Nobela ni Miss Bee

SERAPHINAHe practically beamed at my response. He was so completely blinded by his own vanity that he didn't notice the calculating look in my eyes. He thought he had tamed a wild wolf. He had no idea he was sitting in a room with a prisoner who was counting down the minutes until his downfall.Until his doom!Around eight o'clock, Herrera visited my room one last time under the excuse of getting a fresh blanket from the hall closet.She stepped into my room and leaned against the wall, her face pale, but her hands were completely still now. The earlier fears in her eyes had turned into focus."Everything is set," she whispered softly. "Lance just asked me to stoke the fire in the kitchen stove so he can warm his wine."My pulse hammered hard against my ribs as I stared at her face. "Are you scared?""Terrified," Herrera admitted with a small, weak smile. "Are you?""More than I've ever been in my life," I whispered back.I looked at her, my chest tightening. "Herrera... What happen

SERAPHINAThree days later, Herrera came back.The moment she stepped through the front door, I could tell something was different. She wasn't carrying her usual cloth bundle of food or clean water. Her face was unusually pale, and her hands were trembling so violently against her dress that she had to press them against her sides to hide it.She was trying so desperately to hide it, but I could see it.Lance was in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables on the wooden counter. He barely looked up when she walked in."Make yourself at home, Herrera," he called out casually. "I'll be done here in a few minutes."Herrera gave a quick nod, then turned and walked straight down the hallway toward my room. She slipped inside and closed the door almost all the way, leaving only a small crack.She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a tiny, dark brown glass bottle no larger than my thumb. "I got it," she whispered, her voice barely above a whisper in the small room. My heart di

SERAPHINA A look of understanding washed over Herrera's face, and she let out a relieved sigh. "You're playing a game with him.""It isn't a game," I said, stepping closer to the table. "It's survival. Come sit down."We sat side by side on the edge of the bed. I kept my eyes on the hallway, listening carefully for the sound of Lance's hammer against the fence posts outside."I've been watching him carefully these past few days," I told Herrera in a quiet voice. "Lance leaves the house every morning at seven o'clock to inspect the guard rotation. He leaves the back door locked, but he keeps the key in his leather vest pocket. He leaves the vest hanging on the chair in the hall whenever he sits down to drink his evening wine."She listened intently, nodding slowly."And the guards outside," I continued, "they abandon the rear tree line around noon every single day to go down to the creek for food. There is a twenty-minute window where the back of the cottage is completely blind."Herr

SERAPHINASomehow, Lance started spending far more time inside the house than he usually did. Instead of leaving me locked in the room for hours on end while he trained guards or hunted near the border, he hung around the living room, leaving my bedroom door wide open.He became attentive in a way that made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to sit still and watch.Because right now, I had another motive. He brought me small things I had never asked for. One afternoon, he brought a bowl of sweet red berries he had picked on his way home from hunting. Another evening, he brought a thick wool blanket to replace the rough one on my bed."I remember you used to like sweet berries when we were kids,” he said, leaning casually against my doorframe with his arms crossed. He had a look in his eyes—a confident look that told me everything. He thought I was finally breaking down. "I told my father last night that you just needed time. I told him you were just confused and hurt, but eventual

SERAPHINA My heart jumped into my throat. "What happened? What did he say?""He noticed that you don't flinch as hard when I walk past your door anymore," Herrera said, her hands trembling as she smoothed down her dress. "Yesterday, after I left the kitchen, he asked if we had been talking when he wasn't looking.""What did you tell him?" I asked, stepping close to her."I lied," she breathed, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "I told him I was just looking at the carved wooden trim on the doorframe because I had never seen craftsmanship like that before. I made up a story about how my brother used to carve wood. He seemed to buy it, but he stared at me for a long time before he let it go."She looked at me, her eyes filled with seriousness. "If Lance realizes I'm helping you, he will stop letting me come to this house," Herrera warned softly. "Or worse... he might lock me up right alongside you. If he finds out how close we've become, our lives will become too dangerous."T

SERAPHINATwo days later, the bedroom door was pushed open slowly, and Herrera stepped inside. She was alone as usual. She was holding a small cloth bundle tucked tightly against her side.My eyes narrowed immediately as I stared at her face. "Why are you here again?" I asked, my voice sharp and full of suspicion. "Where is Lance?”Herrera quickly closed the door behind her, pulling it shut. She turned to me, her breath coming out in short puffs."Lance went down to the pack border to meet with his father’s guards," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "He left the house unlocked for an hour to let the air in while he was gone. I... I came back to check on you."I stared at her like she had lost her mind. "Are you crazy?" I demanded, stepping closer to her. "If Lance catches you here alone without his permission, he won't just yell at you, Herrera. He will think you're helping a prisoner. You are putting yourself in terrible danger."The last thing I wanted right now was to b