Page 44 of Bride of the Fae Duke

‘Othrys was the one marrying them!’ he protested, half a sob in his voice. ‘He forced my hand! I told him to stop so many times – Ibeggedhim to stop – and yet—’

‘And yet you overpowered Rosamund and hung her in the attic.’ Nellie pressed her nails into her palms, a desperate attempt not to tremble. ‘Even though she must have trusted you. Even though she must havelikedyou. So how were you planning to end me, if I may ask?’

‘I wasn’t going to kill you!’ His eyes were so wide she could see the white around his irises. ‘You gave me the perfect solution, this morning – I was going to send you and Anne away, and then he’d never be able to marry again without committing bigamy. You would have been safe! Ilikethe two of you, Eleanor, I—’

‘But not enough to spare us?’ she sharply interrupted.

He let out a shuddering moan. ‘You’re not leaving me a choice!’

‘Well, bad news for you, then.’ It took every last drop of her courage to scoff. ‘Because while you’ve been standing here, talking and wasting time … Anne?Anne!’

‘What?’ Walford gasped, jerking around.

She didn’t give him time to move, raising her voice even further. ‘Anne, do you see anyone coming yet?’

‘There are guards in the street!’ Her little sister’s voice was crystal clear even through the closed door. ‘They’re marching this way— Oh, and I see Othrys too, Nell!’

‘What?’ Walford squeaked, gaze shooting wildly between Nellie and the door.

She grinned at him, inching back – away from him, closer to the dressing room. ‘Turns out you’re not as clever as you thought you were,Peregrine.’

For a single moment, he stood paralysed.

Then he dove towards her.

Nellie just managed to hook a foot around his long legs, lunging for the dressing room as he stumbled … and then his ink-stained hand clamped onto her ankle, and she almost followed him to the floor. A cry was wrenched from her lips. He cursed, hands dragging her back as he came up on his knees, voice strained as he hissed, ‘Shutup!’

‘They’re very close now!’ Anne shouted, shrill with tension. ‘They’ll be here in a minute!’

Walford let go of Nellie’s ankle. She kicked, hitting his face, and he roared as he let go. Again she lurched towards that narrow dressing room door with its heavy key, and again he caught her a moment too soon, yanking her back just as her fingertips brushed over the cast iron.

‘Oh no.’ A growled laugh. ‘You’re not locking yourself away from me that easily, you little—’

‘Anne!’ she cried, and then Walford slammed her back-first against the door, panting and cursing.

Her little sister’s footsteps sprinted down the corridor outside. The steward loomed over her, red hair in disarray, face contorted into a desperate grimace – unrecognisable, now, as the kind man who’d joked with her and comforted her in his office before. Nellie tried to shrink away and found his hands on her shoulders wouldn’t let her, his fingers stronger than his lanky limbs suggested.

‘You’ll never get away with this,’ she breathed. ‘If you kill me now …’

His hands wrapped around her neck.

She tried to gasp for breath and couldn’t, the pressure on her throat relentless and tightening with each passing moment. No.No.Her nails scratched his arms, to no avail. Black spots crept up on the edges of her sight as she struggled, knowing she shouldsave her breath but unable to stop fighting as a primal panic took control of her limbs …

Fuck.

Had she misjudged?

‘I’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t find your corpses,’ Walford snapped through gritted teeth. ‘I’ll tell him the two of you are off for midsummer, and who’ll think of me when they declare you missing?’

The two of you.

Fuck. Please, Anne, be quick …

She let go of his wrists as her vision blurred, running her hands over the door behind her back. Finding painted wood. Hinges. Then, finally, the cold iron of the key—

Something heavy banged against the outer door of her room.

Three swift knocks, like steel-clad fists banging on the wood. And then Anne’s voice, loud and out of breath – ‘She’s inside there, Lord Locke! He’s trying to kill her there!’

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