Haunted Hearts

17

Elphi slipped her hand free of Rufus's slackening grip and rubbed the tender flesh while studying her husband.

He stared straight ahead down the empty scorched hallway, his brow creasing in his familiar frown as he tilted his head to the side as though straining to hear quiet conversation.

Was this a regular part of his investigating, or did he see something she couldn't?

The thought had barely crossed her mind before she stiffened, her heart hammered against her ribs, blood rushed in her ears, and tingles of awareness whispered across her skin.

She couldn't deny it made sense. Especially after Lord Waltham admitted the castle was haunted and that regular apparition sightings occurred.

How many ghosts did he see?

Considering the castle's age, there could be hundreds—or thousands. Elphi swallowed and took a step back. That was a sobering thought. Was he overwhelmed when coming to a place like this? She certainly would be.

She had so many questions to ask him but clenched her mouth shut, knowing she would have to wait until they were alone. And then, of course, it would depend on whether Rufus trusted her enough to answer them, which could take years.

Or it might never happen at all.

Roderick hadn't known about Rufus's ability, and they'd been best friends for almost two decades.

But then Elphi stifled a gasp when a moment of insight struck. Rufus had never invited Roderick along on an investigation.

At least, not to her knowledge.

So she had to believe that was a mark in her favor, proving... well, she didn't know what it proved, but it had to mean something. She was sure of it.

A dark shadow passed over the castle, bringing a sense of foreboding and impending loss. It was a familiar sensation, yet after not feeling it since Percy died three years ago, so unexpectedly oppressive that it broke Elphi's trance, and she blinked, unsure how long she'd been standing there, watching Rufus.

He'd moved farther away from her during the last few minutes and had walked past four scorched doors covered in blistered and peeling paint. Elphi shielded her eyes and looked to the sky, worried they were about to get rained on.

"That's odd," she murmured, her brow puckering in a frown, her stomach knotting, and her heart pounding as the feeling of doom escalated.

Rufus glanced up, a look of embarrassed surprise on his face, and Elphi wondered if he'd forgotten she was there. "What's odd?"

Elphi shook her head and returned her attention to the cloudless blue sky. "It must have been my... "

Her words dwindled into silence when a low moan reached her ears, and she could have sworn she saw the charred rafters that jutted into the sky shift. She looked to Rufus.

Had he heard the noise or witnessed the beams move as well? It didn't appear that way; he seemed lost once more in communing with Kernwith Hold's dead.

But wouldn't the spirits tell him if there was imminent danger? And if not, surely Rufus would sense it—unless he was too distracted, which she'd noticed seemed to happen relatively easily and rather frequently.

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Elphi was torn between alerting Rufus to what may be nothing more than her overwrought nerves and keeping silent until he finished his investigation.

However, when Rufus took another step down the empty corridor, Elphi not only heard the problematic rafters pop and groan again, but a beloved voice she hadn't heard in six long years distinctly told her, "Save him."