Page 85 of The Warrior Priest
We rejoined Rufus, Andreas and Vizah in the next room, standing with the guards, ensuring they didn’t try to save my uncle. Going by their sheathed swords, the guards were no threat.
“Do you want me to put it on you?” Rhys asked.
“Hmmm?” I looked at the pendant in my hand. “Oh. Please.” I handed it to him and turned, lifting my hair to expose my neck.
“Are you all right?” he murmured.
“I am. Better than I thought I’d be without an arrest. He’s weak now. I truly do pity him.”
“So do I.” He finished fastening the necklace and let the pendant fall into place. His fingers skimmed the skin at my neck, leaving little tingles in their wake. “Jac?—”
“Shhhh.” I put up a hand to silence him and listened. Voices came from the service stairs behind the wall. The servants had been exchanging words ever since dispersing, but I’d blocked out their chatter. This conversation caught my attention, however.
I was about to open the hidden service door in the wall paneling when someone on the other side screamed.
Chapter17
Ibarged through the service door into the cavity beyond. I knew the house’s layout from the night I’d escaped, so was ready for the short landing. I managed to stop before plunging down the narrow staircase. The young maid on the second step screamed again.
The housekeeper slapped the girl across the mouth. “Shut it.”
The maid started to cry.
The housekeeper raised her hand again, but I grasped her wrist.
“No,” I snapped. “You’ll never intimidate a young woman again.”
The housekeeper’s top lip curled with her sneer. “There was always something different about you, somethingwrong. I told him he should kill you before you caused trouble. He’ll regret not listening to me now.”
“You terrified me once, but I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
“Because you have him protecting you.” She jerked her head at Rhys.
“Because I’m stronger than I was then. And it’s true, I have friends that give me confidence, who support me when I need it.”
She tried to wrench free, but I shoved her back against the wall. Whether she hit her head, or whether the change in me from the time I’d lived there shocked her, I didn’t know, but she stared at me, wide-eyed.
“I believe assault is a crime,” I said. “Fortunately, the sheriff is still here and there are witnesses.”
“I was just calming the girl down. You scared her when you burst in unexpected.”
“She screamed before we came in.” I glanced at the entrance. Someone had given Rhys a cup, which he was now handing to the shaking maid. She drank the entire contents in one gulp. “Did the housekeeper threaten you?” I asked her.
She clasped the cup in both hands and chewed her lower lip. She was too terrified of the housekeeper to disobey her.
Rhys indicated we should swap positions. I released the housekeeper then smiled gently at the young maid. “What’s your name?”
“Bella.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Bella. I’m Jac. I used to live here. You heard in the salon that the housekeeper helped my uncle imprison me?”
She clutched the cup to her chest. Her gaze flicked to the housekeeper then back to me. She nodded.
“You also know that I was born with excellent hearing. While I was out there, I overheard you telling the housekeeper in here that you wanted to speak to the sheriff. She tried to dissuade you, but you insisted. That was brave of you, Bella.”
She glanced at the housekeeper again. Others had crowded at the entrance, including the sheriff, while some of the servants looked up from the bottom of the staircase below. The housekeeper was outnumbered.
Seeing the support bolstered Bella’s confidence. She lifted her chin. “She ordered me not to say anything. She said if I told anyone what I’d seen, she’d kill me. She hit me across the face. That’s when I screamed the first time.”
