Page 2 of On Edge

Whatever it is, the odds aren’t exactly in his favor. Troy Severin is a monster. Some twisted part of me that I’m ashamed of desperately hopes he is.

Because if Troy Severin hurt Nell...

I will kill him.

Though I have no idea how I’m supposed to off someone. Or if I even have the guts to. I’ll probably be too nervous to hold a knife the right way, let alone a gun. I mean, what the hell am I thinking? I once flinched during an episode ofBake Off,for God’s sake.

But it’s the only thing that’s keeping me going. And if I don’t kill him, I’ll have to marry him. And that can’t happen. My fatherthinks he’s marrying me into power. My mother thinks Severin is protection. But I know he’s a monster.

“Everything alright?” The driver’s eyes narrow at me in the gloom, snapping me out of my dark thoughts.

“I’m fine.” My throat is raw and my voice hoarse as if I’ve been swallowing stomach acid, but I’m fine.

“Could have fooled me. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I give him my best fake smile, pasting it on until my cheeks ache, until it almost feels real. Just keep pretending…for a little while longer.

He says no more and shifts the throttle to guide us closer. My stomach tightens the nearer we get. I take a minute to compose myself, swallowing down the sour taste coating my tongue, as the island appears out of nowhere. Beyond it, the estate rises out of the fog like something pulled from another time. A phantom of stone and shadow, waiting like perverse fate.

Grayfleet Hall.

It looms above the reeds, and my insides coil at the sight of it. A crumbling castle, rather than a stately home, its silhouette is jagged against the gray morning. As I expected, there are no lights on the island, no flickering warmth beckoning through the fog. Grayfleet is a fortress on the water, accessible only by boat, and nothing else.

It should be breathtaking, and it is. I desperately want to see it when the sun shines, the light hitting the spires just right. Houses steeped in history have always fascinated me. But, up close, this place is nothing like I imagined. Finally, seeing it for myself leaves me feeling hollow.

My sister spent her last days here.

This is where she died.

As I stare at the building, feeling numb, I’m not sure what I thought I would feel. The windows reflect nothing. The stone isblacker than the sky behind it. It doesn’t look too insidious from this distance, only watchful…like it’s watching me.

Is Severin observing me right now from one of those dark windows?

I avert my gaze, pretending to crane my neck from under the canopy of the boat to glimpse the parapets and turrets the estate is famous for, instead. One side has them, but the other half appears to be missing...

Like a face with half its features carved away.

I suck in a breath, as if I suddenly can’t breathe. It’s like my ribcage is too tight for my lungs. Numbness aside, I do feel like screaming.

Or jumping into the lake.

I don’t do either.

I sit and grip the boat like my life hangs in the balance, unable to tear my gaze away from the house.

“Grand, isn’t it?” the driver asks, seeing where my eyes are drawn.

“Hmmm.” I don’t want to disagree out loud. “I can’t believe people live here.”

“Not just anyone. Severin.” He grimaces like he’s not happy about it.

I shoot him a look. “You don’t like him?”

He scratches his chin. “He’s not from around here, is he? Throws his money and weight about. But he’s restoring an eyesore, so I can’t blame him. This place was falling apart before he bought it from that damned company…” He stops talking, as if he had another thing to say, but decides against it when he realizes who he is talking to. He quickly changes track. “Keeps them damn ghosthunters away, I suppose. Come here in droves, they do, all because some locals say it’s cursed.”

I’m not really listening until the last thing he says pulls me up short. “Cursed?”

“Aye. The place is cursed because of that Swanley kid who vanished.”