Page 58 of Four Promises to Love

“Who is coming?” he asked. “Perhaps you’d better sit⁠—”

“No! No time. Have to hide—promised.”

Helplessly, he watched as she paced in agitated steps. Suddenly, she stopped—and dashed toward the empty fireplace. When she went to her hands and knees, feeling the inside of the brick grate, stunned awareness forked through him. He shot a look at Gigi and saw she shared his reaction. Finn could only be searching for one thing: the hidden mechanism that Xenia had discovered during a vision of Rose.

Owen didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified that Finn’s strange behavior wasn’t because of him but because of a…a ghost.

He crouched next to her. “Finn, what are you looking for?”

“A place to hide.”

She looked so scared that he wanted to fold her into his arms. But he didn’t dare.

“Thomas showed me.” She turned back to her task, muttering, “Have to find it…”

“What is going on?”

This came from Xenia, who’d just entered the library with Ethan.

“I think she’s having a vision,” Owen said. “She’s trying to find a place to hide.”

Xenia’s mouth formed an “O”; even Ethan raised his brows.

Then there was a click, and Owen knew Finn had pressed upon the brick that activated the hidden mechanism. The panel of the firebox swung open like a door, and without hesitation, Finn crawled through. Owen followed her. Before Ethan had purchased Bottoms House, the secret room had been used by the Corrigans to hide their stolen loot. Xenia had discovered it during her visions because Rose had apparently hidden here while her lover fought their enemy…and lost.

Owen did not like confined spaces, and he had to bend his head to avoid hitting the low ceiling. Yet he forgot his discomfort when he saw Finn curled up in a corner. Circling her knees with her arms, she’d buried her head and was weeping.

He sat next to her and tentatively put an arm around her trembling shoulders.

“Why are you crying, love?” he asked.

“He’s dead,” she sobbed. “Because of me.”

“Who’s dead?” he asked.

But he already knew.

“My Thomas. My good and honorable Thomas.”

Panic seized him as he saw how different Finn looked. Even though her features were the same, that teary, mournful expression was not hers. Was it…was it Rose’s? What did the spirit want—and how could he get Finn back? If he had to guess, Rose wanted comforting. But how did one console a ghost? He thought about some of his own ghosts—his fellow soldiers who’d perished on that bloody march—and what he had learned to tell himself over the years.

“What’s done is done,” he said gruffly. “There is nothing more you can do.”

“I should have been braver.” Her voice quavered. “Even though he told me to hide, I should have stayed by his side.”

“Even if you had, the result might still be the same. You cannot blame yourself for surviving.”

God, how many times had he said these exact words to himself?

She raised her eyes to his, and his breath caught. The brown had bled from her irises, leaving them a haunting, vibrant green.

“You are a good man like my Thomas. Take care of her.”

Her smile was warm, almost maternal, before she swooned.

Even as he gathered her in his arms, shouting for help, remorse slammed into him.

Bloody hell. Finn was telling the truth. She is a medium—and can channel spirits.