Page 26 of The Valiant Knight (The Ravensmire Chronicles #2)

He prayed for a miracle.

So he didn’t lose her.

All around them, they both heard it. There was that same masculine laughter that they’d heard underwater, and by Ceit’s grave.

“Oh, God,” Gabby whispered.

Finn went into protection mode. He didn’t like the way he felt, and he certainly didn’t like the way the room was cold.

When he scanned the area, there was a bookshelf not far from Gabby, and he saw it move.

It took him a second.

It rocked forward, and he knew what was going to happen.

It was going to topple onto her.

Moving quickly, Finn grabbed her, and Gabby gasped in fear. It was when he put his body over hers, and covered her head that he felt the impact to his body.

But he held up.

Protecting her.

She gasped again, as a ton of books fell along with other things onto the man who was keeping her safe.

“Finn!” she said, as that noise was so loud it sounded like the room shook.

The pain he felt in his back was ridiculous. It was like a hot poker had jabbed him.

Only, it didn’t matter. She would have been crushed had it landed on her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She was tucked into him, and safe.

Finn was not amused.

Not.

At.

All.

Something was trying to hurt her. This was the third time in one day that she’d nearly met with catastrophe.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

Honestly, her well-being was the least of her issues.

“Oh, God. Finn! That hit you hard,” she said, as he pushed off of her body to free himself from the mountain of debris.

When the door to the room swung open, and Graham stood there with a frying pan, he looked around.

“What the fuck?” he asked. “What the hell happened in here?”

He was staring at the bookshelves.

Immediately, Gabby ran her hands across Finn’s back. When he flinched, she knew he’d been hurt.

Saving her.

AGAIN.

She tried to explain.

“I was looking at a journal, and then, before I knew it, the shelves collapsed on me.”

Oh, not quite.

Finn explained.

“I saw the shelf teetering. I had to keep her from being crushed. That nearly hurt her.”

As he was talking, he noticed that she had tears in her eyes.

That had been too close.

“We heard him,” she said to Graham. “We heard the laughter, and then…”

Well, shit.

Oh, he could figure out the then part on his own. He’d been in the kitchen, and he heard the crash. This was getting scarier and scarier.

Something did NOT want Gabby looking around and investigating.

But why?

Graham focused on the other man.

“How badly are you hurt?” he asked.

Finn wasn’t going down. Apparently, he was the only one who could protect Gabby.

She was in danger.

“I’m good,” Finn said.

But he wasn’t.

It still horrified him that he’d been rough with her. That wasn’t him, and he’d never scare a woman like that. He’d never make Gabby fear him. He was tenuously trying to build something with her.

“What were you doing up here?” he asked.

Gabby explained.

“I wanted to see if there were any more pages to the book. You found those two, and I wanted to find more. Only, we didn’t. We found a journal from a Rebecca Granndach.”

She hadn’t dropped that at least.

Graham pushed things out of the way, trying to clear the debris. When he saw Finn, he looked panicked.

Really scared.

“We should call the doctor,” he said. “I can get him back here.”

Finn didn’t need a doctor.

He needed a confessional. The gravity of what he did was coming back to him, and that was now haunting him too.

“I hurt her,” Finn said.

He lifted a brow.

“What?”

Finn told him.

“I blacked out, and I forced myself on her. I have to go,” he said. “I can’t be in here right now,” he stated, and shoved past Graham to get out of here. The only reason he was leaving her was that she’d be safe with Graham.

He hoped.

When he was gone, Graham was worried.

“Lass, are you okay? Do you need me to do something? Did he force you?”

God.

She was worried about him.

“He kissed me. That’s all. It just wasn’t Finn. I kissed him before, but this…this wasn’t good. Something bad is here.”

The door slammed shut, and they both jumped.

Thank God it didn’t have a lock.

Oh, he could tell that whatever was here wasn’t amused by any of them. From the falling dishware to the lake incident, bad mojo was happening.

“Something bad happened in here,” she said, telling him. “I think this all has to do with Ceit. She wasn’t jumping to her death, but instead, I think she was pushed.”

He didn’t know how to do this.

Or what to do with it.

“I don’t think whatever this is wants the truth to come out.

Only, it will. It always does. When you fall, you don’t tumble.

The heaviest part of you hits first. Your back.

Gravity doesn’t change mid-fall. If she jumped, she would have landed face down.

She fell backward. Who jumps backward? Someone shoved her, and I think it’s whatever this entity is. It’s angry, and it’s out for blood.”

Oh, he didn’t like that.

All day, the vibe in the castle was off, and it felt creepy. That was a new sensation here, and he didn’t like it.

It was darker.

Colder.

And not how it had been.

“Tony and I found a letter in the crypt. It was from Ceit to Duncan, talking about a Ciarán Begbie. She said she didn’t like him in their home, and he made her feel off.”

He knew where she was taking this.

“You think she was killed by him?”

Gabby wasn’t sure if it was by him, or possibly Duncan.

“Or her husband. He was trapped in a loveless marriage that he was forced into. Back then, how did they get rid of situations like that?”

Oh, he knew.

It made sense.

“He comes home from battle, and he ends their relationship. This is his castle, and he doesn’t want us meddling.”

This was problematic. They had six months to get it renovated and livable.

For the Blackhawks.

“I don’t think this mystery is as innocent as we suspected. Gryphen and Ian got a part of the story, but what if she was buried outside of the castle because she was killed, and the killer couldn’t bear having her in here.”

They both heard the crying, and it appeared that Ceit was back. Her remains had been disturbed, and she was back in the place where she died.

Had they screwed up?

Returning her?

Gabby was to the point.

“We have to piece this together, because whatever we did made something angry.”

That was all he had to hear. Graham grabbed her hand, and pulled her from the room.

He never minded being in the castle before, but now, he didn’t like the feeling he was getting. As a soldier, his senses were on alert.

“Don’t go back up there.”

Oh, she wouldn’t.

Handing him the journal, she wanted him to put it where it was safe.

“I have to find Finn. He didn’t hurt me. Finn didn’t do anything but kiss me. I can’t let this break him. He’s a decent guy, and I like him.”

Graham was honest.

“He’s afraid to hurt you. He knows about your ex-husband, and what he was like. He’s terrified you’ll think he’s just like him.”

How could she believe that?

No one was that evil.

NO.

ONE.

“I’m good,” she said. “I need to make sure he’s okay. I have to find him.”

Oh, and he had to figure out what the hell was going on here.

Going downstairs, she saw his boots were not by the front door, and that meant he likely left.

Well, it was time to locate the cop.

Pulling on her own things. She headed outside. Once there, she looked around, and she found him inside the barn, leaning against the wall as he tried to settle himself.

He looked worked up.

And not in a good way.

“Are you okay?” she asked again.

He laughed sardonically.

How could he not?

“No. I don’t know what happened after we were reading the journal. I’m scared. I’ve never blacked out before.”

She moved closer, and he stepped back.

“Please don’t,” she said. That one action hurt more than a rough kiss.

He tried to explain.

“I hurt you. I’m not good with that.”

She held out her hand.

“You didn’t, Finn. I saw the change in you. I saw your eyes. You checked out. We have to figure this out. What’s here is dangerous. It doesn’t like me, and I think I’m in danger.”

His heart was racing.

In his dream, she’d been in danger too. What the hell was going on here?

That was his question.

Gabby continued.

“Ceit was murdered. This proves it to me. We all saw that she had blunt force trauma to the face, and she landed on her back when she fell. Someone hit her so hard, she fell out that window. Tony and I are right. I think that the spirit of something dark is here, and it dislikes me. I need you to not pull away from me right now. You’re all I have to keep me safe.

If you won’t, I have to leave. I’ll have to go. ”

He didn’t like that.

Not.

At.

All.

The mere idea of her leaving Scotland made him so angry. He hadn’t had a chance with her yet.

It wasn’t fair.

“Gabby.”

She moved at him, and he opened his arms for her. She buried her face in his shirt, and held onto him.

The whole time, he protected her.

“Don’t let it scare you away. I’ll figure it out. We can do this. Elizabeth needs this handled, and I’m getting to the bottom of this.”

He couldn’t say goodbye.

Finn just couldn’t do it.

“Okay, Gabby.”

It was time to come clean.

“When I was sinking in the water, I heard the same voice that was in the tower. I felt it pulling me down.”

His face didn’t register shock. That told her one thing, and only one thing.

“You heard the voice in the water, didn’t you? What did it say to you?”

He couldn’t believe any of this.

Yesterday, his life was normal.

Today, not so much.

“I did hear it. There was laughter, and he said one thing. Punishment.”

She looked up at him.

“Help me solve this. I know there’s something we’re missing. Gryphen and Ian figured out where Ceit was placed, and now, we have to do our part in this mystery. We have to figure out who this is. Everything happens for a reason, Finn.”

That he believed.

“Okay, Gabby,” he said. “Just stick close, okay, Lass? This place is off, and I don’t like how it’s targeting you.”

Well, yeah, her either.