She glanced around at hundreds of such items.
These…
Each item he had taken from women he’d killed.
Her throat constricted.
The women who wore these items all died.
She lived.
Her heart pounded in her throat. Without the lore he told and the magic he created, he would be a murderer by society’s eyes. Truth was, he was a murderer. Why would he keep such things? Unless…
He had loved all these women.
The painting. To have a portrait like such here in this place… He was smitten with her. Her heart pinched, and her gut tumbled a bit lower.
He didn’t know Celeste enough to be smitten with her. He was only drawn to her through a magical primal urge.
Not one rational thought had passed through her brain since Jordan entered the ballroom and knelt before her.
And now Hudson… Oh, what had happened to him?
When she saw him in the silver room, he was pasty white with sunken eyes. A description better suited for a monster from a gothic novel, not the Duke of Hudson.
My stars, had her association with Jordan done that to him?
So much of what happened today was wrong.
Life was thrust at her, and she rode the wave once more. No longer would she simply float along. This time, she would make the decision. She would paddle her own boat.
She turned around, and water splashed from a puddle on the floor up onto her foot. A strange fluttering wiggled through her. She clenched forward to try to dissuade the feeling and closed her eyes. A vision flashed in blue and gold light.
Moonlight streamed through the windows of a dance hall, casting a glow on the scuffs from a night’s dancing on the polished wood floor.
A shadow slid along the wall at the edge of the room.
The short stature and rounded shoulders were unmistakably those of Grandmum.
Another shadow slid along the polished floor from behind her. Closer…
Closer…
Celeste’s heart raced. Oh no. Please, no.
Gloved hands grabbed Grandmum’s shoulders.
In the moonlight, a pale face with sunken eyes emerged from the shadows.
Celeste sucked in a breath. The same face as Hudson’s had been in the silver room.
His mouth opened, and long, bony fangs curled his lip back.
In a swift motion before Grandmum could protest, he bit her neck.
Grandmum cried out.
His hand jerked up to her mouth and smothered her scream. They dropped to the floor, where Hudson continued to feed on her. Grandmum lay in a column of moonlight as blood ran in a stream onto the pale marble floor.
The image vanished.
Celeste jerked and gulped, trying to breathe. But her lungs would not work.
She stared ahead, seeing only mist and darkness. Tears streamed down her face unstopped, and the image of red wine as it streaked down her dress only a night past flashed to her mind. She had stained everything with blood. The blood that pulsed in her veins was that of a water dragon. Her knees weakened, and she fell to the floor.
Hudson knew that.
Had he married her only for that reason?
Had he truly killed her grandmum?
She needed to go back to the mainland. Back to Grandmum and family.
Something in this house made her mad. This was her decision. She wanted Jordan, but she needed Grandmum too. She stood up and rushed past the pool and out into the hall. She needed her clothing and… My stars, how would she get off the Isle?
“Your Grace, may I be of service?” The young woman with huge eyes and black hair stood in the hall in front of the tapestry that symbolized air. Jordan had called her Astrid.
Celeste stared at her. “I need my dress. Can you bring it to the room I was given, Astrid?”
“Your dress is quite in distress, Your Grace.”
“It is of little consequence. I need clothing to wear off the Isle, and eyebrows and tongues would wag if I showed up in this.”
“I will bring you a dress.” She bobbed a curtsey and passed Celeste, heading down to the other end of the hall.
Celeste continued to the room in which she had warmed herself by the fire. She stepped into the room and walked to the fire once again.
The flames flickered the same warm red and yellow. Tears welled in her eyes. Please don’t let that vision be true.
“Carmen! Do you know? Can you teach me to see the truth?”
“I sincerely wish I could see for you. Locked here, I have only you to see through. I can teach you more about your sights in time. Where is Jordan? He can help you.”
“Where are you locked?” She shook her head; it didn’t matter at this moment. “Never mind. I need to get to my grandmum.”
Was Jordan the key? She needed to find him and tell him of her vision. They needed to return to London at once to ensure Grandmum’s safety.
Astrid knocked on the open door frame. “Your Grace. I believe this shall fit you.” She held in her arms a dark red satin dress.