Soul of Darkness (23 page)

Taken aback by Aidan’s sudden nearness, my heart skipped several beats and my legs turned to jelly and gave out from under me, making me fall right into his arms. He caught and steadied me before I could hit the ground.

For a moment, we just stood there unmoving…his hands lingering on my waist where he’d grabbed on to me…my face resting against his broad chest. Even through the thickness of his leather jacket, I could feel his heat and smell his scent floating toward me.

My cheekbone slightly rubbed against the soft leather of his jacket as I hesitantly tilted my head upward to search his eyes, hoping to see a reflection of the same inner turmoil and longing I, myself, felt.

But his gaze flicked away from mine as soon as I tried to make eye contact. Stiff as a board, his head held high, and his jaw set
―
unyielding as steel
―
Aidan appeared utterly unmoved by my nearness.

It seemed I alone had been unsettled…

Aidan’s hands let go of my waist. Gripping my shoulders instead, he firmly pushed me from him in a movement so calm and unaffected it broke my heart.

He would not forgive me.

Even if I tried to explain that it had been the curse that had made me go so far as to touch his brother in such a way, he probably wouldn’t understand.

He didn’t realize quite how severely Aaron and I affected each other…physically…because my connection with Aaron was so different from what I had with Aidan. When Aidan and I were alone together, the curse’s magic seemed to only affect us marginally; whereas the situation tended to quickly spin out of control whenever I found myself alone with Aaron.

Since it was neither the right time nor the right place to try to explain any of this to Aidan or to beg for his forgiveness, I lowered my head, cast my gaze to the ground, and remained silent.

Without even once glancing at me, Aidan turned around and followed Malcolm and Aaron, who had already started walking down the forest path. Needing some distance between the others and myself, I waited a little while before tailing after them.

Quietly moving through the forest, I found myself drinking in the beautiful scenes of nature surrounding me. The trees’ crowns high above my head swayed slightly in the breeze, and brown, red, and bright orange hues swirled past my line of vision as autumn leaves sailed toward the ground or landed on the stone walls that ran alongside the path and appeared to be remnants of a nearly forgotten civilization.

About an hour later, we left the forest and made our way toward the waters of the Narragansett Bay in search of a boat that would take us across to Newport.

Having spotted a boat that looked large enough to accommodate us, we waited before approaching its owner until I’d hidden my noticeable red hair under the hood of my jacket and Aaron had slung a scarf over his nose and mouth to hide the fact that he and Aidan were twins. I hoped it was enough to at least temporarily keep our identity hidden, in case anyone came searching for us asking about a red-headed woman and twins.

After arriving in Newport, we hiked the rest of the way to Adam’s house, keeping a low profile by sticking to out-of-the-way paths instead of using the main roads.

When we finally arrived at the manor, Malcolm steered us past the rear of the house and down a steep, overgrown path leading away from the property.

I was about to ask why we weren’t heading in the direction of the main entrance, when Malcolm, apparently having sensed my unease, answered my question before I’d even opened my mouth.

“In case you are wondering about the direction we are heading in…We will be using the ‘other’ entrance.”

“What ‘other’ entrance?” I asked, nonplussed.

“The secret one, of course,” Malcolm said.

“Oh, that one…of course,” I answered sarcastically.

“It is a secret entrance that leads directly to the cave underneath the house,” Malcolm explained while unsuccessfully trying to hide his amusement at my use of sarcasm, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“A secret entrance?” Aaron exclaimed, seeming as surprised as I was. “But when we were here before, we searched throughout the cave for a way out and couldn’t find anything.”

“That, my boy, would be because it is a
secret
entrance,” Malcolm said, “It is not supposed to be found.”

“Then how do you know about it?” Aaron asked his father, the tone of his voice clearly conveying his misgivings about the fact that Malcolm seemed to know a bit too much about his late adoptive father’s secrets as well as his suspicion that his father must have spied on Adam
―
which he probably had.

“I merely wanted to know more about your surroundings and…that you were safe,” Malcolm answered, apparently having cottoned on to Aaron’s feelings.

Aaron simply nodded in acknowledgment and remained silent, apparently not inclined to keep discussing the issue in front of an audience. Though I wasn’t sure if he’d fully accepted Malcolm’s explanation, his features had softened after having heard it. He seemed to acknowledge that, as a father, Malcolm had felt the need to keep an eye on his son
―
even if it had meant spying on him.

We continued down the slope, which was so densely overgrown with wild plants and hedges that it had become somewhat difficult to navigate, and finally came upon a rock wall that was almost completely hidden behind vegetation.

Carefully brushing aside poison ivy and other plants, his sleeve wrapped protectively around his hand, Malcolm revealed the surface behind.

To my utter amazement, I could see a plain, wooden door placed before and nearly completely covering what appeared to be a tunnel-like entrance leading into the rock. It wasn’t what I’d expected. To me, ‘secret entrance’ sounded like more than this simple door hidden behind hedges and branches.

But, then again, I never would have thought to look for an entrance in such a place, and it had been well hidden behind vegetation. So, for all intents and purposes, I guessed it worked exactly as it should.

Malcolm opened the door, waited for us to enter before following us inside, and pulled it closed behind him.

“I will go back later and make sure that the door is completely covered by leaves again,” Malcolm said as we made our way through the dark tunnel with the aid of the small flashlight.

A few minutes after we started walking we reached a dead end, abruptly facing a wall of rock. On both our left and right I detected brackets with torches in them.

Similar to what I’d witnessed once before, when Aidan and I had fled from the castle, the stone wall blocking our way rode upward through a mechanism connected to one of the brackets, creating an entrance that reclosed shortly after we’d passed through into the cave.

As the wall fell back into place behind us, I could see one of the brackets inside the cave move back to its original position.

Hmm, 
I thought, a bit taken aback,
that was relatively straightforward.
Aaron and I hadn’t even thought of trying the brackets on the wall.

We placed our luggage on the ground, and, just as he’d done the last time he and I had been there, Aaron quickly moved around the cave to light the torches. Finally, we were able to see more of our surroundings.

“All right, I will ask the two of you to climb up the ladder and look around inside the house. We should be safe here, but I do not wish to be surprised by anyone,” Malcolm addressed his sons, nodding in the direction of the ladder that would lead them to the hidden room above the cave.

Aidan started to move toward the ladder. Aaron, on the other hand, didn’t move a muscle and seemed quite hesitant to enter the house in which we’d last seen Adam’s mangled body.

“Do not fear, my boy, I had our men bury Adam’s body on his property shortly after they discovered it. They cleaned the…study…and the rest of the house, as well.”

He hesitated before continuing.

“Of course…memories will neither be buried nor will they be swept away. They linger in every nook and cranny. I am sorry to put you through this, but since Persephone is their primary target, I think it best that she stay down here until we know the coast is clear. And seeing as none of us should be alone and I cannot leave Persephone here with either of you, the two of you must search the house.”

Aaron gazed at Malcolm for a moment before nodding slightly to indicate that he understood his position.

“I want to see Adam’s grave,” Aaron whispered.

“Of course…I will take you there later,” Malcolm promised in a soft voice.

Aaron nodded, turned around, and took a step in the direction leading to the ladder and the hidden room. Pausing abruptly, his back still turned to us, he quietly addressed Malcolm:

“Thank you…for having my father buried,” Aaron said in a voice barely above a whisper, acknowledging his gratitude, though he wouldn’t turn around to face him.

Rather than having meant to be disrespectful, he simply must have been hesitant to turn around and thank Malcolm face to face as he wasn’t someone to openly show his emotions. And he must have been feeling very emotional just then.

Malcolm seemed to be thinking along the same lines and quietly said:

“You are welcome, son.”

If Malcolm had any thoughts or any kind of emotional response pertaining to the fact that Aaron had just referred to Adam as his ‘father’, he didn’t show it. He would, of course, be well aware of the circumstance that, in Aaron’s eyes, Adam was his father…the only one he’d ever know
n
―
at least, until recently. It would undoubtedly take some time for Aaron to accept Malcolm and for the two of them to build a relationship.

While Aaron and Aidan started to climb the long ladder toward the house, I strode in the direction of the mattress at the center of the cave, not knowing what else to do other than to sit and wait for their return. But the moment I reached it, the memory of having lain there in Aaron’s arms hit me like a punch in the gut.

On that mattress…I had revealed my feelings.

On that mattress…we had kissed.

I remembered every word, every look, every touch. And so did my body. I felt as much on fire as I had that day and struggled to keep my cool and act normally so that Malcolm wouldn’t notice.

Fortunately, he was wandering around the cave inspecting our hideout. Relieved, I lay down on the mattress, closed my eyes, and forcefully rejected any thoughts about Aaron, though they continually tried to creep up on me. But this was
so
  not the time to reminisce.

Besides…that had been a long time ago, at least it felt that way. So much had changed…with Aidan suddenly having popped into my life. Since then, things hadn’t been the same between Aaron and me.

Vowing not to think about either of the brothers, I made myself comfortable and snuggled into the furs beneath me. Closing my eyes, I drifted toward blissful oblivion.

Chapter 16 * Hide-out

A
idan reached the top of the ladder in the near-darkness that dominated the uppermost part of the cave. The light coming from the torches down below didn’t reach high enough to illuminate the entrance to the house, and Aidan had to raise his arm above his head and feel around with his hand to find the opening.

Feeling a wooden surface beneath his fingertips, he pushed up against it, but it wouldn’t budge. Standing high up in the air on a ladder in the dark with unsure footing, he hesitated to use more force, lest the rungs beneath his feet should break.

Aaron, who had just caught up with him and had paused directly below him, must have sensed that Aidan had problems with the opening.

“Wait a moment,” Aaron said.

Judging by the creaking sounds Aidan could make out, his brother was shifting his weight on the ladder.

“Let’s use the flashlight,” Aaron suggested.

A second later, a rather weak-looking beam of light illuminated the wooden surface covering the entryway to the house. The batteries seemed to be nearing the end of their lives, if the feeble light was any indication.

“Look for some kind of mechanism,” Aaron instructed, “I think we’re looking at the undersurface of the wooden table base that covers the entryway in the hidden room above. It shifts to the side after activating a special mechanism. That mechanism should be accessible from this side, as well, and allow us to push the wooden base out of the way and climb through the hole into the room above.”

“What did the mechanism in the room look like?” Aidan asked. Though he was looking around intently, he saw nothing but a flat surface.