He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Forty Six

Audrey Rose's POV

As soon as I saw Zachery's face staring down at me, I felt a wave of pure emotion that almost drowned me instantly. I knew he could see it, but I tried my hardest to conceal it. There wasn't enough time to relinquish in this moment right now.

His face was always perfect, with very defined features; strong jawline; piercing blue eyes with long, dark lashes; the slight hint of five o'clock shadow which highlighted his chiselled bone structure... But now, on top of all that, there was a darkness which loomed over his face. There were worry lines in places I hadn't seen on him before, and his brows hitched in concern. He held an oil lantern in his hand which created even more shadows dancing along his face. It was heartbreaking to see him look as if he was crumbling.

Lord only knows what I look like right now. I was still in my baby blue ball gown, but it was stained with the odd dash of crimson where my hand has been and I could feel that my face was already starting to bruise. The look on Zachery's face told me I looked a sorry state. He seemed lost whilst looking at me, like he didn't know what to say or how to say anything at all.

That's why I decided not to say anything about who was behind this, not yet at least.

"It's about time you showed up! Come on, we need to get out of here!" I whispered loudly at him, grabbing at his hand and pulling him towards the doorway. He didn't even get a chance to open his mouth to respond before I was dragging him in the opposite direction. His lantern swayed in the air as we both ran, creating monsters out of shadows which followed us down the hall.

"We need to be careful, they will still be down here somewhere." I said as we began to slow down, realising we were getting close.

"I heard footsteps going in that direction." Zachery pointed around the corner, near where I had come from in the first place. I realised exactly where they would be.

"On your way down, did you happen to see an extremely bright room, with a stretcher in the middle?" I asked innocently, as if I wasn't asking whether he had seen a torture room during his evening stroll down here.

"The clinical room? Yeah, it was just down there... Oh. I see." Zachery realised what I was hinting at. The fact that room didn't seem to have a door, and radiated light around every inch of the space outside it, made for a difficult escape.

"We need to create a distraction. Enough that they are curious, but not enough that they suspect I have gotten away. You dabble around in royal politics, have you got any great ideas about how to distract their attention from what's really going on?" I whisper to him as we both lean against the cold wall behind us.

"I don't much like your tone there, Kitten." Zachery said, with his playful tone back in his voice. The mere mention of 'Kitten' after Jeremy and Jared using it against me, made my skin crawl. "But you are correct, I think I may have an idea." He continued, looking up in thought.

"Mmm..?" I pushed him for an answer, as he continued to look away in thought, rubbing circles around his temples. After what seemed like a lifetime, he spoke.

"Do you trust me?" He spoke softly, looking down at me with longing in his eyes. He brushed his hand through his dark brown hair, then held both of my hands in his as he waited for my response.

"I wouldn't be here otherwise." I said back, giving him a reassuring smile as I said it. It was true. I would not be in this situation if I hadn't of trusted him. He has gained my trust, and I wasn't about to stop now.

"Okay. Are you able to run?" He asked, looking over my wounds with pained eyes.

"They've sliced my hand, Zachery, not my foot." I said in a light hearted way, but the mention of them hurting me roused a beast inside of him, and I saw it instantly.

"On the count of three, follow me. And don't look back. These bastards will get what they deserve." Zachery spat out, fire burning behind his eyes.

"Zachery, I think there's something you need to-" Before I could even finish my sentence, he put his finger over my lips and mouthed 'shhh' as we heard talking coming from the clinical room around the corner. Oh no...

"Wait..." Zachery exhaled. "Is that..? Did he..?" He was lost for words, which I couldn't blame him for. The fire that was behind his eyes was momentarily extinguished.

Then it returned, twice as fierce.