Page 18 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DOROTHEE

Hands gripped my shoulders, and though it felt like the body I was in wasn’t my own, I somehow managed to peel open my eyes as the large hands began to shake me in the weightless space we were in. My vision was a blur, and I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, because there was a boy looking at me with concern in his dark eyes.

Had he come here for me? But that seemed odd. No one ever came for me, not even when I called. I was always on my own.

I was startled awake by the pain of a thousand needles poking through my limbs. I looked straight at the boy who had come for me. It wasn’t a stranger, but a familiar face—one that haunted me just as much when I was asleep as when I was awake.

Archer’s black hair spilled around him like a halo of darkness, and his hazel eyes burned into my heart, full of anger. It was as though he was angry with me .

Time around us seemed frozen. The water stopped pulling me down, and my heartbeat slowed as the boy in front of me held me with such an intense grip, it was as if he feared I might slip through his fingers again if he loosened his hold.

The moment lingered for less than a minute, but it felt like infinity. But when we broke through the surface, the bubble burst, and fresh air filled my lungs. I couldn’t decide if the sensation of inhaling water had hurt as much as being able to breathe again. Every breath was pure agony. I couldn’t stop coughing up the ice-cold water, gasping to catch air at the same time. If Archer hadn’t extended his arm around my waist, I would have been pulled under again, as I had no strength left. His other hand patted my back, not too gently, and I whimpered as I coughed, but I was half-aware that he was only trying to help me breathe. Holding my head up straight was difficult. Against my will, it landed on his shoulder as I tried to flush the water from my lungs and clear my eyes.

“Hold on to me,” Archer demanded. His arm let go of my waist, leaving a strange emptiness behind. I sank for a second before fisting my hands in his shirt, not daring to touch him. It wasn’t that I was afraid of him, but rather afraid of how his touch made me long for more. I could have lain against his shoulder for hours, ignoring the shivering and the spinning in my head, just because he was here, holding me.

All I longed for was to lie down somewhere and rest, until the throbbing pain that lingered in every inch of my body disappeared. But I couldn’t give up. Even when there was barely any strength left in my body, I wouldn’t let weakness get the best of me. So, I held my head up and fought the urge to cry.

Archer sighed, adjusting my hands and moving them up to his shoulders, where I had a safer grip.

I noticed something glinting in his hand, and it took me a moment to realise it was my necklace. With a trembling hand, I touched the centre of my chest, trying to prove myself wrong. It wasn’t possible that I could have lost the necklace. I had worn it in the shower and while sleeping. I had never lost it before. Yet, my chest felt empty.

“How…?” I frowned, puzzled. “How did I lose it?”

Archer didn’t respond immediately.

“Gwyn,” he muttered, putting the necklace back around my neck.

He was truly angry with me.

But what had I done to earn his anger?

“How did you find me?” There were a million thoughts and questions racing through my mind, but all I could ask was how he knew where I had gone. How he had been able to save me.

“You disappeared. I’ll explain when we’re back at school. Let’s just say, asking about the tale of the Fox and the Doe might have saved your life tonight.”

My teeth chattered as another shiver ran through me, and Archer helped me up, his arm around my waist again, steadying me. I felt awful. How long had I been in the water to feel this drained?

“I’m sorry, Dottie, I really am. But you have to understand that—” Gwyn stood on the bridge, holding the railing while her dry hair swayed in the icy wind.

“You tried to drown her. She won’t understand any of your damn mind games, Gwyneth!” Archer interrupted, full of anger. Perhaps the anger in his eyes wasn’t meant for me.

A chill ran through my body, and I whispered, “Can you see her?”

Archer’s eyes were fixed on the person I had falsely called a friend. The thought of trusting Gwyn so completely overwhelmed me. I had called her home. And she had betrayed me in the worst way.

“There was a reason I told you, you aren’t mental,” Archer replied, his voice low. It was the only answer I needed. It was enough to make my heart skip a beat. There was someone else—someone with the same curse I had been born with.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel alone.

“You’re the Fox,” I said, and Gwyn nodded, her eyes fixed on the water.

“I was just so alone. We could have been together forever.”

“You tried to kill me,” I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth.

The young girl’s face faltered, hurt by my statement. “No. I tried to save you.”

Tears burned my eyes.

Gwyneth wasn’t the girl I had met at church. She wasn’t the quiet, dreamy heart of the school. The entire time I had laughed, listened to her stories, ran through the woods with her… I had been alone, because Gwyneth had died before I was even born. Gwyn was a ghost, and her spirit had lived in these waters.

“You took advantage of my pain. You made me trust you just to drown me. In what universe is that the definition of saving me?”

How could I have been so daft to trust her?

To feel so much comfort in her embrace?

There had to have been signs of what she was planning… But once again, I had put my trust in someone I barely knew, because my mind had been desperate for anything that could make me feel wanted.

“No. You grasped that entirely wrong,” Gwyneth insisted. “I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. I was trying to save you from your fate.”

“Gwyneth, stop it. You’ve done enough tonight. Trying to excuse any of this only makes you seem more pathetic.” Archer’s voice was filled with disdain, and it hurt Gwyneth, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. Archer was right. There was no excuse for what she had done to me tonight.

Gwyneth disappeared into the wind. It was strange to watch her dematerialise like that. I had only ever seen them appear somewhere, and the second I looked away, they were gone.

“Follow me,” Archer said, and reached for my hand. I pulled it back.

“Gwyn told me the same, and you saw firsthand what happened. I’d rather take care of myself now.” After tonight, my trust issues had only gotten worse. All I wanted to do was try to figure out what had happened. The certainty that the people I saw were ghosts. That my school, which had once made me feel better, was filled with ghosts. Two ghosts, one of whom I couldn’t identify as undead, had tried to kill me the same way they had died.

And someone else existed who had the ability to see them.

I had been close to death again tonight.

I was about to turn and leave when Archer’s fingers closed around my arm, pulling me back to face him. He swung me around so forcefully that our faces were only inches apart. His expression mirrored mine. We both weren’t enjoying this.

“I’ll remind you again that I saved you. In contrast to Gwyneth, who you daftly trusted. Without me, you’d be just another tale the teachers tell the children of Aquila Hall to keep them away from these waters.” His words stung, and for a moment, I wanted to shove him back into the freezing lake.

“Thank you, Kingstone—oh, wait. Your ego’s shoved so high up your arse that you’re too good for the phrase ‘thank you,’” I snapped back.

Archer grinned.

For the first time in the month I’d known him, I saw him smile—genuinely. But I wasn’t sure if he found my words pathetic or hilarious.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, annoyed.

“Nothing.”

“But you just grinned at me. People don’t grin for nothing.”

He leaned forward until his mouth was near my ear. I could feel his warm breath on my icy skin. “I just like it when you bite back. Stop tolerating everything all the time, Dorothee,” he whispered.

I shoved him away, and his grin only widened. He was insufferable.

Hell, I almost regretted feeling relieved. He could see the same spirits I saw.

Of all people, why him ?

It bugged me terribly that I couldn’t figure him out. He switched so quickly, and it was like he was always hiding what he really felt. He couldn’t always keep up with the cold, emotionless facade.

The tiny dress I was wearing did nothing to help the cold, and my teeth were chattering as I hugged myself.

“Did the necklace help?” Archer’s voice was neutral again.

I closed my fingers around the pendant, almost ashamed to admit it, and said, “yes. Except for tonight.”

Archer nodded, his wet hair flicking as he did. “What I wrote in that letter was true.” He raised his left hand, showing me a black ring on his finger. “I wear the same one, to protect myself,” he added.

I had never noticed the ring before, but I hadn’t been looking at his hands.

He’d made sure I had some kind of protection, even though he hadn’t told me about his ability.

“So, if I say I’m taking you somewhere safe, I mean it.” His eyes lingered on me for a moment before he began walking up the hill back to school. He was confident I’d follow him. And, for once, he was right.

“Are you saying I can trust you?” I asked, catching up to him, ignoring the burning exhaustion in my limbs.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Archer said without looking back.