Secrets of the Shadowed Castle

Chapter 6: High-Rigging Warning

"You shouldn't be up here in fifty-knot gusts, Miss Thorne!"

Reuben’s voice barely carried over the roar of the Atlantic gale as he swung himself over the steel cross-bracing of the upper scaffolding. Four hundred feet above the crashing black waves, the temporary staging swayed violently against the sheer granite face of the west tower.

Elysia didn't back down from the edge. She kept one gloved hand clamped around the wet steel railing, her safety lanyard clipped to the central guide cable, while her other hand held a digital laser measurer aimed at the tower’s upper lintel.

"The board meeting is in six hours, Mr. Calder!" she shouted back, her dark hair whipped wildly around her face by the biting wind. Sea spray misted her pale skin, freezing in the brutal morning air. "If I don't verify the load distribution on these upper stone brackets now, Sterling will force his unreinforced glass roof design through without our safety margins!"

Reuben climbed the last three rungs of the vertical ladder with swift, practiced grace. He stepped onto the narrow wooden planking beside her, his massive frame instantly blocking out the worst of the howling wind.

"I told you I would check the upper masonry myself once the squall passed!" Reuben growled, grabbing the safety harness strap at her shoulder to steady her as a violent gust shuddered through the metal framework. "You are an architect, not a steeplejack."

"I am the lead designer on this project!" Elysia snapped, turning her head to glare at him. Their faces were inches apart, his dark wool coat damp against her jacket, his stormy grey eyes blazing with an intense mix of fury and protective instinct. "And I don't hide in the site trailer while someone else does my field measurements!"

"It isn't about hiding, it's about basic survival!" Reuben reached past her, his thick fingers locking firmly over the wet steel rail behind her waist, effectively encasing her within his reach. "Look at the sea below us, Elysia. If a plank gives way up here, you don't fall onto safety netting—you hit the jagged rocks before you even touch the water."

Her name on his lips, shouted into the howling gale, hit her harder than the freezing spray. Elysia’s breath hitched in her throat as she stared up into his fierce, unyielding gaze. The sheer heat radiating off his body in the freezing sea air was overwhelming, making her heart hammer frantically against her ribs.

"I have my harness clipped," she said, her voice dropping, though she held her ground. "I know how to take care of myself, Mr. Calder."

"Is that why you're trembling?" Reuben murmured, his low voice somehow cutting right through the shrieking gale.

"I'm cold," she lied, her chin tilting up defensively.

"Liar," Reuben growled softly into the small space between them.

Before she could fire back another sharp retort, a violent metallic c***k echoed from the rigging directly above their heads.

It wasn't the sound of steel flexing in the wind. It was the sharp, unnatural snap of under-tensioned metal shearing in two.

Elysia looked up just as the primary load-bearing cable at the corner of the platform whipped loose. The wooden staging beneath her boots instantly dropped four inches, tilting at a terrifying thirty-degree angle toward the open ocean below.

"Reuben!" Elysia gasped as her feet slipped on the ice-crusted timber.

Her safety lanyard snapped taut, but the anchor point on the outer rail groaned under the sudden shift, the steel bolts pulling free from the ancient stone wall with a terrifying screech.

She began to slide toward the dark abyss of the sea.

In a fraction of a second, before terror could even fully claim her, a heavy, calloused hand clamped around her waist with crushing force.

Reuben didn't hesitate. Bracing his boots against the stable inner steel frame anchored to the main wall, he hauled her upward with raw, explosive power, pulling her completely off the sliding planking and crushing her flush against his chest.

Elysia buried her face against the thick wool of his coat, her hands gripping the front of his sweater with a desperate, white-knuckled hold as another section of the wooden platform broke away and plunged into the churning waves below.

Reuben’s arms locked around her like iron bands. He slammed his back against the solid stone of the castle tower, shielding her entire body with his own as loose debris rained down around them.

"I've got you," Reuben roared against her ear, his heart hammering violently against his ribs beneath her cheek. "I've got you, Elysia. Don't let go!"

"The anchor..." she choked out, her voice trembling violently against his chest as the wind tore around them. "The anchor bolt failed!"

Reuben held her pinned securely against him with one arm, using his free hand to reach up and double-clip her safety line directly to his own heavy-duty waist harness. The proximity was absolute—her body was pressed tightly against his from shoulder to knee, her quick, shallow breaths mingling with his ragged, heavy exhalations.

"Hold onto my neck," Reuben commanded, his voice a low, raspy growl right beside her ear.

Elysia didn't argue. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face into the curve of his shoulder, inhaling the sharp, comforting scent of cedar, salt water, and warm skin that belonged entirely to him.

With incredible control, Reuben maneuvered them sideways along the remaining stable ledger pipe, keeping her body completely shielded from the abyss until his boots found the solid stone ledge of the upper tower walkway.

He pulled her through the narrow arched doorway into the shelter of the stone stairwell, slamming the heavy oak door shut against the howling gale outside.

The sudden silence inside the spiral staircase was deafening.

Elysia’s knees instantly buckled. Reuben caught her before she could touch the cold stone floor, gathering her up and sliding down against the curved wall with her trapped in his lap.

Her chest heaved as she fought for air, her forehead resting against his collarbone, her fingers still tangled tightly in the fabric of his sweater. Reuben’s strong arms remained wrapped around her waist, his hand resting on the back of her head, pressing her close as if he were reassuring himself that she was still alive.

"Breathe, Miss Thorne," Reuben rasped against her hair, his own chest rising and falling in heavy, ragged hitches. "You're safe. You're on solid stone."

"The... the platform," she whispered, her voice shaking uncontrollably as the adrenaline surge began to crash. "The platform gave way."

"The platform didn't just give way," Reuben said, his voice dropping into a dark, terrifying register that sent a fresh chill down her spine.

Elysia slowly lifted her head, looking up into his face. His jaw was set so hard the muscle was vibrating, his stormy grey eyes dark with a lethal, brooding fury.

He reached into his coat pocket with his free hand and pulled out a heavy, threaded steel pin—the primary coupling bolt that had held the upper safety cable to the masonry anchor.

He held it out between them. The metal wasn't sheared or snapped from metal fatigue.

The threads were clean, covered in fresh industrial grease, and half-unscrewed.

"It didn't break, Elysia," Reuben whispered, his grey eyes locking onto hers with absolute, terrifying clarity. "Someone deliberately backed this bolt out before you climbed up there."

Elysia stared at the greased steel pin, the cold reality settling heavy and suffocating in her chest.

Someone hadn't just tried to delay the project or sabotage the blueprints.

Someone had just tried to kill her.