Page 85 of The Splendor of Fire
A bead of sweat slid down her neck and she twisted her hair up, sticking a gaudy pin through the messy curls. A pitiful breeze puffed through the window from the nearly-still loch, providing little relief. The strap of her chemise fell down her shoulder and she pulled it up, scratching a tickle along her bare arm.
Just as she touched her charcoal to paper again, two hands closed around her mouth and her neck, ripping her backward over the chair and pushing her to the ground. A scream rent through her throat but only a rasping gurgle came out.
A nasal laugh. “Can’t scream.”
Her hands snaked up between Gordon’s and forced his arms apart, breaking his grip on her throat. Slithering across the floor, she scrambled out from under him, but he held onto her leg and jerked her down, pulling her across the room toward the bed.
Panic overwhelmed her as she held her chemise to her body, and her mind went blank. Bony hands grabbed her arms and dug into her armpits as he tossed her upon the bed kicking and gasping. Much stronger than he looked, Gordon leaned his weight over her and held her body down, grabbing at her chemise.
Fear charged through her, and she screamed Léo’s name…but no sound came out. Frightened, she realized with a sick feeling she would have to stop him alone.
Training kicking in, her hand went to her hair and she pulled the pin, then swooped it through the air and it sank into his chest. He arched backward, yelping in pain, before removing it as if it were nothing.
He crashed back on top of her, his disgusting mouth covering her own, his hands slithering up her chemise as she tried to force him off. Panic overwhelmed her as she tried to scream again, tears flooding her eyes as her mind went blank.
Please God, give me a voice.“Léo…” the weak scream was nothing more than a bare hiss. “Léo…”
In a violent shatter, the latch blew off the dry-rotted doorframe and the door burst apart, wood flying everywhere and scraping heavily across the floor. A dark shadow charged through the room and ripped Gordon off her, throwing him across the room like a rag doll. He tumbled across a table sending dozens of gaudy objects sailing in all directions. Scrambling backward, Moira fell off the bed and collided with Ardis’s legs.
In the dim glow of her rushlight, Léo’s face burned with white-hot fury, and for the first time she glimpsed the lethal warrior that had survived years of nonstop battle. Vengeance masked his features and he shot forward like a predatory beast, dipping away from Gordon’s attempt to swing at him, and picking him up with a feral war cry, slamming him to the floor. Stunned, Gordonsprawled.
Léo was over him in an instant, a storm of blows raining down upon Gordon’s rat-like face. Léo’s voice was murderous as his fist came down again and again, Gordon’s face disintegrating beneath his huge fist. “I warned you to stay away from her?—”
Gordon beat at Leo’s sinewy arms, and two large, battle-tested hands clenched Gordon’s throat, a look of savagery in Léo’s eyes.
Ardis rushed forward. “You’ll go back to prison!”
Blood from the impotent wound Moira had inflicted trickled against Léo’s fingers as he shook Gordon’s head. “You’ll stay away from her or I’ll destroy you. You think my brothers are to be feared? Do you feel how close you are to death? Do you realize which brother you should be cowering from?” Gordon nodded, face purple.
Moira could do naught but shake on the floor, slack-jawed. Father had been right.
Léo held Gordon tight to the floor, his eyes burning with anger. “Our bargaining days are done. You will never say another disgusting thing about her. You will never show her anything but groveling respect?—”
Isobel wandered into the room, dressed for bed, a long white braid over her shoulder, a candle in her hand. “Oh my stars, Léo.”
Léo’s hand tightened over Gordon’s throat. “I found him trying to violate Mademoiselle Allen. He has Malvina’s keys.”
Ardis pulled on the thick muscle of his arm. “Léo, let go, they’ll send you back to Cràdh or to your death.”
Gordon’s eyelids flickered and Léo shook him, shouting into his purple face. “You will never harm a hair on her head. You will never look at her again—and if you do, I will be right behind you, ready to end you. Do you understand, you spineless, gutless worm?”
Losing consciousness, Gordon gave the barest of nods. Growling, Léo let go of his neck and Gordon coughed and gasped.
Léo sat on top of him, searching his clothing. Finding Malvina’s keys, he tossed them to Isobel. “Keep those until Michaelmas.”
Isobel crouched and picked the keys up off the floor, her face full of shock. Grabbing a plaid from the chair, she crouched beside Moira, covering her shoulders. “Are you hale, dearie?”
Moira knit her shaking hands in the ivory plaid, leaving streaks ofblack from her charcoaled fingers. She shook her head back and forth.No. She wasn’t.
Léo nodded his head to Ardis. “Come with me, hold your candle, we’ll take him to the stables. He’s not safe to allow under the same roof as you.” His protection of Ardis made jealous, unreasonable remorse clamp over her.
He hoisted a bleeding and bruised Gordon off the floor and hefted him over his shoulder, heading down the hall. Ardis looked at her and gave her a lurid smile before following him.
Isobel’s soft wrinkled hand grasped hers. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a wee dram.”
Trembling, Moira nodded and Isobel helped her up. “Come on.” On shaking legs, she followed Isobel out of the room and down the hallway.
What a warrior she made. She hadn’t heard the door, hadn’t had her guard up, hadn’t been expecting the attack, hadn’t been wearing her dagger. If she crumbled as she had tonight during their mission next week, she would die.
