AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, yes. But—”
“So you don’t know if he left and committed the deed while you slept?”
This was absurd. “In that storm?”
“It could be done. A fast horse…”
The group all nodded and grumbled sounds of agreement.
“Devere doesn’t own a horse. Where would he get one at such a late hour?”
“He should hang,” Grant said.
It didn’t matter what evidence I uncovered or what truth waited to be found, they’d already tried Devere in their minds and found him guilty. They’d hang him.
Devere had to leave Minerva. Immediately.
“So, Valentine, are you with us?” Russo asked, his voice hushed.
I’d missed their conspiring, so lost in the sound of my thudding heart and shock. “Am I with you in what?”
“Perfect timing, no? Your return now. You can get him back for what he did to you. We’ll make him pay. We’ll rough him up a bit tonight, see if he confesses. You’ll join us?”
Would I join them in torturing an innocent man? The laughter fell out of me in a sudden, hollow bark. “Excuse me.” I had to get out. Get away. But first, where was Devere? If they found him before I did, they might lynch him this very night. And damn them, I’d brought him right to them.
I pushed through a back door where I’d seen some of the guests come and go and entered a long corridor. He could only be back here. Laughter spilled from behind closed doors, and other sounds… The rhythmic slap of skin on skin, heavy grunting… Good heavens, what kind of sordid den had I brought him to?
A woman stumbled from a door farther down, laughing freely, with her dress half off her shoulders and her skirt hitched high enough for me to see she’d forgotten her undergarments.
“Oh, you’re a handsome one.”
“Er… yes. Have you seen a man wearing a purple waistcoat?”
“Oh, that pretty one! Have I! He’s down the hall, darling.”
I hurried on, skidded around the corner, and spotted Devere leaving a room at the far end of the corridor. He looked up, and as he saw me, his eyes briefly widened. What had he been doing back here? Meeting with one of these loose women?
I’d been so consumed with my own goings-on that it hadn’t occurred to me that he’d have a lover, and certainly not a woman. Had I thought, secretly, after all this time, that he’d wait for me? What kind of selfish fool was I?
But it didn’t matter. Only he mattered. It was happening again, wasn’t it? This had begun with me, with my accusation so long ago, and he was still being persecuted today for it.
I stumbled forward.
One stupid, foolish act as a scared, angry boy had condemned him. But they wouldn’t just beat him this time. I had to get him out of here.
“Devere…?” Sickness churned my insides and blurred my vision. “We must leave.”
“Val?” He hurried up to me. “What happened?”
“We need to leave. Right now. Is there a back door?”
“Yes, this way.”
He turned and strode ahead, his pace pulling me along behind him. He turned the corner, jogged down some steps, and opened a door, letting in a blast of cold air and a swirl of snow.
“You know this place rather well,” I mentioned.As though you come here often.
“Hmm.” He made for the main street, where a line of carriages waited.
