Bennet sneered at her but grabbed a tighter hold of her arm and led her toward the steps. They stopped at the threshold, and Bennet turned to Theodoric. He was using the chair to get himself off the floor, panting and spitting blood.
“Clean yourself up and be in your father’s study in twenty minutes.”
Bennet shoved Amaris through the doorway and carted her off through the manor. He took odd hallways, tighter ones she’d never passed through. She didn’t dare fight him with his dagger pressed against her back as they walked. Gerard followed in tow behind them. Amaris took deep breaths to prevent the meltdown waiting behind the mask she’d thrown up and clung to with every last fraying fiber of her sanity.
They stepped out into the misty morning with a few raindrops pelting from above. The bay was a gloomy sight, and each daunting step down the dungeon stairs sucked the life from her. He threw her in the same cell and locked the door behind her, but there wasn’t the flicker of a candle anymore.
Amaris was left to what little light shown through the bars in the never-ending pit of darkness threatening to pull her to the verge of tears.
Chapter 24
Theo
A nervous energyskittered through Theo as he plunged his hand into the water streaming from the faucet. He breathed in, a glob of blood instantly shooting down his throat. A cough tore through his chest. He bathed away the blood, feeling the bridge of his nose. The outer edges were already starting to grow puffy.
It was all his fault. He kept her preoccupied with healing Esaias and didn’t recognize anyone else coming down with the disease. He released a shaky breath and stared at his reflection. His father had to see reason. Amaris had cured Esaias. She didn’t deserve Bennet’s treatment.
He left the safety of his room and rapped on Esaias’s door. He needed him and couldn’t face Bennet and his father alone.
Esaias’s stomping feet carried through the hall as he pulled open the door. “What in the bloody realm are you bothering me this early for?” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
If Theo’s muscles weren’t about to jump from his skin, he would’ve stopped and gawked at his rapid healing, but he pushed past him.
“By all means, make yourself at home.” Esaias stepped toward hiswardrobe. He threw on a clean set of clothes and crossed the room to draw back the curtains.
Theo grasped the hilt of his dagger as he took a seat on the edge of Esaias’s bed, his thoughts spinning out of control.I fight and I live.He inhaled deeply and attempted to stifle the beginnings of his panic.
“What happened?” Esaias leaned against the back of a chair, letting out a cough as he hunched forward.
“I need you.”
Esaias’s eyes widened against the dreary morning soaking through the window. “What’s wrong?”
Theo rubbed at his eyes. “I did something foolish.”
“That’s hardly new.”
“With your recovery, I shouldn’t ask this of you, but I need you to come with me to my father’s study.”
“Theo, what did you do?”
Each pulse of his heart threatened to slice at the stitch in his mind, tearing it open inch by inch. “What I needed to. I’ll explain later, but my father and Bennet are already waiting.”
Esaias narrowed his eyes. Theo pushed off the bed and headed out into the hall before he could further pry.
“What happened?”
Theo stopped. “Bennet is furious with me.” Gris was usually the one to accompany him in meetings, but not now. Once again, he tried to stamp out the growing anxiety within him, but it seeped from him, crawling up his neck. “I need someone who has my back.”
“Why?” Esaias asked. “And why do you look like you were in a brawl?”
Theo’s feet were silent as he strode through the halls and bolted down the stairs.
“If you’re asking this of me, at least tell me why,” Esaias shouted from the top of the stairs.
Theo stopped at the bottom. He needed to control himself, his panic,the beast. Bennet wanted him to get worked up, using it to his advantage. Theo turned over his shoulder and gazed at him, his cousin, the one who he saw more as a brother than even Luther or Jeremiah. “Because I came between Bennet and Amaris.”
Theo tore through the last few halls with Esaias in tow. He came to a stop outside his father’s study. His palms were slick with sweat as he reached for the handle. He pushed open the door, and his chest tightened.
