I watched the sun drag its stripes across the wooden floor and noticed the inlaid design in the center of the room beneath a dainty coffee table. As I edged carefully around it, I realized it was a crest of sorts. A lion with a large mane featured prominently in the center, and it wore a crown. The jewels of the crown were bits of colored glass, and I heard my own gasp escape as I noticed the colors sparkling in the fading sun.
This was why I’d come. Gadleigh Castle was a treasure trove of hidden stained glass. It was everywhere. A master artisan had spent decades lovingly adding glass flourishes all over the estate back in the sixteenth century.
Up till now, the identity of the glassmaker had been unknown, but I had my suspicions. This was the subject of my dissertation and why I was here. To find the proof I needed to unmask the master artisan to the world.
After several minutes of exploring the small room with my eyes, I knelt down on my hands and knees and ran my fingers over the glass jewels embedded in the floor. There wasn’t a speck of dust to be found on them, and I marveled at how lovingly the glass on the estate was cared for. It was Gadleigh’s treasure, and someone recognized how special it was.
As I studied the inlaid baubles, my knee slipped on the waxed floor, causing me to lean too heavily on my outstretched hand. The stained glass jewel under my fingers depressed farther into the floor, and I gasped, terrified I’d caused some sort of damage.
I sat back on my heels immediately and stared at the glass piece as it remained a full inch lower in the floor than it had been originally.
Jesus Christ. I had just wrecked a five-hundred-year-old masterpiece.
I felt my entire body begin to tremble in shame. How the hell was I going to make this right? Would Calum, the resident glass master, be able to fix it somehow? Would it require work underneath the elaborate wooden flooring? Would it demand some special team of art history preservation experts?
My heart hammered in my chest as I scooted back to get some distance from the elaborate inlaid design before fucking things up even more.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I stammered under my breath as I tried to calm myself down. I reached behind to steady myself against the wall, only to feel it move under my touch. Good god, was I going mad? Had I just destroyed another part of this historic room?
I turned to see what the hell was going on and noticed a six-inch-wide gap in the red-papered wall. Through the gap, I could see the hint of a soft warm glow of light.
I’d spent enough time in the room to know there hadn’t been a door there before. All four walls had been solid with the exception of the door I’d entered through. I glanced back at the glass button on the floor. Could it have been some sort of hidden button?
I carefully slid the panel in the wall closed again, hearing the faintest click as it settled back in place, becoming invisible again as the edges of the panel disappeared in the texture of the wallpaper’s natural lines and creases.
After gathering up my courage, I peered back at the stained glass in the lion’s crown. All of the glass pieces were level with the floor once more.
Woah.
I crawled forward to touch the glass again, pressing down as gently as I could until I felt the button give.
Sure enough, the panel in the wall slid open a few inches.
A hidden room in Gadleigh Castle. Hot fucking damn.
I stood and approached the narrow opening, careful to ease it farther open as gently and quietly as I could. I wondered idly if I was doing something illegal or off-limits. Mari had told me I had the run of the house excluding the royal wing of bedrooms, but did that include hidden passages and rooms?
God, I hoped so.
I glanced through the opening and saw colored bands of light fading in and out across a simple set of bookshelves. Before I knew it, I’d taken a few steps into the room to investigate what was making the light reflect in those familiar colors. I’d only walked partway into the little hidden study when I noticed them.
Hundreds of colorful glass balls hung from the low ceiling. They twisted slowly in the glow from the setting sun coming in through the clear, leaded-glass windows. What hidden room had windows to the outside, and how was it possible I’d never seen these particular ones from the gardens surrounding the house? They were uniquely round and set in elaborate wooden frames with decorative carvings.
The room was magnificent. A hideaway rich with moving glass in every imaginable color. I sucked in a breath and stared in awe at the pieces I’d never in a million years expected to find.