Page 41 of Wynter's Bite

For a moment she considered asking Justus to leave her here so he could be safer. But three things stopped her from doing so. First, his talk of Cornwall and the Americas implied that he had a plan. Second, she knew if she denied this chance at freedom, she’d regret it.

Third: the potent longing in his eyes as he looked at her tugged at her heart even more intently than before.

God help her, for all of her talk of reluctance to forgive him, her love for him refused to die.

“Will you break me loose tonight?” she asked, struggling to maintain sensibility.

He shook his head and held up an object that resembled an oversized corkscrew. “This will take some time to drill through the brick to free the bars.” At her indrawn breath, his brows lowered. “But I will get you out before week’s end. This I promise you.”

She breathed out in relief and walked to the window. Reaching through the bars, she placed her hand over his. “Thank you, for coming for me at last.”

His features softened for a moment before hardening once more. “You never should have been in this place.” He stroked her hand, feather light, making heat swirl in her belly. “You were supposed to be my betrothed, waiting safely until you came of age and I would return to wed you.”

“When you returned?” Bethany repeated with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“According to vampire law, it is forbidden to Change minors,” Justus said as he dug the tip of his tool in the mortar of a stone beneath one of the window bars. “I did not know that until I asked my lord for permission to make you my bride. He nearly denied me, but then decided that I could secure our engagement and leave Rochester until your twenty-first birthday, when I would return to claim you.” His lips turned down in a frown. “That is, until he’d discovered that I’d told you my secret.”

She’d just passed her twenty-fifth birthday. Agony roared through her soul as Bethany closed her eyes and imagined what it would have been like to have waited for him for four years instead of eight. To have done that waiting in the comfort of her home, with her mother and father. To wake up on her twenty-first birthday preparing for her wedding day, rather than a breakfast of gray porridge and a day of captivity.

The sound of metal chipping away stone brought her back to the present. It did no good to dwell on what couldn’t be changed. But oh, how different things could have been if she hadn’t fallen from her horse. Or if the laudanum had not affected her so. “Who is the Lord Vampire of Rochester?” she asked to deflect from her grief.

Justus shook his head, locks of crimson hair sweeping his cheeks. “That I cannot tell you until you are one of us. I’ve endangered him enough.”

Bethany froze. When she was a young girl, full of dreams and fantasies, she’d been willing to do anything to be with the man she loved, even if it meant becoming a creature who had to drink blood to survive and could never see the sun.

Now that she was older, her dreams dashed to pieces, cold practicality reared its head. Did she want to live as Justus did, outcast and having to hide from both humans and vampires more powerful than she?

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She could ponder that later. Right now, her primary concern was escaping Morningside.

“Very well,” she said. “No talk of vampires. How will you get me down once the bars are free?” He was making good progress, several inches gouged away from the base of the first bar.

“I’ll carry you,” he replied as casually as if he spoke of helping her down from a horse.

“Carry me?” She peered over his shoulder and her stomach lurched at the sight of what must be at least a fifty meter drop.

Justus nodded. “Yes. I have the strength.” His eyes searched hers, full of concern. “Don’t be frightened. I would never drop you.” He reached through the bars and cupped her cheek, stroking his thumb over her skin. She shivered once more, though not from the cold. His lips curved in that rakish smile she’d fallen in love with so long ago. “Now, let’s talk of something other than taking a tumble. Have you read any good books over the years?”

Bethany couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Despite the doctor’s fervent efforts to stop me, yes. A few of the women in the ward smuggle novels to me.” She sighed. “No Chaucer, unfortunately, but I absolutely adore Allan Winthrop’s gothic novels.”

This time, it was Justus who laughed. “You’ve been reading Alan Winthrop?”

She raised a brow. “Why is that so amusing? Is it because of the rumors that the author is really a duchess?”

“Oh, she is indeed, but that’s not why...” He shook his head and chiseled away more stone. “I shall have to explain later. At any rate, yes, I’ve read the duchess’s novels. A very talented authoress for one so young. Reading has been difficult for me as well. One cannot have a library when constantly traveling.”

They talked as he worked, exchanging stories of their various struggles to secure worthwhile reading material. When the conversation drifted to books they’d particularly enjoyed, the years fell away, and it felt like they’d never been parted.

As if voicing her thoughts aloud, Justus halted with his telling her of Voltaire and smiled. “This is what I’ve been searching for all these years. Your taste and wit remain sharp.” He reached through the bars and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. “And impossibly, you’ve grown even more beautiful.”

He bent his head and Bethany rose up on her toes and leaned forward, her heart pounding with excitement. He was going to kiss her again!

But the moment their lips touched, Justus broke away. Bethany opened her mouth to ask what was wrong just as the privacy panel of her cell door slid open.

She turned to dart back to her bed, but Doctor Keene strode in and held up a hand. “Miss Mead, I have heard the most troubling things about you.”

Bethany took a shaky step backward, not daring to look at the window. Had Keene seen Justus? “What do you mean, Doctor?” she asked, a tremor creeping into her voice.

“Greeves said he heard you laughing and talking to yourself in strange voices,” Keene replied as Greeves entered behind him, grinning at her like a malicious jester.

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