Read Online WoA2.23Smashwords by Amber Newberry - Free Book Online Page B

A clicking sound and my door slowly opened. I pulled the covers up to my chin. The mangled hands of Celia’s mother held a candle straight out in front of her. She crept slowly toward me as though she was floating and I inched back until my shoulders were against one of the four posters of the bed. The carvings in the wood dug into my spine.
    “Celia!” I called out, “Celia? Julian?” I didn’t care which of them came as long as someone did.
    Her hair was wild and her face twisted into a mindless expression as she held the candle straight out.
    “ Zwei Seelen, ein Körper” she said softly .
    “Celia, please! Julian!” I was pleading now for one of them to come to my aid.
    “ Zwei Seelen, ein Körper,” she said again, her voice a whisper that seemed to echo as she spoke. Her eyes went white, and she let go of the candle which fell onto the bed. I was immediately surrounded by the flames and I heard the weathered voice again chanting over and over.
    “Tamsin!” Celia was calling my name. Everything went black.
    I opened my eyes to see Celia staring down at me with her hands on my shoulders.
    “It was a nightmare. You were calling out for me as though someone held a knife to your throat!” She held me against her like a small child.
    “Whatever was going on in that mind of yours?” My cheeks were wet with tears, and I was too embarrassed to tell her that her mother tried to burn me alive, so I told her that I dreamed I was thrown over the cliff with the Perseus. As she rocked me back and forth I saw a shadow on the floor. Julian stood in the doorway.
    “She’s had a fright. Will you go downstairs and get her a glass of warm milk to help calm her?” Celia asked. He didn’t answer, he just rushed out to be of service.
    “I’m so sorry I woke you, both of you--” I started and she shushed me like a baby. The dream was still fresh in my mind, and it was a long time before I was calmed. When she finally let me go, Julian came back into the room with three glasses of warm milk on a tray.
    “Well, I figured we might all need some assistance getting back to sleep.” With that he sat down in a chair across the room.
    “I’m sure your Aunt would be appalled that you’ve seen me in my night clothes,” he laughed.
    It got a smile out of me and I said, “Not as appalled as she would be knowing you’ve seen me in mine.”
    Celia said, “You better get back to your own bed, Julian,” and she nodded toward the door. He got up, but before he exited the room he turned to look at us.
    “I may not have come to the rescue at the cliff, but remember who brought you warm milk in the middle of the night.” He bowed to me and left. I could not help but giggle, and Celia laughed, too.
    “I don’t always understand that one, but I think he means well... most of the time,” she said to me while sipping her milk.
    “Leo is mine, so we seem to have a special bond, but since Julian was born to Reginald’s first wife, he has always seemed a bit harder to get close to. He was a willful boy and he hated me when he was young.”
    “Julian’s mother was soft spoken, proper and frail. She died young, when Julian was small... only five years old, I believe. Older than you were when you lost your own mother.” She paused at the thought of my mother before she continued.
    “I only knew her for a brief while. I met her even before I knew Reginald because he was often away at his offices in London when I came to visit your mother at Rhineholt.” It almost seemed like she was talking to herself.
    “Everything happened so fast with Julian’s father. We met just a year after his first wife’s death and it was only a few months after that, that we were wed. It was too fast for Julian, he still mourned his mother and he thought I was trying to replace her.” She stood up and walked toward the door, but turned back to me before leaving.
    “If you’d like, you can come and sleep in my room if you are still