The Marquess who Broke her Mask by Hanna Hamilton

Author:Hanna Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

By next morning, Ingrid felt so anxious that she could hardly catch her breath.

She stumbled out of her bedroom. She had hardly slept. Never had she so fervently wished for a lock on a door. She had awakened several times throughout the night, certain that someone had been in the room with her. Watching her.

If only I could see for myself…

She had done her best to hold her breath, to listen for the sounds of movement in the room or of someone else breathing. And each time, she had heard nothing.

But she had been so sure.

Years without the benefit of vision had given Ingrid an instinct for knowing when someone’s eyes were on her. And she had been so confident, last night, that there had been someone in her room, that she had almost spoken aloud. She had almost challenged whoever it was, demanding to know what they were doing there.

But in the end, she had been unable to speak.

Because if she had spoken, someone might have answered.

The terror had built and built all night long, and now she could feel a scream rising at the back of her throat. She longed to find her way to someone she knew in the Manor.

As soon as I’m with someone I know, I’ll feel safe again.

There were footsteps behind her as she made her way down to the kitchen for breakfast. That wasn’t out of the ordinary, of course. All the servants were leaving their rooms at this time of the morning. Everyone was on their way to breakfast.

But today the footsteps felt different.

Today, they felt ominous.

Nothing’s changed, she told herself firmly. There’s nobody new in this part of the Manor. These are the same people you’ve been living with for weeks.

If they were going to harm her, surely they would have done so by now. She would have gotten an inclination, at least, that there was someone here who didn’t have her best interests in mind.

She had never fully trusted the rest of Lord Farbridge’s staff. But that was only because she hadn’t met them all. She didn’t know who they were. And as time had gone by, she had begun to relax.

But the arrival of Mr. Bristol had changed everything.

Suddenly, Ingrid felt as though anyone could be a threat to her.

She hurried down the stairs, moving so quickly that she tripped and would have fallen had someone not grabbed her by the arm. “Easy there!” said a familiar voice, laughing gently. “You almost fell!”

It was Joseph, the gardener’s assistant. She recognized his voice from the last time they’d spoken. If only more people knew that speaking to me once was enough, that I would learn to recognize their voices quickly, she thought. If the rest of the staff knew that, perhaps they would take the time to introduce themselves, as Joseph had.

She steadied herself. “Thank you for your assistance,” she said, hating the timidity in her own voice. She had felt so much stronger over the past few weeks. So much more confident.

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