“You both are a threat to my inheritance, to Wistmere. My Wistmere! I did not know of the other daughter. Robert only spoke of you. When I found out that she, too, was Robert’s daughter, she had to be eliminated as well.”
Her cold words and thin voice sent shivers down Katherine’s spine.
“It is good that I found help from the simple man who cares for the horses. And now there is but you for my pins have worked their poison on the other daughter of Robert. You shall not prevent me from having what is mine. Soon I shall have everything, the emeralds and this place.” Her acidic laughter filled the chamber.
Cringing, Katherine stated loudly, “You won’t inherit anything now because Garth gets it all.”
“I know the son of Robert, but he too will soon be dead.”
Suddenly a groaning sound filled the air, and Selina momentarily froze in her descent, seeking the banister for support as the stairs trembled.
Finally gaining her inner strength, Katherine shouted as she moved further along the wall toward the door, “You can’t kill everyone! Right now Garth’s looking for you!”
“Liar! I know that he is not here! I watched him leave, and he has not returned. I will have what is mine!”
All of a sudden, Katherine’s hand touched the knob. But before she could seek freedom, a loud rumble came and the floor under her feet shuddered. She looked back up to the stairs where Selina was standing.
Brandishing a thin blade, Selina declared, “It is now your time to die!” She took another step down. But as she did so, the groaning beneath the staircase became a loud cracking sound.
Katherine, pressed to the side of the door frame, locked her hand around the door knob. She jerked the door open, choosing Brice’s grasp over death at Selina’s hand.
As Selina bounded down the steps, her knife held high, the rotten wood of the stairs separated itself from the floor above. The decayed bracing beneath the stairs gave way, and Selina’s triumphant cry became lost in the roar of shattering wood and the collapsing stairwell as it crashed to the floor below.
Chapter Fifteen
Garth’s lathered horse raced ahead of the horses rode by Constable Reed and his officers. It had taken Garth most of the day to locate them. The cool, late afternoon air did nothing to calm the fevered, worried thoughts he had of Katherine. He admonished himself for leaving her and May-Jewel alone and unguarded. Alex and Brice came to his mind. He remembered them as boys. Alex was sneaky and Brice was cruel. They hadn’t changed. Either one was capable of harming the women in some way. He spurred his horse on, leaving the authorities behind.
It seemed an eternity before he finally reached Wistmere. Not seeing anyone about, Garth decided the women must be in Katherine’s room. Leaving the constable to enter on his own, he ran to the top of the stairs just as he heard a scream coming from the west wing. He tore off in that direction. The old manor groaned as a thunderous crash resounded throughout its corridors. A belch of grey smoke funneled down the hallway, engulfing everything.
“Katherine!” he yelled.
From out of the dust, she emerged, choking and coughing. She stumbled up to him. He caught her in his arms.
“What happened?” he asked, looking past her at the destruction.
“Selina… Brice…!” she gasped. “The stairs!” Trembling, Katherine pointed back down the hall.
Not seeing anything beyond the settling dust, Garth questioned, “Are you all right?” He held her at arms’ length, looking for any harm. Satisfied she wasn’t hurt, he enclosed her in his arms again.
She relaxed momentarily in his hold and the safety he offered, then pushed herself away. Nodding, she answered, “Yes, I’m all right, but Selina isn’t. The floor gave way and so did the stairs she was standing on. The second floor fell to the first.” She was shaking badly, and her last statement ended in a sob.
Once again Garth held her to him until her sobs quieted. “Katherine, you must show me where Selina is.”
Wiping her tears from her face, Katherine took Garth’s hand and led him to where she had last seen her nemesis.
The dust was slower to settle there and everything was grey.
“Here, in this room.”
Garth tentatively looked past Katherine. “You stay here. I’ll see if I can find her.” Entering cautiously, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the haze of dust that was still in the air. He moved slowly and skirted the perimeter of the gaping hole and peered over the jagged edge. The wood groaned, and he moved quickly back, afraid it would suddenly give way.
“Do you see her?” Katherine asked.
“No, I can’t see much of anything through the dust.”
“Let me look,” she said, starting to enter. “We can’t leave her there.” Even though Selina had tried to kill her, Katherine couldn’t just leave her to whatever wounds she might have sustained in the fall.
Garth moved back to the door. “No, it’s too dangerous. The constable and his men should be here by now. Go and tell them what’s happened here. I’ll try again to find Selina.”
“But what about Brice?” She called after him.
“Not now!” came his reply as he disappeared from view.
* * *
Before the dust had even settled, Selina crawled out from among the broken boards. If I’m going to die, I will die the Mistress of Wistmere. She coughed. The blood in her mouth and the pain she felt
