"Is your injury one of the reasons you'd leave this life? Do you have a lot of pain?"

"You're not much different than me, Cassie. The wanting to know all, no matter the cost. Only you've not the courage to admit it. You'll let curiosity lead you a step at a time to your demise rather than just leap."

I sighed, exasperated. I had the feeling that he was deliberately trying to chase me away again, as he had in all of our other encounters, and I wasn't going to go running this time. "How were you hurt?"

Staring into the fire, he took another sip and my exasperation grew.

"What if it isn't me who would be choosing to leave this life out of ignorance, but you?" I suggested, challenging him.

"What?" His gaze snapped back to me and I nearly smiled at the shocked look on his face. I daresay few had ever accused him of being ignorant.

"As far as I can tell you've cut yourself off from everything worthwhile in life."

"Such as?"

Having come this far, I saw no reason not to blurt out the truth. "People. You wouldn't even listen to a message from your brother. You sleep all day, totally uninvolved with everyone, and then do God knows what at night alone in your round room. No wonder you have no affinity for this life. This house has people, but it has no life, no family, no love."

He laughed, but no real amusement filled the bitter sound. "I have my reasons for living the way I do. Besides, I know you've heard the rumors. Very few people would care to associate themselves with a cursed murderer."

I gasped, backing up a step, feeling the blood drain from my face. "Was that a confession?"

"It doesn't matter. If I told you I didn't murder Helen, you wouldn't know if I were lying or not, so anything I said would only ease your conscience at this point, not mine. Everything that happened was meant to happen and nothing could have stopped it." His harsh tone cut like jagged glass. It was full of pain and anger, and I wanted to reach out to him, to do something to ease the hurt I felt pouring out of him. But it was the hopelessness of his words that nearly undid me. "When it comes to destiny, nothing matters, not even truth."

"How can it not?" I asked. "As God lives, how can it not matter?"

"It doesn't."

"Why?" I stood for a long time, waiting for him to answer, but he didn't, giving me no choice but to leave. "As long as you believe that the truth doesn't matter, then nothing will ever be worthwhile," I said quietly, before I went.

Upon reaching my room, I dressed for bed and slid beneath the blanket, my mind too full of Sean to read anything more about the Stone Virgins.

Chapter Ten.

On Sunday morning, Bridget and I went to the village, she to see her family, and I to see my sisters and aunt, and as luck would have it, we weren't among the servants to have a full Sunday off this week. Our turn would come next week. The moment I slipped into the apartment, I knew something wasn't exactly right. It was all too early for Andromeda, and even more amazingly, Gemini, to be awake and outfitted in their best dresses.

"Did you learn anything new about Mary this week?" Andromeda asked before I could say a word.

Though I'd learned a number of things, from Sean's kiss to the Stone Virgins, none of it was fit for my sisters to know. I could readily see Andromeda leading an impromptu archeological expedition to The Stone Virgins. "No. It has been a very frustrating week." I spoke hesitantly, deciding that I hadn't really lied. "Are you going somewhere?"

"No. Not that we know," Andromeda said. "Just decided it would be proper to look our best on the Lord's Day."

Gemini giggled, almost guiltily.

I narrowed my gaze at her. "Is there something you need to tell me, Gemmi?"

She shook her head. "Not that I know of. Yet."

Andromeda jumped up from her decorous position. "We have a bath ready for you." She motioned me to a room.

"Yes, and I'll order tea to be sent up," Gemini said. "And I'll gather you a fresh packet of undergarments and things to take with you."

Though I didn't need a bath, I wasn't one to ever turn down a hot one. But the more I lay in the steamy water, the greater the sense that something was amiss with my sisters grew. Where was their usual chaotic chatter, their drama? I joined them and my aunt for tea, thinking that whole household seemed unusually organized this morning, as if they didn't need me to keep order as before. Was the difference and distance I felt between me and them because of the secrets I harbored? Or was it because my thoughts drifted to those at Killdaren Castle, who were growing in their importance to me? Bridget and her sick mother, her young brother and her absent sister. Little Rebecca with only her rag doll and nurse for company, rather than a life full of friends and affection. And mostly to Sean, a man who seemed to have no one and nothing but darkness and hopelessness. Ever since last night, his harshly rasped it doesn't matter kept echoing in my heart. How could he believe that?

"Did you hear, Cassie?" Aunt Lavinia asked.

I blinked. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"The housekeeper telegraphed that she couldn't find any journals or sketchbooks among Mary's things. Her paints were there, but no paintings."

"That can't be right." I set my tea cup into the saucer, hearing it rattle as my hand shook. "Mary would never be without a sketchbook or her paintings. I might have believed she didn't keep a journal, but her sketches and paintings were her life as much as teaching."

"Some of her things must still be at the castle then," Andromeda declared.

"I don't think any of her things were left in the room she used. I saw it," I said softly. "It is beautiful, pastel green with lots of satin and lace and a magnificent view of the sea. I could easily see her there, happy and painting. And little Rebecca, I know Mary must have grown to love her very much; she's such a lost child. One of the people at the castle, described Mary as hope. She'd brought hope into their lives."

"Thank you." Aunt Lavinia dabbed at her eyes. "I needed to hear that she was happy in her post. I mean she always wrote to me of such things, but I thought she did so to keep me from worrying about her."

"Letters! Why didn't I think of that?" I rose from my seat and paced the room. "What do you remember from her letters, Auntie?"

"Goodness. She always wrote so much. I don't know what to say."

"But you still have her letters, don't you?"

"Yes, at home."

"Can you have the housekeeper send them to us?"

"Of course. I'll telegraph for her to send them special delivery."

Andromeda sat up. "Was that the church bell already?"

"Yes, I think it was," Geimini added.

I frowned and shook my head, wondering if I had water in my ear. "I didn't hear it."

"I'm sure I did. You should take a few scones back with you." Gemini quickly wrapped scones into a napkin and handed me the package of fresh underclothes and the two older dresses I'd chosen to take with me.

It wasn't until I reached the church after a quick goodbye and heard the church bells just ringing that I knew for certain my sisters had deliberately hurried me along from the moment I'd arrived. Something was definitely amiss.

Turning around, I marched back to the inn, and entered the apartment. "Andrie, Gemmi, come here immediately." I don't think I'd spoken to them so since they were in nappers.

"What is it, dear?" Aunt Lavinia came hurrying from her room into the sitting area.

"Where are they?"

"Didn't they mention their trip to you earlier?"

"No."

"Must have been distracted with our talk of Mary. Andrie and Gemmi have gone on an excursion to some archeological site nearby. Something about stones and maidens, I believe. Is there anything wrong, dear?"

"No. Why didn't you go with them?"

"Having a difficult time with my gout lately. Walking any distance would have been out of the question. But I made sure they were well chaperoned."

"All right," I said, though nothing was right. The thought of my sisters going to that eerily strange place in the forest alone sent waves of panic crashing at me. Though what I thought could go wrong on such a seemingly innocent venture, I hadn't figured out. All I could think of was Jamie dragging me there. "Forgive me for rushing off, but it is suddenly getting late."

Hurrying from the inn, I encountered Bridget on the main street in town, her unmistakable red hair bouncing in long curly tresses over the blue shawl I gave her. That she wore it every moment she could, despite the summer's heat touched me deep inside. "Come on." I grabbed her arm. "We've a secret errand to run."

"What is it?" She asked, matching my hurried step.

"I want to see the Stone Virgins before we have to be back at the castle."

"What would have you in such a dither to see moldy stones in the forest?"

"I can't really explain. I just must. Will you come with me?"

"Blimey, Cassie. Sometimes you can be so strange. Well, if we're going to the Stone Virgins, then we best run as fast as we can, or we're going to be very late. We can take the village path. It'll be shorter." Turning to the right, she guided me up the street past the church.

"Do the villagers go to the stones often?" The path cutting up beside the church graveyard appeared well worn, but eerily isolated. Even though the main street was a stone's throw away from our path, the fact that the looming gravestones and black iron fencing stood between us and the church seemed to cut us away from the warmth of the living.

"Ack, only twice a year, much to the vicar's despair. May Eve and All Hallows' Eve has everyone a dancing and enjoying a pint or two and forgetting anything about who they are. I haven't been to the celebrations since working at the castle. Mrs. Frye won't let anyone go. If you do, you lose your post. Two maids went a year ago, and when they came stumbling back after midnight, she handed them their things and made them leave the castle that minute."

"She's a hard woman." The sound and flit of a starling chasing a robin skittered by, but failed to leave a sense of normalcy behind. Even the patches of bright pink and white rhododendron did little to ease the brooding air.

"She's had a hard life, and not exactly a fair one. She had the earl's bastard, but she didn't get sent to a fancy ladies school or have any life of ease like Miss Prudence. I think that's why she doesn't do the wee one any favors, either."

"What happened to her husband, the man the earl made her marry?"

"Heard Jamie's father, Phineas Frye, the earl's top groomsman, was shot in a hunting accident before Jamie was born. Maybe that's why Mrs. Frye's so bitter, havin' lost her husband afore her babe was even born. Then I imagine it would sweeten me none to have a son like Jamie, either. He can never be a man, and no longer a boy. Don't know how to treat him."

"I feel sorrier for Jamie and his frustrations than I do for Mrs. Frye. I think she'd have a better life if she wasn't so bitter. How is your mother?"

Bridget sighed. "Not good. She still has her strength, mind you. But I think her cough is worse. Tim, my little brother, is scared. And I am too. We've still no word from Flora. Makes me think that she had to have gone to Paris to sing. Make no mistake, I'm happy for her, but it's such a long way from here, and I keep worrying about what we're going to do."

"I'm sorry." I squeezed her hand. "I'm sure everything is going to work out all right. There's an answer. You'll see."

She squeezed my hand back. "I pray so."

We walked on in silence, lost in our thoughts. The trees lining the path thickened, diminishing the sun's light and warmth. I kept peering anxiously up the pathway, thinking that I was searching for my sisters, but as the whole mood of the forest changed around me, becoming darker, more forbidding, and I realized that I was looking for danger. The thought of my sisters out in that danger shot cold anxiety through my heart.

After my encounter with Jamie, I'd thankfully put my stolen knife in my pocket within easy reach. I'd learned that I could have the deadliest weapon ever made, and it would do me little good if I couldn't get that weapon in my hand. When we reached a shadowed bend in the road, I instinctively slid my hand into my pocket, finding reassurance in the solid metal and the sharpness of the blade. The road steepened considerably, telling me the Stone Virgins concealed in the maritime forest were on an elevated knoll in comparison to the village, as if the eerie place secretly presided over the townspeople.

So much tension built inside of me that I was almost disappointed when Bridget and I broke from the forest, reaching the area of the Stone Virgins and its massive center stone statue of what I now knew had to be Daghdha and his Uthaine, the living oak harp he used to seduce the virgins. The clearing, sun-drenched and peaceful, held none of the sinister air I'd felt when Jamie had dragged me to it. Birds chirped merrily to each other, bees and flies droned about their business. All appeared well.

Or perhaps the great flood of relief I felt at not finding my sisters here, and thus nowhere near Killdaren's Castle, made the area seem benign.

"Now what?" Bridget crinkled her creamy brow into a frown.

"Let me look a minute and we'll go." Leaving an impatient Bridget, I took a quick turn around the Virgins, envisioning the beautiful women being led to their doom by the lure of sweet music. It suddenly gave me the same ill feeling that the music room did, and I shuddered. On my way back to Bridget, I crossed the middle of the circle and examined the giant stone there, surprised to discern from the time-eroded etching on the stone that Daghdha was indeed depicted as being naked below the waist, with an ample belly and even larger genitals. The huge, almost crypt-like base that he rose from in combination with his height brought that anatomy to my eye-level. Lord, I'd gone all of my life giving little more than a cursory thought to the male anatomy, but now I couldn't seem to escape it.

Irrationally, I stepped closer, studying the stone harp and its frame of a woman bent backward, realizing that to play the instrument, the god's hands would have to grip her breasts. I shivered at the thought, then cried out when a swarm of flies suddenly rose from the statue's base. I looked down and saw a dark stain, and leaned curiously closer. Terror stabbed me. I screamed and jumped back.

Blood.

A dark, congealed maggot-ridden puddle of blood lay at the god's feet.

Bridget ran to me, craning to see as she looked up at the statue. "Blimey, Cassie! What is it?"

I pointed at the ground. "Blood."

Round eyed and as starkly white-faced as I felt, Bridget grabbed my arm. "Let's go. Most likely the leavings of a hunter poaching on the Killdaren's land, but I ain't waiting to find out."

I didn't argue. We didn't speak until we broke through the forest to find Killdaren's Castle, stable, and gardens in sight.

"Who should we tell?" I asked, gasping for air.

"Stuart," Bridget said without question. "I'll tell him." She headed for the stables.

Not about to be left behind nor alone, I hurried after her, but paused just inside the stable doors to wipe the perspiration from my brow-then decided to stay there as Bridget approached Stuart. At the moment he was standing on a stump, adjusting harnesses hung there.

"There's blood on the ground up at the Virgins," she said.

"What?" Stuart swung around so quickly that he lost his balance and came tumbling right over on Bridget. In her attempt to move out of his way, she fell backward and Stuart landed on top, pressing her to the ground with his face buried in her bosom. Whether stunned or hurt I couldn't tell. He didn't move, except maybe to turn his head a bit.

"Get off of me this minute, Stuart Frye!" Bridget yanked his hair.

"Ouch," Stuart yelled, rearing back enough to look at Bridget. "Nice of you to cushion my fall." He grinned, looking so pointedly at Bridget's heaving bosom that I had to turn my back to them.

"You're getting my shawl dirty, you bloody arse. Get up!"

"Temper, temper, my lady."

I heard a considerable amount of shuffling and figured it was safe enough to turn around again, just in time to see Bridget smack Stuart on the arm. "Philandering buffoon," she said. "Stop lazing around. There's a puddle o' blood at the Stone Virgins. Best find out who's poaching on the Killdaren's land get them to stop afore there's trouble. Don't want to see anyone losing their life o'er a rabbit or such."

Stuart shook his head. "Blood at the Stone Virgins?"

"Yes. Haven't you heard anything I've said?"

"I think I'm starting to understand. What were you doing there anyway?"

"Cassie wanted to look around on our way back from the village."