“Let’s charge the door.”Livy wasn’t hopeful, but it was worth a try.“We’ll run together, try to use our combined weight.”
Aunt Mellie’s eyes glinted back, and she nodded sharply.
They lined up next to each other.“On three.”Livy counted them down, and they charged, shoulders slamming into the door in unison.It shook but didn’t budge.Livy rubbed her smarting shoulder.She barely even registered the pain over the increasing alarm thrumming through her.
“It’s too sturdy.”Aunt Mellie’s voice shook.
Livy spun, planting her hands on her hips.There had to be a way for them to escape.She was getting out of here.She’d promised Derek she wouldn’t leave him.She refused to go back on her promise.She glared up at the heavens.You won’t succeed at taking me down.I am making it out of here and back to him.
She scanned the room.There had to be something in here that they could use to try to break down the door.Paintings, jewelry, marble busts, ornate grandfather clocks.The marble bust was the closest thing, but there was no way she could lift that.Maybe if she and Aunt Mellie heaved it together?Her eyes landed on a gilded bronze candlestick.It was their only option.
Livy rushed over and pinched the candle’s flame out and tossed the taper.She marched up to the door.“All right.Weakest point.”She scanned the door.
“Perhaps the hinges?”
Livy had been thinking that too.There was no way she’d be able to dislodge the door handle.And even then, the door would still be locked.She paused, attention falling on where she knew the lock hid behind the wood.Perhaps…
“Stand back, Aunt Mellie.”Livy broke out in a fit of coughing.They were running out of time.She set herself before where the door met the wall, lifted the candlestick and slammed it down.
Wood splintering echoed around them amidst the crackling and hiss of the fire.
Livy lifted the candlestick again and brought it down in the same spot on the wall.She hadn’t any idea if this was going to work, but it was their best bet.Their only one.
The wood splintered further, denting.She could just make out the glint of the lock plate behind the wall.
She went to lift the candlestick again but broke out into another fit of coughing.Tearing fabric reached her ears, and she glanced over to see her aunt ripping off a section of the bottom of her petticoat.
Aunt Mellie hurried up to Livy, waving the fabric.“To cover your mouth and nose, Olivia.And we’ll take turns.”Her aunt’s blue eyes were wide with fear, but the same determination flowing through Livy reflected back at her.She nodded and turned so Aunt Mellie could secure the fabric around her.
Then she stepped back up to the wall and raised the candlestick.
They would get out of here.
She slammed it down.
There could be no other outcome.
She raised it again.
Smoke clawed at her vision, the acrid taste searing her tongue even through the cloth covering her mouth.
Livy brought it down hard, the impact reverberating through her arms.
Sweat stung her eyes.
Again.
Her muscles screamed.Her skin blistered from the rising heat.
Again.
I will not fail.
57
Derek
Derekdrummedhisfingerson his thigh at the same rate the rain poured on the carriage’s roof as he and Ryker sped along the London streets.They turned a corner, and the conveyance lurched to the side.Derek’s hands shot to the side wall to stop from crashing into it.But he didn’t care.All he cared about was getting to Livy as fast as possible.
