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“What is this?” His stentorian tone is spoiled by a slur. “You are helping the living now, Jowan? Have you no shame?”

“This is his lordship’s business. Keep your mouth shut, Matthias. If you had any shame in life, I’m sure you drowned it in the brandy barrel.”

“Well, I never,” he breathes and pops out of sight.

“This way,” Jowan says and moves through a door.

I try to follow him and smash my nose on the wood. “Warn a bloke, please,” I mutter. I hear smothered laughter and go through the doorway with as much dignity as I can manage.

Xander rises to his feet from the chair by the fireplace, which is dark and cold tonight. His face is full of concern. “He sent you,” he says immediately.

I nod, trying to catch my breath. The brief respite from fear is over, and my nerves are once more making me vibrate like a tuning fork. “Yes, we need the ring.”

“My promise ring?” he asks uncertainly. I nod and his eyebrows rise. “So that is what he used.” Fury flashes across his face and then he steels himself and points at the room’s far corner. “It is under a loose floorboard over there.”

I race over to the space he’s indicating and fall to my knees.

“Press on the right at the end of the floorboard,” Xander says, hovering over me. “You will hear a click.”

I feel around and find a small, raised patch of wood. When I press on it, the wood comes loose, and beneath it is a small, dark space.

“Reach in and feel for it,” Xander urges.

“Did you put it in here?” I ask, reaching into the gap.

“When I fell ill, I welcomed death, but I didn’t want my ring to fall into anyone else’s hands. The rest of my life was public. This wasn’t. The loose floorboard had been a hiding place when I was a child, and I put the ring in there to keep it safe. My diary was there too but Edward discovered that a few years ago and put it on the shelf instead.”

The only thing I feel inside the hole is cold air and dust. I stretch, extending my reach, my shoulder aching. Panic bears down, a heavy weight. What if the ring’s not there? What if it takes hours or days to find it in this massive house? What will happen to Blue? The thought shoves away the panic. I don’t have time for doubt if I’m to save him.

My fingertips brush against something silky. I pull gently, peering down. A small bundle of fabric comes into view, and I lift it out.

I glance at Xander and he nods. I part the fabric and a ring drops into my palm. The engraved silver is blackened with age, but the citrine-coloured stone flashes in the light. I run my fingertip over it, feeling an engraving inside the band. The ring is simple, not gaudy or impressively large, and it doesn’t seem like it would have the power to separate lovers for centuries. Its power lies in its meaning, how it symbolizes solemn vows and undying love.

“There it is,” Xander says, his voice rich with affection and love. He takes it from me and a light blazes. When he hands it back to me, the silver and the stone sparkle as if new. “Branok bought these when he went on a run to St Ives. There was a little jeweller in a lane by the dock. I never took it off until the end.”

I place it carefully into my pocket. “I promise I’ll try to look after it.”

“If it gets me to him, that is all that matters.”

I nod. “I must go.”

“Be careful,” he calls after me as I race to the window. I pull it up and slide out onto the sill. For a second, I look back and see the two ghosts standing side by side, their friendship as obvious as their anxiety. I offer them a rough salute, drop down onto the ground, and start to run.

The cold air smacks me in the face. In the distance, I hear what sounds like metal clashing, swiftly and repeatedly. Swords? What the fuck?

I quicken my pace, only to come to a lurching stop when I round the corner. My heart stutters and everything stops. There’s no sound in the world apart from my own panting gasps.

Blue is lying on the ground. He’s pale in the moonlight, his face almost serene. He’s not moving. He doesn’t seem to be breathing.

“No!” I moan. “No, Blue.”

I’m wading through cement as I struggle to meet him, my breath stuttering as I begin to sob.

I fall to the ground next to him and the world comes back in a rush of noise. “You can’t be gone,” I mumble.

My hand is shaking so badly that it takes two tries before I can cup his face. He’s as cold as one of the marble statues. I fumble under his jumper, searching for a heartbeat. There’s nothing.

This is a nightmare. The worst possible one, because Blue won’t be able to drag me into his arms and soothe me with sass that hides so much love. Hot tears stream down my face. “Blue?” I say shaking him. “Wake up, sweetheart. Please wake up.”