“How many butterflies are there, Sarah?” Phoebe called out as she leapt ahead of Sarah on the path and chased one of said butterflies.
“Types or total number?”
“Both!” Phoebe squealed, and bounded after the fluttering bug as it dipped and swirled out of her grasp.
Sarah laughed, troubles and worries fading as she trailed behind her charge a few steps. They rounded the path toward the woods at the edge of the maintained part of the estate, and suddenly a man was in their path.
Sarah’s heart was immediately in her throat as Phoebe came up short in front of him. He was huge, more than six and a half feet tall, and thickly built. His shoulders seemed impossibly wide and he had a scar across his lip that disappeared into the folds of his stout neck.
She didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t one of Kit’s servants, nor was he a tenant or a resident of Kingsacre Village two miles from the estate.
“Phoebe, come here,” she called out.
Phoebe was still frozen, staring up into the man’s harsh face. She took a step back from him and he lunged, catching her by her waist and smiling back at Sarah before he pivoted and started lumbering away toward the tree line.
Phoebe screeched in his arms, twisting and kicking at him. Of course, that was like a gnat nipping at a horse. He didn’t even seem to notice it as he continued on his way.
Sarah let out a cry and hurtled after them. She leapt up, catching the man around the neck from behind. She stuck her fingers into his nostrils and yanked, hauling his head back as she screamed, “Let her go! You let her go right now!”
He yelped in pain and dropped Phoebe. The little girl bounced on her backside and then scurried up and away from Sarah and the stranger.
“Run!” Sarah screamed as their attacker clawed to get her off his back. “Run to Kit now! Run!”
For a moment, Phoebe hesitated, her blue dark eyes wide and filled with tears. Then she did as she’d been told and raced toward the house in the distance, screaming her brother’s name the whole way.
The stranger grunted in displeasure as he tossed Sarah away from him. She hit the ground hard, her wind knocked out of her lungs. For a moment, she stared up at him, dazed, and watched as he turned toward where Phoebe had gone. He was going to chase her. And if Sarah didn’t stop him, he would catch her.
She flung herself forward, catching his ankles with both arms and hanging on tight. He staggered and went down, his big body jostling her.
He glared down at her and then back down the path. Phoebe had disappeared around the bend in the road, and neither could see her anymore.
“Stupid bitch,” he grunted, then pulled one leg free and kicked Sarah hard in the face.
She blinked as stars appeared before her eyes and the world began to swim. The blurry image of her attacker got to his feet. He stared down at her a moment, though he was anything but clear with her mind turning. Then she felt herself being lifted. He slung her over his shoulder and carried her toward the trees, just as he’d done with Phoebe.
Her slipper fell from her foot as he carried her, but he ignored it. She watched it as it got farther and farther away. Kit would find it there later. He would see where she was taken. Her bleary mind screamed at her to think. To think of that slipper. And to leave a trail.
So she kicked off her other slipper to do just that, as she did her best to stay awake.
Kit stood at his study window, staring out at the garden behind the house. Diana and Lucas were behind him, going over the journals they’d brought in from the library.
“Hannah was truly a master manipulator,” Diana breathed as she glanced over Lucas’s shoulder. “I would not doubt that the woman is up to her neck in other crimes.”
Kit grunted. “Nor would I, though that gives me no pleasure. Her mind is twisted and right now it is focused on my sister. How can I—”
He broke off, for in the distance, he saw something. He leaned closer to the glass and squinted. That looked like…Phoebe. Phoebe running toward the house. Alone.
“No,” he murmured, and turned to race out of the room.
“What is it?” Lucas asked as he and Diana followed. Kit ignored them as he burst from the first room that connected to the terrace and then along the rock parapet to the stairs to the garden.
“What is it?” Diana repeated.
“My sister,” Kit panted as they ran together through the garden. As they cleared the fancifully trimmed bushes onto the wide lawn beyond, Phoebe saw them.
“Kit!” she screamed, her voice weak from running and her face red from exertion.
“Phoebe!” he called back, and they collided in the middle. He fell to the ground with her panting in his lap. She looked petrified and exhausted. “What is it? What happened? Where is Sarah?”
