Darkest Dreams Read Free

Gemini’s nose was already irrevocably red, even though it wasn’t. The sound of horses’ hooves on the shore along with the act of everyone turning and gasping with awe and fear told me that he had arrived at the docks. Lord Alexander Killdaren, Viscount Blackmoor.
    Though the mystery surrounding Mary’s death had been solved, the murder of Lady Helen Kennedy eight years ago had not been. Since Sean Killdaren and Lord Alexander Killdaren were the last ones to see her alive, and a witness had seen one of them leaving the scene of the murder, a dark cloud of suspicion hung over their lives. To this day the villagers gave the Killdaren twins a wide berth. Neither Cassie nor I believed the rumors. She was sure Sean was innocent, and I was convinced Lord Killdaren was too.
    He leapt from the saddle and strode down the dock, a commanding figure to be reckoned with. Shockingly dressed in only snug black pants, a loose white shirt and knee-high boots, he could have easily been a swashbuckling pirate from a reckless age. His dark hair framed strong features and lay wildly windblown well over the collar of his shirt. Thick muscles strained against his clothes as he walked. His charismatic aura jarred the world around him like a stiff wind from the dark sea and blasted me as he neared.
    He must have felt my regard, for he suddenly gazed right at me. I stared directly at him as if possessed by a need and will greater than any rule of propriety I’d ever learned. “Lord Alexander is great indeed,” I murmured.
    â€œWhat?” Cassie asked, following my gaze with hers. She gasped and grabbed my hand. I heard the “Sean” that rang through her mind before her pulse steadied and she whispered, “Alexander.” All of that pent-up worry I’d felt in her earlier escaped in his name.
    As we stared at him, he nodded his head politely then passed by without offering a cordial greeting before going to the ship where I’d seen the wild horse being gentled.
    â€œWhat is it?” I asked Cassie, wanting to know about the angst inside her. “What is wrong?”
    â€œAndrie. I don’t know what I am going to do.”
    I couldn’t stop myself. At the note of despair in her voice, I tightened my grip on her hand and focused my whole gift on seeing into her.
    â€œOh dear,” I said, reeling beneath the revelation. “I mean what wonderful news, but oh, dear.”
    â€œThat doesn’t half convey my sentiments. I don’t know why I didn’t foresee this fear. I never dreamed I would be afraid to tell Sean that we are going to have a child, but now that I am, I am worried. What if I’m pregnant with twins?”
    â€œSurely you don’t believe Sean and his brother are truly cursed, that one will kill the other.”
    Cassie sighed. “It’s hard to refute a thousand years of history that shows when twins are born into the Killdaren family, one has killed the other. It doesn’t matter if I believe in the Dragon’s Curse or not, though, Sean does. Alexander does. Somehow, if we are ever to be free of it, I have to find a way to break the curse in their minds, hopefully before I tell Sean of the baby. That way I’ll know he really believes he is free from the past and not just pretending in order to make me happy. But how? As long as none of us ever see or speak to Alexander, there is no hope of things changing. They’ve spent eight years avoiding each other.”
    â€œI’ve heard Bridget rail about how blind men are, and I’m beginning to believe her.” I drew an exasperated breath, feeling very much like saying a word ladies weren’t supposed to use; a word Bridget, Cassie’s friend who made an unforgettable lady’s companion at Killdaren’s Castle, frequently uttered. “Lord Alexander didn’t kill Lady Helen, and he didn’t try to kill Sean either. I know it as surely as I know my own