Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
“I have to go,” I said quietly, trying to turn, but the grips on me tightened. I looked at Rolf, horrified. “Please have your men release me.”
“I don’t believe I will,” Rolf answered simply. He smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Tell me, why are you acting this way? Have you never seen two people fucking each other before? Or do you have a problem with me fucking a whore when you’re the only whore I should be fucking?”
My eyes narrowed as his words cut deep. “I didn’t think you’d find someone to replace me while I was out on a walk.”
Rolf threw his head back and laughed, looking around at the other men until they joined in. “Oh, my dear, you can’t be serious. Do you think this pig here is meant to replace you? No, gods, no. You can’t be replaced.”
He came up to me, placing his hands on my face. I could smell the musky odor from the woman on his fingers, and I flinched.
His eyes darkened, losing all trace of humanity. “My, you’re not taking this very well, are you? I suppose I’ll have to remedy this to please the future duchess.”
“Please tell them to release me,” I said, my voice trembling, but Rolf ignored me. He turned and walked back to the bed.
“All right, Ross, your fun is over—for now, anyway. You’ve always been a bit sick in the head, haven’t you?”
Ross glared at him as Rolf shoved him aside. Then, he grabbed the woman by her long blonde hair, yanking her off the bed. She screamed as Rolf dragged her across the floor, her legs kicking out behind her, helpless like a caught fish.
Rolf stopped in front of me, pulling the woman up until she was on her knees. She was pretty up close, angelic, even, but the terror in her eyes made me want to scream. I wanted to beg Rolf to release her, to let her go.
But before I could say anything, he spoke again, his voice tight. “I had no idea you were the jealous type. Tell me, Cherine, how do you think I felt when I had to watch you with Erik? How do you think I felt when you were with him every moment of every day, staring up at him with those big green eyes of yours? Tell me!”
My voice shook as I spoke. “You…made Erik do that. You ordered him to.”
“He wanted to!” Rolf boomed, his eyes flashing with rage. “Erik tried to keep you all to himself, but that’s not how it works around here. What’s everyone’s is mine—including you.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but no words came out. I closed it, confused and afraid.
Rolf’s smile twisted into something sinister. “But it doesn’t matter how I felt about the whole thing. It’s about how you feel. You’ll do anything for me, Cherine, and I…I would do anything for you.”
Then, in one, swift motion, he pulled a dagger from his belt. Without hesitation, he plunged it into the blonde woman’s chest, and the sickening thud echoed in my ears.
We both cried out, but it was too late. Her wide blue eyes went cold, and she crumpled to the floor, blood spilling from her mouth. Rolf let go of her hair, and she fell, lifeless.
“Do you see what I’d do for you?” he asked, his voice high-pitched and frantic. “The whore is gone. Are you satisfied now?”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The walls of the room seemed to close in around me. What had just happened? What in God’s name had just happened?
Ross quietly grabbed the dead woman by her hair and dragged her back to the bed. Everyone knew what he was going to do, but no one cared.
“I have to go,” I said, my hand over my mouth, desperately trying to hold down the bile rising in my throat. “I don’t feel well.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay?” Rolf asked, watching me carefully. “I’d like you to stay…”
“I have to go,” I repeated, my voice shaky, on the verge of panic.
Rolf took his time thinking it over, and those thirty seconds felt like the longest of my life. Finally, he gave a reluctant nod to the men who held me, and they released their grip.
“Go then, my beauty. Just make sure you’re around for dinner. Roast pig tonight.”
The men snickered, and I quickly turned on my heel, fleeing the room. I didn’t know where I was going or what I would do, but I had to get away. I wanted to run as far as I could, to erase the images from my mind.
Once again, like always, I had nowhere to run.
Chapter 19
Erik
Erik was riding his horse across the moat, his animal skin shawls covered in a thin layer of snow, when he saw Cherine come stumbling out of the main gates. In seconds, he had leaped off his mount and was at her side, grabbing both her arms.