With her mind working and going through all of the information that she had just learned, Emily was a little startled when she opened the kitchen door and was quickly bombarded by one of the maids. “Oh, thank goodness you have returned Miss,” Mary dithered as Emily snuck in through the kitchen door. “Your uncle has been in a rage for the last two hours since you were not here to meet Lord Rotterford this afternoon. We were starting to worry that you had left permanently,” Mary said while ringing her hands.
“Don’t start with that again,” Lucy said, shaking her large wooden spoon at Mary and rolling her eyes. Lucy was the head cook, and she had always looked out for Emily. “Grab her jacket and hang it up in her room,” Lucy said, gesturing with the spoon. “I told you she was just hiding out till that horrible man was gone,” Lucy said as she turned back to stirring the pot that she had on the stove. “I am glad that you are back, Emily dear. I made your favorite for dinner tonight. I thought that it might help since I know you are going to have it out with your uncle as soon as he sees you,”
“Thank you Mary, and thank you Lucy,” Emily said as she handed her jacket to Mary, and walked over to give Lucy a quick hug. “Thank you both for covering for me. I am sorry you had to listen to another one of my uncle’s tantrums because of me.”
“It is fine dear,” Lucy said as she waved a hand towel at Mary and gestured toward the stove for Mary to pull the rolls out of the oven. “We do not care one bit for how your uncle is treating you. Why if your father could see this I just know he would--,” Lucy trailed off as she began to tear up.
“I know,” Emily said, placing the pan that contained the rolls on the counter and walking back toward Lucy. She had waved Sarah off since Lucy had already ordered her to take Emily’s coat upstairs. The least she could do to help was grab a pan of rolls from the oven. “I do not know how you have stayed here since my uncle took over, but thank you. I do not know if I would have survived all of this without all of you,” Emily said, tearing up and giving Lucy another hug.
“Stop that now,” Lucy said, quickly wiping under her eyes then waving Emily toward the stairs. “You better head on up to the study. Your uncle has been in there since Lord Rotterford left.”
“I figured as much,” Emily said. “All he does is sit in that study and go out at night when he thinks we will not notice. Wish me luck,” Emily said, straightening her back and wiping her hands down the front of her jeans. They were suddenly feeling a little clammy. “With any luck I can make it to my 21st birthday without him marrying me off, and we can all get out of here.”
“We are rooting for you,” Lucy said as Emily started up the backstairs that would quickly take her to her father’s former study.
Emily took a deep breath as she approached her father’s former study. She used to love coming to this room when she was a little girl. It did not matter how busy he was, her father, Lord Farrington, would always make time for her. He would sit her on his lap and let her help him look over contracts and paperwork. By the time that she was eight years old, she knew more about how to manage the estate, shipping crops, and other financial matters than most adults. Most children learn how to read using books made for children or computer games. Emily learned how to read by sitting in her father’s lap and reading through contracts, supply lists, and other paperwork he had on hand. Her nanny would fuss all the time that she was not getting a “proper” education for a young lady. Her father would pretend to agree for a while and shoo Emily off with her nanny and various tutors to get her proper education. He
“I'm sorry sir,” Emily heard George, their old butler say. I have not been able to locate Miss Farrington.”“Well look harder! Do you have any idea what her stunt today could have cost me? I--”Emily quickly knocked and opened the study door to save poor George. He had been with their family since her father was a baby. He did not deserve to be berated for her little rebellion this morning.Looking toward the study door her uncle’s eyes quickly zeroed in on her. “Where the hell have you been? I have been looking for you for hours,” Emily’s uncle raged at her. “You were supposed to be here for lunch to meet your fiance!”Trying to rein in her temper, Emily replied in a calm manner, “I&rsqu
Gabriel and the others quickly made their way through the caves that the pups traveled through. They were easily able to follow their scents to see which route the pups had taken that morning. Gabriel had Marcus stopping and checking that various shields and spells were still in place as they traveled through the caves. Thankfully, with everyone focused on their mission and alert to possible attacks, Marcus and Sarah were not wanting to engage in idle chatter. Normally the two of them would never miss a chance to try to get under his skin about something. They had all grown up together. They knew that he was the Alpha King and they respected his position, but they were also not afraid of him like so many others. Gabriel was focused on the mission of getting Sebastian back, but his mind was also filled with other thoughts and worries. Gabriel had to make sure that he was not leaving the valley and to
Emily looked at the screen on her phone again to check the time. It was now just a little after 2:00 in the morning. She knew her uncle would be back up in a few hours to get her, but she could not find the motivation to pack. Everything that happened yesterday and that her uncle said kept replaying in her mind. When he first locked her in her room she had cried from the shock, pain, and unfairness of it all. How had things gone so wrong? Once she had collected herself she had raced to her cell phone to try to call for help, but of course her uncle had been smart enough to have the service turned off. She had no way of knowing when he had the service turned off on her phone since she had left it in her room all day yesterday while hiding out. He probably had it turned off when he realized she had left it in her room on purpose. Now her phone was nothing more than an expensive clock and music player.
At 6:00 sharp Emily was standing ready in the center of her bedroom when her uncle flung open her bedroom door with great flourish. Seeing her standing there packed, dressed nicely, and ready had the smile slipping off his face. Seeing the smile slipping off his face brought a smile to Emily’s face.“Good morning uncle. I hope that you slept well. I followed all of your instructions. I have everything packed and ready just like you asked me. I’ll ask Lord Rotterford if I can have the rest of my belongings shipped to his estate later since I only had three suitcases to pack everything in,” Emily finished brightly gesturing to the three suitcases lined up neatly beside her.Emily watched as her uncle’s face turned bright red. He opened and closed his mouth twice before he could grit out through clenched teeth, &ldqu
Are you here yet? Gabriel sent to Axel and Megan. He, Sara, and Marcus were just now coming up on the old witch clearing. They referred to that clearing by that name because centuries ago a coven of dark witches used to meet here and perform rituals that required sacrifices, typically human or some form of magical creature. The Witch's Council that came into power 500 or so years ago, had since outlawed the use of black magic. They had spells set to monitor if anyone uses black magic. If you were caught you could be stripped of your powers. Yes. We will be there in three minutes. We got here a little early and did some scouting around Rotterford’s. We might have overheard something interesting. Megan replied. Is it about Sebastian?
He’s gaining on you. Hurry. Faster. Faster. You need to run faster, Emily repeated to herself as she ran through the woods. She was running as fast as her legs would carry her. Emily was leaping over fallen trees, ducking low branches, dodging dense areas of underbrush, but she could still hear him chasing her. The faster she ran the closer he sounded. Emily was too scared to turn around. She swore that she could feel him breathing on her neck. Just as she felt like she could not run anymore and her legs were giving out, Emily tripped over a log that she tried to leap over. As her foot caught on the log she stretched her arms out to catch herself. As the ground was rushing up to meet her, Emily braced herself for the hard impact that she knew was coming.Gasping, Emily sat up quickly with her arms stretched out in front of her. It had just been a dream, she realized. Sighing, Emily lea
Looking at the clock, Emily saw that it was 6:15. She was starting to wonder if Mr. Kingsley had forgotten to tell her that she was supposed to meet everyone downstairs. He had not seemed to like her at all. Maybe he is trying to get her in trouble with Lord Rotterford on the very first day before she even really meets him. Emily stood up and was heading toward the door when it was flung open. She quickly stumbled back to avoid being hit by the door. In the doorway stood a large, older heavier set man that was dressed in a suit. His face was red, and he was breathing heavily. Emily had a bad feeling that she was about to meet Lord Rotterford, and she did not make a good first impression. Emily went to speak when he cut her off yelling.“WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING AROUND UP HERE? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PLAYING AT,” he yelled at her. Stepping into the room he leaned down and yelled in