Holding Court by K.C. Held Read Free Book Online Page B

nothing there now, Mistress Verity.”
    “I swear there was a dead girl in there. Why would I make something like that up?” I take a step toward the alcove and stop. I don’t want to go back in there, but I can’t believe the body is gone. There’s no way I hallucinated a dead girl. Is there? “She was lying in the middle of the passageway, to the left of the suit of armor? Brown hair, dark eyes. She had a thick gold chain wrapped around her neck?”
    “I assure you, Mistress Verity, the passageway is quite empty. Perhaps you were mistaken about the”—he pauses as if searching for the right word—“ vitality of the girl you saw.”
    “There’s no way she was alive. I think someone strangled her. Her eyes were bulging out of her head and her face was all purple and—”
    King Henry holds up a hand. “You are welcome to check the passageway yourself, Mistress Verity.”
    I look at King Henry and then the alcove. “You didn’t hear anyone else in there? What if they’re hiding? What if I go in there and…”
    “I’ll go with you,” Grayson says, looking at King Henry for approval.
    King Henry nods and Grayson steps onto the stone circle and holds out his hand. “It’ll be a tight squeeze but I think we can both fit.”
    I take his hand and join him on the stone circle. We stand with our faces inches apart, our bodies pressed together. I bite my lip and reach for the ax, fear and uncertainty over what I saw in the passageway distracting me from the thrill of being this close to Grayson Chandler.
    He puts one hand on my shoulder and the other on his sword hilt. “Ready.”
    I push the ax and we spin into the passageway beyond.
    There is no girl, dead or otherwise.
    “She was right there.” I point at the bare stone floor. “I swear, Grayson. She was lying there with her eyes open and the chain wrapped around her throat and she was dead. Absolutely and completely dead.”
    “I believe you, Jules,” he says, but I can’t tell if he means it. He looks up and down the passageway. “I wonder where the staircases lead.”
    Before I can stop him he takes off down the passageway. I hurry after him and we come to a stop at a set of stairs that spirals upward.
    “These look like they go to the second floor. Do you know what’s above us?” I ask.
    “I’d guess King Henry’s private rooms. They’re off-limits to the staff. Let’s see where the other set goes.”
    We walk to the other end of the passageway where we find a narrow set of stairs leading down into the dark.
    “What do you think is down there?” Grayson asks.
    “The Pit of Despair?” I suggest.
    Grayson gives a nervous laugh. “There must be a light switch somewhere,” he says, running his hand along the wall at the top of the stairs.
    “I’m not going down there.”
    “Yeah, we definitely need a light.”
    “Or a lobotomy.” I look back down the secret passageway toward the suit of armor. “If there are stairs leading to other parts of the castle, that means there are probably other entrances to the passageway, right? So there definitely could have been someone else in here with me when I found the body.”
    “On second thought,” Grayson says, looking down the dark staircase. “Maybe we should finish this conversation back in the main hall?”
    “Good plan,” I say. “You believe me, don’t you? I swear I didn’t hallucinate a dead girl.”
    “I believe you,” he says, but avoids looking at me.
    We step back onto the stone circle and his face is once again inches from my own. He smells like peppermint soap, fresh hay, and boy. If I leaned forward a little bit and he tilted his chin…
    “Well, this is awkward,” Grayson says, grinning down at me.
    “The cuckoo favors another nest!” I blurt, and want to pull my wimple over my face.
    Grayson looks like he’s considering cuckoo things, too, as he reaches out and tilts the ax.
    Once we’re back in the hallway I’m expecting Grayson to tell King Henry what a nutjob