Read Echoes in the Darkness for Free Online

the dessert course arrived, I resisted offers of crepes, soufflés, éclairs and meringues and settled instead for an apple. I marvelled at the ability of the Jago family to stay so slim and decided that they probably needed a feast of this enormity to combat the searing misery of the climate. If I wasn’t careful, the chill air could turn me into a shawl-wearing, black pudding–eating slattern who sat by the fire and watched the clock until the next meal was announced. I whispered this prediction to Eddie as I kissed his cheek when I bade him goodnight. He threw his head back and laughed delightedly, causing Lucy to regard us both thoughtfully.
    Lucy had explained that my bedroom was in exactly the position that her room had been when she first arrived at Tenebris almost thirty years earlier. She had tried to faithfully recreate the view from the castle over the gardens. All of the main bedrooms had full-length doors that opened onto wide balconies. In daylight the view had taken my breath away. Now I stood in the silver darkness, reflecting on the day’s events. The ocean demonstrated its power by roaring and screeching at the towering cliffs like an angry housewife chastising her errant husband. Mist scudded the sky with promises given then withdrawn. Dim, shrouded stars peeped shyly through splintered fragments of cloud, and the moon paraded her crimson robes of evening.
    The sound of a horse’s hooves drew my attention to the narrow path that followed the cliff’s edge. Perfectly matched with the deeper shades of night, a horseman on a jet-black steed thundered toward the house. Everything about both rider and steed spoke of power and the endless destructive force of a fury that blazed out of control. The horse’s muscles rippled beneath its glossy black coat, and the man’s thighs moved in time with the galloping animal, controlling it with infinitesimal movements. The horse’s mane flew out behind as though lit from within by a whirlwind. Its hooves cleaved the air, barely touching the ground. But it was the rider who drew my attention. There was something in the set and width of those shoulders, the tilt of that proud head that was heartbreakingly familiar. I closed my eyelids briefly against the pain that flared behind them.
    The unknown man reined in and glanced up at me as he drew level with the house. For an immeasurable instant, we held that look. Everything was suddenly charged and bright like the instant before a lightning storm. Then he spurred his mount on and was gone. I realised I had been holding my breath, waiting for something to happen. But what? In that instant I had a foreboding that past and present were on a collision course. That something earth-shattering was waiting to happen.
    * * *
    Winter was a frost-clad knight on a snowy steed, demanding his time. Mellow autumn stubbornly refused to concede her place, but her defeat loomed ever closer. Trees, stark and bare, had long shed their summer splendour. The last leaves were falling like November tears onto the grass, and chattering birds played amongst them like excited school children. The damp smoky haze of bonfires curled through the air. Our footsteps rang out on the stone-hard ground, providing a rhythmic counterpoint to the crunch and rustle of autumn’s own acoustics. Bertram, Eleanor’s spaniel, ran with his nose down, gleefully snorting the leaves into the air.
    Eleanor told me that the original castle had been complete with moat and drawbridge. When designing this new incarnation of Tenebris, Tynan had considered reinstating those features. In the end, he had decided to build the follylike arched lodge that spanned the start of the sweeping drive. This pretty building was reminiscent of a fairy-tale cottage, with red-tinged creeper growing over the eaves, and mullioned windows that playfully threw the light back at us. Its pointed turrets were a mischievous reminder of the great monument to feudalism that had once adorned this