House of Shadows Page 16

  Now, that squalling babe that had been placed in her arms was a man grown, with a wife, and he had taken the title that had been her son’s by letting Alden die an ignoble death. For that he would pay… he and the girl he’d dared to bring into their cursed home.

  The door opened silently, not a squeak of sound and without any efforts on Sylvia’s part. The dark things in that house wanted the girl gone and she’d give them that, so long as it meant also being rid of him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Adelaide wasn’t certain what had woken her. But her eyes popped open of their own accord and her heart was pounding in her chest, a feeling of dread so sharp and strong pervading her that she could not catch her breath for it.

  It had not been a nightmare, for surely there would be some awareness of it, some trace memory given how abruptly she had woken. But there was nothing. Only the darkness of the bedchamber and the sound of Eldren’s not so quiet snores beside her.

  She might have been amused by that very undignified sound under other circumstances. But in a state of hyperawareness, she could only wonder where the danger was, what mysterious threat stalked them in the darkness.

  Adelaide had almost convinced herself that it was her imagination, that for once within the halls of Cysgod Lys, there truly was no danger. But then a shadowy movement at the bedside caught her eye. It wasn’t the dark shadowy mass she’d seen before. This was the movement of a person intent on subterfuge and wickedness.

  Whether it was instinct or something else she could not name, Adelaide rolled sharply to her left, falling out of the bed and onto the floor, just as the person’s arms came down in a vicious arc and feathers drifted upward into the pale silvery light that filtered in through the windows.

  Eldren awoke then, scrambling from the bed and backing away from it in disorientation. Adelaide was scrabbling backwards on her bottom, shoving with her hands and feet to get away as the pale figure turned toward her. Wild haired, wild eyed and obviously mad, there was only one possible explanation. It was the woman from the tower—Eldren’s mother.

  “Stop!” Eldren shouted.

  The woman advanced on Adelaide, heedless of Eldren’s order. It wasn’t a knife in her hand but a large shard of glass wrapped in fabric and already stained with blood.

  Adelaide had reached the small dressing table where Dyllis had unpacked her things earlier. Clawing at the top of it with her hands, she threw items willy nilly at the approaching madwoman. Until her hand seized on something that did not even belong there. It was the letter opener from the writing box Tromley had provided for her.

  Clutching it like a knife, Adelaide turned back only to see Eldren diving across the bed, tackling his mother’s pale form to the ground.

  The woman howled, her screams filling the room. They echoed into the halls and beyond. Doors began to open up and down the hall, the alarmed calls of servants filtered down from the upper floors.

  The woman was strong. Stronger than she should have been, Adelaide realized as she watched Eldren grapple with her. He had yet to pry the weapon from her hand and it seemed as if she were gaining the upper hand.

  Unwilling to stand by, Adelaide lunged forward and brought the letter opener down with all of her might. The blade sank into the woman’s shoulder. The feeling of it left Adelaide queazy and struggling not to vomit. But it provided the distraction needed. Eldren finally managed to overpower her, pinning her to the floor as a bevy of footmen rushed in, some still clad only in nightshirts.

  She wailed, screamed, cursed, and no one batted an eye. It was commonplace it seemed. Just as commonplace as her attempts to murder her eldest son and his wife, Adelaide thought bitterly.

  After a moment’s discussing, two of the footmen stepped forward and managed to seize the dowager’s arms in such a way that she would not be able to do harm to anyone else.

  Eldren rose from the floor, his head drooping with defeat. “I must go see to Mrs. Alberson. If mother escaped her, armed no less, it is unlikely that she has survived.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Adelaide said.

  “I don’t know what we’ll find,” Eldren replied.

  “Whatever it is we will find it together. Let me get my wrapper.”

  With her robe draped about her, Adelaide followed him from the room and down the long corridor to a heavy wooden door. There was no need for a key as it stood wide open.

  A footman emerged from the shadows with a small lamp which he passed to Eldren. Together, they climbed the rough hewn stone steps into the tower and were greeted by a sight so horrific, Adelaide could do nothing more than cover her mouth with her hand to stifle her scream.

  Mrs. Alberson’s throat had been slit. The nurse was slumped in her chair, her head against the wall and the macabre gash in her neck highlighted by the crimson stained ruffles of the blouse that she had donned with her simple black suit.

  “Send for the magistrate… This is not something we can or should conceal,” Eldren said. “Mad or not, she must face the consequences of this, be it an asylum or something far worse.”

  Adelaide slipped her hand into his, holding fast to him. She knew what it would mean. Scandal. Ruin. Any hope of secrecy or discretion about the nature of his family’s ailment was no longer an option. The world would know that his mother was a mad woman, and no doubt information about his father and brother would be disclosed as well. And the world would watch him for any sign that he might succumb to the same fate.

  As if on cue, the wails stopped. The entire house fell into silence as they waited. Not even a hint of a whisper, from the living or the dead, could be heard. That in and of itself was telling, Adelaide thought.

  * * *

  In the corners of the room shadows settled, laying one atop the other like a nest of snakes. They did not move or writhe, but concealed themselves within the natural world that they were no longer a part of. The efforts to end the Llewellyn’s once and for all had failed, and those efforts had carried a steep price. But the war was long from over. Their current detente would not last.

  But for now, just as it always had, it offered a reprieve. It allowed the inhabitants of the house to have a calm before the storm. The hotel and the display in the basement had cost it dearly, but it would recover soon. In the meantime, it would watch, wait, and gauge how best to break down and destroy all those within its walls. Except for her. She was its promise after all.

  To be continued….

  The Victorian Gothic Collection will be one story published in three parts. I had meant it to be only one book. But the story was much bigger and required more time than that to tell. So the next book, Veil of Shadows will be published in January and the third and final installment, Passage of Shadows, will be published in March. Each volume of the story will be roughly 50,000 words in length.

  I’m enjoying telling the story of Eldren and Adelaide and I hope you are enjoying reading it, as well.

  If you’d like a sneak peek at the next book, please sign up for my mailing list at the link below and download the Prologue to Veil of Shadows.

  https://dl.bookfunnel.com/c70k7inwn2

  Thank you…

  To everyone who read this book, thank you. I hope you will continue on this journey with me into long form Gothic romance. It’s different for me. Slower paced, slower burn, but I think ultimately that the completion of Eldren and Adelaide’s journey together will be satisfying for everyone. I simply could not manage to condense the entirety of this story into one book unless I took more than a year to do so. Breaking it up into pieces like this enables me to share it with you all sooner. I hope you love them as I do. And I hope that the ending of this book left you in a good place with them, but one where you will definitely want to know more. I will be posting excerpts on Wattpad so be sure to look me up there to stay abreast of what’s happening with book two, Veil of Shadows. As always, if you enjoyed this book, please leave a review. Even if you didn’t like it, still leave a review.

  Thank you,<
br />
  Chasity Bowlin

  Also by Chasity Bowlin

  THE VICTORIAN GOTHIC COLLECTION

  House of Shadows

  Veil of Shadows

  Passage of Shadows

  THE LOST LORDS SERIES

  The Lost Lord of Castle Black

  The Vanishing of Lord Vale

  The Missing Marquess of Althorn

  The Resurrection of Lady Ramsleigh

  The Mystery of Miss Mason (coming soon)

  The Awakening of Lord Ambrose (coming soon)

  The Lost Lords Series Boxed Set, Volumes 1-3

  THE DARK REGENCY SERIES

  The Haunting of a Duke

  The Redemption of a Rogue

  The Enticement of an Earl

  A Love So Dark

  A Passion So Strong

  A Heart So Wicked

  STANDALONE

  The Beast of Bath

  The Last Offer

  Worth the Wait

  THE FIRE CREEK SAGA

  Bennett

  Ciaran (novella)

  Clayton

  Carter

  Quentin

  Emmitt (Preorder)

  Matt (Coming Soon)

  Savannah (Coming Soon)

  THE DUCHAMPS’ DYNASTY SERIES

  Been Loving You Too Long

  Have A Little Faith In Me

  I’ll Take Care Of You