My heart seized.
A trick of the light?
No.
A shadow detached from the gloom below.
“Did you really think you’d get away with it, Madison?”
The ghostly voice held a hint of amusement layered with arrogant reprimand.
I pressed my hand over my mouth to suppress a whimper of fear.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out what you were planning?”
My feet were silent on the thick carpet as I shifted deeper into the shadows above him. Digging my nails into the gargoyle, I slid behind its protective bulk, as if the dragon would somehow spring to life and rescue me.
With narrowed eyes, I peered down the staircase into the vast entryway but could only make out the indistinct shapes of the chairs which lined the walls, and the empty round table in the center.
The stained glass window over my shoulder depicting a vengeful St. George fractured the wan light of the moon. Instead of casting bright jewel-toned light, it spread a mottled crimson stain of red and burnt orange along the floor. When he stepped into the distorted pool of light, it twisted his features into a misshapen, grotesque mask of a man.
I raised my arm and launched one shoe, then the other at him. “Stay away from me. I’m warning you.”
He easily ducked to avoid them. “You are warning me? You are nothing! A nobody!”
A large hand slid along the smooth surface of the mahogany banister as he closed the distance between us. The gold and black onyx Worthington family signet ring on his finger glinted in the low light.
Stumbling again over the long white silk and tulle skirts of my gown, I gathered the extra fabric in my fist and bolted down the hallway.
The painted, lifeless eyes of long-dead Worthington ancestors glared down at me, unimpressed with my panicked scrambling from door to door. The rattle of the brass antique knobs I frantically turned echoed through the unnatural stillness.
Locked. Every one of them.
The entire wing had been shut up for the season. The gala was on the other side of the house. The orchestra loud enough to swallow any cries for help.
My eyes watered from the unblinking stare I leveled at his menacing form when it appeared at the top of the stairs. Closer.
“Don’t worry, darling. Despite you disrupting my revenge plan, I will make your deathrelativelypainless.”
Pressed against a shallow threshold, my breath screamed inside my lungs, each muscle held rigid with fear. “You don’t have to do this!”
“It’s not a matter ofhavingto do it. I want to do it. It amuses me to think that in killing you, I’ll finally get at least a small measure of pleasure out of your useless body.”
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind this wasn’t an idle threat.
His white silk shirt was stark against the inky blackness of his tuxedo. How had he managed to blend in with the guests earlier and not be noticed? We had been watching so closely for him. How had someone not cried out in alarm at his presence?
He took two steps forward.
Leaving my meager hiding place, I slipped along the wall.
The length of the hallway separated us, and yet I swore I could feel his breath against my chilled skin.
His long fingers stroked his jaw. “Something tragic.” His lips lifted in a sneer. “Befitting the bride of a Worthington. Perhaps a fall off the cliffs?”
I swiped at the tear trailing down my cheek. “He’ll know it was you.”
“That will hardly matter when I kill him too.”
