Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
She caught a movement out of the corner of her eyes, a shadow hovering nearby and then it began to approach the bed. She tried desperately to call out to her husband again, to reach for his hand, to seek his protection, but she remained frozen unable to move. The shadow drew closer and just as it got near the bed the cold that engulfed her rushed off her and flew at the shadow.
Flora let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“Flora! Flora! Wake up. It is nothing more than a dream. Wake up!”
Flora’s eyes sprung open, and she rushed into her husband’s arms relieved to feel his strength wrap protectively around her.
“The cold and the shadow,” she said with a shiver, still feeling as if the cold continued to embrace her. “The cold protected me from the shadow.”
“It was nothing more than a dream,” Torin said, hoping to calm her.
“Or a warning,” she suggested. “Ghosts were something I gave little credence to. They were part of tales told to entertain and frighten. Since arriving in the Highlands and experiencing things that sometimes lack reason, I wonder if there is a grain of truth to those tales.”
“A thought better left for the morning. Sleep now, you are safe in my arms,” he said, hugging her close and running his hand along her back to chase the chill from her body.
Flora snuggled against him but did not close her eyes. Her husband had certainly shown he could keep her safe, but could he keep her safe from her dreams?
No snow had fallen in the last few days and things had been quiet around the keep and in the village. Many were hesitant to believe the ghost was gone but relieved he had not made himself known again. No more attempts had been made on Flora’s life to her relief, though that could be attributed to her husband’s intense vigilance. Whatever the reason for the quiet, Flora was grateful for it. It allowed her to think more clearly and sensibly.
She smiled and hurried to Philip’s cottage seeing him standing outside waiting for her.
“For you,” she said once inside, handing him a wool blanket and placing a cloth bundle she also carried on the table. “The winter is far too cold here to keep warm with only one blanket.” She glanced at his narrow bed, having noticed the single blanket the last time she was there.
“That is most generous of you, my lady. My old bones do not take the cold as well as they did when I was young,” Philip said and placed the folded blanket on the bed. “Please sit, my lady, I have a hot brew ready for us.”
Flora untied the knot of the cloth bundle spreading it wide to reveal its contents. “And I have cook’s delicious honey bread to go with it.”
Philip grinned with delight. “Honey bread has been my favorite since I was young.”
They both sat to enjoy the hot brew, the bread, and to delve into conversation.
“My mum told me it was the first food I ate upon our arrival here in the clan and that I never stopped eating it,” Philip said, smiling softly at the memory.
“I thought you were born here, Philip.”
“I might as well have been. I was barely two years when my mum and I landed here. My da had died from an illness that hit him quickly and took him just as quickly from what my mum told me. After that, my mum could not work the farm alone and so we had to leave. We found a home here with an older aunt who took us in and was alone herself. I wed Jenny, a lass I had known since I was young, just after my mum passed. We shared the good and bad together, losing two bairns, one shortly after he was born, and the lass succumbing to a fever that hit the clan when she was five years. Jenny and I had many years together after that, but not nearly enough when you love someone. I miss them all every day.”
Flora reached out to rest a comforting hand over his aged one, seeing tears gather in his eyes. “I know the feeling well. I think of my parents and miss them every day.”
“It is good you have Lord Torin to love you and look after you and it is good to have a fair and caring ruler once again. You both will do well by the clan.” He shook his head. “Years later, after Lord Dermid passed, I heard someone say that he hoped Lord Hamish did not change like his da had done.”
“He was not a kind man?” Flora asked.
Philip shrugged. “How does one judge a man who must lead a clan? So much responsibility.”
“You have heard nothing through the years, not even a snipit of gossip, as to why the tower room was sealed?” Flora asked.