the haunted kingdom by Charles E.J. Moulton (best detective novels of all time .TXT) 📖

by the hand. “Never, it’s sheer heaven.”

A while later by the Waterfall Lake

Belinda was standing by the lake on a stone, naked and ready to jump in. Her clothes were neatly laid upon a nearby branch and Timmy was tied to a tree. She had spent the last hour up on Tall Hill overlooking the grand property of the Winsletennas.
She jumped into the clear lake and swam around. She felt the movements of her body in the water. The trickling and splashing of the waterfall on the other end was so inviting and the blue sky seemed endless and she needed the solitude of this place, needed to have other things occupying her mind, remind herself that Nina Ray was gone, that she was getting married, that there was nothing at all to be worried about. The sun fell on her wet hair like a breeze in the desert. She dived down and saw seashells and stones, a couple of red fish and seaweed. Belinda swam to the surface again and over to the waterfall, walked up and stood under the stream, just enjoying its steady plunge upon her head. She closed her eyes and felt the water trickle down across her breasts to her legs. Oh, what a feeling. She felt herself calm down. The air seemed to hum. There was nothing here but her and the waterfall, just her and the waterfall and nothing else. It all felt nice.

Wash the pain away, Belinda.

Then she looked up into the water and caught the water in her mouth. She shook her head in an aim to shake off old water so that the new could come on her face and winced at the sun shining through the glistening tapestry of falling aqua.
Wash away your bad habits, Belinda, all those frilly, fast and unpredictable little habits.
The waterfall looked like diamonds spotlessly bright. A fantastic kaleidoscope of details.
Forget your past, Belinda.
She promised herself to be nicer to everyone, even if they were not nice to her.
Find peace inside the love of the angels, Belinda.
Then, suddenly, she saw someone at the shoreline. She was not alone anymore. There was someone over there in a black dress. She had black hair and she was pacing back and forth.
Remember 1422. Recall what I always told you.

“Who is there?” Belinda gurgled, naked and frail, trying to step away from the water.
The woman did not react, she just kept pacing the riverbank. Christ, it was Lucinda. It was her.
Some water got into Belinda’s throat and she started coughing. Water got in her eyes and she rubbed it away and stepped away from the waterfall. She looked toward the grassy spot where her horse Timmy was standing. No one was there, she was positive about this. Someone had been there. It had been Lucinda. Belinda felt naked and cold and afraid. She was back in the dungeons on the steel bench.
You are getting married. You have to settle down. There is nothing out there.
She slipped and fell into the water and when she got up, Belinda could only see the tapestry of shining water again and now Lucinda was there. She was walking back and forth again looking at her. She was raising her hand and waving. Belinda rubbed her eyes. Lucinda was still there, waving. Belinda coughed, she had water in her throat. Oh, my, how awful. Lucinda was walking on water. Settle down. Be a good girl now. There is nothing there.
There is, too. Look, it is her. She is here, why is she here?
Lucinda was gone again. Where was she? “Don’t play games with me, Lucinda,” Belinda roared, washing the water away from her eyes. Then she heard a laugh. The low laugh of a bitch, wicked and menacing.
I am here, niece!
She felt a hand grabbing onto her head, getting ready to torture her again just like she always had. The hand told her that eleven years hadn’t passed and that it all had been a short intermission to prepare her for the real challenge, this was the challenge of facing her own decline. The hand was now pressing down her head. It had the might of a thousand fingers. It was pushing her down into the water. Belinda couldn't breathe. She wrestled to get out of the water, feeling the steady waterfall crash down upon her head. She saw her own bubbles rise to the surface and grabbed the hands that pushed her down and felt their bony structure. Lucinda. She recognized the hand.
Oh, dear. Oh, she is going to kill me. Oh, oh, oh, no, no. Oh.
She slapped and punched the hand. Another hand came on her. And another. Soon four hands were on her pushing her down. Oh, dear. I am dying. Dying. She got out of the water for a second and gasped for air. Her voice sounded like a gust of wind racing through a tunnel chased by a demon in the night, she entered the water again. She heard laughter. Oh, dear. I am dying. She saw her life running before her mind's eye, up above the surface. Gasp for air. Crap. Damn. Die, you bitch!
No, I will not die.
Yes, you will!
No. No. No.
Yes, yes. Yes.
Gasping for air she saw her fight with her father. She saw all her birthdays, her trips through the nation, her studies, her friends, Steven. Oh, dear Steven flash before her eyes. They were getting married. Now she was dying and couldn't get married. The hands were viscous and strong and there was a dog on the shore with three heads, this is killing me. Help! heeeeeeeeeeelp! Suddenly there was a fourth party. There was a man in a purple robe. Wings? Did she see wings? The hands suddenly lost the grip and Belinda shot up above the surface and gasped. She felt a gust of wind disappear above her as if someone was flying away into the day and fleeing.
Belinda stood up and fell down again, dizzily. She stood up and grabbed her naked stomach and vomited her breakfast on the stones. It disappeared into the water. She heard the trickling of the water and she found shelter in the cave behind the waterfall. She started crying. Convulsions of tears attacked her soul. She shook and her mouth trembled with coldness and fear.
She wiped the water away from her face, not knowing what her tears were and what the water was. Saliva drooled off the side of her mouth and she wiped it away with her shaking hand. She started crying again. This time she couldn't stop. She cried and cried and tried to stand up but couldn't and fell down and scraped her knee. She screamed and cried and vomited again. Blood and vomit and water and tears mixed and she leaned against the cave wall and sighed. She breathed heavily, tears were streaming down her face and she was crying.
She felt the cold wall against her naked shoulder and her stunning body was shivering.
She buried her face in her hands.
Get over the shock. Get over the shock. Get over the shock.
She rubbed her face and looked distantly into the water. She saw a red fish swimming around in the water. She cried, closing her eyes. No, she mustn't cry. She must be strong. This was no time to cry. Pull yourself together, Belinda. Pull yourself together. No time to cry. Crying would only help Lucinda. She likes suffering. So don't cry. Don't ever cry. She leaned against the wall and sighed again. She swam across the lake and back on shore. She felt like a dog paddling across the lake, severely unfeminine, naked, in pain. She crawled on her hands and knees, shivering and naked and utterly alone. “Oh, Steven” she gasped. “Why did you not join me here? Why did you have to work?”
Lucinda was trying to work the curse.
Don’t be silly. There is no such thing. Listen to Steven, your fiancé. He will tell you that.
But she was right. This was just a part of...
She saw writing scribbled on the tree that Timmy had been tied to. She walked up to it, clutching a towel, shivering. In childlike writing, it read:

Never exile a sister, a daughter might suffer for it.

She began to cry, her jaw dropping, her knees weakened and her eyes hurting.
She dropped to her knees and began to cry. As she looked toward Timmy’s hooves she saw a small parchment at his feet. She crawled over and picked it up. A small poem was written on it. It read:

For once a sister gets her will
And Nina Ray can produce her ill
Then an exiled Lucinda shall have her way.
A sister’s revenge will have its day.
If Lucinda is thrown out, a daughter shall pay.

At once, Belinda closed her eyes tightly shut and screamed at the top of her lungs.


Meanwhile on the palace court yard

There was a bright sun that day. But on the sky of the Winsletennas a cloud was darkening that bright horizon of love. Playing boys were innocently foreboding darker hours, for doom was coming to town. Its name could be spelled out clear and simple in simple and clear letters: Lucinda. There was no turning back. Backwards, this name spelled out a single name. This was a name so obvious that it must've amazed the devil not to find anyone realizing its real intension. A name no one gave a comprehensive, aware connection. Death was waiting to strike and he was not invited to the party.
Suddenly, shrieks were heard from the garden. Marcus wife and Belinda’s sister Eleonora looked up and saw Belinda falling off her horse Timmy. Belinda was crying. No, Belinda was not crying. She was sobbing, screaming. Tears ran down her cheeks and her hair was tousled, bruises covering her face. The only children in the family, Fabian and Lance, stopped playing and Geena and Rolf rushed out from their rooms. From around the corner Steven and Alex came rushing. Belinda shook her head and rushed into Ellie’s arms.
Alex ran up to her. “Darling, what is it? What has happened?” She handed the parchment without a word into her father’s hands. She left Ellie’s arms and leaped into Steven’s, desperately sobbing. Dumbfounded, her father read the poem and dropped it on the ground, his hands shaking. “She attacked me” Belinda cried.
“Where?”
”By the waterfall.”
Sieglinde came rushing out, a hairbrush in her hand. “What is the matter?” Marcus picked up the poem, read it briefly and handed it to Sieglinde.
“Lucinda. She attacked Lindy. It was Lucinda, was it not?” Belinda nodded. Sieglinde’s jaw dropped. “What?” she shrieked.
Belinda looked up, on her hands and knees on the ground now, her eyes drenched with tears, her eyes shot red shot with blood.
“She pu-pushed m-my head down under the water, Mommy,” she sobbed. “She wanted to kill… kill me. She disappeared, leaving me with th-this. It’s over. I have feared this since I lay on the table in that dungeon.”
Steven hugged her. “No. These are empty threats.” Belinda looked up at her fiancée, hoping to hear some nice words. “She has no power over us. Has she, Alex?”
Alex rubbed his face, turning around to his daughter.
“No.” He walked up to his daughter, embracing her tight. “No. She has not. You are getting married. You are becoming the Queen. You are going to have children. Lucinda’s magic powers are gone. She has no