Page 22

Walter nodded.

“Return home and remind the healer to wait for me. I won’t be long. Now begone.”

Walter nodded again and rushed off.

He didn’t have much time now. News would spread. He needed to be done here and move on and finish what someone else had started.

The sky continuedto darken as Shade kept a quick pace with Quint. Would they outrun the approaching storm or get caught in it? And why did Quint seem troubled? She felt the difference in the weather and in Quint as soon as she had finished with Hollin and stepped out of the cottage. The air held a chill. More dark clouds had gathered overhead, and as for Quint? He seemed a different man. His features even seemed different, the lines on his face more pronounced. Though that could have been from the intense scowl he wore. She had no time to ask what troubled him. He had insisted they take their leave so they could reach home before the storm hit.

A powerful crack of thunder that felt as if it rattled the ground had her cringing and was followed by a fat raindrop that splattered on her head and was followed by one after the other. They would be soaked by the time they got home.

They emerged from the woods as lightning struck like a sword swinging down from the sky to pierce the earth, striking and illuminating Coggshall Abbey. Shade shivered at the eerie picture it painted. The empty edifice once offered shelter to those in need, but not so Shade. She had never been welcomed there and after the horrific incident, people avoided going near it. She did not care how soaked she got; she would never seek shelter in the abbey.

It was a thought she never should have given credence to, for in the next moment she felt a blow to her shoulder and went down hard to the ground. Quint quickly followed her, covering her with his body, though only briefly. He jumped to his feet, his arm snagging her around the waist as he did, bringing her to her feet as well.

They were nearly on top of the abbey and Quint rushed her toward it so fast that she barely felt her feet touch the ground. He braced her against the stone wall once they reached the side of the abbey and shielded her body with his.

He lowered his head, his mouth near her ear. “An arrow grazed the top of your shoulder. It was meant for me.”

Shade didn’t know if it was the cold rain that continued to fall on them, the fear of what he had just told her, or the tickle of his lips against her ear that made her shiver.

“We are too much in the open, too much of a target for him. We need to seek the safety of the abbey,” he said and giving her no chance to object, he kept her shielded and pressed against the stone wall as he walked them around to the front door of the abbey.

He planted her against the door, his body looming over her as he reached behind her and opened it. To Shade’s surprise it opened without difficulty. She didn’t want to enter but the strength of his body stepping forward propelled her inside. Once there, he stepped away from her and retrieved a plank and locked it in place on the door so no one could enter.

“Quint,” she said anxiously, stretching her arm out in search of him, the area turning dark as soon as he closed the door.

“I’m here.”

She almost sighed with relief when his hand closed around hers and she felt even safer when he wrapped his arm around her.

That Shade should suffer harm that was meant for him fired his anger and he fought to keep control of it. “I believe the refectory is the only room with a fireplace. We need to find it and get a fire going so we can get dry and tend to your wound.”

Shade hadn’t given her shoulder any thought. It stung her but only slightly. “How do we find anything in this darkness?”

“We remain close to a wall and follow it,” he said, and they did just that.

Cobwebs caught at her face and hair, and she heard the soft scurry and squeaks of rodents rushing out of their path. New residents now occupied the abbey. Or had they simply joined the spirits of the deceased monks? She gripped Quint’s arm that he kept snug around her waist. She wasn’t prone to being fearful, but there was something about this place that left her feeling uneasy.

They found the room far more easily than she expected. Shock had her halting her steps when she entered it. Two openings in the shape of crosses high up in the walls kept the room from being soaked in complete darkness. It looked exactly as it did in her nightmare, though there were no dead monks.

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Quint asked at her abrupt stop.

She didn’t want to burden him with the memory of her nightmare. They had more important things to consider.

She shook her head. “I need to sit.”

Quint hurried her to one of the benches at the long table centered in the room and slipped her wet cloak off her shoulders.

He felt her apprehension when they entered the abbey, and it increased the deeper they descended into it. He could not blame her. The spirit of the unsettled still lingered here.

“I’ll get a fire going then we can see to your shoulder,” he said.

She would love the heat of a fire but wondered where he intended to get firewood. She got her answer when he began to break benches apart. She couldn’t help but smile when flames sprang to life and grew rapidly, and the fire’s warmth finally reached her.

Quint moved a couple of benches closer to the fire, then took her arm and helped her to sit before he sat opposite her. “The heat will help dry our garments.”

She turned her face to the fire, its warmth feeling like a warm caress upon it. It was quickly replaced by the gentle caress of Quint’s hand. She welcomed his touch that was not only growing more familiar to her by the day, but she was discovering that she favored it more and more each day.