“I say we escort them into the fray,” Blake replied, “though I doubt any of them will require our protection. They all seem rather confident.”
Charlotte stood up. “My sisters-in-law and soon-to-be sister-in-law do not yet understand what they will be facing when we venture below ground. I think perhaps we should bring that decanter of wine.”
Devon immediately picked it up by the neck. “I have it. What else shall we take with us? Think carefully now, in case we do not return for a time.”
“What exactly constitutes a time?” Anne asked playfully as she stood up. “Should I bring a change of clothes?”
Garrett moved to pick up a small candelabra. “I do not believe that will be necessary, for you shall have very capable protectors at your side. We shall all emerge unscathed; I am almost certain of it.”
“Almost certain?” Anne chuckled as she followed him out of the drawing room. “Perhaps this is too great a risk and we should all behave like sensible adults and go straight to bed.”
“And let them continue to think I never really heard those ghostly howls all those years ago?” Charlotte argued. “No, I think not. I require witnesses to prove I was not a silly little girl with an overactive imagination. Anne, you believe me, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” she replied, linking her arm through Charlotte’s and realizing she had not had this much fun in a great many years.
Charlotte picked up a second candelabra from the side table by the door and carried it into the corridor. Together they moved quietly and stealthily to the staircase and descended to the main floor.
“Perhaps we should be doing this in the daylight,” Rebecca nervously suggested.
“Then we wouldn’t see any ghosts,” Charlotte replied, “because they only come out at night. At least that is what Father claims.”
Anne, Charlotte, and Rebecca all joined hands to follow the men to the rear door that led out to the old cloister. “We will have to go outside for a moment to cross to the chapel,” Devon explained. “It will be cold. Are you ladies prepared?”
“What if the chapel door is locked?” Anne asked.
“It’s never locked,” Devon explained. “It was always one of Father’s strictest rules for as long as I can remember. Prepare yourself. There is a frigid wind tonight.” He opened the palace door and the candles flickered wildly as the group dashed outside onto the icy ground of the cloister and ran laughing to the chapel. Garrett was the first to reach the door and he held it open for all of them.
Once inside, they each took a moment to recover from the biting wind on their cheeks.
Anne could not ignore the fact that it was the first time she had set foot in a place of worship since her very public fall from grace.
She glanced uneasily at the others who were smiling and laughing, then looked up at the high arched ceiling and felt a wonderful rush of joy to be there without being judged a harlot.
She closed her eyes and took a few deep cleansing breaths, then opened them and looked around.
It was a small, private chapel that would seat fifty people at most, but it was an inviting space with fine oak paneling and tapestries behind the choir stalls. She slowly made her way up the center aisle, running her fingers over the backs of each empty pew.
A stained glass window provided an ornate backdrop for the altar, but she could not make out the colors or details in the glass for there were only a few candles to light the way.
“What a lovely place,” she said, deciding to return at some point to see it in full light. She would be married here after all. It was an almost inconceivable notion.
“I haven’t been here in years,” Garrett said. “It seems smaller than I remember.”
She watched his eyes settle upon the white statue of the Virgin Mary at the base of the arched window and wondered what he was thinking as he held the candelabra high over his head.
Meanwhile Devon had already found a secret door behind the pulpit. He unlocked it with a key that was stored beneath a loose stone in the floor.
“I wasn’t sure if the key would still be here,” he said, handing it to Garrett who slipped it into his pocket. “Are you ready ladies?” Devon asked. “If you’re frightened, it is not too late to change your minds.”
“Frightened?” Charlotte replied, aghast. She was the first to join him at the door. “We most certainly are not. In fact, I will go first.”
Anne and Rebecca followed, but Anne stopped suddenly when she peered into the darkness. “Oh, my. I didn’t imagine anything quite like this.”
A steep set of stone stairs led down to the underground tunnels beneath the chapel, but it was pitch black beyond the meagre light provided by their candles. A dank, musty smell reached her nostrils and her heart began to race at the prospect of venturing into those dark unknown depths.