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He knows where I came from—what I escaped. Yet he sought out my owners, bringing them here to retrieve me.
He betrayed me. Set me up.
Made me believe he cared about my safety—in his own, twisted way.
Made me think I could be something more than a weak, pathetic Tradeling.
But it was a lie. They’re sending me to my death.
“How could you?” My voice cracks.
A flash of concern crosses his face before he snags a goblet from the table and sips it carefully, hiding his expression from me.
The lord steps up beside me. “Time to go.”
He grabs me, binding my wrists together beneath his impossible grip in a move that causes me to yelp. His fingers squeeze so tight that I worry he’ll break my wrists. Breath bitter with whiskey fills my nostrils and I gag at the memories it brings.
“Please! Please, no!” Tears stream down my face as the lord pushes me toward the door, forcing me to take steps by nudging the back of my calves with his boots. The lady laughs beside me. I scream at her too, before spitting in her face in a bold move.
“You imbecile!” Her hand whips out, cracking against my cheek.
The lord releases me. I fall to the floor in a heap of purple fabric.
“That’s enough!” Eoin’s voice booms through the room in a sharp command, sounding nothing like the kind man I spoke to yesterday. A chair screeches, and suddenly Eoin is at my side, helping me to my feet. I tremble, barely able to stand.
“Release her, now!”
At first, I think he’s talking to the lord until I hear Rainer sigh exasperatedly.
“So dramatic, Eoin,” Rainer says in a bored tone. “Satisfied?”
“You’ve made your point.” Eoin seethes. “Heartless as always.”
“There. Done. She’s released.”
Eoin holds me against his chest as I collapse with a sob. I clutch him desperately as his lemongrass scent washes over me, reminding me of the soap Char and I used to clean with at the estate. It only makes me cry harder.
Despite him being as big an arse as Rainer, I cling to him like he’s a safety line.
“It’s okay,” he whispers into my hair. “Whatever it is, it’s gone. You’re safe now.”
No one says anything as I pull back, wiping my tears on my dress’s hideous sleeve and glancing around the room. Only… the lord and lady are nowhere to be found.
Spinning around desperately, I try to pinpoint where the two of them have gone so quickly. There’s only one open door—the archway—which was in my line of sight the entire time. I hadn’t heard them cross the room. Hadn’t heard any of the other doors opening. Not that they would’ve had time to cross the room that fast.
My face stings with the impact of the lady’s hand, my wrists ache from the lord’s grip—phantom pains now, and the only indicator they were even here.
“Where are they?” I rasp. “Where—”
“Shh. No one’s here," Eoin says reassuringly. “You’re safe, Alessia.”
“How could you—” I gasp out between breaths, my words aimed at Rainer. “How could you—?”
“Come. Sit,” he says. “Eat.”
His fingers, glinting with rings, twirling a glass of ruby-red liquid, as he brings it up to his lips and drinking deeply, keeping his eyes on mine the entire time.
Ken and Viv look between one another, and Ken chews his bottom lip like he’s still fighting to hold his tongue. Viv shakes her head at him and gives him a look.
