Greymoor pointed at the door and bellowed. “Out!” He then silently maintained his position until Walter obeyed.
Once the ghost disappeared through the door, Graeme slipped out of his bed and retrieved the painting of Freya and her lock of hair from their hiding place. He returned to his bed and held the items tight to his chest. He let the tears fall as the hole in his heart grew.
***
When the beast returned, Freya had felt sure the end was near. He never returned so quickly after a fit of rage.
When the blanket and pillow came flying through the open doorway, she’d been convinced it was some kind of trick. It wouldn’t be the first time the beast had left some small comfort, only to punish her for taking it.
When Daisy began to shiver from the cold, Freya had no choice. She ordered her daughter to remain still in the corner, then crept slowly across the stone floor on her hands and knees.
Once she reached the pile by the door, she gingerly reached out for a corner of the blanket. She held it up for a few moments and listened for the beast—ready to drop it and flee back to protect Daisy.
As soon as she felt it was safe, she returned to the corner. She placed the pillow at her back, then wrapped Daisy in the blanket and settled the child on her lap.
She’d given up on the possibility of sleep when the beast had gone on his rampage of destruction, so she just closed her eyes and let the indestructible memories of that last beautiful day flood her mind.
Graeme had been so sweet and gentle. She’d had some sense of what went on between a man and a woman—even with her bright red hair, people in the house tended not to notice her presence and spoke openly of such things.
However, nothing she’d overheard prepared her for the shock of Graeme’s mouth and tongue between her legs. By the time he’d lifted his head, she thought she might die from pleasure. Her heart was pounding and her lower belly quivered as he slid his way up her body.
He kissed her gently and said, “I’m sorry, my love. It’s going to hurt for a minute and there will be a little blood. But only this first time, I promise.”
Her only regret from that day was never having the opportunity to find out if he was right. She’d only ever had that first time.
Her mind slipped into the black memories of her kidnapping. She shook her head to try and clear them away, but they were persistent.
She’d woken with a gloved hand covering her mouth. “Make a sound or try and run and I’ll slit your pretty throat from ear to ear.” She’d been so terrified, she obeyed without question.
It wasn’t until they’d left the manor grounds that she’d realised they hadn’t encountered any people. An armoured man should not have made it into the house unchecked and there should have been at least two guards on the front gate. All she could hope was they weren’t dead.
The man had barely made it to the woods with her before the dragon dropped from the sky. “Where do you think you’re going? You were supposed to bring her directly to me.”
“I was just laying a false trail.”
“Liar.”
“Truly, I was going to lead the searchers astray and then make my way to you.”
“You were going to ransom her for yourself, more like.” The dragon pulled the man off the horse and took an almighty swing at his chest, talons tearing through armour like it was made of silk. Then the dragon threw the awful man to the ground and blasted his feet with fire.
Freya squeezed her eyes shut after that. The man’s screaming was more than enough for her to bear. With her hands tied, she was unable to cover her ears against the noise.
When she felt her body being lifted from the horse, she squeezed her eyes tighter and willed herself to wake from the nightmare.
Unfortunately, it had only just begun.
She dreamed of Graeme coming to her rescue, but as she accumulated more scars, courtesy of the beast, she feared he would take one look at her body and reject her.
No, she was nothing like the woman he’d proposed to all those years ago. Her best hope now was for Daisy to be free and Graeme to claim her. Her sweet, innocent Daisy deserved at least that much.
***
Walter was at a loss. He should have made his lord deliriously happy. Instead, he’d made him angry and sad. Not only that, Greymoor now thought him to be untrustworthy.
It was too early in the morning to pop in on Martyn and Thora. He’d made that mistake once and never again.
Martyn had, on a number of occasions, mused about the two of them bedding Thora together. Walter hadn’t been overly keen on the idea in the first place, but after popping in early one morning to see Thora bent over the bed and Martyn pumping his cock deep in her arse, he knew it was a bad idea.