A Dreadful Splendor (99)

“The very thing everyone thinks happened, my sweet. I heard the voice again! It drew me out of the house and right to the cliff.” Audra looked at a space over my head, her tone becoming dreamlike. “I couldn’t fight the lure of her pleas. I left through the secret passageway and made my way to the cliff—that’s where her voice is the strongest. I don’t remember for certain if I jumped or if I fell, but one moment the muddy cliff was under my feet, and the next I was in the water.”

I was stunned. “That’s it? You fell? No one pushed you?”

“You think I’m lying?” She narrowed her eyes. “Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one.”

I looked at my cuffs, realizing nothing about this was simple.

“The high tide saved my life. I have no doubt it was divine intervention.” Her voice took on a rushed excitement, and she clamoured closer to me. “I made it to the shore and clung to the rocks, looking for the opening. You see, Somerset has more than one secret. The passageways inside the walls are one, and this cave is the other.”

She tapped her temple. “I knew the secret, and that’s what saved me. Grandfather showed me, but I was too young at the time to comprehend its importance. He understood I deserved to know everything because I am the rightful heir! Me. Not my own father, not even William, and certainly not Gareth.” Then she let out a tired laugh. “Even the ghosts know, Jenny. It was her voice that led me to this dungeon from the outside. I can hear them because I’m the true Linwood heir—curse and all.”

“Of course you’re the heir,” I said. I could no longer feel my legs. “And the voices led you here?”

“When I reached the dungeon, I passed out on the bottom stairs.” Her eyes were lit with a fiery evil, similar to the expression of Lord Chadwick’s portrait in the library.

The library.

A tug pulled behind my ribs, imagining the fate of those I’d left behind.

Run! Mr. Pemberton had said. Two gunshots followed immediately. I didn’t remember him shouting after that.

“I was too weak to climb to the top, though,” Audra continued. She put a hand to her stomach. “And I had bled. I was losing my baby. The cramping began right after William caused me to fall.”

Audra waded to another part of the wall, where there was a small pile of rocks on a ledge. “I was alone,” she said. Her voice was soft now, tragic. “I had to bury it, poor thing. The voices stopped after that . . . for a while.” She kissed her finger, then touched the top stone. “It was a boy. He would have been the new heir.”

I motioned to the staircase. “But you’re not alone anymore. You can go up now,” I gently proposed. “We both can. It will thrill everyone. You have no idea the joy you’ll bring back to Somerset!” I tried to smile at the last part, but my teeth were chattering.

Audra returned to me, swishing through the waist-high water. She used the gold tip of the cane to lift my chin. “I know very well. There’s more than one secret passageway in this house. When I finally dragged myself up to the wine cellar, I waited until the kitchen was empty. I couldn’t let anyone see me. My skirts were covered in the blood of my infant son. And I had to find out what had become of Barnaby. What if our secret had been discovered once I went missing? What if he’d told Gareth the truth out of unbearable guilt? I didn’t survive a drop off the cliff to become a disgrace. I went through the secret passage off the kitchen and back to my room.”

Then she hit me with a murderous stare. “And do you know what I learned, staying hidden and watching them through the peepholes?” She leaned in close; her breath was sour. “There were tears, yes, but they didn’t last long. And my love? He merely dropped his voice when he spoke of me. He had more sympathy for his best friend.”

I had seen myself how well the doctor disguised his pain. “Barnaby couldn’t show his true remorse. He had to keep your relationship a secret.”

“Enough!” Audra raised the cane above her head like she was going to hit me again. I flinched, and it made her laugh. “I now see him for what he is: unscrupulous and conniving. Doing whatever he fancied, no matter what I truly wanted. Not only had he convinced me to give up Somerset Park and my child’s rightful claim to the title of earl, but he was going to make me live a lie. What would Grandfather have said?”

I could hear the insanity creeping into her voice more and more. I had to calm her paranoia and make her feel comfortable enough to trust me. “You’ve been wronged,” I said. “And you deserve Somerset.”

She tilted her head at me, as if trying to detect a lie. “Gareth’s devotion, on the other hand, was a surprise. Don’t misunderstand, I realize obligation motivates him, not love.”

Gareth. Audra obviously wrote his name in the ghost book. But why? It still didn’t make any sense.

“And William?” I prompted. If she was upset with the men in her life, she might be willing to save me.

She reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Such a betrayal. It wasn’t enough that he attacked me and caused my miscarriage. He used my memory as an excuse to slip further into the bottle. How dare he assume to claim himself a Linwood! Even if he had Father’s blood in his veins, Somerset belongs to me. He and that conniving Mrs. Donovan thought they could take everything for themselves. Laughable.” She rolled her eyes. “And for all his talk of undying love, he cozied up to Flora quickly enough! I will tell you this, Jenny. Once I saw how everyone had moved on after my death, I was ready to jump off the cliff again and make sure the job was finished.”