Jacques, however, looked ill. “I’m going to put the horse away. Then I’ll be turning in for the rest of the night.”
“Thank you,” Ben said.
Jacques didn’t reply. He carried on to the next task, as was his nature.
Ben, on the other hand, was in no rush to begin his examination. Instead, he found a bottle of wine from his mother’s collection and downed it in a few long gulps. It was dry and tart, just the way he liked it. After one bottle, and halfway through the next, he stopped to laugh at himself; the key to the mausoleum was still tucked in his pocket.
“I forgot to lock up.”
He fell into a fit of silent laughter, beside himself with the notion that no one would bother robbing a grave that was already empty.
REMI
When Remi finally woke, the morning had come.
She groaned and rolled to her side, her body heavy with the aftereffects of the sedative she’d taken. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light, but then she saw a solid outline. Someone was in the bed with her. The duvet covered their head, and they did not appear to be breathing. For one panicked moment, she thought it was the person leaving her the notes.
The person beside her twitched.
Remi bit her lip to suppress a scream and, without thinking of the consequences, snapped her hand out to grab the duvet, revealing a mop of curly golden hair. Remi stilled, her body tethered to the spot.
No, no…
The body itself shifted slowly, the bones in its neck snapping as it twisted around to face her.
“Leith,” she gasped.
Remi had seen him in the garden—a phantom, a hallucination. But he was there again, closer than ever. She felt her blood run cold.
“Oh, Leith…”
His blue lips fell open, swinging downward on an unhinged jaw.
“No, no…no…”
Milky white eyes held her gaze, unblinking. His hands shot out and clamped around her throat, squeezing until black spots floated across her vision. Remi kicked and scratched, trying to pull herself from Leith’s unrelenting grasp. His mouth yawned wide, the ocean spilling from his throat. A guttural cry followed, like that of a dying animal. Remi pushed against the pain and struggled until his hold loosened.
Finally, she broke away, kicking at the sheets in her rush to escape.
Leith’s inhuman groan chased her from the room and down the hallway. She nearly slipped and toppled down the stairs, catching herself against the railing as she collided with Ben’s chest.
“Remi! What the hell—”
“Leith!” she screamed. “Leith! I saw him—he was there…in the bed.”
Ben snapped to. “What? How?”
“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “I don’t know!”
“I believe you,” he said, steadying her to stand on her own feet. “Are you alright?”
She nodded, wiping at her cheeks.
“Now then,” he stepped in front of her, offering his hand, “let’s go back and see if he’s still there.”
Feeling like a child, she let him lead her to his room. The bed was empty where Leith had been, the bedsheets were strewn across the mattress from her hasty escape.
“You put up quite a fight.” He chuckled.
“I could feel him,” she said, touching her neck. The phantom touch of his fingers lingered, leaving behind goose pimples. “It was as if…as if he was trying to strangle me.”
Ben’s eyes widened. He turned Remi to face him and moved her hair away from her shoulder. He was eerily quiet as his fingers traced her tender flesh.
“I don’t want to alarm you,” he murmured, “but there are red marks the size of fingerprints on your skin.”
“What?” The hair on her arms stood on end.
“They’re faint.” He moved her hair back over her shoulder. “But they are there.”
Remi cupped her neck, walking backward until the back of her knees caught the bed. She collapsed, tears streaming down her face again. She bit back a sob, too afraid to admit it was real, too afraid to question why.
“Remi?” Ben’s voice was muffled. “I’m going to have Sylvie draw you a bath, and then I’m going to send Paul to fetch your cousin.” He was a blur as he knelt in front of her. “I need to leave you, but only for a moment. Will you be alright?”
No, she thought, but she nodded anyway.
He wasn’t gone for long, returning with Sylvie close behind him.
“I’m going to leave you with Sylvie now,” he said, his voice soothing, “but will you give me your hands first?”
