The Kingdom

Eighteen

The fear I’d experienced a moment ago was already starting to fade as we walked back through the lych-gate into the public section of the cemetery. But I was glad enough to turn my back on those looming hills. The sun was warm on my face, and I could hear the pleasant trill of the wood thrushes in the trees outside the entrance. A more peaceful setting, I could hardly imagine, and yet…I couldn’t resist glancing over my shoulder where mountain met sky in that timeless union.

“Will you take me to that grave?” Thane said at my side, and had I not been so adept at schooling my reaction, I might have jumped. For a moment, I’d forgotten all about him as I contemplated the mystique of those distant blue walls.

I turned back around. “There isn’t much to see. I gave you a thorough description at dinner. A north-south oriented grave decorated with seashells, pebbles and a headstone without an inscription.”

“Yes, I know. But I need to see it for myself.” He surveyed the woods with a frown. “That’s still Asher land. Now that you’ve brought it to my attention, I can’t just ignore that grave. It’s my responsibility to find out who’s buried there.”

His responsibility. Not Hugh’s. Not his grandfather’s. His.

I remembered at dinner how Hugh had shrugged aside my discovery, claiming the mountains were full of such remote burial sites. And Pell’s main concern had seemed to be that no one had warned me about the laurel bald. I wondered what either of them would say about Thane’s interest.

“Unless someone comes forward with a name, it’ll be difficult,” I warned him. “Unmarked graves are hard enough to identify in old graveyards, but at least one has the help of site maps and descendant recollections. Here, there’s not even an inscription to go by. Without the guideline of year of birth and death, you’ll have to wade through thousands of records, and that’s even assuming a death certificate was filed. The process could take months. Years even.”

“The old courthouse has boxes of files stored in the basement. I guess we could have a look through those. Although I would think vital records are computerized these days.”

“Not the old ones, especially in rural counties. But…” I glanced up at him. “You said we.”

He held the gate for me, then closed it behind us. When he turned, I saw worry lines between his brows. “I’d like your help with this. You know more about these kinds of searches than I do.”

I said flatly, “Your best bet is to ask around. In a town this size, someone has to know who’s buried there.”

“People around here don’t like answering questions. They’re too afraid of stepping into someone else’s business.”

Did that reticence explain the reaction to the hidden grave at dinner last night? And Tilly’s warning about meddling in things I didn’t understand?

I pushed a strand of hair back from my face. “I’d love to help, but I’m committed to the restoration. My first priority has to be the cemetery. That won’t leave a lot of free time for tracking down records.” It was a cursory excuse at best because I already knew I would help him. An unmarked grave, no matter how old or remote, couldn’t be allowed to stand. Whoever was buried there deserved a name. Deserved to be remembered.

“Will you at least take me to the grave? I can find it on my own, but it’ll save time if you show me the way.”

I decided not to remind him that he’d just warned me to stay out of the woods. Besides, it was hours until dark, and I had a feeling nothing would happen with an Asher along.

“All right. I’ll show you.”

“Should we take Angus with us?” he asked.

“We’ll have to. I’m not leaving him here by himself.”

He glanced down at me. “You’re really spooked about last night, aren’t you?”

“Can you blame me?”

“No. But try not to worry. I’ll find out who set those traps.”

“The same way you found the kennel? What did you do to them, Thane?”

His gaze dropped again to Angus. “Not nearly as much as I wanted to,” he muttered, and I decided it was best to leave it at that.

We paused at my car just long enough to allow Angus to lap up some fresh water, and then the three of us entered the woods together, our footsteps silent on the mossy floor. It was cool and dim inside the trees, the air spicy with pine and cedar. As we walked along in that perpetual gloom, I thought again of Papa’s mountain stories, but why should I waste time worrying about mythical creatures like vampires and werewolves when my world was full of ghosts? And now I had entered a new world, one of hidden graves, strange winds and whispering trees.

And Thane Asher.

He seemed distracted as we walked along, head slightly bowed, eyes on the ground. It seemed to me that the temperature had been steadily dropping the deeper we walked into the woods, and I stopped to put on my jacket. Thane automatically reached over to help me, and I felt a little tingle where his fingers brushed the back of my neck. If he noticed my slight withdrawal, he said nothing.

“Can I ask you something?”

He nodded without lifting his gaze from the path.

“At the risk of sounding insensitive, what happened to Wayne Van Zandt’s face?”

He shrugged. “I can only tell you what I’ve heard. It’s one of those things that people tend not to talk about.”

“There seems to be a lot of forbidden topics around here,” I murmured.

I caught the edge of a smile. “You catch on fast. Anyway, it happened a long time ago, before I came here, so what I’m about to tell you is second- and third-hand information. Take it with a grain of salt. The story goes that he went up to the falls to meet someone one night. A girl he’d been seeing. He was found unconscious the next morning by the pool. He’d been badly mauled and nearly died from blood loss and infection. When he finally came around in the hospital, he didn’t remember a thing.”

“Not even the attack?”

“Nothing. But the wounds were consistent with a bear attack.”

“He warned me about wild animals when I saw him the other day. I thought he was just trying to frighten me, but maybe his concern was genuine.”

Thane swatted a gnat from his face. “I wouldn’t assign too much nobility to Wayne Van Zandt’s motives. He’s had a chip on his shoulder for as long as I’ve known him.”

“With good reason, it would seem.”

“Yes, but remember, he’s the same guy who offered to take care of your dog. And he would have probably derived a great deal of pleasure from doing so.”

I glanced over my shoulder where Angus plodded along behind us on the trail. When he noticed my attention, he gave a little whine and came up between us, nudging Thane off the path. “Hey!”

I laughed and bent to give his mangled head a pat.

Thane good-naturedly fell into step behind us. “You’ve got yourself quite a companion,” he said.

“I know. He’s wonderful.”

“Will you take him with you when you leave here?”

I answered without a second thought. “Of course.”

“He’s lucky he found you, then. I’d like to think Samson happened upon someone like you.”

“Maybe he did.” But neither of us sounded convinced.

Angus soon grew bored of my pace and loped ahead. I called him back because I didn’t want him out of my sight in the woods.

“Now that I know what happened to Wayne Van Zandt, I understand something that Ivy said to me the other day.”

Thane had moved back up beside me, and our shoulders kept brushing even though I hugged the edge of the path.

“What was that?” he asked carefully.

His wariness amused me. “You do realize she has a crush on you.”

When he didn’t say anything, I glanced at his scowling face. “Come on. It’s just a crush.”

“Ivy’s not like other girls,” he said. “There’ve been some incidents.”

My smile faded at his tone. “Like what?”

“Stalking,” he said grimly.

“Stalking? As in following you?”

“Yes, and breaking into my car. Stealing some personal items.”

“How do you know it was her?”

“Trust me, I know.”

“What did you do?”

He shrugged. “Not much I could do. I couldn’t prove it and I thought it best to just ignore her rather than to make a big deal of it. I figured she’d outgrow it in time.”

“Has she?”

“I’d hoped so. Until the other day, I hadn’t seen her around much.” He paused. “So what did she say to you?”

That you would never choose an outsider, I thought. “We were talking about the waterfall. She said it was a thin place. A location where the living world and the Other world connect.”

“Like vortexes,” he said. “What did Bryn call them?”

“Gateways to the realm of the dead,” I said evenly. “According to Ivy, people used to go up to the falls because they thought they could glimpse heaven, but now they stay away because they’re afraid. Sidra cut her off before she could finish, but I have a feeling she was talking about Wayne’s attack.”

Thane shrugged. “You never know. These hills are full of folklore and superstition. Even the educated aren’t immune. You heard the way Catrice and Bryn talked about the mountains.”

“They do seem to hold them in reverence. Luna, too, I think. She told me her mother used to say that she would wither and die if she left this place.”

“I somehow think Luna would survive,” he muttered, and I wondered if he knew about her relationship with Hugh. “Actually…” he said slowly, “she was the girl Wayne went up to the falls to meet that night.”

I swung around in surprise. “Luna Kemper?”

“There’s only one Luna around here,” he said. “She and Wayne were close back then. Inseparable, people say. Then my uncle came back from Europe and…well, you’ve seen him.”

“Wayne is an attractive man, too. I’m sure before the accident he was a real heartbreaker.”

“But he’s not an Asher.” Thane’s voice was so matter-of-fact, I wondered if I might have imagined a slight edge.

“That certainly explains Wayne’s attitude,” I mused. “He was very contemptuous when I mentioned that Luna was the one who made all the arrangements for the restoration. I had the distinct feeling there was bad blood, at least on his end. But you said his accident happened years ago before you came here. That’s a long time to hold a grudge.”

“Grudges are like superstitions. You know they don’t make sense, but you cling to them, anyway.”

We walked along in silence for a moment, and I became overly aware of the forest sounds. The scurry of tiny feet through the underbrush. The rustle of leaves in the treetops. I glanced up, almost expecting to see hundreds of birds staring down at us, but the branches were empty.

“When did Maris come into the picture?” I asked.

“A few years ago. She was in town visiting a cousin and someone introduced her to Hugh.”

“Was he still with Luna?”

“They were together off and on for years. But by that time, Maris had a certain attraction that Luna could no longer offer. Namely, youth. Her money was a bonus.”

“That sounds—”

“Cold? Mercenary? I told you we Ashers are a self-serving lot,” he said grimly. “Grandfather was the one who pushed for the union. Hugh had turned forty without producing an heir, and God forbid the Asher bloodline die out.”

“And yet there’s been no baby.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?”

“What about Edward?”

“He and my mother had no children. I can’t speak to his past before they married. Although I think he and Bryn were together for a time. That was long before she had Sidra, though.”

“Bryn and Edward…Luna and Hugh. What about Catrice?”

“Odd woman out, I guess.” He shrugged. “There’s been no Asher offspring for a whole generation, so you can imagine Grandfather’s impatience.”

“Blood and land,” I murmured.

“Aw.” He slanted a glance down at me. “So he shared his philosophy with you.”

“Yes, and it all sounds so archaic. So seventeenth century.”

“It is archaic,” Thane agreed. “And I’ve always thought it resembled the Fisher King myth. Grandfather’s visions of the family and himself are nothing if not grandiose. In his eyes, land and family are inexorably entwined.”

“Restore the bloodline, restore the kingdom.”

“Something like that.”

“Who’s the Grail knight in his story?”

“Well,” Thane said softly. “They do call you the restorer.”

I tripped over a root and would have gone down if Thane’s hand hadn’t shot out to steady me. “I restore old cemeteries the hard way,” I said and held out my palms. “See? I have lots and lots of calluses. There’s nothing mystical or mythical about what I do.”

His eyes glinted. “I was teasing.”

“Oh.” I tried to take it as such, but something niggled at the back of my mind. That same feeling of destiny that had plagued me in the clearing. That unsettling notion that I had been brought here for a reason.

They do call you the restorer.

“Anyway,” Thane was saying. “I suppose Grandfather still has hope of an heir, but I’m not so sure the marriage will last that long.”

A divorce would probably make Luna happy.

I thought of that overheard rendezvous, the intimate murmuring and animalistic moans of pleasure… .

I drew a sharp breath. That day at the library, I couldn’t leave those sounds behind fast enough, but now I found the voyeuristic memory titillating. And that in itself was disturbing.

As we neared the summit, I felt something in the air, an odd vibration that thrummed through my veins and teased like a feather along my nerve endings. The breeze lifted my hair and stroked my face like a lover’s caress. I closed my eyes on a shudder. Then slowly I turned my gaze upon the man beside me. For a moment, his face seemed to morph into…

Thane scowled down at me. “Are you okay?”

“Do you feel something in the air?” I asked, pulling my jacket tightly around me.

The frown deepened. “Rain, maybe. I noticed storm clouds moving in earlier.”

That could explain the vibration, couldn’t it? The electrical shock that had pulsed through my body when I looked up and saw Devlin’s face?

Thane’s gaze lingered. “Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Why don’t you wait here for me? I’m sure I’ll be able to find the grave on my own.”

“No, I’m fine. Something strange just happened.”

“What?”

How could I explain what I’d experienced when I didn’t understand it myself? Maybe it was all the talk of bloodlines and fertility, but the vibration seemed to stir something deep inside me, almost akin to a sexual excitement. “It was…” I paused and started again. “For a moment, when I looked at you…I saw someone else…”

He studied me curiously. “Who?”

I glanced away, unable to hold his gaze. “No one. It doesn’t matter.”

“Lack of sleep,” he pronounced. “Fatigue can play strange tricks on the mind.”

I willed my heartbeat to slow. “I guess you’re right. Kind of like a waking dream. Anyway, I’m okay now.”

He cocked his head. “Listen.”

“What is it?”

“You can hear the falls from here.”

We were silent, heads turned toward the summit. Over the distant rush of water, another sound came to me. A whisper that undulated like a gentle wave through the trees.

Amelia…Amelia…