Page 49 of The Thorn's Kiss

She lowers her voice. “Yes. But if the boss catches you, he’ll punish us both.”

“Well, ‘the boss’ isn’t here with us, is he?”

She pauses and exhales. “I suppose he isn’t, and we did spend too much time talking. But if you want to help,” she says, moving toward a wooden barrel and filling a pot with fresh water. “You can get this on the fire. It should be heated by the time I’m done here.”

Happily, I take the heavy pot and carry it to the gold-lined fireplace in the bedroom. It’s a lot larger than the room he’d let me stay in before. Everything in here is much larger. The reading chair, the full-length mirror, and the tubs. Then again, he’s a large man. Gold and deep-green wallpaper adds to his decor. His sheets are also deep green. It’s quite pleasing to look at, like a blend of mountains and seas. It makes me miss painting.

The fireplace stays lit throughout the night. Although these months are warmer, the mornings and nights still have quite the chill. Quickly, I release the pot onto the blackened wood, throw on my nightdress, and return to the bathing room quite pleased with myself.

“Thanks, dear,” she says. “Though you mustn’t make a habit of this. I don’t know what I’d do if he’d walked in on you just then.”

I want to grab the second pitcher again, and continue to help until the water heats, but I can tell I’m agitating her, so I nod. She nods in return, exhaling.

“As I was saying. What I love most about spending time with Lucian is after a long, exhaustive, harrowing day, sometimes, it doesn’t end in rough sex. In fact, most of the time, it ends in conversation. He either comes to the servants’ quarters or takes me to his room. I’ll lay my head against his shoulders with his arm wrapped around me, or he’ll rest his head in my lap. I’ll stare out the window at the stunning night, and I’ll listen to him talk. Sometimes, he’ll listen to me. And we’ll just comfort each other. The warmth of his soothing embrace is often what I look forward to when my back and shoulders ache, when my ankles wail, and my knees tire.” She smiles when speaking, and tranquillity softens her features.

I gasp, “That sounds wonderful.” It really does. I never imagined such tenderness between them. I hardly even see them together. Then again, I don’t really leave the room unless it’s okay with the beast. But that’s not the reason I haven’t been able to imagine it before. The brutality of last night flashes in my memory, and I groan. The last thing I want to do is remember it. Sleeping with the beast had helped me forget it for a moment. I think even focusing on my hatred for him has conveniently kept me from recalling every terrifying moment. I swallow and focus on Gloria’s smiling face, forcing my nerves to relax.

“What do you feel when you think of him?” I ask, even though what I want to ask her is how she copes with knowing her man does such wicked things, and if she can help me forget all the cruel things the beast has done.

She grins. “Lots of things. Sometimes he irritates me.” She shrugs. “Sometimes, when he leaves for work, I worry. But whenever I think about him, about us together and the love we share, my heart expands, and peace fills it.” Her smile is so wide, I can’t help but smile along with her.

“You’re right.” I blink, playing with the strings on the centre of my nightdress. “You’re lucky.” I nod. Her cheeks grow rosier than ever, and I chuckle. “If what you share with Lucian makes you glow like that, then I want what you and Lucian have. I want to think about someone and be filled with peace, not fear or disgust. I’ll never find that with the beast. If I’m not disgusted with the things he does, I’m disgusted with myself for wanting anything to do with him.”

Gloria stands and stretches out the cracks in her back from bending for so long. She walks over to me and takes my hand. She holds it for a moment, patting it, but I don’t think she can find the words to soothe me. Last night, I might have been spared his wrath, but the beast is unpredictable. It’s impossible to know my fate here. There’s a tear in her eye when she looks at me, but she blinks it away before releasing my hand.

“Right,” she says. “I’ll take those downstairs in a minute.” She gestures to the basins filled with dirty water.

I gulp. I never thought I cared much about spending my days with the love of my life before. But sitting on the edge of this tub, without reassurance and a possible short lifespan, I find myself fearful that I might never get the chance to experience true love. Heat floods my eyes, and I choke back a sob as Gloria leaves to retrieve the hot water. We don’t know where to look as she fills the other tub with some water from the barrel, warming it with the boiling liquid and filling the water with flowers and scented oils.

“Your bath is ready,” she mumbles.

I nod. “Thank you.”

Just before I take off my clothes, however, she hurries over to me and pulls me into a hug. She tightens her arms around me, and I break down, sobbing. She rubs my back. “I know he acts without reason at times, and I know you’re stubborn, Olivia,” she says. “But this is life and death. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whether you want to take my advice or not. Do your best to survive this. On the other end of it, you never know, your great love may be waiting for you out there. But you’ve got to survive, okay?” she says, leaning out of the hug and looking me in the eyes.

Sniffling, I nod. “Thanks for being the best part of my stay here. I’ve longed for a new friend since leaving the last place I lived and despite the circumstances, I’m glad to have met you. You’re so deserving of true love, Gloria. And I’m glad you found it. I wish you and Lucian the best.”

“Oh, Olivia.” She sniffles, running her hand over my curls. “You deserve to find love too.”

A knock on the door pulls her away from me. In the bath, I hear her giggling with Lucian. My eyes burn from the tears, still I smile. I can tell by the wet noises that they’re stealing kisses. The door closes, and they whisper to one another. I might be over the moon for Gloria, but it doesn’t mean I want to walk in and find them otherwise engaged. My cheeks heat up and when she comes back into the bathing room, I jump.

She’s blushing and smiling so hard as she clears her throat. “That was Lucian,” she says.

Oh, I know.

“He came to deliver a message to you but when I told him you were indecent, he left the message with me.” She squeezes both her hands together and pitter patters her feet. “I told you that you’d be invited.” She grins.

“What?” I ask.

“The ball! A few nights from now. You’re going to a ball!” she squeals.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Adam

“Ittookusawhile, but we found him. Lancelot Silbermann,” Lucian says as our boots clap down the stairs of the cellar. “The man Lord Rutherford hired us to kill.”

Ah, that’s right. Whenever people hire us to carry out an elimination, I don’t ask many questions. Lord Rutherford had spoken to Miran, who arranged for payment to be made to me. I assigned the task of tracking down this Lancelot, to Lucian and other members of my personal army. And well, I get the pleasure of killing them, of course, after deciding whether they deserve death. I do that by sitting with them, face to face, and engaging in discourse. I can determine a lot through conversation. If they don’t deserve death I keep the money, but I set them free. No one has dared so far to demand their money back; they know the risks going in.

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