I let out a yelp of surprise. The lamb leg I was holding dropped from my hands and thumped on the floor.
“Quiet, trash bitch,” Heather rasped in my ear. “Make another sound and I’ll cut you. Don’t think I won’t.”
Shit.Shit. My blood froze. All the self-defense moves I learned in a YMCA class with Mom flew from my head. All I could focus on was the blade kissing my skin and Heather’s hot breath in my ear.She’s holding a knife. Blow the asswhistle, this is bad.
“Hold her tight,” Heather barked. Someone grabbed my hands, twisting them backward at an angle arms aren’t supposed to twist. I yelped as my body jerked forward in protest, pressing me against the knife. Panic rose inside me as I struggled against the grip, trying not to slit my own throat.
“I’m trying.” Aroha’s voice reached my ears, and my panic ratcheted up a notch. Two against one, and they had me cornered in the pantry, where no one would hear me even if I did cry out.The guys are in the practice room.
I was on my own.
“Move!” Heather shoved me toward the door. The knife bit into my skin. I hated the whimper that rose from my lips. My legs wobbled and the blood rushed in my ears, but I somehow managed to shuffle into the hallway.
Heather and Aroha shoved me across the kitchen, pressing my stomach against the edge of the stove. Warmth from the wood burner seeped through my clothing, stoking my rising panic. “You’ve been forgetting your place,” Heather hissed as she leaned her weight into my body, jamming me in tight. “Swanning about the house like you’re the mistress of the Manor, trying to take what isn’t yours. It’s time you remembered your place,servant. Aroha, get the gas.”
Heather dropped the knife and grabbed my wrist, wrenching my arm out from behind me. I was so relieved to have the blade away from my throat that I didn’t realize what she planned until it was too late. Aroha twisted the knobs until a ring of fire circled the burner. I tried to wrench my arm back, but I was at the wrong angle. Pain radiated along my arm as I fought for control, but Heather had the advantage – she snarled with triumph as she shoved my hand toward the flames.
“Let’s see you impress Master Radcliffe with a burned hand,” she rasped.
As the heat kissed my fingers, the bubbling panic exploded inside me. I swore and cursed and bucked and thrashed, but I was one and they were two, and Heather was used to getting her way.
“No, please.”
No.
My whole world shrunk to those orange flames looming closer and closer—
Aroha wrapped her arms around my shoulder to pin me in place. I slammed my foot down, grinding the heel of my boot into a soft sneaker. Heather yelped, and I gained back a couple of inches before Aroha forced my shoulder down. Heather dug her nails into my wrist, biting deep. The flame licked the tip of my pinkie and I screamed.
No no no no no, not my hand, please, no—
“Take your punishment, trash whore,” Heather rasped, her voice reaching through my panic. “He’ll never want you after this—”
Her words broke off into a scream as something slammed into her from behind. I yanked my hand back just as Aroha lunged in a last-ditch effort to shove me into the stove.
I ducked under her blow and whirled around. Ivan locked Aroha against him, her arms pinned. Titus held Heather by her blonde ponytail.
“Touch her again and I’ll burn you.” Titus held Heather’s head an inch from his face, and his features twisted with barely-concealed rage.
“Oh, will you?” she shot back in a singsong voice, even as she clawed at his hand in a frantic attempt to free herself. “It seems to me that the three of you have forgotten why you’re at Manderley.”
Aroha looked from Heather to Titus in confusion. “What’s she talking about?”
“None of your business, junkie.” Titus yanked Heather’s hair, dangling her feet off the ground. Heather’s smugness turned into screeches. I reached over with shaking hands and turned off the stove.
“Let me go!”
“As you wish.” Titus opened his hand. Heather collapsed in a heap on the wooden floor, clutching her skull and howling with pain.
“It’s not just Dorien’s who’s under the harpy’s spell. It’s all of you,” Heather cackled, her eyes wide with agony as she dragged herself to the door. “You’re all fucking her trash pussy. Madame Usher will love to hear this.”
Ivan dropped Aroha and shoved her toward the door. She glanced back over her shoulder at me. “I didn’t mean—”
“Get out,” Titus growled, his deep voice like a rumble from the heavens. Aroha ran for it.
Titus was on me in a moment, sweeping me into those enormous arms of his. Being held by him was like hiding in the trunk of a tree, or getting a hug from a grizzly bear. I felt as though I had this force of nature larger than myself who was looking after me. Titus pressed my head into his shoulder, his giant fingers tangling in my hair. I breathed deep his luscious scent – musk and myrrh, with the slightest hint of English rose garden – and it was like coming home to somewhere I’d never been before but instantly felt at peace. The trembling in my limbs faded, although the fear of what they’d almost done bit into my skin.
Ivan took my hand, turning it over, running his fingers over mine. “They didn’t burn you? Have they hurt you?”
