She glanced back the way she’d come. Three hallways branched off this one. She would have difficulty in finding her way back. The melody had stopped. All the doors were shut tight but one, and it opened only a crack. She pushed on it and flipped on the light. A bare iron bedstead and a stand were the only pieces of furniture in the room. A music box sat on the stand.
She approached the handsome wooden box and raised the lid. Goose bumps rose on her arms when the melody she remembered from her childhood tinkled out. When she’d hummed the tune to Liam, he had set it to words in “Nightsong.”
Transfixed, she listened to the music box tinkle. The only one she’d ever seen like it had belonged to Neila. This one was a twin to her sister’s prized possession. Alanna had to have this box.
She closed the lid and lifted the heavy box reverently. Turning to carry it back to her room, she saw someone move by the window. She gasped and peered into the draperies’ folds. “Is someone there?”
“Just me.” Grady materialized from the shadows. “I was watching the moon on the lagoon. I thought you’d be in bed.” His normally cynical smile held sadness. “Beautiful box, isn’t it? I hope you weren’t about to take it.”
“Just to my room so I could enjoy it. Isn’t that all right?”
“Barry will just carry it back here. The banshee doesn’t like it to be moved. I heard her playing it tonight and came to see. Did you hear it too?”
“I heard something,” she admitted. “That wasn’t you playing it?”
He shook his head. “The box was open when I got here. I hoped to see her dancing around.”
Alanna didn’t know what to think though her goose bumps returned. “You’ve seen her?”
“Several times,” he said, his tone grudging.
Back home in Ireland, she’d heard tales. Most who saw a banshee never lived to tell the story. A banshee was said to be a fairy, and to hear one shriek was an omen of death to one of Ireland’s five major families. She’d heard tell that banshees emigrated with their families. Was Barry’s family rooted to one of the five?
She suppressed a shiver. “What does she look like?”
“She wears a flowing white dress with her red hair down to her waist. She usually floats along the grass. Once I saw her sitting by the water combing her hair with a silver comb.”
“And does she have wings?”
“Wings?”
“You know the legends, don’t you? When a banshee leaves, you can hear the flutter of wings.”
“I don’t know about that. She’s beautiful, just like you. In fact, she could be you.” The cynicism was gone from his face again.
His description matched everything she’d always heard about banshees. Alanna put the music box back on the stand. “You’re joking, righto? You’ve never really seen her.”
“No joke. I’m sure Barry has seen her too. It’s no wonder he was determined to marry you.”
“He married me to help me,” she said. “You mustn’t think he had any agenda.”
Grady’s laugh held derision. “He’s sure got the wool pulled over your eyes, Alanna. I knew the minute I saw you that he would have stopped at nothing to have you.”
She hugged herself, ready to end this conversation. “You really don’t like your brother much, do you?”
“What’s not to like? A blue blood born to greatness who knows it. The great one bestowing favors on us peons.” He gave a bitter laugh. “Barry always gets what he wants.”
“Sure, but it’s sad that you and your brother can’t love one another,” she said. “My sister . . .” She looked down at her bare feet peeking from the hem of her gown.
“What about your sister?”
“I don’t even know where she is,” Alanna said, wondering why she was telling him this. “I was taken from our mum when I was three and she was eight.” Her fingers caressed the smooth wood of the music box. “She had a box just like this one.”
“What happened when your mother left?” he asked, his voice gentle.
Wishing she’d never brought it up, she shrugged. “I don’t remember very much, just crying for her. The woman she left me with slapped me and told me she’d come back someday. I never saw either of them again.”
“Maybe it’s better that way,” he said, his tone turning cynical again. “Finding out the truth might be more painful than what you’ve already survived.”
She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, not to this young man with the orange mohawk and hooded eyes. “I’m lost. Can you be showing me the way to my room?”
“I’m headed that way myself.” He glanced at the scrape on her arm. “What happened to you?”
If he hadn’t been so hot and cold, she might have told him the truth. “I fell down the hill. You didn’t hear the ambulance come?”
“I went to the bar for a few drinks and just got home. You’re okay? And the baby?”
“We’re both fine.” She glanced at the music box again. It would be so comforting in her room. And wasn’t she the mistress of the house now? “I’ll be taking this to my room,” she said. “Barry won’t object.”
Grady shrugged. “Suit yourself, but remember I told you so.”
Carrying the heavy box, she followed him out the door. As she shut the door behind her, she thought she heard the flutter of wings, and a shudder went down her back.