I glanced at Willoughby, who pretended he knew nothing of the nods he’d been giving out.

Sylvie studied me, then plopped a basket of carrots in front of me. To Willoughby, she meant, <<Have her take these out to be washed at the pump. Easy enough for her to do once you show her the way. It’s too bright for you to stay out there long>>.

But I stepped forward and hoisted the basket before he could get to it.

Sylvie’s eyes widened. <<You understand>>?

I nodded and then left the two of them, wandering through a side door and into the Northern sunshine.

The pump was near the entrance to the gardens. And at that entrance, I ran into my very first danger at Rennington Estate.

For Royce Rennington had not left to invest in some shenanigans away from home. Instead, he was dragging a struggling female pyre across the garden, a collar around her neck and her hands bound behind her back, so he could fasten her to a high pole in the sunniest spot around.

He planned to keep her there until she was too weak with sun to resist. Her muscles would go soft, her eyelids would grow heavy. And then he would more easily force her to drink from him. For his pleasure and her pain. The other pyres, they looked on with dismayed expressions, but none of them moved to stop their master from tying up the female.

I dropped my basket to the ground without a thought. Carrots be damned. Restraint be damned. My eyes trained on the Rennington fool, I crossed the entrance to the garden.

Episode 53: An Altercation, Blood Drawn, And Unexpected Salvation

I marched up to the female pyre and began to unfasten her bindings. I did not ask Royce’s permission to do this. I did not care what he thought about my actions at all. The knots were secure but my fingers were furious. Most things give way with the proper dosage of fury.

Royce chuckled, pausing his heartless task and grinning at me. “Well, now! My cousin the mute would like a bit of fang this morning? I pegged you as more the closeted type of fanger, but I enjoy the occasional surprise.” His grin became a smirk, and his indisputably handsome face pulled in defiance. “But this one is mine for today. You will have to find yourself another. Oh, and don’t let Oeric know. He will react most prudishly and ruin your fun as well as mine.”

I continued to unravel the knots, ignoring the man’s words. If I could have ignored someone right out of existence, Royce would have vanished from the very spot where he smarmed.

He snatched the ropes from me. “Perhaps you are too dull to understand, but I have use for this pyre. You may not release her until I am finished.”