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“No, no. Colette is fine. She and Laughlin are about to leave for their honeymoon.” Raphael rubbed the back of his neck. “I was just talking to Laughlin’s friend. He traveled here from Olde Hemlock, via the coastal roads and up through the Grange.”
“And?” she urged.
“It might be nothing, but he said a peculiar black cloud hung over Castle Grange. He steered well clear, because he strongly suspected it was a bewitchment. I thought you’d want to know.”
Amelie felt like the floor was opening up before her. “It’s not nothing.”
“I thought as much.” He closed the door and lowered his voice. “Amelie, I know I have no right to tell you how to proceed. Marcel and I are the reason any of this happened to you in the first place. I regret?—”
She cut in. “Do not regret it. Please. I don’t.”
“Very well. Then I suppose only one question remains. When do we ride?”
CHAPTER 34
Amelie set out with her brothers to Castle Grange that very day.
Marcel had prepared the horses, Raphael had seen to the remaining guests, and they all bade Colette and Laughlin goodbye.
Unlike last week’s journey, this trip was devoid of all levity. Amelie kept imagining the Dark One descending on Davron alone in his estate. For how long had the black cloud loomed over Castle Grange? The sorceress could have closed in as soon as Amelie left, and she would have been none the wiser. Davron might have perished already.
Without needing to discuss it, the siblings rode through the night, cloaks drawn tightly around their necks. A grey, chilly dawn awaited when they entered the Grange region. Fellow travelers had petered out the closer they progressed to the castle.
The trees grew taller and darker. The spindly branches reached over the path, almost meeting in the middle to create a tunnel. The only birdsong was the doleful caw of crows, unseen beyond the tree line.
Amelie rode harder. She did not recall the Grange being quite this gloomy, and she took it as a bad omen. It was only within half a league of the castle that she slowed. As anxious as she was to reach Davron, they needed a plan.
“We will go straight to the castle,” said Amelie as their horses slowed to a trot, single file on the rapidly narrowing path. “Finding Davron is the priority. With any luck, all will be well and he’ll be wondering what on earth possessed us to ride up on his estate with no warning.”
She paused, exhaling. Marcel and Raphael said nothing, but she knew they thought the same as Amelie. That all was not well. The very air teemed with malevolence, almost visible to the naked eye, enveloping the riders and their horses. A stiff wind picked up, uncharacteristically icy for a late summer’s day. It was like they had stepped into a different world altogether.
Amelie gently threaded her fingers through Trésor’s silky mane for comfort, ever grateful for the mare’s reassuring presence. “If we can not locate Davron, we’ll arm ourselves in the apothecary. He has a green potion that repels the Dark One. It’s our only true weapon against her.”
Raphael turned around in his saddle, frowning. “You did not bring the Sirenstone?”
“I have it.” The silver rose was safely inside her satchel, along with the clamshell. She hoped to find more clues about the Heartstone in the apothecary, and how she might use it to defeat Levissina.
If Amelie failed to locate clues in the apothecary, she planned to go to the library, where she was sure she would find something about Levissina, or the Beyond, or Heartstones.
“Can you not kill the Dark One with the Sirenstone?” asked Marcel.
“Uh, no. I am not even sure the Dark One can die, to be frank. I don’t know if she is still human.” It was one of the points Amelie hoped to clarify with information from the apothecary or library. “But I can tell you, this is not a fight that will be won with swords or arrows. Levissina is a foe unlike any you’ve ever faced. Her body is made of black vapor, yet that makes her no less dangerous. She has murdered people. Innocents. She will not hesitate to do the same to you, if she feels threatened. I need you both to be careful.”
“Amelie, look,” said Raphael.
She followed his gaze. Castle Grange appeared through a break in the dark trees. The castle had a derelict air, the windows akin to blank eyes, and the tattered banners and flags hung by mere threads. An unnatural black swirl of cloud encircled the highest turrets.
The cloud was perfectly immobile, as if the castle was frozen in time and space. There were no signs of life—no movement, no light.
A pit of dread opened in Amelie’s stomach. What would she find at Castle Grange? Could she bear it?
“Come on,” she said, urging Trésor into a canter, passing Raphael and his steed. “We must hurry.”
Within minutes, she arrived at the bottom of the desolate road leading to the castle. Her brothers joined her, Marcel swearing under his breath at the ominous sight that greeted them. They’d not seen a single traveler coming or going from the village, and now Amelie understood why.
The black cloud extended past the estate grounds, disappearing through the trees toward the village. The darkness was more dense at the castle, but she worried for those who lived in the small, unprotected cottages of the village. The castle, at least, was protected by enchantments. Or, it had been. Would the sinister cloud hang over the castle if the protective magic was still in place? Something had changed. Something big.
Perhaps, having already fed on Davron, the Dark One progressed to the village, wreaking havoc there, too.
