Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
I stop in my tracks, watching as a short, middle-aged nun creeps out of the shadows, a rosary twisting like vines around her fingers.
“You’re looking for Mother Superior.”
It’s not a question, so I don’t answer her. “Where is she?”
Her hands twist in her robes. “I-I just can’t stay quiet. It’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong?” I demand, hoarsely, pressure crowding my throat. “Mercy is in trouble, isn’t she?”
After a brief hesitation, the nun nods. “They took her to town.”
“Why?”
“It’s wrong. It’s wrong.”
I grab the woman by her shoulders and shake. “Tell me now.”
A sob wracks her. “Mother Superior didn’t want to take the child, but her looks and youth give her value, you see. We’ve been running out of money to sustain ourselves. With the rebels burning down churches left and right, we’re not getting our usual stipend anymore. And the rebels themselves will close in one day.” She wets her lips. “Mother Superior heard they will take bribes to leave an establishment in peace. She hopes that selling Sister Mercy will keep them at bay and we’ll have enough left over to let us live in relative comfort…”
I don’t hear the rest over the thunderous roar in my ears. “Sell her to fucking who?” I rasp through my clenched teeth.
The nun bursts into tears. “A brothel. Your captain told her of one not far away from here—”
The rafters shake with the force of my shout and send the nun scurrying off into the dark. This can’t be real. My sweet Mercy being sold to a brothel? That’s what Mother Superior and the captain have been plotting? She must be giving him a portion of the profits to provide protection and transport—and I will gut them both without thinking twice for daring to put my love through hell. I will rip the town the shreds if one hair on her head is out of place, so help me God.
With my heart in my mouth, I sprint for the barracks in the darkness and throw open the doors. “Take me to the goddamn brothel!” I growl at the room full of sleeping soldiers.
One of them, Private Jones, sits up and rubs his eyes. “Finally.”
Sister Mercy
I’m kneeling on the floor of some kind of darkly lit office, though it’s far different from the church office at the old convent, which is all I have to compare it with. This one’s full of ostentatious furniture and stained-glass lamps and a thick, red rug. There’s an expensive-looking desk in near the window, velvet curtains lending it a lush backdrop.
My habit has been stripped off, along with my robe, leaving me in nothing but my grass-stained slip. I’m shivering, not only from the cold and shame of being so scantily dressed, but out of fear. What is to become of me? How could this woman I’ve known eight years leave me in this place against my will?
Mother Superior stands to my right with the gun pointed at my head, while the captain leers at me from the opposite side of the room. They’re quiet, waiting for something or someone, but they won’t share any details.
And all I can think of is Griffin.
I’m here, my throat aches to scream. I’m here. I’m sorry I ran.
With the dire circumstances of my future staring me in the face, it’s so obvious he was offering me a beautiful one. I miss him. I miss his hands and how completely and totally safe it felt being in his arms. Will I ever see him again?
I don’t think so.
Even the shrewdest person wouldn’t put the truth together and track me down. Who would suspect a nun and a decorated army captain?
Griffin calling my name on the hill echoes in my mind and a miserable whimper escapes my lips, my shivers increasing in intensity.
“Don’t fret, dear. God has a will for everyone. When he gave you a face and a body like that, he knew what they would be used for, didn’t he?”
My Lord, she’s mad.
I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. The crazed glint in her eyes, the nonsense she speaks. God did not intend me for this life. He gave me free will and this is not a choice I’m being given, it’s a sentence.
“You’ve significantly decreased your value by rutting with the soldier. We tried to work as fast as we could, arranging this meeting. But he didn’t even make it one fucking day without taking the prize of your virginity, did he?” She snorts. “No matter. You’ll still catch a fine price. A fine price.”
“Oh yes, she will. I’m considering being your first customer,” coos the captain. “I’ll have more than enough cash to pay once I get my cut.”
Mother Superior makes a sound of disgust, but the door opens before she can respond. In sways a statuesque woman with a thin, cherry-scented cigar perched on her lips. “I’ve got give minutes for this meeting,” she sighs. “Dazzle me.”