tears had dwindled.
‘What’s wrong, dear?’ Priya asked, and Eryn moved away from Selina’s neck, leaving a blotch of tears on her skin.
‘I’m sorry…’ Eryn said, wiping her puffed eyes. ‘I just don’t know who to talk to.’
‘You can talk to us,’ Selina reassured, touching Eryn’s hand. ‘You know you can.’
‘It’s pa… After what we did. He won’t let me out.’
‘What do you mean? He won’t let you out of the pub?’
‘Since he found out about me and Boen, he hasn’t let me out of here, and no-one’s seen Boen at all.’
‘Since when?’ Priya sat at a table and hooked her hair behind her ears.
‘Near a month. I didn’t mean to get him into trouble...’
‘But what were you doing with him that’s caused such a fuss?’
Eryn expurgated the events of the former month in a frantic monologue. The ambiguous death of Richard Kelly, the outsider Boen had seen, their night at the Marisco Tavern, the papers she had stolen from Red Sawbone’s room. At the mention of the papers she closed her eyes, exasperated. How could she have been so stupid?
‘Did they shed light on anything?’ Priya asked.
‘Nothing. It was so stupid. It’s just a load of numbers - like it’s something, I don’t know, banking details or something... And sketches of birds and letters about things that are meaningless.’
‘Your pa is punishing you for stealing?’
She cuffed her eyes and sniffed. ‘He is, though not for the papers. God, I managed to hide them before he returned home.’ She rolled her eyes and shivered somewhat comically, cursing. ‘If he thought I’d stolen from Lundy, if he thought we’d even been to Lundy... I don’t know what he would have done. He took a belt to me and hasn’t let me out, and that was because he thought we’d taken the boat on some kind of romantic jaunt. If he’d known about Lundy and the papers...’
‘And Boen?’ Selina asked. She suspected she hadn’t even encountered him since their arrival if he’d also been grounded for a month.
‘Baron teases that something terrible has happened to him, but no-one will give a straight answer.’
‘We’ll find out for you,’ Priya said, standing.
‘No, please. Don’t make it obvious that I was thinking about him. Pa wants to make me forget about it by working me to the bone.’
‘Jeez,’ Priya sighed. ‘The more I know about your father, dear, the more I dislike him. We won’t make it obvious.
‘We won’t ask tonight,’ Selina continued, ‘but we’ll find out for you nonetheless. Subtly.’
Eryn looked uncertain for a moment, and then hugged Selina, ‘Thank you. Boen was terrified his pa would find out but I ignored him. God knows what he did to him. I’m so bloody selfish...’ The image of the scars she had seen across his back brought new tears to her eyes.
Selina’s former thoughts of paradise were checked as Eryn held onto her fiercely. ‘I just wanted to know for sure what had happened to Kelly.’
For a moment Selina didn’t think much of the name, she had heard it several times during their stay in the village, and even more so in the last minutes of Eryn’s ranting. It wasn’t until that moment that she was reminded that she had been given Richard Kelly’s house to live in. She thought of stepping through the ivy laden door for the first time, Semilion telling her of its previous occupant and how pleased she would be if she loved books – the upstairs rooms were filled with them.
She hadn’t thought of it before, so consumed was she with stifling her fears of dead men hiding in the shadows, but Richard Kelly was the author of the letter she had found in her cellar. The man who refused to“play their final game”.
*
Semilion sat in the shadowed library, running his hands across his head in frustration. The books of his ancestors lay scattered across the table like a child’s fallen bricks.
One volume, nothing more than a spiral-bound notebook, titled Autumn Codec, was
‘What’s wrong, dear?’ Priya asked, and Eryn moved away from Selina’s neck, leaving a blotch of tears on her skin.
‘I’m sorry…’ Eryn said, wiping her puffed eyes. ‘I just don’t know who to talk to.’
‘You can talk to us,’ Selina reassured, touching Eryn’s hand. ‘You know you can.’
‘It’s pa… After what we did. He won’t let me out.’
‘What do you mean? He won’t let you out of the pub?’
‘Since he found out about me and Boen, he hasn’t let me out of here, and no-one’s seen Boen at all.’
‘Since when?’ Priya sat at a table and hooked her hair behind her ears.
‘Near a month. I didn’t mean to get him into trouble...’
‘But what were you doing with him that’s caused such a fuss?’
Eryn expurgated the events of the former month in a frantic monologue. The ambiguous death of Richard Kelly, the outsider Boen had seen, their night at the Marisco Tavern, the papers she had stolen from Red Sawbone’s room. At the mention of the papers she closed her eyes, exasperated. How could she have been so stupid?
‘Did they shed light on anything?’ Priya asked.
‘Nothing. It was so stupid. It’s just a load of numbers - like it’s something, I don’t know, banking details or something... And sketches of birds and letters about things that are meaningless.’
‘Your pa is punishing you for stealing?’
She cuffed her eyes and sniffed. ‘He is, though not for the papers. God, I managed to hide them before he returned home.’ She rolled her eyes and shivered somewhat comically, cursing. ‘If he thought I’d stolen from Lundy, if he thought we’d even been to Lundy... I don’t know what he would have done. He took a belt to me and hasn’t let me out, and that was because he thought we’d taken the boat on some kind of romantic jaunt. If he’d known about Lundy and the papers...’
‘And Boen?’ Selina asked. She suspected she hadn’t even encountered him since their arrival if he’d also been grounded for a month.
‘Baron teases that something terrible has happened to him, but no-one will give a straight answer.’
‘We’ll find out for you,’ Priya said, standing.
‘No, please. Don’t make it obvious that I was thinking about him. Pa wants to make me forget about it by working me to the bone.’
‘Jeez,’ Priya sighed. ‘The more I know about your father, dear, the more I dislike him. We won’t make it obvious.
‘We won’t ask tonight,’ Selina continued, ‘but we’ll find out for you nonetheless. Subtly.’
Eryn looked uncertain for a moment, and then hugged Selina, ‘Thank you. Boen was terrified his pa would find out but I ignored him. God knows what he did to him. I’m so bloody selfish...’ The image of the scars she had seen across his back brought new tears to her eyes.
Selina’s former thoughts of paradise were checked as Eryn held onto her fiercely. ‘I just wanted to know for sure what had happened to Kelly.’
For a moment Selina didn’t think much of the name, she had heard it several times during their stay in the village, and even more so in the last minutes of Eryn’s ranting. It wasn’t until that moment that she was reminded that she had been given Richard Kelly’s house to live in. She thought of stepping through the ivy laden door for the first time, Semilion telling her of its previous occupant and how pleased she would be if she loved books – the upstairs rooms were filled with them.
She hadn’t thought of it before, so consumed was she with stifling her fears of dead men hiding in the shadows, but Richard Kelly was the author of the letter she had found in her cellar. The man who refused to“play their final game”.
*
Semilion sat in the shadowed library, running his hands across his head in frustration. The books of his ancestors lay scattered across the table like a child’s fallen bricks.
One volume, nothing more than a spiral-bound notebook, titled Autumn Codec, was
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