"Are you ready to talk?" the Lord asks, whispering into her ear. She shivers, his hot breath reminding her of all the things Lillian did to her body. It had been a dream, but it was a shared dream and there had been shared pleasure.
"Yes," she said. "I'm ready." Cedric removes her blindfold, exposing her to the harsh light of the single lightbulb dangling overhead. Aaron stands to the side, watching them.
"What's your name? I know it isn't Sadie Smith. The Smiths in Britain and the colonies don't have a Sadie in their household," said Cedric. Her brows crinkle, surprised at how quickly he was able to gather information.
"Nicole Walker," she said, the words falling out of her mouth. Her lips tingle, fizzing like there was soda in it. She remembers Lillian's tongue wrapped around hers and realizes that the goddess did indeed give her the words for this interrogation. She relaxes a little in her seat, a movement Cedric notices.
"Feels good, to tell the truth, doesn't it?" he asked, smirking. "Don't worry. We have plenty of questions to ask you."
Oh, she feels good alright. But not for the reason Cedric assumes. The goddess's scent fills her nose. She almost sighs in ecstasy at the memory of her night with Lillian.
"You know, I'm familiar with the Walker family," the Lord said. "They're well-to-do, a decent noble family. A big clan that's got its roots from all over Europe. I've met the Walker women but I don't recall there being a Nicole."
"No one ever hears about a woman until they've debuted," she scoffs, Lillian fully taking over the conversation. "It's like our only worth is who we can be married off to."
Cedric's eyebrows shoot up. "You haven't had a debutante ball yet? Ruth said you were eighteen already!"
"I'm a late bloomer," she said, pretending not to take offense to his statement. "I did so poorly in school I got sent off to America. It's a shame that you're still so old-fashioned that you call my second home 'the colonies.'" She adds a "hmph" at the end of her sentence for good measure.
"You're from a good family," Cedric said, going along with her story. "So why are you here?"
"I couldn't stand sitting through another Latin lesson," she said. "My life was boring and stuffy. I wanted to get away."
"Is that why you tried to kill me? Because you were bored? Or does the Walker clan have a vendetta against me? Lord Walker and I were getting along just fine the other day," he said. His silver eye seems to glow with emotion.
"I heard there was a bad man around these parts," she said. "Someone that was killing women." She takes a quick peek at Aaron, who stares back impassively.
Cedric looks at her thoughtfully. "What made you think that bad man was me?"
"You've got a lot of girls around here, the kind that won't be missed if they just disappeared," she said. Lillian is way too good at coming up with these stories. Then again, she was the one who created the very fabric of this dimension.
"I keep the girls out of the kindness of my heart," he said. "I can assure you that I'm not the bad man."
The cold gleam in his eyes said otherwise. She recalls his words in the dining room.
I already sin enough on behalf of the Queen, he had said. But it didn't matter. He wasn't the demon she was after.
"What I don't understand," Cedric said, "is why you had to lie about being a waif. If you had come here as the daughter of Lord Walker, we would've been glad to have you. Instead, you made up a sob story and signed up to be a maid. Care to explain?"
YOU ARE READING
Hand of the Goddess ✔️
خيال (فانتازيا)If you had the choice to escape your life, would you? That was what Nicole was offered one night when a mysterious woman named Lillian appears in her room. Lillian gives her a deal: kill a demon and she would cure her cat's cancer and make her life...
