Page 23 of Roses in the Dark: A Beauty and the Beast Romance

I let them roll over me in a wave, and even though I don’t want to accept this, the realization that he’s being truthful takes me by surprise. Forwal has done many things, but he has never lied to me, and I don’t think he would start now.

I feel sick.

I think of my father, of the man who raised me, and I wonder how I never saw this before. The signs were there: the late nights at his shop, the nights he returned home covered in blood that wasn’t his, the times he had strange injuries on his body. He always had an excuse.

It was an excitable pig, but it had to be slaughtered.

This one was messier than usual.

I had to work late to finish up a special order.

He always knew just what to say to keep me calm, to keep me complacent. My father is a murderer, and I had no idea.

Forwal did.

“That’s why you took me,” I whisper. “You knew.”

“If I hadn’t claimed your father’s debt when I did, someone else would have claimed it, and trust me when I tell you they wouldn’t be half as kind to you as I am.”

“You can’t let them take you tonight. You can’t let them hurt you.” I shouldn’t feel the pull to Forwal that I do. I shouldn’t feel comfortable with him, shouldn’t feel safe with him. At the end of the day, I should fear the man who stole me from my home. It’s unreasonable to believe my captor when he says he was saving me, yet somehow, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

I can’t stand the thought of him being taken, damaged. I can’t handle the idea that he might be hurt by the men from the village.

Before he can do anything, though, Fortune and Gauge burst through the door.

“It’s time,” Fortune says.

“Th

ey’ve come,” Guage adds.

Forwal obviously knows this, but he doesn’t panic or react. He just walks to me and kisses me on the forehead.

“You have been perfect,” he whispers. “But you cannot leave now. You had a chance, Evelyn. Remember that.”

Before his words register in my mind, Fortune grabs me and hoists me over his shoulder so I’m hanging upside down. He holds me firmly in place and carries me quickly from the room.

“Stop! Put me down!”

“Can’t do that, miss.”

“You have to. Put me down! He needs me!”

“Master needs no one but himself, miss. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”

Chapter 12

Fortune takes me to the bedroom I share with Forwal, and he deposits me there.

“Please,” I whisper. “Don’t leave me here.”

“Evelyn,” he turns to me, using my name for the very first time. “You’re good for him, but he is not a good man. Do not make the mistake of thinking that he is.”

Then he leaves, locking the door, and I am alone.

I immediately rush to the window and plaster my face to the glass. I can see the villagers outside. I can see them pushing and ramming the door. I can see them trying to break in, and then I see the first one fall.

I look again as another man falls, and then another. It’s all happening so fast that I don’t realize why they’re falling at first until one of them rolls over and I see it.

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