Transported back to a place of mud and rain, a place where horses cried for freedom and the shouts of men were heard above the storm, she lay in a quagmire fighting to get free. Lightning split the sky, and she saw her captor was only dirt, soaked from the rain, and then lightning split the sky again, and a sound, heavy and thundering, found her ears. It was the sound of horses’ hooves, and when another bolt lit up the world, tearing apart the heavens with its brilliance, she turned her face to the mud seconds before the first of Yannick’s prized horses trampled her.

Bennett grew rigid, and even though it was only one word, as she glared at Max, Bennett struggled to say it. “No.”

Max’s eyes overflowed, and in a flash, he was sitting on the edge of the bed. “I am so sorry.”

“No,” Bennett murmured, swaying her head from side to side. “No. No. No.”

“You were near dead, and Yannick didn’t know about…about our arrangement. He thought he was doing what I would have done if I’d been there. Bennett, you’ve got to believe—”

“But you promised.”

“And I swear to you, I would have kept it. I swear to you, as God is my bloody witness, I would have kept my promise, but Yannick didn’t know, Bennett. He didn’t know. The deed was done before I got back.”

“You could have taken my head while I slept,” Bennett said, tears staining her cheeks. “Why did you let me wake up? Why didn’t you follow through on your promise?”

“I promised to allow you to die a natural death. I didn’t agree to take your life with my own hands. After all these years, do you think me still such a beast I could do that?”

Bennett tossed aside the bedcovers, confusion setting in as soon as she saw she was wearing a white nightdress. The linen was soft against her skin, and she could feel it literally wherever it was touching her. As her heart began to race, the sound buffeted her brain with resounding thumps, and she covered her ears, trying to make it stop. “Why is it so loud? Why is it so bloody loud?”

“It’s just your heart, Bennett, and I can teach you how to block out things you don’t want to hear or see. It’s just going to take a bit of time.”

Bennett sneered at Max. “I don’t plan to learn anything more from you, you bastard,” she said, running to the window. “I plan to do what you didn’t have the courage to.”