Silence

Chapter 10

Daniel kissed her hand. "You look beautiful this evening."

Adalina nodded once as she allowed herself to smile a little.

"I heard that this is your first social event. What an exciting time for a young woman such as yourself. You are now ready for suitors to begin courting you."

Adalina looked away bashfully, playing her part.

"May I pull you away for a moment? There are some matters I would like to speak to you about privately."

The young woman looked around for Sebastian but she couldn't seem to find him in the crowd of people.

"Oh, don't worry about your escort," Daniel said quickly when he noticed her looking around. "This will only take a moment."

Adalina took Daniel's outstretched hand and let him lead her towards the back of the house where he could get out the back entrance.

This was it. All of the hours upon hours of training, the torturous etiquette lessons, and the exhausting makeover led to this one moment.

As Daniel led Madeline out of the house, he silently fumed to himself. This woman. She looked so much like...her. She even smelled like her. He couldn't take it. She had to go. Just like her. There was that one woman who had gotten away when he had been chased by that stupid kid a few nights ago, but he never saw her again. If he didn't see her, she wasn't a problem anymore. But this woman...she was different. She was too much like her. That was why she needed to go.

Daniel pulled out his knife.

But Adalina knew better. She had prepared for him to pull his knife as soon as he was alone with her.

When he went to bring the knife down, she quickly turned around and blocked his arm from finishing the job. Then with her free hand, she punched him in the face. It made her hand throb, but she ignored the pain.

Daniel was shocked as he stumbled back. She had actually been prepared for his attack! Why wasn't this woman scared of him? He had a knife in his hand! And yet, she was able to fight back. She shouldn't be able to fight back! She was a proper young lady!

Adalina whipped away the heavy skirt of her dress to reveal a short, thin piece of black fabric around her waist that came just above her knees along with her knee-high black boots. She untied the whip from around her thigh that she had secretly placed there with Nina's help. The tailor had been all too ecstatic to realize that she was able to create a short skirt for her to wear under the dress, and she loved her choice of weapon even more.

"What kind of woman are you?!" Daniel cried as his eyes widened and sweat began to drip down his face.

Adalina smirked a little. Her signature smirk that while barely noticeable could scare even the bravest men.

That was when it hit the lord. That one night when he had been chased by that stupid kid, someone had tripped him with a whip and almost got him caught. It was her! She was working for the kid!

Daniel came at her again with the knife raised above his head. If he could just get in one good strike, he could escape and be free of her.

However, Adalina was not going to give him that chance. She used her whip to knock the knife out of his hand, and it went flying to the ground. Daniel then tried to use his fists to immobilize her long enough for him to grab the knife.

Adalina was able to block every single one of his attacks and toss in a couple of good punches to his face and gut. With one very well-timed kick, she sent him to the ground.

Daniel dove for the knife and went for Adalina as her back was turned. Hearing him approach, Adalina quickly spun around and flung her whip at him. It wrapped around the knife, so she pulled hard. The knife flew out of his hand into the air before she caught it with another smirk.