Page 90 of The Virgin Who Vindicated Lord Darlington
Cassandra’s bedchamber.
There was a hidden door that led from the secret passageway into Cassandra’s bedchamber—there had to be. That was why it was always so cold in there. It must be in the dressing room. Perhaps behind theclothes press?
Cecilia’s shaking fingers clenched into fists as everything fell into place at once. Lady Leanora hadbrought the blue ball gown, the embroidered shoes and the sapphire hairpins into Cassandra’s bedchamber. Theyhadn’tbeen there all along, as Cecilia had thought, and Gideon hadn’t put them there.
Lady Leanora had had the run of the castle from the very start.
It was the only explanation, and it explained everything. Seraphina’s mysterious comings and goings , for one, but it was more than that.
The secret passageway was the means by which someone had accessed Cassandra’s sick room without anyone else in the castle knowingshe was there.
Gideon wasn’t the only person who’d brought Cassandra refreshment in those last months before she died. He was simply the only one who’d beenseendoing so. All the while, someone else—someone who wished to see Cassandra and her unborn child harmed—had also hadaccess to her.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world for that person to bring Cassandra a cup of pennyroyal tea every night, and stay with her while she drank it down. A person Cassandra believed would never hurt her, despite the resentmentbetween them.
A person she trusted, like her cousin,Lady Leanora.
The last person in the world she shouldhave trusted.
Lady Leanora was far more dangerous than Gideon suspected. She was a murderer, and all the time they’d thought themselves safe, she’d been roaming about the castle. Why, she might have snatched Isabella at any time, carried her off while they slept—
She might have, but she hadn’t. Fear clawed at Cecilia’s throat as the full force of this truth slammed into her. If Lady Leanora hadn’t returned to Darlington Castle to take Isabella, whyhadshe returned? Who did she intend tohurt this time?
There was no time to consider it now. She had to find Gideon. Cecilia snatched at the iron ring to close the door, but she stopped it from slamming shut at the last minute.
Something else caught her eye, something…strange.
She’d been staring at the footprints in the snow all this time, but she hadn’t made sense of what she was seeing until now. Seraphina’s tidy little paw prints were marching in a neat lineawayfrom the castle. They pointed toward the wood, but the corresponding human prints in the snow pointed in the other direction.
Intothe castle.
Lady Leanora must have entered the castle last night, after the snow had accumulated enough to make her footprints visible. But unless she trulywasa ghost, and had found a way to walk in the snow without leaving any prints, then she hadn’t come back outthis way again.
Which meant…Lady Leanora wasinsidethe castle.
Inside with Duncan, Isabella, Amy, and Mrs. Briggs, and they had no ideashe was there.
Dear God. She had to get them out at once, while at the same time doing all she could to keep Lady Leanorain, just long enough for Gideon to be found. Lady Leanora would try and escape through the passageway, but if it were sealed, and shebecame trapped…
It would put an end to the White Lady haunting Darlington Castle.
Cecilia turned and fled back down the passageway, her footsteps echoing on the stone floor. She was breathless by the time she burst back through the door into the stillroom and ran into the kitchen. In a stroke of good luck, Duncan was sitting at the kitchen table, stuffing a piece of buttered breadinto his mouth.
“Duncan, thank goodness!” Cecilia fell against thetable, panting.
“Miss Cecilia, ye near scared the life out of me!” Duncan shot to his feet, his eyes going wide. “What’s wrong? Ye look peculiar, like yeseen a ghost.”
“Not yet, but perhaps soon, with any luck. Come with me.” Cecilia took him by the arm and dragged him to the back of the stillroom, where the crates were stacked near the open door. “Listen to me carefully, Duncan. There’s a passageway on the other side of this door. Follow it to the end, and you’ll find a door set into the ceiling. It’s held open with a branch. Go through that door, and see to it it’s sealed from the outside. Once you’ve done that, go and find Gid—that is, Lord Darlington, and bring him back to the castle at once. Tell him it’s urgent.”
Duncan gaped at her with his mouth open. “But—”
“Quickly, Duncan.”
Whatever Duncan saw on her face made him snap his mouth closed. He turned without a word and disappeared into the passageway at a run. Cecilia bolted the door behind him, cutting off access to the stillroom, then ranfor the stairs.
Isabella and Amy were likely in Isabella’s bedchamber, readying for her nap, and Mrs. Briggs…she hadn’t the vaguest idea where Mrs. Briggs was. She could be anywhere in this enormous castle. If she was alone, and Lady Leanora caught her unawares…
Cecilia sucked in a ragged breath, panic threatening, but she shoved it down, and forced herself to focus on one thing at a time. First, she’d find Isabella and Amy. Once she did, Amy could help her push the clothes press in Cassandra’s dressing room flush against the wall to block that escape into the secret passageway. Then they’d find Mrs. Briggs and leave the castle together. With any luck, Duncan would return with Gideon soon afterward, and allwould be well.
