Threatened [W&W Book 2]

Chapter 26

Author's Note:

Sleep has rejected me so here's a 3am Monday update.

* * * * *

Jim and Thomas decided to transfer Lord Wildwood to a more comfortable place. They rejected his study and instead carried him to Lady Theresa's sitting room. The entire group tramped as a unit to their destination. Lord Wildwood was secured to a chair, but the fight seemed to have gone out of him. He looked straight forward with a blank stare that was unnerving.

"My lady, would you like help going to bed?" Hanna asked quietly to the lady sitting on the floor beside her bound husband.

Lady Theresa grasped onto Lord Wildwood as if he would still escape. "No. I'll stay here."

Hanna nodded her understanding and slipped from the room.

Anya understood that she too could leave, but she could not bring herself to move. No one seemed to be paying attention to her. She wanted to hear what they suspected and even if she did not a strange listlessness had crawled over her and lodged itself firmly in her bones. She watched passively as they all went about the room.

Sir Thomas was inspecting Lord Wildwood and his wife standing over his shoulder. Jim walked towards Anya.

"You're crying," he said.

Anya swept her hand across her cheek. It came back wet. "Oh."

"It's normal to feel shocked," he said.

She felt more wretched than ever. His eye was starting to swell up where Wildwood had landed a punch and there was dried blood smeared under his nose.

She was the one who had tried to kill his friend and here he was kindly offering her comfort, she who deserved it least of all. She wanted more than ever to confess what she had done.

Yet she could not.

The twins.

It was the same circle that her mind ran in, as always, ever since the day that Thorne had taken her brother and sister. Her conscience told her what was right, but if she did what was right something terrible would happen. It was her endless loop and there was only one terrible way out.

She did not want this to happen to anyone. She could feel the tears now, running hot and heavy down her face. Then he was holding her and even though she knew that she was a deceptive wretch, she could not bring herself to pull away. She let him hold her and it felt good to have his strong arms protecting her.

It did not matter if it was all a fantasy; she just wanted everything to work out and for everyone to be happy and healthy. She did not want to plot. She did not want to lie. She was so weary.

But no matter how weary and weak she felt, she was still stuck in Thorne's trap.

It was so clear now. There had been one escape, that first night that she had met Thorne. She should have killed him then, but she did not, because she was not a murderer. Not being a murder at that first moment allowed him to force her to become one anyway. Another circle, another trap that Anya could not escape.

She hated Thorne so much.

* * * * *

Sir Thomas looked towards Jim from where he was examining Lord Wildwood. "It's a strange problem. And it is certainly magical in nature," he commented.

Jim nodded and stood up. Anya watched him cross the room and stand beside Sir Thomas. Missus White was standing near the door, at attention. Anya felt like an intruder, sitting outside the cluster. And she was, in reality.