Page 13 of Spark of Madness

I let her hold on to me for as long as she needs. Eventually, she loosens and pulls away. I stand, retrieve her discarded corset, and bring it back to her.

“Just hold it in front of you,” I tell her as she positions the garment to cover her breasts. “We can tend to your back at Sanctuary.”

Delle gives me a small nod, and a softly uttered, “Thank you,” before we begin our walk back to the campsite, which is on the way to the village and Sanctuary.

I see the smoke of the extinguished bonfire rising in the distance, the gray tufts of ash slowly lifting between the trees. It brings me a contradictory sensation of panic and relief all at once.

The service is over.

The purge has ended.

The Impulse of men has been satiated...for now.

Yet, I still hold the fear from witnessing what had happened to Ivy Jane—from Hyatt chasing me with a torch and what he meant to have done to me.

Arlo Rainn saved me from that…and brought me pleasure in its wake. I place my hand over my pounding heart as we emerge from the trees.

“Mercy!” I hear Ellary call and turn my head to see her rushing toward me.

A smile touches my cheeks when I see her. Her straight brown hair flows behind her as she runs to me. She collides with me, pulling me into a hug that I welcome. Then, with my hands on her shoulders, I nudge her back to arm’s length, quickly looking her over from head to toe—a habitual check for injuries. There’s a bruise on her collarbone, but otherwise, she looks well.

“Where have you been? Were you dragged into the forest?”

“You could say that...” I hope she doesn’t ask for more. “Are you okay? Are you injured?”

“No, I’m fine,” she tells me, and by the look on her face, I can see she’s being truthful. “The Higgins brothers claimed me and took turns with me the entire night.”

I exhale with some relief. The Higgins have strong sexual urges, but they’ve never been particularly violent.

“Where’s Cambria?” I ask, concerned that she hasn’t approached yet.

Ellary’s expression twists. “I need your help to take her back to Sanctuary...she’s injured.”

Urgency tenses my shoulders. “Where?”

She leads and I follow. We rush around the smoky remnants of the bonfire, to the opposite side of the circular clearing surrounded by trees. I hear Cambria’s hissing and labored breathing before she comes into view. Her onyx hair forms a tangled frame around her beautiful face, though it’s contorted in agony where she lays. She’s on the ground, curled on her side, rope still twisted around her wrists where she must have been bound, though I can see the other end has already been cut free.

“Cambria.” I slam to my knees at her side, and Ellary mirrors me. “Where are you hurt?” I ask, scanning her form.

“Everywhere,” she hisses.

Her legs are streaked with dark, dried blood. Her skirt—which covered down to her ankles last night, despite the slit that cut all the way up her thigh—had been torn to shreds. It hangs in tattered pieces where a knife must have slipped through the fabric to cut her skin beneath.

“Oh…” Delle breathes out on a whisper of horror from where she stands somewhere behind me.

As I carefully inspect her skin, I see the knife has touched Cambria nearly everywhere except for her face. Bloody streaks have dried down her arms and across her chest—her skin must be burning from the sear of it.

“We’ll help you back to Sanctuary,” I tell her. “Can you stand?”

“My toes…” she whimpers.

“What?”

I look to Ellary as she explains, “I think they might be broken.”

“Hertoes?” Delle gasps.

Ellary nods. “Her right foot. The other seems to be okay.”

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