Chapter 113: Him- Part 3
As he lathered her up with the soap, Heidi couldn’t resist but to take a peak over her shoulders at the man. When her eyes t his, she heard him question,
“What is it?
“You were being quiet.”
“Is that so unusual?” at the nod of her head, he asked, “When did you receive the mark on your back? Where the Curtis’ family who bought you?” Last night they hadn’t found the ti to talk about everything and Heidi knew that Nicholas would have questions about it, “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” he added.
“I was seven when I received the mark. I ran away from the slave establishnt,” at Heidi’s confession, Nicholas raised both his brows. Slaves rarely tried escaping from the prison like environnt the slave offered due to the punishnt that was implented, “I don’t rember how I got in there. I don’t have mories of my biological parents but I do have mories of the confined walls of the building I was in. The slaves, the head guard. I see them in my dreams sotis. During my stay there, there was a woman there who took care of like her own daughter. Unfortunately I don’t rember her na, maybe we never exchanged our nas. She took care of , even going an extra mile by giving her share of food. She was a good person,” Heidi said softly.
“Did she die?” Nicholas asked her.
“The guard killed her in front of . She was supposed to go with the guard to an auction but she refused that day. Disobedience is not taken lightly there and the guard’s word is absolute. He...butchered her in front of ,” she whispered as her voice wavered unsteadily. Nicholas rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. Bringing her closer to him so that he could hug her, “After she died I couldn’t bear the pain and I tried escaping but it didn’t go well and the seal of slave was placed. I took another chance and finally did outrun the guard in charge of the facility. I ran for days until I ended up in Woville and in front of my uncle, Raymond Curtis on the street.”
“I didn’t want to get married to Warren initially and I ran away.”
“You seem to hold a successful record when it cos to escaping,” Nicholas comnted teasingly making her smile.
“I wasn’t successful though.”
“Why not?” he asked, curious with the story.
“My family aren’t fond of vampires and when father heard that Nora was going to be sent here, he and my uncle switched her place with . I...I didn’t want a marriage like that. If my mother was alive she wouldn’t want that for . Even if it weren’t for the uninvited marriage, I would have left. I saved enough money to start life anew but things didn’t go according to plan,” Heidi sighed, “My sister found out about it and our caretaker, Howard was beaten by the Duke’s n.”
“Duke?” Nicholas questioned her. He didn’t miss the fear that had begun to creep into her eyes and there was a change in the rhythm of her heartbeat. Nicholas was aware with the fact that there was sothing more than her family’s ill-treatnt and now that she had finally opened up to him, he waited for her to speak patiently.
“Duke Dorian Scathlok. My uncle Raymond is well acquainted with him. He was the one who proposed our nas for the truce to Lord Wastell. I, the Duke kept Howard in proposition that he would keep him alive and breathing if I complied with the truce without any resistance. He planned to kill you through .”
“Did he now. The plan must have gone awfully bad if I’m still alive,” he joked, “What about your caretaker?” he inquired
“I’m not sure if Howard is fine,” she said worried.
“I will see if I can find anything about him,” he offered.
“You will?” she turned around to face him, forgotten about their naked bodies.
“Anything that will ease your mind, sweetheart. Did anything else happen during your ti in Woville?” he asked her casually to see her dart her eyes.
She nodded her head, taking ti to put her thoughts into sentence, “The Duke tried to-he tried what you did a few monts ago here,” Nicholas’ eyes narrowed at her words and he evened his temper when she looked up at him, “A-aren’t you mad at ?”
“For what reason? It isn’t hard for to point an unfaithful person in a crowd who is going to kill . And frankly, you don’t look the part. Your beating heart gives away a lot of things. I am sorry to hear what happened. You won’t have to et your family or the Duke from now,” he dropped a tender kiss on her head,
“Don’t be so nice to ,” she could feel her eyes water.
“Why not? Don’t tell you’re the kind to believe you don’t deserve it.”
“Things don’t stay the sa,” she murmured but he heard it well.
He knew it was the wrong ti to smile but he smiled anyways which she couldn’t see. It was ironic how both of them worried about the sa things.
“Let tell you this, Heidi,” he said, still holding her in his arms, “I have no plans to leave you. Not now, not in this lifeti nor in the next one. I will spoil you with everything I am capable of. You have nothing to fear,” and when she turned around, he saw her anxious to which he leaned forward but this ti to place a kiss on her forehead.
Once Heidi left the room clothed, Nicholas sat in front of the fireplace in his room which was extinguished. It was no wonder she could withstand a gory scene. To witness sothing so horrific at a young age, he thought, only few were chosen to such destiny.
He hadn’t heard the na Doriam Scathlok before and Nicholas was the kind of man who rembered people, unless he hadn’t spoken to the man before. He recollected his butler saying how he found her to be shaken after eting a man on the day of her and Warren’s engagent. All this while Heidi had the key to who was trying to create trouble in Woville against the vampires.
Then there was the other person was another person Heidi had ntioned. Calos Juves. He knew the man. He was the guard who had been assigned before he bought Stanley from there. He was the in charge, the head of authority in the slave establishnt after Wilford.
Nicholas laughed at a private joke.
He rembered the night he had gone to visit one of the slaves he had put in himself when he saw a child running past him, several yards away. Usually he would have picked the runaway slave and would have put the person back in the establishnt but he wasn’t in the mood that night. Going to the building, he had t the guard to see a freshly carved mark on his face. It wasn’t uncommon but neither was it common for slaves to escape due to the tight security the facility provided. If his calculations was right, the child he had seen running past his gaze was none other than Heidi.
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