Steps by Bea Paige

Author:Bea Paige [Paige, Bea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

I’ve been sitting in the darkness of my front room, mulling over the evening’s events for the past couple of hours. It’s well past midnight and despite the time, and the exhaustion I feel, I can’t sleep. I keep thinking back to Ms Hadley’s warning and my response to it. She’s dangerous, I sensed that when I first met her, and know that for certain now. Yet, she’s such a big part of their lives, the men of Browlace Manor, and I’m not sure they sense the wickedness in her like I do.

But it isn’t just Ms Hadley that’s keeping me awake, it’s Ivan too.

Tonight, I had allowed the darkness to show itself and I’d enjoyed it. Ivan believed that I was strong enough to fight his advances, I thought I was as well.

Now I know I’m not.

The way he’d kissed me. I’ve never been kissed like that. Not even Roman had kissed me so thoroughly, without restraint. He’d always been so particular. A kiss from him had been honed, deadly. The kiss of death, I used to think, and in some way, it had been.

Ever since Roman, the only thing that has ever been able to keep my past at bay is ballet. I may not have been the most talented, never advancing past the corps de ballet, but I’d loved it nonetheless. It kept me sane when my past tormented me. It kept me centred when thoughts of Roman rocked me. It kept the demon from escaping.

Now, now my only saviour has opened the door to another demon… and this one is determined to make me his.

I lean my head back against the armchair and close my eyes for the hundredth time this evening, willing sleep, knowing it won’t come.

With a sigh I give up, instead I watch the rain as it patters against my window. The street lamp outside is reflected in every drop that slides down the glass pane, like hundreds of little golden jewels cascading from the sky. My eyes catch something beyond the glittering raindrops, a shadow. A man-shaped shadow.

I sit forward in my seat, my heart all too loud in my ears. Has Ivan returned to finish what he started? A sharp rap at the door has me standing abruptly, pain in my lower back making me draw in a breath. I’m already paying for dancing earlier. Those few steps will cause me days of pain, especially since I hadn’t stretched beforehand. But none of that really matters now. The pain within, without, none of it.

I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

I hear another sharp rap at my door and I hurry to open it. May as well get this encounter over with. Ivan won’t leave unless he says his peace, the last time he came here he practically battered the door down. With carefully schooled emotions, I pull open the door.

Except it isn’t Ivan, it’s Anton.

“Rose. May I come in?” he says, asking for permission instead of barging in like Ivan had a few nights ago.

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