Magnus praised her mapping skills and her drawing talent. He commented on how pretty she looked in the new clothes he had ordered stitched for her, and which she had refused at first to accept. It was only after he had convinced her that the garments were not a gift, that he expected her to wear his colors, that she accepted them without objection.
She favored the deep green and brown underdress and tunics, the wool being soft and gentle against her skin. It was the dark blue underdress with the light blue tunic trimmed in gold that she favored the most, but it did not fit with his colors. Magnus had insisted the garment was for special occasions and she had no choice but to wear it. She’d had no special occasion to wear it yet, but she looked forward to such an event, so soft and beautiful were the garments.
Today she wore a brown underdress and green tunic. She tied her long black hair with a leather strip and gathered charcoal and paper to join Magnus in his solar. Their plan for today was to investigate a room off the tower room. When Magnus had first showed it to her, she’d wondered how he had ever found it. It looked as if it were part of the wall, a room built specially to hide someone or to hide secrets.
Magnus bade her enter when she knocked on his door. She caught her breath at the sight of him, and try as she might, she could not prevent herself from feeling a rush of joy in seeing him. She wondered, and worried, over her recurring enthusiasm with him. Her continuous efforts to bring Brigid and him together were proving fruitless, neither seeming interested, though they were friendly in manner when in each other’s company.
Looking at him now had her heart jumping, as it often did. He looked so handsome dressed in dark brown leggings and undershirt, topped by a soft leather tunic in a buttery color. He looked so very appealing.
She blushed at the thought and hurried toward him.
“Are you ready? I look forward to seeing what secrets the room holds.” Her words rushed so fast from her mouth that they sounded garbled to her own ears.
Magnus laughed. “There are not many women who would be enthusiastic about searching out secret rooms locked away for years. There will be cobwebs and spiders, you know.”
“You mean to frighten me?” she asked, her grin wide. “You will need to use more than cobwebs and spiders to put fear in me.”
“Skeletons?” he asked.
“Do you honestly think we may find a skeleton?” she asked excitedly.
“Will you map him if we do?” he teased.
She was serious in her answer. “I often thought it might prove beneficial to map a skeleton—think what one can learn from it.”
Magnus shook his head, closing the ledger he had been working on. “Come, let us see if we can find you a skeleton.”
She eagerly followed alongside him as they made their way to the tower room. The room was large, the hearth small, and four windows, strategically placed, looked out on spectacular views of Dunhurnal land. A fire had been lit, but it barely warmed the empty room.
“What are your plans here?” Reena asked, turning in a complete circle to view the entire room.
“I have not yet decided, though I have heard told that the tower room is sometimes used to hold a special person prisoner.”
Reena took a second glance around the room. “It would be very lonely to remain so close yet so far removed from everyone, and to look out the windows and see the land and be unable to venture out—” She shivered and hugged herself. “How horrible a fate.”
“And one that will befall no one in my keep.”
His firm yet sad tone chilled her and another shiver raced through her.
“You are cold?”
“Nay, it is the feel of the room that chills.”
“I feel it myself,” he said. “Let us search the secret room and be done with it.”
Reena eagerly followed him over to the room that appeared carved out of the stone wall, a thick chest braced against the open door. It was an ingenious design, the door looking as if it were part of the wall when closed.
“How did you ever find this?” she asked, her hand examining the smooth stone edge of the door.
“By mere accident.” Magnus took one of the lighted torches from the wall and entered the room. Reena followed close behind him, feeling as if she’d stepped into the mouth of darkness.
The chamber was nothing more than a tiny cell, dark and dank, with cobwebs surrounding two trunks that sat one on top of the other in the corner. Nothing else occupied the small space.
Magnus stood frozen for a moment; his eyes were riveted to the far stone wall. She wondered at his thoughts. Did they disturb him? Did he recall a memory of another time and similar room? Lately she found herself wanting to know more about him and his past, and the reason he was called the Legend. But it would not do to ask; she was certain she would discover her answers, given time.