Hannah Emery - The Secrets of Castle Du Rêve - A thrilling saga of three women’s lives tangled together in a web of secrets

‘Well, he might come round. But I’m with you. I think Vienna sounds brilliant. And it doesn’t matter who you go with, it can still be on the list.’

‘Thanks, Tom. That means a lot.’

Tom grins and winks suggestively. ‘You can show me exactly how much after dinner. I mean, Filet mignon de porc Normande.’

Isobel laughs and sits at the table. ‘It’s gorgeous,’ she says as she bites into a tender piece of pork. The flavours of cider and sweet apples have seeped into the meat and the taste is comforting.

‘No nausea?’ Tom asks.

‘Nope. None at all.’ In fact, Isobel’s stomach growls as she begins eating. She has another mouthful and takes a piece of warm bread from the basket that Tom has put between them on the table.

‘So, do you get to cook much French stuff at work?’ she asks when she has finished chewing.

‘Not really. It’s mostly quite thoughtless Italian food. Pizza and pasta. I don’t get to choose the menu, which is a bit frustrating. But this is actually another item for our list,’ adds Tom as he slices neatly into his meat. ‘I really want to open a French restaurant at some point. I would’ve done it already, but starting up a business isn’t cheap, so I’m having to save up and be patient. It’ll happen one day, I’m sure.’

‘Where would you open your restaurant?’ The restaurant Tom works at now is in the centre of Ashwood, which is a grey and uninspiring town that was mainly built in the 1960s – all concrete estates and uniform buildings and towers of flats. It’s impossible to imagine a French restaurant there.

‘I’d open it in Silenshore. This place needs to be famous for something other than people going missing and never coming back.’

Isobel thinks of the stories she’s heard over the years: of the strange disappearing du Rêve family, of the man who was found dead at the castle in the 1960s, of the girl who was taken away one Valentine’s day and was never seen again. ‘I think all the mystery makes Silenshore more special,’ she says. ‘There’s something almost mystical about the castle and all its secrets. Plus, if you hadn’t been so drawn to the castle, we would never have met.’

‘I know. I owe the castle a lot. Like I said when we first talked at the school fair, something has always pulled me to it, although I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was.’

‘I like to think it’s because you somehow knew I was there. That’s why you felt you wanted to go through the gates,’ Isobel blurts out, then laughs at her own openness.

‘You’re probably right. At least that’s one mystery solved.’ Tom says, reaching out for Isobel’s hand across the plates and lacing his fingers through hers.

Victoria would never have even met Harry if it weren’t for the rain.

He didn’t have any interest in antiques, she realised later, and he certainly didn’t need to buy any that afternoon. He only ducked into Lace Antiques because of the fat drops of salty rain that began to drum down on him without any kind of forewarning.

Victoria was sitting behind the counter, staring into a mirror that she’d found that morning. Her father always told her not to touch his things, that he’d box her ears if he found out that she’d been rooting and touching potential money-makers. But the morning had been so very long , and the customers who had come into the shop had been frustratingly indifferent to what was out on display. So Victoria had decided to move some of the objects around a little, and then, before she knew it, she was on her hands and knees in the corner, where some stock she’d never seen before was tossed into an old brown suitcase.

Once she had fiddled with the brittle clasp on the case and opened it up, Victoria had found a strange old doll with shimmering black hair and a cracked red smile. There were some discoloured white beads too, which Victoria hung around her neck, the thick, salty fragrance of the case clinging to them and permeating her dress. It was no wonder these things weren’t on the shelves. She leant further into the case, almost pulled in by its intoxicating scent. Something silver glinted in the corner and she reached for it.

You’re like a magpie , her mother had said once, a long time ago. All that glitters is not gold, darling. You’ll end in trouble if you go for everything that sparkles.

As Victoria tugged the cool, metallic object out of the cavernous case, she saw that it was a beautiful hand mirror, its back encrusted with deep-blue sapphires. She sat back on her heels and turned the mirror over in her hands to see her reflection, then over again to see the glittering dark case, then over again to stare at herself: her pale skin, opaque with youth, her black hair and heavy fringe that sat above her eyes like the brim of a hat.

It was moments after Victoria stared at her unblinking reflection, as a thunder cloud trawled through the sky like a pirate ship, that the shop door swung open, and Victoria fell in love.

Frederick, the shop cat, showed an instant affinity to the man at the door, purring and wheedling around his legs. Victoria, gazing down at Frederick in a moment of panic that he would cover the man’s trousers in unappealing grey cat fuzz, noticed that the man was wearing beautiful brown suede shoes, which the rain had threatened to ruin.

You can tell everything about a man by his shoes , Victoria had heard somebody say once, though she couldn’t remember who. Everything.

Victoria looked at the shoes and tried to work out the Everything that had been promised. But when all she could see was the tightly wound laces, the faint pattern of rain on the sides of the shoe, the water that was seeping up from the heel, she moved her gaze upwards, where it was drawn, all at once, to the man’s exquisite face.

‘Can I help you?’ she asked, moving forwards and scooping Frederick up in her arms.

‘I was just wanting a little shelter, I’m afraid. I wasn’t expecting such an onslaught of rain.’

An onslaught . What a wonderful expression to use.

Frederick yowled and attempted to wriggle from Victoria’s grasp. Not wanting to seem intimidated by a small grey cat, she grasped him with all her might. But Frederick, his sights set firmly on freedom, unleashed his claws as he scrambled out of her arms and over her shoulder. She yelped as his claw ripped through her yellow dress and into her white, soft skin beneath.

The man took a step forward immediately, his face all the more attractive for its air of perfect concern.

‘You’re bleeding,’ he said.

Victoria sniffed. ‘It doesn’t hurt,’ she said, only just managing to ignore the bolt of pain that was coursing through her. ‘It’ll soon stop.’

The man pulled out the chair from behind the counter. ‘Here. At least have a little sit down.’

Victoria smiled as she took the offered seat. ‘Are you really sure there’s nothing you need to buy?’

The man shook his head. ‘I feel quite guilty now, coming in here and upsetting your day. I have an important meeting today, and I didn’t want to arrive looking like something washed ashore, so I thought I would just nip in here to stay dry.’

‘Where do you work?’

‘I’m a lecturer of English Literature at the University. We have an author coming in later to discuss some talks we want him to give to some of our prospective students. I admire him, so I wanted to make a good impression.’

‘Who’s the author?’

‘It’s Robert Bell. Do you know him?’

Victoria stood up, forgetting her wounded shoulder and her weakness from moments before. ‘Robert Bell! He’s one of my favourites!’