Tender Mercies - By Kitty Thomas Page 0,16

hoped the trip wouldn’t take long, but also that it would take forever. Both conflicting thoughts she held in her head with equal fervor. If it was a short drive, this uncomfortable feeling of being so close to him in an enclosed space in uncertainty could end. If the drive was long, whatever fresh hell was waiting for her on the other side of the trip would be delayed.

He finally broke the silence. “Pet?”

Grace recoiled at the endearment, but forced herself to look at him. He appeared disappointed. Buyer’s remorse? Her long hair had shielded the marks on her back from his eyes, but soon enough he’d see them and realize they weren’t just fresh lashes that would heal and be erased, but scars, too. Things that marked her as far from perfect. If he’d spent much money to acquire her, she was terrified of what would happen when he saw them.

“You don’t like that name, do you?”

She remained quiet because it didn’t seem there was an answer that would please him. If she said she liked it fine, he would think she was giving him attitude. If she said she didn’t like it, well, wasn’t that more of the same? It felt rhetorical anyway. Instead, she watched him and waited for whatever came next.

He seemed to be debating something in his head, a fight that went on for quite some time. She held her breath throughout the internal struggle. Finally he sighed and said, “How about kitten?”

Stunned silence followed, and suddenly she was aware of just how unprepared she was for living with another master on the island. Lucas had never given her any standard protocol to follow, and she had no idea how to speak to this new variable. She looked at the trees again. She was aware that she was crunched up against the window with a good foot of space between her and her new master.

He chuckled. “Well, I know you speak.” Since they’d gotten into the car, his voice had remained gentle. Nothing like what she’d experienced in the dungeon when he’d warned her against struggling. A part of her wanted to believe in this, that the sunshine and birds all somehow forecasted a bright new beginning, the kind of life she’d thought she was getting when she came to Eleu. But believing and then falling so far again . . . Hope wasn’t worth the price.

Then his warm hand was in hers, and he was pulling her close against him. He smelled like spices, rich and dark. Her ear pressed against the middle of his chest, and she could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. Grace couldn’t help tensing, afraid that after having been in the dungeon she was messing up his suit. She worried she’d be punished for it. Perhaps he wanted to lower her guard so he could hurt her more.

Lucas had done that for the first ten minutes as they’d stood in the entryway. He’d let her take in the extensiveness of his wealth, let her hope for one moment that somehow she’d share in all of that, that she’d be his pampered pet. And then they’d gone to the basement with the cell that was to be her home.

On occasion, he’d taken her upstairs, mainly to his bedroom, but she was never allowed to sleep there. He’d wanted to remind her of what she couldn’t have, what only he had the right to enjoy.

The rest of the ride was quiet. She was surprised when Asher’s hand never strayed to touch her. The cloak wasn’t much of a barrier, but he didn’t attempt to breech it, not even when the fabric fell open. Did he not want her? She’d only had the old distorted mirror in the dungeon, so it was possible that eight months of not eating well and being kept out of the light had made her intolerable to look at. But why would he have bought her if that was the case?

Perhaps he had other plans. Maybe she wasn’t to be used for sex at all. Maybe he needed a maid.

“We’re here.”

She looked out the window to see a house as grand as Lucas’s had been, and she wondered what dark, dank dungeon she’d be introduced to next.

***

Grace followed him through the house as he gave her the tour. She knew he watched for her reaction, but how excited could she get about nice things she couldn’t really touch or enjoy? She supposed she should embrace this