Page 25 of Bought to Break
There was a knock at the door and a line of servants trundled in with ewers of hot water. They quickly filled the bath and departed, leaving her alone again. She undressed and submerged herself in the water quickly. She washed as best she could with her bad wrist, which now sported a black bruise shaped like a blobby hand. Her ribs and stomach were mottled and discoloured already, so no doubt they’d be the same in a few hours. Everything hurt horribly. She sighed as she wrapped herself in a blanket to dry, wondering when her father would come to talk. She had so many questions about him and his life over the past ten years.
She caught her reflection in the looking glass and jumped, not recognising her own face at first. To be fair, it had been a long time since she’d seen it in anything other than the surface of a horse trough, but the swollen cheek made her look like someone else entirely. Her lip was split as well.
Someone opened the door, and she turned to see a thin man who reminded her of the apothecary who’d examined her that day when she’d been tied to the table and the Brothers had … She shivered at the memory and then felt a pang of regret. She’d never see either of them again. Even if they found her now, her father would simply pay them handsomely for the Writ of Ownership, she supposed. He clearly had the wealth to do so.
The physician smiled at her, his kind eyes making Lana relax at once. ‘Well, my dear, I understand you fell down some stairs.’
Lana blinked, not sure why her father had chosen to lie. ‘Um. Yes. I’m so clumsy.’ She laughed lightly, hoping it didn’t sound too forced.
‘Well, we’ll soon have you sorted out, young lady, don’t you worry. And well in time for those nuptials. Congratulations, by the way. Your father was positively brimming with joy.’
This time Lana’s mouth hung open.Nuptials?‘Oh, uh, yes,’ she mumbled. ‘Thank you.’
She did as she was directed by the physician, moving this way and that while she was poked and prodded. He applied salve to her face and then to her wrist, bandaging it efficiently, but when he asked if there was anything else, she didn’t tell him about the other bruises. She just wanted him to go so that she could seek out her father and ask him what was going on. He bid her a good day and left as quietly as he had come.
She clad herself in a red flowing dress that had been left on the bed. It matched her hair so well that it looked garish, she thought, but it was all there was. It was also a bit too tight and too low-cut in the bosom area for her liking. Still, it was a nice gesture, and her other one seemed to have disappeared. Her shoes and cloak were gone as well.
She shook her head and tried the door, half-expecting it to be locked, but it opened easily and she peered out into the corridor. There was no one there.
Well, she remembered where her father’s study was. She hardly needed an escort in his house. She set off down the stairs and soon found herself exactly where she wanted to be. The door was slightly ajar, and she’d just raised her hand to knock politely when she heard voices inside. She lowered it at once, not wanting to disturb her da.
She bit her lip and listened harder. She didn’t like to eavesdrop, but she was getting an odd feeling that something here was amiss.
‘… and those two idiots?’ her father’s commanding voice asked.
‘I had their throats slit and their bodies thrown in the river,’ the guard said, his speech slightly muffled.
‘Let me know as soon as we hear back from Boone. I want them joined quickly. If this works, my territory will triple. It’s as if the gods themselves sent her to me so our two families could be united.’ There was a pause before her father spoke again. ‘I just hope my daughter is as virginal as she claimed, or he’s liable to murder her in the marriage bed and then come for me as well. None of us will profit then.’
‘Do you think she’ll be any trouble?’ the guard asked.
Her father chuckled. ‘If she is, I’ll give her to you for half an hour so long as you don’t spoil her face any more than those two fools did. He won’t take her if she’s too damaged, but a bruise here and there won’t be commented on.’
Lana covered her mouth in shock. How could her father have such awful plans for her? So quickly? How could he do this? They’d only just found each other again.
Feeling like she couldn’t breathe, she backed away, turned and ran as quickly and as quietly as she could up the stairs, closing the door to her room silently. She went to the balcony first. She’d been given the highest room, she realised with a sinking feeling; a gilded bower that might as well be a cell in the dungeon. There was no way out of here.
Then she had an idea. It was dangerous, but no worse than trying to get out of the window. She reached for the bell-pull, rang it once and then picked up a useless vase that sat on an equally impractical table. She hid behind the door. It opened a few moments later.
‘Did you n–’
Lana swung the vase down on the servant girl’s head and she fell to the floor with a thump. Lana grimaced, feeling slightly ill and very guilty as she turned the woman over and began to remove her uniform. She put it on over her own clothes and donned the silly cap, hiding her red hair beneath it. The shoes were a problem. Hers were gone and the servant’s were much too small. She’d just have to make do barefoot.
She pulled the girl out of sight and padded to the door. Taking a deep, calming breath, she walked at a normal pace into the hallway and down the stairs. At first, she wasn’t sure where to go, but then she spied another servant and simply followed at a distance up another hall and down more steps until she found herself in a bustling kitchen. Everyone was too busy to notice her, so she bundled a few handfuls of food scraps into her apron and made for the open door.
‘You. New girl.’
She froze and turned. A cook was pointing at her with a wooden spoon and she swallowed hard, getting ready to flee.
‘Take these as well,’ the cook said, gesturing to a pile of potato peelings on the side.
Lana nodded and scooped them into her apron without a word. Exiting the kitchen into an alleyway, she walked quickly to the main street and, when she was out of sight of the house, picked up her pace. She ran until her ribs hurt too much to breathe, and only then did she slow and find somewhere quiet to hide.
She left the maid’s clothes in a small passage between two large buildings despite the impracticality of the thin gown she was wearing underneath, and set out at a brisk, warming pace back to the inn where she’d left her gold, glad now that she hadn’t taken it with her. Assuming it was still there, she could still get away. She tried to ignore the sad, hopeless feeling that now enveloped her. Nothing had changed. She had had no one this morning, and that was still true.
She stopped abruptly as tears flooded her eyes so quickly that she couldn’t see to walk. She groped blindly for the wall that she’d been walking beside and leant against it, sinking to the ground and suddenly feeling very tired. She gave in to the tears, sobbing quietly and trying to marry up happy childhood recollections with the cold, evil reality. How could her da have had such little regard for her? How could he have been so opportunistic as to sell her in marriage within hours of finding her alive? Had he ever cared about her at all? Had anything he’d said been true?
She felt rather than saw the shadow loom over her. She looked up with a gasp, thinking it might be one of her father’s other guards. It wasn’t.
