After a minute, all yet remained still. I began to wonder if perhaps the farmer had wounded Montoni. But then why hadn’t the farmer come to check on us?
He might be feasting on the farmer, I suddenly realized, my stomach churning. Yet another victim of this monster’s nefarious appetite.
Looking up at the door, I gasped as I saw a yellow eye staring in at me. I stumbled back, falling to the ground as Montoni renewed his assault on the door. The door was barely holding together at this point. Bram suddenly cried out, falling back and holding a hand to his arm, his face contorted with pain. I rushed to his side and ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt as I noted blood seeping from between his fingers.
“Bram,” I cried, wrapping the cloth around his arm.
“It’s okay,” he gasped. “He just scratched me.”
I watched the white cloth blossom with red. “It’s deep.”
“I’ll live.” He grunted, pushing himself to his feet.
The door buckled completely under the next blow, shards of wood and debris whipping past me, making me yelp. One large timber of wood slammed into Bram’s forehead, and he sank to the ground, unconscious.
“No!” I screamed.
Montoni leaped into the barn and crouched before me, baring teeth dripping with blood. He circled me, growling threateningly while I quaked in fear.
“I give up,” I told him, voice tremulous. “I’ll come with you right now, and I won’t try to leave again.”
Montoni tilted his head, watching me, then drew himself up to his full height. He held a claw out to me, a talon two inches long reaching out to my face.
And then I fainted.
When next I came to, I found myself on a cold stone floor, my head propped on a pillow. I opened my eyes to find that pillow was actually someone’s lap. Henri’s lap.
“See? He’s coming around now. No permanent damage.”
I blinked and lifted my head to find Montoni leaning against the opposite wall, watching me with a knowing smile.
“What?” I asked groggily, struggling to sit up.
Henri helped me, smiling reassuringly. “You’re okay.”
“For now,” Montoni added, earning a glare from him.
“Where are we?” I demanded, gazing around the unfamiliar circular room.
“In the locked turret,” Henri told me. “It seems that we’re going to beconfinedhere for the foreseeable future.”
“Confined,” Montoni chuckled. “I like that.” He examined his nails, as if this was an everyday occurrence, locking people in dungeons. And it seemed to appear that was the case. “But hardly for the foreseeable future. I’m not a cruel man. I think a week will do. I’m sure by then, you will have learned your lesson.”
I squinted up at him. “That’s mighty generous for a madman.”
“I am nothing if not generous,” Montoni grinned with a mocking bow. He raised an eyebrow at Henri. “But of course, my nephew will understand the significance of a week.”
My eyebrows drew together in confusion as I glanced at Henri uncertainly. He’d gone pale at his uncle’s words, and my stomach pinged with unease. “Henri? What does he mean?”
Henri met my eyes and then bit his lips. “In a week, it will be a full moon.”
“Right you are,” Montoni clapped. “And since you’ve both been very naughty, I’m afraid I’ll have to withhold the antidote for the night.”
I stiffened as what he was saying began to register. My mouth went dry. Henri would turn into a werewolf in a week’s time, on the night of the full moon. Without the antidote, there would be no suppressing it. When he turned, he wouldn’t be in control. And I would be locked in here with him….
Montoni procured a slip of paper from his pocket. “Of course, should I find a signature on these papers … I might be willing to change my mind.”
I closed my eyes. La Vallée. My inheritance. My livelihood. Of course he would hold those over my head. “After all this, you still want me to marry your niece?”
