And then there was that story the prince had told. A chambermaid, a woman named Rose, who had killed herself. Could she be …? According to his father, his mother had died in childbirth. But the prince’s story explained so much, like why his father rarely spoke of his mother and his ill temper around Reuben’s birthday. But he wondered if he just wanted it to be true. Then his mother’s death wouldn’t be his fault and the light might be his mother returning to tell him he was innocent of a crime he had blamed himself for all those years.
Reuben took three steps toward the castle, his neck craned, his eyes focused on the window, wondering if he could catch sight of his mother’s ghostly image. The light flickered as a shape moved between it and the window. Reuben held his breath, waiting, watching as the wind blew his hair.
The light went out.
He continued to stand before the front doors of the castle, looking up, but nothing happened. Did this mean there had been another death? Who could it be? Was it someone in the castle or far away? Having waited for more than two weeks for the light to reappear, now that it had, the moment felt empty. There was no bloodcurdling scream or a body falling to the courtyard. The night was like any other. Then, just as he was about to turn and head for the barracks, a shadow slipped out the window.
If not for the moonlight bathing that side of the tower, and the fact that he was staring, he would not have seen her-a woman in a wind-whipped dress.
Reuben held his breath, staring in shock. Is that her?
The woman’s hands clung to the ledge while her feet felt for a toehold. She found it and dropped carefully to the decorative cornice below. There she cowered.
She set the lantern on the window ledge, then jumped. On windy nights you can hear the scream she let out as she fell … and the splat when she landed.
Reuben heard only the sound of crying.
Who is it and what is she doing? Is this the ghost? Is it my…
Slowly the woman inched around the side of the tower, toward where a small dormer roof extended. Hanging once more, she reached out with her feet and touched the spine of the dormer below and inched down farther. Then she slipped.
Reuben gasped in horror as he watched her fall.
She slid down the side of the peak and with a scream dropped onto the spire of the Winsome Tower. She clawed at the clay tiles as she continued to skid.
Reuben took a step closer as if to help, but there was nothing he could do.
As she reached the edge, her toes caught the lip. The woman lay on her stomach, pressed against the spire, crying in terror.
Reuben stared, one of his hands covering his mouth. He waited to see what she would do next, but the woman didn’t move. She lay there, panting and whimpering.
“There’s a wide balcony beneath you,” Reuben called up, not certain if he was speaking to a woman or a ghost. Her surviving the fall and catching hold of the roofline made her seem more than human. The hard part was done-assuming she wasn’t intent on suicide. Reuben saw how it was possible to make the rest of the trip. He waited, but the woman did not move.
“You’re safe-well, sort of. Just drop and you’ll be okay, as long as you don’t land badly.”
“I can’t!” the woman cried, though most of her voice was stolen by the wind. “I don’t want to die.”
What is she talking about? She just climbed out a tower window!
“Trust me. Just scoot off the roof you are on and lower yourself as best you can. Even if you fall, you’ll be okay. There’s a terrace right below you.”
It took several minutes before he saw her move. She inched down, not daring to look. Her legs dangled, searching for something to support herself but finding only air. The strength of her arms gave out and she fell again, screaming once more.
While not how he would have tried getting down, it worked nonetheless. The drop was longer than it looked from where Reuben stood and she disappeared behind the balcony’s wall. He feared she might have hurt herself until he saw her head appear.
“Are you all right?”
The head nodded.
“Follow the wall to your left. You’ll find stairs.”
She vanished from his view.
A light returned to the tower window and Reuben looked up with anticipation, but no one else came out.
He waited in the courtyard, trying to determine what had just happened. If it was the ghost, why hadn’t she jumped to her death again? Wasn’t that what ghosts did-repeat the past by reliving the moment of their death in eternal torment or something? If she wasn’t the ghost, who was she? And why would anyone climb out of the high tower window if they weren’t intent on suicide?
I don’t want to die.
It didn’t make any sense.
One of the double doors to the keep opened. All he saw was a pale hand at first; then the face of a young woman peeked out.
He had never seen her before. She was about his age, but her face was painted and she wore a dress the likes of which he had never seen. With a tight bodice and a plunging, shoulder-baring neckline, it might not be a dress at all but rather what women wore underneath them. She was still crying. He could see the tears on her face as they glistened and left dark streaks in her makeup.
She shrank from him when he approached. “Please don’t kill me. Please … please…”
“You’re all right. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you.”
She stared at him with frightened eyes, her hands shaking. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear.”
“It’s okay. Just tell me what happened. Why did you climb out the window?”
“They would’ve … they would’ve killed me if they discovered I was there. If they knew I heard what they said.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
The girl’s eyes were locked on the light in the high tower.
“Please,” she pleaded. “You have to hide me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The castle was alive with activity. Every window was alight, and guards, roused from their beds, strode across the courtyard to the keep. Reuben ducked back into the woodshed where he had hidden the girl. The shed was his sanctuary, the place he always went to be alone. Although tonight he was uncertain how long his little refuge would be safe. Outside, Reuben heard shouts for the gate to be sealed.
What is going on? They say deaths always come in threes, and the light was in the tower…
Since bringing her there, the girl had sat balled up on the cord of maple he had split the month before. All he could see clearly was a slice of her face illuminated by the moonlight that slipped through the crack of the door. Her cheeks were puffed and wet, her eyes red and glassy.
“Do you hear that? The alarm has been sounded. If you want my help, you have to talk to me. Now tell me what’s going on,” Reuben said.
She nodded and managed to swallow and take a breath. “I came for a party-a surprise party for someone.”
“For who?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“You were invited to a party, but you don’t know who it was for?”
“I wasn’t invited. I came to work.”
Reuben was confused. That didn’t make sense. The castle had more than enough waitstaff. “What kind of-”
“I was hired to pleasure the guest of honor.”
“Huh?”
The girl gave him a smirk. “How old are you?”
“Almost sixteen, but I don’t see-Oh!” Reuben took a half step back as if the girl were a dangerous animal. “You’re a-”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Reuben had spoken to only a few girls. Occasionally he talked about the weather with Alice, the washwoman. She was a little older and never seemed interested in his conversations. And he was certain Grace, who polished the candlesticks and carried water from the well, made a habit of avoiding him. Girls made Reuben uncomfortable, and this one wasn’t just a girl. This was a … He had trouble even thinking it.