She pressed her shaking hands against Marina’s neck, hoping that she would still be breathing. A shuddering breath escaped her sister’s mouth, and Rachel cried with relief.
Marina was breathing. Unconscious but breathing. With tears now streaming down her face, Rachel gathered her sister into her arms.
It took her another moment to register what was happening around her.
Simon was there.
He wrestled with the man who had just tried to take her life, and the man stumbled backward with the force of Simon’s hit. The blow had knocked him into the side table.
But it was only for a moment. The man pushed off the table, and his hand darted into his coat. Rachel caught the glint of something metal.
Rachel’s breath stalled in her throat. It was a knife.
“Simon—” she warned, even though her voice was only coming out in battered breaths. More footsteps began to approach them as the house staff began to awaken.
“Stay back, or I will cut right through you,” the man warned. He sounded insane enough to go through with it.
Rachel found herself growing even more helpless, but to her relief, Simon backed away.
“Good,” the man said before turning sharply and running towards the door. A few of the house staff started to follow him out, but he had a lead on them.
Quickly, the house help began to surround them, but Simon ignored them all and knelt beside Rachel, his hand settling on her back, a tortured expression on his face.
“Rachel,” his voice came out broken as he wrapped her in his arms. Rachel rested her head against his chest, holding onto him as though she would drown if she let him go now. A sob ripped through her chest.
“Shhh,” Simon murmured. “You are safe now. It is over.”
Rachel pressed her face against his shoulder. “I thought—I thought he would kill us,” she whispered.
“He is gone now,” Simon assured, though she could hear the worry in his voice.
“I need to make sure that Marina is all right.” She tried to move back towards her sister, but Simon held her back.
“No, you are hurting.” Simon scooped her up in his arms. “The staff will see to her. I need to make sure that you are all right.”
Rachel felt the exhaustion take over her body. Even if she wanted to argue with him, she was too tired at this moment, so she trusted him to take over.
Rachel could not remember what had happened or where she was when she awoke.
Only when she saw Simon’s face hovering above her did the memories start to return to her, slowly.
An intruder, the attack, and how Simon had come to save her. She jerked up, sitting up straight.
“No, no, no.” Simon pressed a hand down her chest, softly pushing her back down. “You cannot get up yet.”
Rachel looked up at him, her questions swirling inside her head. “How did…”
“Please, Rachel,” he said, even softer now. “You were hurt, and I do not want you to be making any rash movements like this in your state.”
She could only blink back at him. She was in her own chambers, nestled in her bed with warm sheets tucked around her. Marina lay beside her, sleeping.
“Marina—” she started again, though her voice was hardly above a whisper.
“She is well. She woke briefly, long enough to be seen by the physician,” Simon answered for her, “but you need more rest.”
She swallowed hard, andher fingers curled into the blanket. It bothered her how many blanks remained in her memory. She remembered that he had come to her rescue, but nothing after that.
“How long?—”
