Chapter 7 – Fables and Fancies

My chamber looked different from the moment I awoke. It took me a minute to realise what it was – there was actual sun outside, streaming in through the narrow window, dust motes dancing in the slanted light.

With a glad heart I dressed in my brown kirtle and green gown, lacing them quickly up the sides. I combed my hair and caught it back behind a plain silver fillet and then tied my hose and laced my shoes and I was ready for the day. I hurried down the stairs to the chapel, where I prayed with more cheer than normal.

I was enjoying the usual bread and ale for breakfast when Charles came over to me, the stablehand Jacob coming along in behind him.

"Good morning," I said cheerfully.

"Good morning," Charles replied. "I've been speaking to Jacob, Bella. He wanted to know if I had any objections to him taking you out riding, if you'd like to go. I know you haven't seen much of the estate, and it's a good day for going out. You've got a good horse and Jacob can take care of you."

I swallowed the last of the ale and smiled at Jacob. "I'd love to go riding. It's a beautiful day for it."

Jacob grinned. "Great. We'll have fun. Just give me a few minutes to saddle the horses."

As soon as Jacob had left the great hall I ran upstairs to use the privy. I was coming down as quickly as I dared when I was surprised to nearly run right into Lord Edward.

"My Lord!" So startled was I that I unconsciously rested my hands on his chest to steady myself, feeling how fine the fabric of his tunic was, and how hard and chiselled the muscles underneath were.

"Lady Bella." Lord Edward decorously took my hands in his and lifted them from his chest. "You ought to be more careful on the stairs."

"I was in a hurry," I said.

"You're going out riding with Jacob." It was a statement, not a question.

I blinked. "How did you know?"

"I heard," he said vaguely. "I wondered if you might reconsider?"

"What business is it of yours?" I stared at him, baffled. "My father has no objections."

Lord Edward's eyes narrowed with frustration. "I am only concerned for your safety, my lady. Jacob can be a reckless rider. I wouldn't like to see you get hurt."

His concern was touching, if a little odd and misplaced. "I am a fair rider, Lord Edward, and my horse is well trained."

"If you go into the forest there are boar, and even tales of wolves," Lord Edward persisted. "I do not like to see you ride in such places unprotected."

"There will be Jacob," I said. "And he'll have his bow." I had no idea if he would or not, but I remembered Charles telling me that he was a good archer. "And all the men carry a dagger, don't they?"

"Jacob is but a boy. I don't feel confident in his ability to protect you."

I couldn't help laughing a little. "He looks no younger than you, my Lord! And if you are so concerned, why don't you accompany us? It's a lovely day for a ride."

At that Lord Edward turned abruptly aside. "I have other things to attend to," he said. "I just ask that you take care Bella."

"I will my Lord," I said, quite bewildered by the whole conversation.

Jacob was in the stable when I slipped in. He smiled at me easily, and hefted the saddle onto the back of a bay courser. My palfrey, looking much smaller beside the warhorse, whinnied at me softly.

"That's a lovely horse," I said.

"It's Lord Carlisle's horse," Jacob said, backing it out of the stall. "He rarely rides though, so we grooms get to do most of the exercising." He led both horses out into the yard and then helped me mount, before he swung up on to the courser himself, slinging his bow over his shoulder. "Come on, follow me."

I followed Jacob out under the gatehouse and through the outer yard, adjusting myself to the slow, slightly jolting motion of the horse. I hadn't lied when I had told Lord Edward I was a fair rider. My clumsiness had made the learning of it close to a disaster, but after several years I was now quite capable. I was sometimes safer on a horse than walking about on my own inept two feet.

Once outside the outer gate Jacob led me through the meadow and the past some plots planted out with various crops and plants. He took me on a long, meandering ride through the fields, and then we entered the quiet of the forest.

"What do you think?" Jacob asked, slowing his horse to walk alongside mine.

"It's so different to the city," I said truthfully. "I hardly know what to think." I jumped as a rabbit hopped across the path ahead of us, and Jacob laughed.

"I guess it is different to town," he said. "Not that I'd know, I've only been as far as the market town near here."

"I do like the castle," I said, feeling warmth in my cheeks. I do like the closeness to Lord Edward, for all he infuriates me sometimes! "It's taking some time to get used to the busyness though," I admitted.

"Have you seen any spirits or ghosts yet?" Jacob said teasingly.

"What?" I looked at him, astounded. "Why would you ask that?"

Jacob shrugged. "There are stories…"

"There are always stories," I laughed.

"I know that," Jacob said. "But there might be a little more than just fancy and imagination when it comes to the stories about Castle Cullen and the creatures that inhabit it."

My eyes widened. "No one has told me any stories before."

"They're not overly well known," Jacob admitted. "Not the ones that matter. Or at least that's what my da says." He laughed. "He takes them all so serious. Says we're the keepers of the ancient knowledge or some such rubbish."

I laughed with him, but something about the way he spoke sent a shiver down my spine. I loved stories. "Tell me more," I requested.

The two horses picked their way along the forest trail. "My da says we're descended from the first people. He says there was magic that's been lost over time, and all we're left with is the knowledge of the ages." His voice was taking on the cadence of a storyteller. "There's few enough people like us, and da says it's our responsibility to keep the stories alive."

For all I was sceptical of tales of magic, I was fascinated by Jacob's tale. "Isn't that awfully long ago?"

"Hundreds of years," Jacob nodded. "For generations my family have been passing down the stories." He looked a little embarrassed. "I don't know that I believe it, you understand? I just bought it up because I thought you might find it interesting."

"Go on," I appealed. "I'd like to hear."

Jacob grinned. "Well, to hear my da tell it, the first people were descended from wolves and kept the land safe for hundreds of years, until there came a race of warriors from across the sea. The swarmed the land and conquered and ruled over the first people, but even worse than that, when they came from their boats they brought something with them."

"What?" I breathed, spellbound now.

"A creature of inhuman beauty and strength and immortality, but one that carried darkness in its heart. A spirit that would suck the soul and lifeblood from anyone it came across, sometimes leaving death and sometimes transforming the human into a creature of the very same," Jacob said in a low voice. "They called them the cold ones, or else they may be referred to by their other name…vampire."

I gasped as the shudder of fear passed through my body, and Jacob's stern face relaxed into a grin as he laughed. "You can't take it seriously, Bella!"

Feeling a little foolish I laughed too. "But what does that have to do with Castle Cullen now?

Jacob shrugged. "This area was one of the last holdouts of the first people. They say that the wolves were the only ones who could fight the cold ones, but the cold ones fought back and decimated their numbers. And then one day cold ones came who were different- a pack that didn't hunt humans, that weren't so dangerous and so the first people made a truce with them. Those cold ones were allowed to live." He made a face at me.

"Why would they make a truce?" I asked.

"The clan was not meant to be dangerous. They ruled over the Saxons and the first people, and were the builders of Castle Cullen. They drank the blood of animals, not humans. But the people were never really safe, not when the blood drinkers might get thirsty at any time."

"How have the stories lasted so long?" I whispered. "After all, there have been no cold ones or wolves for such a long time…"

"Well, that's the creepiest part of the story," Jacob told me, his voice low. "Because the cold ones…they kept coming back. They're immortal, and every so often would come a Lord to run the castle whose flesh was ice cold and whose body never changed, and the people would sense that they were something other."

I bit my lip. "You're a good storyteller."

"Ah, my da's been telling me these stories since I was a wee one," Jacob said, but I could tell by his smile that my compliment had pleased him. "He tells them all serious and scary, but I think he's just making it all up. He's always acted like it's a big secret for the family."

"Well, I won't tell him that you told me," I promised with a smile, although his story had left my flesh crawling and my heart racing.

Jacob winked at me. "It's nothing to worry about, just a good story."

"I doubt a travelling storyteller would do better," I said. "You should tell it in the hall one night."

"Ahh no," Jacob looked uneasy. "My da wouldn't like it, and I don't think it's the kind of story that I would tell in front of the Lord and his family." He nudged the horse to pick up the pace. "Come on Bella, enough of this talk of fairies and fancies…let's keep riding."


I was tired after the long day riding and glad to slide into bed, my body fitting perfectly comfortably into the little hollow it had made amongst the feathers. The blankets settled over me, heavy and warm, and I drifted off into sleep.

The dream began like most of them, with the darkness relieved only by a faint light emanating from Lord Edward's skin. He gave me the same expressionless look before he walked away, and once again I ran after him, hopelessly calling his name.

But this time there was someone else in the dream. A voice that was loud and frightened in the darkness. "Lady Bella, don't!" It was Jacob.

But I ignored him, pulling away from his hands that grasped at me and would stop me if they could. I could not lose Lord Edward, I couldn't…

And then the dream was different again, because this time I caught up with Lord Edward. I clutched at his cloak with my hands, calling his name, begging him to turn. But when he did all I could do was scream, because his lips were smeared with the dark red of blood, his teeth gleaming white and razor sharp. He moved towards me with a terrifying smile, and as he lowered his mouth to his neck I heard him hiss, "I'm not an angel Bella…what if I'm from the devil? What if I am the evil you fear?

I woke with a scream, tangled in my blankets and gasping for breath. My heart was pounding. The dream had held such terror, and yet such…exhilaration as Lord Edward had bent towards me. I shivered…what was happening to me?

I could not stay meekly in my bed, not with my mind in such turmoil. Instead I wrapped my cloak around myself and let myself out of my chamber, escaping up the dim staircase to the roof.

The stars were out, and something about their everlasting, heavenly beauty calmed me. I made my way to the crenellations and, in defiance of Lord Edward, climbed up a little so I could see the estate bathed in the moonlight.

I rested my cheek against the cold and ancient stone and tried to make sense of my dream. How could Lord Edward have been so terrifying, and yet I had been so hypnotised by him? "I'm not an angel…what if I am the evil you fear?" What was my mind trying to tell me?

I thought of Jacob then, and his confusing presence in my subconscious. It could mean nothing, but I had spent the day with him and all those stories he told me…

"A creature of inhuman beauty and strength and immortality, but one that carried darkness in its heart. A spirit that would suck the soul and lifeblood from anyone it came across, sometimes leaving death and sometimes transforming the human into a creature of the very same."

It should sound ridiculous. I should just dismiss it as a scary story, as a tale for a child the way Jacob had laughed it off…but I couldn't.

An icy finger of fear trailed down my spine. Jacob's tales mixed with what I thought I knew about Lord Edward, as well as the mixed messages of my dream, were making me feel dizzy with knowledge half known and secrets half discovered. And if I should follow these thoughts down the rabbit hole, who knew what I might find?

Lord Edward had told me. He had said it. "If you go searching, you may not like what you find."

But I had to know. Whatever it was, I had to know and I had faith that it would not be a truth that was unbearable. For I could not believe that Lord Edward was anything other than good. I had thought him an angel, my belief in his goodness was so strong, and I did not think I could possibly discover anything that would prove that wrong.

I forced myself to think of Jacob's story and the Cold Ones he had spoken of. Could the Lord's family be these Cold Ones? I thought of them all, particularly Lord Edward. The inhuman beauty, the superhuman speed and strength, his own admission of being dangerous, a villain…there was certainly something.

But I couldn't see that the family carried darkness in their hearts. Not Lady Esme, with her kindly words and gentle manner, and Lord Carlisle working as a healer at the castle, for anyone who asked for his help. And the idea of them feeding on people's souls, or their blood, was utterly fanciful. Since I had arrived at the castle there had been only two deaths, one an elderly woman of eighty years who had died peacefully in her sleep, and one an infant who had died of the flux in her parent's arms. So no one was being killed and drained of blood. Feeding on souls wasn't something that sounded all that likely either.

But even so…it was possible. There was definitely something strange about the family that ruled over the castle. Edward was capable of extraordinary things. Why that was or what exactly he was, I couldn't be sure. That was as much as I could say at the time.

And really…did it matter? I shivered, and this time it wasn't with the cold. If Lord Edward really was something outside of the natural, what would I do about it? Would I denounce the family? Would I do as he had continually urged me to do and stay away?

NO. I was shocked at the strength of my reaction. Every part of me rejected utterly the idea of staying away from Lord Edward and I knew with utter certainty that it was not possible. Whatever it was between us, the fire had been lit and there was no going back now.

So I was left with going on as I had been. Talking to him when I could, open to discovering what it was that made him so extraordinary. I felt a quiver of unease when I thought about the potential danger, but it lasted only a moment. If Lord Edward meant to hurt me, he had had plenty of opportunities to do it, and he had not. Perhaps there was some danger, but the truth was I was in too deep to back out now. Too caught up in the hypnotic spell of his golden stare and delicious scent and the mystery of the enigmatic young lord to walk away. Nothing now could shake my certainty.