Page 42 of Princess of Passion (Caprice Langden)

Chapter Thirteen

- Lilly -

“How the hell far doesthis fence go?” I muttered. I shaded my eyes and looked off into the distance, following the fence line for as far as I could see it.

Forever. It went onforever.

Letting out a tired, exasperated sigh, I dug the stick into the ground and pushed off again. I looked backward. The gatehouse was so far in the distance I couldn’t see it. The entire estate was now lost to the crowded tree line. The fence around Sebastian’s estate didn’t look particularly menacing, but it had a thin line of barbed wire at the top of it, and some doodads on the posts, meaning there’d be no climbing over it unless I could get my hands on a twenty-foot-tall ladder. And even then...

I looked around for a rock or stick I could throw at it, but I doubted that would reveal much. I didn’t know how electric fences really worked, but I was fairly certain there was only one way to know if it was operational.

I stared at the silver monstrosity. I needed to touch it. Was it high enough voltage to kill me?How would I know if it were?

I looked up at the drone that had been following me since I left the house. There was nothing I could do to stop it; it hovered too far above me, out of my throwing reach. Other than incessantly whirring above me, it stayed out of my way.

If I tried to touch the fence, would the drone try to stop me? If it didn’t try, did that mean the fence had low current? I stretched a hand toward the fence, hovering inches away from it.

The drone held its position well above my head. I got my hand so close, I wondered if they could tell if I was touching the fencing or not.

The drone didn’t respond.

Which meant the fence wouldn’t kill me.

Surely, if it were deadly, Sebastian would stop me.

But maybe he wasn’t watching.

Maybe the person behind the camera didn’t care whether I lived or died.

Maybe I’d touch that fence and convulse to death on this forested land with no one to notice but some squirrels and an irritated drone operator who would be glad to see me go because he was sick of following my cute ass around the property.

Or maybe he was enjoying every bit of the view.

I didn’t have insight into the operator’s motivation, but I knew how Sebastian felt about my cute little ass, even if I did not know how he felt about the rest of me. I wouldn’t die as an organic lawn ornament—not today. He wouldn’t allow it.

Still, the idea of an unknown amount of current racing through my body wasn’t appealing. It didn’t have to kill me to not be fun. My entire life had been a game of weighing what dangers were worth the risk and which I would sorely regret.

Getting into the car that night with Sebastian... much to my chagrin, was totally worth it.

Getting electrocuted... totally not.

I wish I’d paid more attention in science class.

“Come on, Lilly. Quit being such a wuss.” I reached a finger towards the fence and swallowed. Then jumped back before I could touch it.

Instead, I found a stick, smaller than the one I used for walking, but long enough that I wouldn’t have to get close to the fence. I sucked in a breath and quickly tapped the fencing with the tip of the stick.

I could feel it. A light vibration—not nearly enough to shock me, but enough to confirm that the fence was live and not climbable.

I swear I heard the drone laughing into the air above me.

I threw down the small stick, picked up my walking stick, and started my journey again. My next goal was to determine how far the fence went. How large was Sebastian’s estate? The fence couldn’t circle the entire grounds, could it?

I felt like a hobbit on a journey, only I didn’t have a dwarf, elf, or hero to slay my dragons for me. I was, as usual, on my own.

“Well come on!” I shouted at the drone over my shoulder as I started walking again. “Let’s see just how far we can go before anyone gives a damn that I’m out here.”

I’m not sure how far I walked. My mission to aggravate Sebastian—because we all knew I wasn’t really trying to escape—turned to a stroll in the woods. His property was magnificent. Rock outcroppings, small creeks, majestic evergreens. I got lost in its beauty, meandering away from the fence line on several occasions to explore an area that was particularly stunning. I didn’t worry about getting lost; I just had to know where to find the fence. I watched squirrels and chipmunks frolic and spotted at least a dozen different kinds of birds. Vampire squirrels and zombie chipmunks... I smiled at the memories and kept walking.

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