eaten from the ghostly settings.

“Sam, you’ve been a bad boy, haven’t you?” she asked, running her hand over the cat’s head, letting out a sigh of relief.

Then Blaze’s raven swooped down toward the cat, scaring it. Sam hissed and arched his back. The raven shrieked, turning and diving down at the cat once more, causing gooseflesh to appear on Lillith’s arms.

“Off the table! Both of you,” Blaze shouted, waving his arms in the air until both the cat and raven left.

“My lord,” interrupted one of Blaze’s guards. “The pageboy is ready to take the children for a ride in the wagon, but is waiting for Orvyn.”

“Well, where the hell is my stablemaster?” asked Blaze.

“I’m not sure, my lord. No one can seem to find him.”

“Oh, there he is,” said Serena, pointing to the front gate. Orvyn was leading a horse, heading for the gate.

“Orvyn, where are you going?” Blaze shouted across the courtyard. “Get back to work. Now.”

“Aye, my lord,” said Orvyn with a nod, bringing the horse back to the stable.

“Orvyn has been acting odd lately,” Blaze said aloud.

“Mayhap he was sneaking off to see a sweetheart, like Milo said.” Lillith pushed her empty plate away and a servant scooped it off the table.

“It seems if he had a sweetheart in the village, she’d be here since I invited everyone to the celebration,” said Blaze. “I’ll have to talk to him.”

“Oh, Blaze, let Orvyn have his secrets. Don’t bother him about it. He is not causing any trouble,” said Minerva, not seeming at all concerned.

“Mayhap you’re right,” Blaze mumbled.

“Oh, here comes the Barmbrack.” Minerva instructed the servers to give a big piece of the cake to everyone at the dais.

“This looks good,” said Serena, inspecting the sweet treat.

“I’m not hungry. Someone can have mine,” answered Lillith, too full from the meal.

“You’re not going to eat it?” asked Minerva.

“I don’t think so,” answered Lillith.

“But it’s tradition, my dear. You have to. It might be a good omen for your future.”

“What do you mean?” asked Lillith.

“There are objects hidden in the cake,” Blaze explained. “Depending on what you might find, means different things.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Well,” said Blaze,“for example, if you find a piece of cloth in your cake, it means you’ll have hardships, and a stick denotes a bad marriage.”

“What?” gasped Lillith. “Why would I want to know either of those?” She was already distraught enough about having to marry the baron. She didn’t need a stupid stick telling her that her marriage would be awful.

“Plus, finding a pea means you won’t marry at all this year,” added Minerva.

“That one might not be so bad,” she said under her breath, still not seeing the point of this game.