Page 42 of Ever After

“Pack it in,” I advise him. “He’s the tour guide at the hall. He was having his break in the library.”

“Tour guide?” Branok breathes. He bursts into laughter. It’s loud and hearty and lights up his stern face, so he suddenly appears a different man, someone warm and softer. “He is no tour guide.”

“Then who is he?” I ask. “He was in period dress and…” I falter. Blue and Branok are staring at me. “What?” Realisation dawns. “Oh my god. Was he a ghost too?”

Branok nods and Blue sits back. “Well, you are having a busy time on my honeymoon, aren’t you, Levi?”

I ignore him and turn to Branok. “He’s definitely a ghost, isn’t he?”

He gives me a crooked smile. “He must have been drawn by your aura.”

“What the hell is going on?” I turn to Blue. “I don’t see ghosts very often, let alone have long conversations with them. That’s your job.”

“You didn’t see him?” Branok asks Blue.

Blue draws me down to sit next to him. “Nope. There was nobody in the room when I came back to find Levi.”

“I spoke to you at the door,” I say, remembering. “But when I turned back to Xander, he’d disappeared. I thought he’d left through some entrance or passage I hadn’t noticed. Why did he let me see him?”

Branok stares at me. “I think he saw kindness and a steady nature,” he says softly. “He has chosen to show himself solely to you. It is a spirit’s decision as to who it appears before. Xander always did value kindness in a person. It was why it was so strange that he gravitated towards me.”

“Who was Xander to you?” I ask, but I know the answer before he speaks.

“He was my beloved. The best man in the entire world. And I would have died for him.” His lip quirks, and his eyes are full of emotion. “Mayhap I did. I cannot remember.”

Blue leans forward, his face intent. “And is Xander who you wanted me to see at the house?”

Branok vanishes suddenly and then reappears in his chair, startling me. The little dog sidles close and licks his hand as if comforting him. “Yes. Either Xander, or his servant—a man called Jowan. If Xander was not there, Jowan would know his whereabouts.”

“Why wouldn’t you know that?” Blue asks. It’s something I desperately want to know too.

“Ah, that is a complicated story and one for which I do not possess all the answers. That is why I need you, Blue Billings.” He pauses. “And apparently, your husband too.”

A few beats of silence drop and then Blue groans. “Okay. I am now officially interested. Fucking hell.” I snort and Branok’s eyes twinkle. “What do you need?”

Branok’s pipe appears in his hand again and he gives it a puff. “I wish to be with Xander again,” he says simply.

“And that’s it? No buried treasure, no cache of valuable weapons?” Blue asks forlornly.

Branok says, “I am unsure where my money and belongings ended up, but Xander was always my treasure.”

There’s something about the simple statement that robs it of any sort of cliché. It’s so honest and completely heartfelt that it makes my eyes feel hot.

“Why can’t you be together?” I ask. “If he’s at the hall and you’re here, you’re so near to each other. Go up to the hall and get him.”

“I wish it were that simple,” he says gravely. “I have been separated from Xander since my death. I cannot get into the hall no matter how hard I try. For a long while, I believed that was because he had moved on.”

“Moved on where?” Blue asks.

Branok shrugs. “That is something I do not know, but I could not leave here myself without knowing for sure that he had moved on peacefully.”

“So, you’ve stayed all these years for him, not knowing whether he was there or not?” He nods and I swallow. “That’s actually pretty nice.”

“He would do it for me.” The absolute certainty is clear.

Blue sighs. “So, now you know he’s there. Why isn’t he coming to you?”

He points his pipe at him. “I would presume he is in the same condition as me.”