The Kingdom

Twenty-Five

That afternoon Thane came by to see me. I let Angus out the back door, and he prowled the yard while we sat on the steps in the sunshine. Neither of us talked much at first. I was too preoccupied and disturbed by what I’d heard at Catrice’s studio and by that brief clash with Hugh. I still couldn’t understand why he thought Pell Asher had underestimated me. You really don’t know, do you?

Thane leaned back, elbows propped on the top step as he looked out over the glistening surface of Bell Lake. I followed his gaze. The uninitiated would never guess at the darkness that lay beneath that silken shimmer, but my time with ghosts had given me nothing if not sufficient imagination to envision that sunken necropolis with its overturned monuments and encrusted angels. I could picture Freya down there, too, floating among the headstones.

I turned back to Thane. “Can I ask you something?”

He shrugged. “Sure.” His eyes were very clear and very green in the sunlight, but like Bell Lake, his secrets were hidden beneath that placid surface. In the short time I’d known him, I’d detected ripples of some underlying disturbance. Flashes of some deep-rooted anger.

“Why did you tell me about the flooded cemetery that day on the ferry? Were you trying to scare me away?”

He smiled, but his face remained impassive. “Not at all. I only meant to entertain you with a little local color. I figured a cemetery restorer would appreciate a good ghost story. Was I right?”

“You have no idea.”

“See? I knew it.” He closed his eyes, basking in the sunlight.

“It’s funny to think about that conversation now,” I said. “I’d never set eyes on you or this place, and yet you already knew so much about me.”

“Not enough.” He smiled teasingly. “Tell me your deepest, darkest secrets.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“How about your childhood? Or your teenage years? What were you like in high school? Did you have a lot of boyfriends? Were you popular?”

I gave him a look. “Hardly.”

“Late bloomer?”

“You might say that.” A ghost had haunted the hallways of my school, making it impossible for me to participate in extracurricular activities after dusk. Not that I would have wanted to, anyway. By the time I entered high school, my reputation as a loner had become local canon. Rather than reinvent myself, I had embraced the solitude, retreating with my beloved books to the sanctuary of Rosehill Cemetery. “I grew up in a graveyard. You can imagine how popular I was.”

He grinned. “Were you teased?”

“Not really. I was pretty much just ignored.”

“Were you lonely?”

I hesitated. “Yes, sometimes. But being alone was all I ever knew. And in some ways, my childhood was idyllic. At least…for a time.” Until the ghosts came.

“That’s more than most people can say.”

I glanced at him curiously. “What about you? I can’t imagine that you were ever an introvert.”

“No, not an introvert. I had too much to prove. Too much to live up to.”

“Because you were an Asher?”

A shadow flickered across his face. “Because I wasn’t an Asher.”

“Was it hard when you first came here to live?”

“Yes, but I survived. It was eat or be eaten at Pathway Academy. And at Asher House.”

“That doesn’t sound very pleasant.”

He squinted into the sun. “It is what it is. Survival of the fittest.”

That made me think of Catrice’s hawks, and my mind turned once again to that troubling conversation I’d overheard. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered.

“Cold?”

“No…just someone walking over my grave.”

“Cheery thought.”

“Can I ask you about your stepfather?”

“Edward? What about him?”

“What was he like?”

Thane considered the question for a moment. “He wasn’t like Hugh or Grandfather. He had the Asher charm, but he was quieter. More introspective. At least that’s the way I remember him.”

“What did he do? For a living, I mean.”

“I have no idea. He tried any number of things, but he always seemed to fall back on his trust money.”

Was that bitterness I heard in his voice? I didn’t think so. More like resignation. He’d done more to restore the family’s holdings than either Edward or Hugh, his grandfather had told me. And yet he still had to fight for his place.

“He wanted to break free of the Asher shackles,” Thane said. “He just never quite managed.”

“What about you?”

“I’m not imprisoned. I like what I do.”

“And what is it you do, exactly?”

“I guess you could call me an overseer. The Ashers made their fortune in timber and mining, but these days, it’s mostly a matter of managing the investments, dwindling though they may be.” He paused. “I do understand why Edward left, though. Grandfather can be overbearing. Sometimes it’s hard to take.”

“Like trying to end your relationship with Harper?”

“Like trying to play God,” he said grimly.

“Do you think Edward was involved with Freya?” I asked.

He lifted a brow in surprise. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. I’m just curious.”

He shrugged. “Given his reaction to her photograph, I’d say it’s a safe bet they had some sort of relationship, and I can’t imagine Grandfather being too happy about it.”

“Do you think he broke them up?”

“Does it matter? It was a long time ago and they’re both dead now.”

“I know, but I find all these relationships fascinating. Freya and Edward. Edward and Bryn. Wayne and Luna. Luna and Hugh. It’s all so—”

“Incestuous?”

“I was going to say entangled.”

“That’s the nature of a small town,” Thane said. “Especially one as isolated and insular as Asher Falls.”

“You’ve never considered moving?”

He frowned. “Why would I move? This is my home. This is where I belong.”

I thought about the familiarity I’d felt in those woods, and I pulled up my legs, hugging them to my chest as I rested my chin on my knees. What an odd, scary place this was. So much dark history. So many lingering emotions bubbling beneath the pastoral façade. Yet here I was and here I would remain because I couldn’t leave without knowing the truth. Without finding my place.

Lifting my gaze to the highest summit of the mountain ridge, I listened for that whisper. That telltale ripple through the trees.

Beside me, Thane caught his breath, and I turned to find his eyes on me. He looked pale and unsettled, though I hadn’t seen or heard anything to disturb the calm setting.

“What is it?” I asked sharply.

He reached out as if to touch me, then let his hand fall away before he made contact. “My God,” he whispered. “Who are you?”