"I would like a private moment to compose myself."
Fuck.His instincts told him not to let her go, but wouldn't he be a selfish arse to deny such a reasonable request?
"If you need me—-"
"I truly just need a moment," Rhapsody repeated.
All thoughts of talking to her and telling her the truth were forgotten at the blankness in her eyes. Perhaps it was a familiar look to other people, but it was only then he realized that from the very first moment they met, her eyes had always been vibrantly expressive...until now.
"Alright, milady." He had to force the words out, and his fists clenched against the urge to follow her as he watched Rhapsody leave her room and listened to her steady heartbeat as she descended the steps at a sedate pace. There appeared nothing wrong, but still something persistently nagged at him.
"Mihail."
The earl's icy voice drew Mihail's thoughts back to the present, along with the memory of how the other man had seemed to address his pet in a manner too familiar for his liking. He turned to face William, asking with barely leashed violence, "How do you know my heartkeeper?"
William remained unruffled. "It's strange that you'd make such a claim," he murmured, "considering how I heard differently from Sir Isaac."
RHAPSODY WAS NOT QUITEsure where she was going. All she knew was that she wanted to be alone...and she wished to not see the Marquis of Sangre until she had completely defeated her mortifying urge to cry. If this was Being Normal felt like, then she never wanted to be normal again.
It was a good thing that her old school put much stock on spellwork, Rhapsody thought as she yanked a strand of her hair off and cast a spell to keep the marquis from tracking her. The spell wouldn't last forever, but it should be enough to give her time to compose herself.
Rhapsody's feet eventually took her past the graveyard and all the way up to Amstel Woods. A perfectly morbid thing to do, considering what she last encountered, but—-
Her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
Surely...she wasn't hearing what she thought she was—-
A-wooooooooooooo!
Rhapsody broke into a run.
Unbelievable!
First, a man had died on her, and now wolves were after her for no reason? Had she unknowingly angered a dead nymph and caused the woods to jinx her?
Rhapsody cast a quick look around her and spied what seemed like silver thistles, which were harmful to wolves.
Finally!
But she had only managed to take a few steps when she heard a loud, rushing sound, and Rhapsody only had time to scramble back with a startled cry when she saw water coming out of nowhere and flooding the passage before her.
Either these woods were truly jinxed,she thought,or someone was Hell-bent on...
A rustling sound from above had her looking up, just in time to see enforcers leaping off branches and landing on the ground in a crouch. They rose up to their full height in impressive and breathtaking synchrony, but what had Rhapsody's jaw dropping was when she saw who it was that broke away from their formation and began walking towards her.
"L-Lord Erou?" Rhapsody actually found herself stammering. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm afraid we have orders, milady," he said gravely.
Rhapsody's confusion grew. "Are you arresting me for Emily's death?" The woman was responsible for Mr. Walker's murder and those women, too. Shouldn't they be giving her a medal instead?
"It's not that." While the earl spoke, a pack of wolves had already loped into view, and maybe it was only her imagination, but theyappeared to stare at her for one long moment before releasing a single long howl.
Almost as if they were confirming her location, Rhapsody thought. But that wouldn't make sense...would it? She was decidedly uneasy now and turned to Erou again, asking, "What is this truly about, milord?"
"One man's grand idea for groveling," Erou answered simply, and when Rhapsody's body jerked at this, he knew that the girl hadn't mistaken his meaning. "You've probably guessed by now, but he's asked everyone he could help to track you down."
"So all of you..."