SNEAKPEAK [Taken By The Duke]

SneakPeak of my next upcoming book:

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VALENTINA

I was never good at staying where I was supposed to be, or doing what they tell me to. Maybe that’s why I escaped the monsters while my brother remained behind.

I didn’t even know where he was. All I knew was I’ll find him one day. I’ll get him back by my side where he belonged since the day we came into existence.

Now, as I sneaked out of the class, the bells from St. Augustine’s tolled from the other side and I felt my shoulders slumping as I realised that one of my hiding spots was not available as it seemed there was someone in the church. So I made my way to my second favourite spot to stay away from people and especially Mrs Magda who thinks spanking girls makes a better punishment.

I ran without making any noise, I’ve had years of practice to remain invisible. And I succeed most of the time, unless someone sees me and then they look at me with eyes that I want to poke.

I pulled at the heavy door with all my might, trying to open it but failing. Being almost fourteen didn’t give me strength just an annoying curve to my chest I didn’t like.

Someone pushed the door from the other side, I quickly hid and watched as two men walked in, followed by a third man with a cane. From behind, all I could see was his long winter coat and the hand wrapped around the cane. Each of his fingers were encased in rings that shimmered even in the dim lights of the corridor leading to the Sister Josephine’s office.

Before I get caught or the doors closed again, I slipped out and ran across the open yard until I reached the big tree that had always welcomed me like I was one of the squirrels that lived there.

It didn't take long for me to climb up the branches and settle on my spot from where I could see everything. The small lake, the imposing double doors I sneaked out from, the church on the other side and also the classrooms lining the upper floor of the mass hall for the girls that lived and studied at the St. Augustine’s All Girls School.

Swinging my legs which will get me called un-lady like by the sisters, if they only knew how I climbed trees they’ll probably faint, I pulled out the bread crumbs I’d stuffed in my pocket during the lunch and made a cluck-cluck sound with my tongue. I snickered to myself knowing it’ll be another unlady like thing added to the long list Mrs Magda hated.

Two small squirrels poked their heads out of the hole in the thickest part of the branch and I smiled at seeing them.

These little ones felt like my only friends in this stupid place that somehow I ended up in. I didn’t know why I was here or who sent me here. One moment, I was fighting the doctors to let me go so I could go back to my brother and then… I woke up here.

Just like that.

Every terrible thing I knew, the hell I was born into, the monsters I grew up with, everything that still gives me chills just disappeared. It was like someone plucked me from that hell and put me here in this cage made of godly lessons.

And I might’ve appreciated it more if only my brother was here with me. It felt like I got out of a nightmare and my freedom had a price. And that price was my brother. “I miss you, Julian,” I murmured as I did every day because I didn’t ever want to forget about him. “I’ll find you. Wait for me.” I promised myself I’d find him one day. I would. No matter what I had to do.

A nibble on my fingers had me looking down as Max, the one with black furry tail ate the crumbs off my hand.

A loud bang startled me and the squirrels dashed off to hide in their little nooks. I sat there staring at the boy who just stormed out from the double doors that I came from.

My brows arched up as I saw him more clearly when he made his way toward the lake, passing by the tree I was sitting on.

Dark hair perfectly combed, shoulders back, chin high. Expensive clothes and shoes that probably cost more than the annual salary of Sister Josephine. He looked too polished to be one of the priests’ sons, too young to be one himself. Rich kid, I decided. The kind who came with his family to write fat checks so they could feel holy for a day and then go back to their big houses and be catered to by servants at their beck and call.

I was about to climb down when the door opened again.

“Asher Sterling Kingston.”

The name cracked through the quiet garden like a whip. The boy froze, but didn’t turn around. But I saw his shoulders go rigid and expression closing off. The man coming out was the same man I had seen earlier, this time I could see his face. He looked old, elegant and a lot strict like Mrs Magda. He walked toward the boy, his cane for show as he didn’t use it. And I could see a few similarities between them.

“Did we not discuss,” the man said, each word heavy, “that you would not disrespect me this way?”

The boy turned then, just enough for sunlight to hit his face. And I finally saw him. Only to blink and look a little harder.

Didn’t Mrs Magda say bad girls don’t get to meet God and his angels?

But how come this boy looked like one. An angel. And by the looks of it, a very angry one.

He shifted to glare at the older man and my lips parted when the sunlight hit his eyes next. They shone like silver. The same way the lake behind him looked in the moonlight.

“And I told you,” The boy said, straightening and glaring at the older man, “I didn’t want to come here.”

“This is not how my heir behaves!”

“I do not want to be your heir!”

I stared between them, wide eyed and unable to look away.

As the words hung there in the silence, the scene felt too familiar. I bit down on my bottom lip as I realised why. The boy seemed to hate the power and control the old man had over him. Just like I hated how someone dumped me here and now I didn’t have any power against this cage made of morals and rules.

“I want to go,” the boy said after a moment, quieter but still furious, “where you sent my mother.”

“How many times must I tell you she is not alive?”

“You’re lying!” His voice shattered on the last word and he looked a second away from attacking the old man, he even took a step forward.

I expected the old man to use his cane like the sisters used and that’s what men with power did in the place I came from. My nails dug into the tree bark, I felt afraid for the boy.

But the old man only tapped the boy’s shoulder. “You will let go of these childish notions. Focus on the Kingston name, and what it will bring you. Now come. We’ll pray for your father and leave.” He paused, eyeing him. “You may even choose who benefits from our donation. A good deed to make you feel useful.”

The boy just folded his arms, glaring holes in the man’s back until he finally walked away.

When the garden fell silent again, the boy turned back to the pond. And I finally moved. Slid down the trunk, silently jumping on the ground.

But at the last moment, my foot landed on a rock and I slipped.

The sound made him whip around, startled. And I watched as his foot slipped on the mossy edge of the lake, and for one frozen instant I stared into those silver eyes, wide and alarmed now, before he toppled backward into the water.

The sight made me laugh as he fell into the lake in his crisp suit and prince like look.

But then my laughter evaporated as I realised he wasn’t standing up or coming out.

The pond wasn’t too deep, but when I saw his arms flailing, his head bobbing and heard a muffled scream, I rushed forward.

“Idiot,” I muttered, splashing in after him. The pond water soaked through my shoes, reaching my knees, making me shiver.

I grabbed his soaked jacket collar and heaved. He was heavier than he looked. But I pulled until we both stumbled on the solid ground. He coughed, shaking and dropping on his knees. Looking nowhere close to the angel I had thought of him, or maybe he was a drowning one.

I stood over him, shaking water off my arms and glaring down at my ruined clothes and shoes. If anyone found us, they’d blame me. They always blamed me. Girls like me didn’t get the benefit of the doubt, especially not from Mrs Magda.

I turned that glare at him, but when I saw how shaken he still looked, I asked, “You okay?”

He didn’t answer. Just stayed there, trembling, hair plastered to his forehead, lips paler than his face.

I sighed and decided to leave, go back to the dorms and change before anyone saw me. But the moment I took a step back, his hand shot out, clamping around my wrist.

His fingers were cold and trembling. And for some stupid reason, I froze instead of running.

“D–don’t go,” he croaked.

I sighed, my eyes darting back to the double doors. I asked, “Want me to call... someone?"

He shook his head hard.

“Fine. Suit yourself.” And then, without thinking, I lifted my hand and swiped his wet hair out of his eyes.

He stared back at me, his eyes now muted grey. He looked like he didn’t know why I’d do such a thing.

I tried again to leave, but he demanded, “Sit.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. Look at him ordering me about just because he was a rich brat.

I wasn’t going to obey, I hate orders. But when he sat down, all wet and looking so lost and lonely, I sat beside him, both of us dripping into the grass and staring at the lake.

“How much did you hear?” he asked.

“Enough.”

“Everything, huh?” He let out a humorless laugh. “Figures.”

“Why are you here?” I asked, because most visitors never left the main church.

“I was trying to get away from my grandfather.” He looked at me and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Valentina.” When he looked at me expectantly, I said, “I don’t have a last name.”

“Lucky,” he said. “Last names are nothing more than shackles and chains.”

“At least they mean you belong somewhere,” I muttered.

He smiled like he thought I was a fool. “If you want, you can have mine.”

I snorted. “And how does that work?”

“We can get married.”

I laughed. Laughed. And, laughed. I said, “Yeah, no thanks. I decided never to marry ever. Love and marriage are stupid things people do to hurt each other. Trusting a man, marrying one and loving one, are a sure way to get into a mental institute if not worse.”

“What could be worse than that?”

“Heartbreak. Losing yourself and the people you care about. Getting betrayed by the ones who are meant to protect you and love you.”

His lips parted and for a long minute he just stared at me.

I felt my cheeks heating up under his gaze, I had never talked so much ever. The one time I had said something similar to Sister Josephine, she had looked at me with sad eyes and said, “Girl, if you don’t believe in love how will you ever be happy?” And Mrs Magda had stated, “Abnormal. She is a cynic at such a young age. A devil!”

So I refrained from saying what I really thought most of the time. But I just told him everything that came to my mind without a second thought. He couldn’t really be a God or his minion, sent to make me learn, could he? No matter how much he looked like one, even as a dripping wet mess.

“What if it wasn’t about love?” His eyes glinted, once again flashing silver.

I raised a brow.

He said, “A contract. When I need a wife, I’ll find you. No love. No hurting each other. Just business. You get whatever you want. I get freedom from my grandfather and the expectations that come from his last name.”

I studied him. He sounded way too old like he’d already seen the kind of ugliness adults try to hide from kids. I recognized it because I sounded the same in my head.

“And if I say yes?” I asked.

He smiled. “Then, we will both have the world at our feet to do with what we please.”

It sounded too good to be true.

Still, I smiled. “You will give me whatever I want?” I looked down at his clothes, shoes and the watch peeking out. With his money, I might be able to find my brother.

“Anything. And, everything.”

“Deal,” I said, holding out my hand.

His hand was cold when he slid it into mine. Grip steady, eyes bright. “Deal.”

I didn't know it then, but it was a deal that will only take me from one cage to another. And in this I might end up losing everything I’d left.

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What do you think? Are they both going to uphold their end of the deal?

A. Gupta