SOMETHING WICKED by Something Wicked

Author:Something Wicked
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 11

Gradually Elf realized how absurd their behavior was and offered an olive branch. “It would be annoying,” she said, having found nothing remotely like a tool, “to discover that axes and scythes are hanging from the ceiling.”

She stood up, rearranged her shift, and headed back toward the box. And stubbed her toe against a rock, falling forward to bang her knees on it.

At her cry, he said, “What? What’s the matter?”

“I just stubbed my toe.” She sat to rub at various painful spots, then explored the obstacle. She’d thought it a raised flagstone, but it was many inches thick with metal handles attached. It was clearly no use to them, though.

“I hate this darkness,” she said as she scrambled to her feet. “Do you keep rubbing your eyes, hoping to clear your vision?”

“Yes. Do you have moments of fear that you really are blind?”

“I would if I were alone. Have you found anything?”

“No. Come and sit on our coffin.”

She felt her way forward carefully, already beginning to grow more skillful with her other senses. A dull thump told her he’d replaced the lid and when she got there and sat on it, his robe came around her shoulders.

Which meant that when he put his arm around her and pulled her close, she settled against his naked body. She didn’t complain. The warm cloth was comforting, and he’d wrapped it lengthwise around both of them.

“What now?” she asked.

“We have to decide whether to attack that door at the top of the ramp. I think it opens outward and the lock might be weak. It’s possible I can batter it down, though I’m not sure. I can’t run at it. Since there’s about three feet of headroom up there, I can hardly even swing at it.”

“Anyway, you’d hurt yourself.”

“For you, fair lady, anything.”

She laughed, snuggling closer. “It really does offend you, doesn’t it, not to be able to make a grand gesture?”

“Assuredly. It offends me even more, though, to just sit here waiting for something to happen.”

During the search, Elf had been thinking about her people. Perhaps they were searching for her now. Perhaps they’d seen the capture but been unable to act immediately. But in that case, surely they would have planned a rescue.

Then she remembered that to them she was just some doxy hired by the Mallorens to seduce the earl.

“Do you think anyone is guarding that door?” she asked.

“It depends on so many factors. If it’s important to hold us for a purpose, then yes, they’d post a guard and he’d already know we were up and active. If they just wanted to get rid of us for a while, then they might not. Clearly this place can hold us for many hours.”

“Why would they want to do that?” Again she was begging him to be honest with her and tell her something of the plot.

“There could be reasons, but it wouldn’t be safe for you to know.”

At his tone, she remembered that Lisette had claimed not to have heard anything of importance at Vauxhall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.