Page 28 of Charlotte's Reckoning
Hearing coughing, he climbed quickly. When his head came even with the attic floor, he paused,taken abackby what he saw. Fire licked up the far wall, but more shocking was the large table in the center of the room with shackles bolted into it. Nearby stood a set of wooden stocks like they’d used centuries ago to punish criminals in the town square. Lying between the two devices was a dark, thick coil. It could have been a snake in the gray haze of smoke, but snakes didn’t have leather-wrapped handles.
“What the hell?”he uttered.
A fit of coughing drew his attention. His stinging eyes widened at the sight of a young woman, naked as the day she was born, dragging a dark shape across the floor. Being undressed in a whorehouse wasn’t particularly shocking. What stunned him most were the angry red welts crisscrossing her back, buttocks, and thighs. His gaze again fell upon the dark coil, convinced now that it was a whip.
A thousand questions ran through his head, but they would have to wait for answers.
“You need toget out of here, now! The fire is spreading fast!”he shouted over the roar of flames.
She dropped what she held with a loud thud and spun to face him. Even the smoky haze couldn’t hide the haunted expression in her unusual moss-green eyes.
Criminy, what happened up here?
“He deserves to rot for eternity,”she told him in a raspy voice. “But I couldn’t leave him up here to burn alive.”
Seth looked at the man in black, knee-high boots sprawled on the floor. He couldn’t tell if he was breathing, and his stillness suggested her efforts may have been in vain, but they didn’t have time to waste while he checked.
“Go,”he ordered. “Turn left at the bottom of the stairs, away from the fire. I’ll bring him out.”
“Thank you!”she exclaimed, wheezing and coughing. When she turned sideways to pass him on the stairs, he shoved his singed shirt into her hands.
“Cover your nose and mouth,”he said, wishing he had more to offer her as protection.
Trusting she would follow his instructions, Seth hurried up the steps. Glad for the man’s slight frame, he lifted him onto his shoulder. As he started back down, the pop and crack of splintering boards followed by a several loud crashes reverberated from behind. The intense wave of heat that followed staggered him, and he almost dropped his shifting burden. Seth didn’t look back as he leaned against the wall for balance and descended as quickly as possible.
The hallway and stairs were clear of people. He paused briefly on the second floor where he’d left his brother.
“Is anyone here?”he called. When he heard nothing except the roar of flames on the floor above and the crackle of dry wood, Seth made the only decision he could. He continued downward, determined to rescue the man—dead or alive. Knowing for sure his brother was gone, he’d return for his body afterward, if possible.
Chapter 7
A Path Forward
Any obligation Rowie felt to the loathsome Monsieur Augustine ended with her rescuer’s timely arrival. She sprinted down the stairs and would have continued to the first floor and into the night, but Heloise’s shrieking wafted up from below.
“Where is the damn fire brigade when my livelihood is going up in flames?”
This might be her only chance to escape. Rowie knew her unbound hair and bare white skin would be easy to spot, even in the dense smoke. She ducked into her room, which was right off the stairs. The air was less smoky, and she gulped in several deep breaths before racing to the closet for her cloak.
She breathed a sigh of relief seeing it hanging there. Dirty and bloodstained as it was, the greedy madam probably didn’t give it a second glance. Slipping it on, she pulled the hood up and tucked her hair inside. Shoes would have been helpful, but they’d taken hers. Another of Heloise’s punishments for being difficult.
Creeping cautiously down the last remaining flight, she met the young man from the attic on his way up. She dipped her head and covered her mouth, pretending to cough. It led to a spasm which wasn’t fake.
“Are you all right?”he asked when the coughing fit slowed.
She nodded, though she wasn’t. The smoke and the fear of being discovered by Heloise or her henchmen made it difficult to catch her breath.
“You need to get outside into fresh air quickly,”he urged.
She nodded again and hurried by him.
“Did you pass a young woman? She’s as tall as you with long dark hair?”he called after her. “I didn’t see her outside and want to make sure she got out.”
That he didn’t recognize her came as a great relief. He’d helped her, but she didn’tknow him from Adam, and, after what she’d been through, shetrusted no one.But she couldn’t let him go back up looking for her. So she lied.
“She passed me only a moment ago on her way down. I don’t know how you missed her.”
“You’re certain?”
