I listen in for any sounds, but there’s only silence. A moment later, Emma reappears and closes the door behind her.
“Did you get it?” I ask, excitement bubbling up.
She holds it up so the silver catches the light and flashes.
“Great! Now, put the letter opener in my hands facing down. Make sure the blade is in between my wrists.”
“You could really hurt yourself,” she says. “Do you want me…?”
“I won’t,” I assure her. “I’m more concerned about you cutting yourself.” And besides, I needed to do this. To prove to myself that I could, that Henri hadn’t beaten me yet.
Very carefully, Emma does as I instruct. Gripping the letter opener, I start to cut away at the rope. My hands shake terribly, and it’s a slow and tedious process thatstrains my weak muscles, but it works. With adrenaline rushing through my veins and hope growing, the many layers of rope splinter.
The room’s door swings open. Emma gasps, leaping away from the bed, and I lose my hold on the letter opener. It falls somewhere behind my wrists.
Lord Henri strolls into the room. His black eyes snap toward us, and his lips curl up in a predatory smile.
“Why are you in here?” The question is meant for Emma. “I didn’t call to have my bedding changed yet.”
The young maid staggers back, her legs hitting the side table. “M-My lord… I…”
Henri closes the space between them in two great strides. With his great height, he towers over her. Emma tries moving farther away, scooting sideways, but she only collides with the wall. That’s where she stays frozen in place, unable to move or speak.
Henri isn’t pleased. His fangs extend as his lips part.
“Answer me!” he commands.
Emma shrieks in terror.
“I called for her,” I blurt out.
Henri’s skeptical gaze flashes to me instead. “And why is that?”
I glance at Emma and then back at him. “I asked one of the guards for tea,” I lie, keeping all emotion from my face. “They sent her.”
“Tea,” he repeats. “You don’t deserve tea. You don’t deserve water.” He slams his fists against the wall, right by Emma’s head, and the lamp on the wall shatters. Glass rains down and she screams at the loud sound.
“Get out,” is all he says to her.
Chest heaving, she looks my way again. Her cheeks are wet and shining from spilled tears, and my heart twists.
Go,I mouth to her.Run…
Without hesitation, Emma slips around Henri and runs out the door.
Henri glances at the broken lamp on the wall and shakes his head in disappointment. Then, he sits beside me on the bed’s edge. Every muscle in my body seizes.
He lays a bony hand just above my knee, and slowly it travels up my thigh while his eyes never wander from mine. Testing me.
I jerk my leg, making his hand fall away, but his expression never changes. Instead, he returns his hand higher on my body. His fingers capture the hem of my dress and continue gliding past my hip, up the curve of my waist…
When he reaches just under my breasts, he pauses, his lips parting, hungry. Before I can question it, two of his fingers dig into the healing wounds on the top of my chest. The oneshemade earlier.
The pain is excruciating as he reopens the healing and swollen skin there. Crying out, I squirm under his touch, but he only presses into the gashes harder, turning my whimpers to full-on screams.
“You won’t leave this bed tonight or tomorrow. Do you understand me?” he says, curling his fingers so that his nails dig into the holes.
The muscles underneath my skin twitch as pain ricochets through me. Fresh blood runs down my chest.
