Free The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) by Jules Hedger

tomorrow
night. I'll be back for dinner."
    "Do you mind if
I have a lie down?" I asked. "I'm feeling a bit groggy."
    Tyler slapped
his forehead and groaned.
    "I didn't have
time to set you up a room." He shook his head. "We had so much on
our plate in dealing with the conductor, I plum forgot. I'll just
go air out one of the guest rooms and give you some new sheets." He
turned on the faucet in the sink and looked around the room as if
checking to see if he had anything else to do or fix. "I'll go set
those on the bed right now." He dashed out of the room, leaving the
warm water to fill up the sink.
    I walked over
to the cracked sink and turned off the faucet. I put my plate in
the water and wondered if I should clean up the pan, as well. The
grease was beginning to form a layer of skin on the pan. It was all
very quiet.
    Tick tock, tick
tock . . .
    I could have
been anywhere besides the heroin soaked mind of my uncle.
    And then I
thought, How did they deal with the
conductor?
    Tick tock, tick
tock . . .
    Suddenly, the
silence was broken by Tyler thumping down the stairs.
    "I'll only be a
couple of hours. Help yourself to anything in the ice box. I'll try
to stop in town to get some things for dinner if you're still up."
He poked his head into the kitchen as he pulled on a long overcoat.
"Don't wash those dishes. I'll do that when I get back. Your room
is the last on the left once you get up the stairs. I've set the
sheets on the bed."
    He began to
leave, but suddenly stopped. He took a few seconds standing in the
kitchen, looking at my face and smiling contentedly. Hands moved
slowly to his wrists, rubbing slowly like a habit. "I really can't
tell you how pleasing it is to have you here, Maggie. I'll be able
to tell my grandchildren that I met the Daughter of Palet. And that
she was so beautiful." He disappeared again into the hall and I
heard the outside porch door close and lock.
    Daughter of
Palet? That was a new one.
    I walked to the
kitchen window and watched Tyler walking determinedly down the
gravel pathway through the front yard and out of the iron gates. He
stopped to check a pocket watch attached to his coat and before he
disappeared at the bottom of the hill, I saw him look back up at
the house and smile faintly.

Chapter
9
    The clock ticked loudly in the otherwise silent
house. I was sat in the swing-bench on the porch watching the sun
set over the hills and patchwork fields. Tyler hadn't come back
from the town meeting yet but I didn't expect him back for a while.
In all honesty, I was practically sitting on my hands in a childish
attempt not to sneak around his house and look into drawers.
    I stood up from
the bench and gave it a friendly push before walking back inside
into the dark hall. I could still hear the gentle swing and squeaks
of the chains as I stood considering the short flight of stairs up
to the second floor.
    In the early
evening half-light, the place felt heavier and bigger, along with
emptier, darker and pretty close to creepy. A painting on the wall
of a man and his dog seemed to watch me from the frame. It was then
I decided that being a snoop was much more distracting than
standing in the darkness.
    The steps
creaked faintly under my toes as I started my climb. The upper
hallway was short and narrow, with a thin, green runner stretching
from either end. There were three doors on my right side, all of
them closed. I felt along the wall until my fingers touched a light
switch and suddenly the hall was bathed in warm yellow from the
sconces on the walls.
    Which one,
which one? I felt a guilty glee at wandering about on my own. I
also pictured what I must look like: dirty girl, pink slippers, and
did I just mention 'glee?' Yup, I have become that crazy lady who
lives on her own. Practice for the empty years ahead, huh?
    Standing in the
hallway and listening to the clock tick, Cirrus entered my mind. I
don't know if it was the thought of 'empty years' or what that made
his face appear, but he was