Ever Bound Read online

  “What? Which ones?” My heart pounded against a cold knot in the center of my chest.

  “The colt and the mare.”

  “Sampson and Delilah?” I shook my head slowly. “No, I just checked them this morning.”

  “Son, they are lying on their sides, eyes glazed over. They have terrible tremors and they’ve lost control of their bladders.”

  “Poison?” Nausea threatened at the back of my throat.

  “I’m sure of it.”

  I waited in the kitchen, knowing that shooting a horse or farm animal was necessary at times, but when the two loud bangs cut through the air, it was as if they’d hit me in the head too.

  Mama’s loving arm slipped around my waist as she pressed her cheek to my shoulder.

  Tears boiled under my eyelids.

  Sampson and Delilah were our personal horses. Innocent animals. They’d done nothing to deserve this.

  I lifted my head and looked toward the main house. Slamming furniture out of my way as I went, I stopped at the door. “It had to be Grace. She’s the only one on the whole plantation vile enough.”

  “Colby. No,” Mama said. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

  Mama approached me and grabbed my shoulders.

  “I should have left her in the barn.” I couldn’t catch my breath. Too much hurt in one day. I wanted to scream.

  “Just breathe,” Mama said in a soothing tone.

  The horses upset me, but losing Annabeth and the only two real friends I had in the same day had proved too much. I wasn’t done with Grace. I’d have the last say.

  * * * *

  Pop and I spent the day digging holes for the horses. As dusk settled over the land, I stood over my two confidants and stewed in anger.

  “I know you loved them,” Grace said from behind me.

  While shoveling clumps of dirt from the holes, I’d had time to burn off some anger and gain the beginnings of a plan to rid myself and the whole farm of her. Every vile thing she did to get my attention or threaten me into marrying her would help me. I simply had to withstand her attacks until the perfect moment.

  “Yes.” I clenched my fists and held my anger back.

  “I am also aware that you love Annabeth. If you refuse to marry me, she’s next. If she comes to you, you had better make sure she knows who you’re loyal to.”

  * * * *

  Grace had gone back to the main house with an uneventful exit, and when she left, I was left sickened.

  The only thing I could do was work. It kept me from strangling Grace in a murderous rage.

  After raking the grass bordering the rose maze, I made room for hay and alfalfa in the outbuilding. With the pitchfork, I scooped up the final wads of loose hay and cleaned up the remaining mess.

  When I turned toward the door, Annabeth was leaned against the wall, her hands clasped at the front of her skirts.

  I stabbed the pitchfork into the haystack and wiped my hands on my trousers.

  “I’m sorry about your horses.” Her gaze moved to the place I had just cleared.

  “Thanks.” As something to occupy my hands, I moved the pitchfork from one wall to the other. Any other day, I’d have rushed to her, but today I didn’t feel much like being near anyone. I hurt everyone and everything I touched by existing.

  “We’ll discover who did it,” she said.

  Any other time her being soft toward me would have helped and probably sent chills of intoxicating urges through me. Tonight. Nothing. Mostly.

  “All things done in secret will one day be shouted from the rooftops. It will come out in the end.”

  “You should be inside the safety of your house.” I turned back to my work.

  “I could say the same for you. If there’s a lunatic out here running around trying to sabotage our households, you should take heed to your own words.”

  “I’m not in danger.” I turned. I had just been about to grab the pitchfork again, but Annabeth stood between it and me.

  She was closer now. Her eyes connected with mine.

  “As much as I hate to admit this with as angry as I am, I’m afraid for you. I think Grace has gone beyond pitching one of her famous tantrums. She’s the lunatic.”

  I stepped out of the barn and looked around it. When I came back, I lowered my voice. “Where’s your sister?”

  “In the house, sleeping. She vomited for a while today. Something even stranger than normal is going on with her.”

  “Then it should be safe to warn you.” I took an uncertain step toward her. “She killed my horses to show me how very serious she is about being married to me. If I don’t end whatever is left of what you and I had, then she’s threatened to kill you too.”

  Color drained from Annabeth’s face. “I knew she was lying when she asked for my forgiveness.”

  “You can say we have nothing left, but you’d be just as big a liar as I was.” My voice was flat. There was no time to argue about feelings. They were there. Or she wouldn’t have been so damned mad at me. “So, until I can figure out how to beat her at her own game, I’m escorting you to your house. I ask that you not be alone with her. At all.”

  “You need to be in your cottage with the doors and windows locked too.” A streak of fear coursed through her eyes.

  “In her demented state, the most she would probably do to me is run screaming at me naked. Believe me, I’ll have no trouble turning her down.” I couldn’t help but smile a little. The worry in Annabeth’s eyes gave me hope.

  Sadness washed over her face. “If you were the son-in-law of a rich man, your life would be so much simpler. If you did actually take part in the act with her and at some point had feelings for her that you’re embarrassed about, I could understand I suppose. You could give in and stop fretting over me. You are probably the only good, true thing that could bring Grace back to who she used to be before this sickness took root inside her.”

  “When I figure out how to get the rich man’s other daughter to stop hating me and trust me again, I will be his son-in-law.” I scooped her up and dipped in to kiss her forehead. “As for Grace, it happened exactly as I told you. I was almost unconscious. When I woke from the drunken stupor, the only feelings involved were nausea.”

  Annabeth wobbled a little when I let her out of my arms. She looked thoughtful. “I wanted that experience to be mine. She stole that from me.”

  As if I’d had anything she would want in the first place, now the only thing I could have given her was gone.

  “If you must accompany me, please do so.” She clutched her skirts and walked ahead of me to the house.

  At least we’d spoken, and she hadn’t thrown something at me.

  Each day, thereafter, I busied myself in or around the barn, hoping Annabeth would come to me, but it had been four days and nothing. I had to accept that.

  And wait.

  As we ate dinner, Mrs. Rollins finally came to the cottage.

  Mama and Pop excused themselves so we could speak.

  “She’s leaving her bed, dressing, and eating with the family, but she’s rarely speaks. When I approach the subject of you, she shrugs instead of threatening to toss you into the pond with a boulder tied to your foot. Yes. She said that.” Mrs. Rollins grinned. “Did you find chance to propose?”

  “The moment hasn’t presented itself. I had just finished burying my poisoned horses when I saw her. It didn’t exactly leave a romantic moment.” I moved my food around on my plate.

  “Now is as good a time as any to tell you. I’ve concocted a plan. You’ll pretend you’re going to marry Grace, and I’ll continue to arrange a ceremony. I’ll send out invitations. Grace will see only a fake invitation with her name on it, but the ones I send to post will have Annabeth’s as your betrothed. On the day of the wedding, I’ll detain Grace while Annabeth comes down in the dress. You’ll be married with haste and then you must leave here. I’ve set aside enough money that the two of y
ou should never have need for anything. You may decide to gather your parents’ things and procure a safe place far away from here for them to live. It’s your decision, but I don’t want you to look back. This place has been a horrific source of pain for Annabeth, too much for most people to overcome. But she can be saved. As for Grace. She’s too far gone.” Desperation strained Mrs. Rollins’s face.

  Everything depended on me.

  “You’ve spent some time planning this?” I put my fork down.

  “From the first day you arrived at the plantation, the plan began to take shape. I just wasn’t sure it would play into my hands.”

  “And if Annabeth doesn’t agree?” I put my fork on the table.

  Mrs. Rollins laughed and rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how she feels for you, do you?”

  “She’s not exactly an easy person to figure.”

  “I know my daughter. There’s no question that she would eventually marry you. Your job is to hasten the process.” Mrs. Rollins held my gaze.

  “This should be easy.” I gave her a scowl. “But we won’t accept your money.”

  Mrs. Rollins held out her hand with a smile. “You’ll do what you must to keep my daughter safe. If money is involved, you have no choice.”

  We shook on the deal.

  * * * *

  When the sun had hidden behind the trees and twilight had fallen over the estate, a wagon came to a halt at the entrance of the house. It was black with a covered bed I’d parked a time or two in the last year, but I’d never seen the hooded figure’s face as it walked toward the entrance.

  This time, just as all the others, it arrived unannounced. It was my job to make room for another wagon’s storage when anyone visited, so I walked to the front entrance of the house in time to see Mrs. Rollins greeting the guest.

  “It’s so good to see you again. Are you ready to sew?” Mrs. Rollins said.

  The figure, who had a hood of gray wool, dipped her head and ducked into the house. “Yes, ma’am. It’s one of my specialties. How is Grace today?”

  “She’s doing better, I think. She’s ready for you upstairs.” Mrs. Rollins spotted me.

  I gave her a wave.

  “Colby, could you bring in the trunk. We have dresses to start on.” Mrs. Rollins gave me a wink.

  I took the woman’s wagon and brought her trunk into the elevator.

  “The fourth floor would be an excellent place to keep her activities private,” Mrs. Rollins whispered.

  I followed the two women, but when I tried to get a look at the woman in the hood, she kept her face down. I could imagine a woman in her position would be very modest and possibly embarrassed.

  “Here, in the last room. Let’s put your things here, and if you wouldn’t mind, could you keep your reason for staying a strict secret. No one is to know,” Mrs. Rollins said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the woman said. The guest brought her hood down with long, elegant fingers. They weren’t the fingers of a woman who’d worked all her life. Her hair was pulled back into a smart chiffon, and when she pulled the cloak away to hang it on the rack, her movements all seemed previously and gracefully planned. Her dress appeared to be someone else’s. Not one she’d wear if she had the choice.

  “Is there something the matter, young man?” When her eyes met mine, her smile fell away and a look of complete bafflement replaced it. Some invisible thing seemed to have slapped her in the face, but within an instant the look was replaced with refined composure. She was the same woman who’d winked at me from the rear entrance of the house, after the barn fire.

  “No, ma’am.” I hurried past Mrs. Rollins.

  I just hoped this all turned out as well as Mrs. Rollins anticipated. I didn’t trust the woman as much as Mrs. Rollins did. Her weird wink days before had begun a cold knot in my chest, one that grew with every second.

  * * * *

  When I came to the ground level, I stepped off the elevator and into the path of someone I hadn’t seen coming around the corner. On instinct, I grabbed for the person so he or she wouldn’t fall, but the contact of our skin almost caused me to lose my balance. I was momentarily incapacitated by the intoxicating scent of freesia and a spring breeze, the soft, warm skin of someone’s arms around my neck, and the sweet smell of her breath on my face.

  Annabeth gasped. She had to have been holding me up instead of the other way around.

  For a second, deep in her golden brown eyes, she couldn’t hide her love. She melted against me, but when she sobered, she stepped back, untangling herself from my arms. A rosy dash of color darkened her cheeks.

  Against instinct, I allowed her to go free.

  “Excuse me.” Annabeth started around me.

  I hooked her arm, but kept her near with a gentle hold. I turned to stand close behind her and allowed my face to touch the curls that had escaped her elegantly fastened hair. “You still love me. You just hate yourself for it.”

  “I can’t be near you. Not yet.” She remained frigid.

  I smiled. “You can’t still blame me.”

  She reached to cover my hand.

  The pain my body had undergone while she was out of my embrace dissipated in one touch.

  She pulled my hand from her arm, but didn’t move.

  “Please meet me tonight.” I let my lips brush her ear.

  She shivered with the touch, but remained rooted in our closeness.

  You miss me, I wanted to whisper, but I didn’t want to send her away.

  “If you can name a location on this property that you haven’t fornicated with my sister, I might decide to meet you there, but only for conversation.” Her voice was icy.

  A maid passed us on the other side of the vestibule.

  As of yet, I’d spied no other family members. Allowing my lips the honor of grazing her cheek, I whispered, “The waterfall. I’ve only ever been there alone.”

  She straightened up, still not making eye contact. “I wasn’t aware there was such a place.”

  “In the cellar, there are doors covered by furniture in dust cloths. I’ll move the furniture. Just after dark, take a lantern and go down the dirt corridor until you discover a fork. Take the left one. You’ll find the man you’re going to marry at the end,” I whispered quickly.

  I left her standing in the hallway staring at the wall of family paintings.

  The prospect of seeing a waterfall seemed just intriguing enough to get her attention if my lips hadn’t.

  * * * *

  After readying the cellar for Annabeth’s trek through the tunnel, I pulled the cellar door shut behind me and turned to find the woman I’d just helped Mrs. Rollins escort upstairs.

  Her smile didn’t reach her eyes immediately, but if she was on Mrs. Rollin’s side, I had to give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “We weren’t properly introduced earlier.” She waited.

  “Colby Kinsley, ma’am.” I bowed my head into a respectful nod. When I met her eyes again, I knew I hadn’t been mistaken.

  There was a hint of fascination, but not one an older woman would have for a younger gentleman. I felt as though she was glaring into the very makeup of my soul and digging around.

  “Well, Mr. Kinsley, would you kindly direct me to the dining area.” She waved me along without returning the courtesy of her name.

  “Yes, ma’am.” I slipped around her and hurried toward the dining room.

  When I presented the dining area, her weird assessment of me had changed to a wide, friendly smile. Maybe the unfamiliar surroundings had made her uneasy.

  “Thank you, Colby,” she said.

  Without another thought about the odd guest, I headed out the back door. Birds wouldn’t stop roosting on the gargoyles above the patio. I’d had to wash them every other day during the summer. It was on my chore list for the day and thankfully was the last one.

  As I scrubbed, a shadow fell over me.

  “Have you given a
nymore thought to the wedding date, boy?” Mr. Rollins asked without so much as a greeting.

  “Actually, Mrs. Rollins and I have begun plans. Not to worry. The wedding will happen.”

  His eyebrows perked in shock.

  I hid my joy behind a face of stone. I didn’t want anyone to suspect a thing. With no time for obstacles, I needed to spend every bit of my energy convincing Annabeth to marry me.

  “Well… Well, that changes things. I didn’t expect—well, excellent. I’m glad you had a change of heart.”

  “Why fight it?” I doused a brush in the water.

  “Agreed.” Mr. Rollins walked away with a wobble.

  I finished swiping the water off the patio. In a short while, there would be an ocean of flowers and a congestion of gregarious wedding guests in huddles all over the property.

  I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the wedding night.

  My heart stammered and sweat broke out all over my body. I couldn’t wait to hold her, to show Annabeth that she was the only person I ever wanted in my arms.

  I left the fantasy. The time had come to tell Mama and Pop.

  Mama would have to get to work sewing a dress for her and a suit for Pop.

  Walking toward the cottage, I had a new skip in my step.

  Mama stood on the porch, staring into the woods.

  Pop stepped out of the woods and stood in a clearing beside the house. In his large hand, he held something by the nape of its neck.

  Mama dropped the apron she’d wound in her hands. “Is that…?”

  A small animal dangled, limp in each of Pop’s hands. “Someone killed every one of Marmalade’s pups.”

  “Don’t you mean something?” Mama said.

  “No, I mean someone. Do you see the way its head dangles?” Pop laid one of the pups down and held the other flat in his hand as he presented it to Mama. “Their necks were all broken. I checked the other animals, the horses, colts, pigs, chickens, and there seemed nothing out of sorts. The pups were the only ones touched.”

  I neared him as he laid the pup on the ground beside its brother.

  “I’ll bury them for you. You go in and rest.” A sick feeling churned in the pit of my stomach as Mama hung her arm around Pop’s waist. I went to Marmalade’s dog shed and took the pups out one by one.