Kuhn was right. Grim Reapers seed to swarm the entire house by that afternoon.
Belle hadn’t noticed them at first and had tried to go about her day as if she hadn’t killed the man nad Harry, the one whose partner had been desperately looking for him. But it soon beca clear that she couldn’t live in peace.
Peace, it was far-fetched now, especially when she knew the real reason her husband had gone to Nightbrook. Still, she had tried to fake it. She had wanted to pretend. But the presence of the Reapers made that utterly impossible.
Everywhere she went in the house, she would turn a corner or step into a hallway and co face-to-face with one of the creatures. Each ti, she was forced to pretend she saw nothing, even though her heart would double over in dread. She had seen many of the servants walk right through them without flinching as they couldn’t see the creatures. But she couldn’t. Not when their presence chilled her down to the bone.
Walking through them was sothing she simply couldn’t do. She always ended up turning back the way she ca. And she didn’t think she could keep staying in this house, not when she knew that the presence of Reapers was a warning sign, one that ant death was coming.
Before she had killed the guard, a Reaper had hovered quietly around the basent. Now, she counted more than seven of them scattered throughout the house, which could only an one thing: the ti of seven people was almost up.
People were bound to die today. The realization struck hard and made her co to a sudden, desperate decision.
She had to leave.
Belle did not want to be the cause of anyone’s death again. She had already killed one man, and if there were this many Reapers here, then death was inevitable.
She needed to save herself, and her baby, at all costs. She couldn’t let herself beco just another soul taken by these creatures.
Belle impatiently waited until the sunset to carry on with her plans. The other guard who had left to look for his partner was nowhere in the house, and she had a feeling he had gone to make a missing report. If not careful, the Counciln would be back here, and if they ca here, soone was bound to die.
The mont she noticed the sun had dipped below the horizon, Belle took action.
Her movents had grown terribly slow, and her back ached in a way it never had before. Her stomach felt like a heavy weight dragging her down. She couldn’t move as fast as she wanted, but she began to pack the important things she would need.
For so reason, she instinctively reached for the baby supplies Rohan had bought months ago. She wrapped a few of them, along with the sweaters she had knitted, into a sheet. She added the things she had quietly prepared beforehand for the baby, then packed a single gown and a set of undergarnts for herself.
She went into Rohan’s study and searched for the place where he always kept coins for her, in case she ever needed sothing. She opened the chest and took as many as she could carry, tucking them safely into a pouch.
The walk back from the study to the chamber was difficult. Her legs ached. She was sweating and panting from the strain, but she managed to gather everything inside the sheet and bound it tightly together.
Done with her packing, she took a cloak from her wardrobe and draped it over her shoulders, pulling the hood up to cover her head.
She was reaching out to carry the bundled clothes when she heard voices coming from outside.
Belle didn’t need to waste ti finding out who had co. She grabbed the bundle and began to hurry out.
The mont she stepped out of her chamber, a loud sound of gunfire echoed from the lower hall, causing her heart to nearly leap out of her chest. She didn’t stop. She broke into a run, heading in the direction of the back secret exit Rohan had once shown her, in case of an ergency.
It was almost as if Rohan had known a day like this would co, when he wouldn’t be here, and she would need a way out.
He hadn’t just subtly shown her how to escape; he had also made sure to leave enough money for her. The thought made her heart ache with longing for his presence.
But now wasn’t the ti to dwell on that yearning, the deep craving for the safety and security of her husband’s arms.
She needed to rely on herself now. And that, in itself, was a challenge.
She entered the room just down the hall from her chamber and moved the rug at the center aside, then pulled open a floor panel that revealed a hidden, basent-like space with a narrow staircase.
As she began to descend, she reached up and started to close the panel behind her. Just then, more gunfire rang out in rapid succession. The mont the heavy panel clicked shut, the sound was muffled, and she was plunged into darkness.
Her heart beat wildly inside her chest as she made her way down the stairs in the pitch black, clutching the bundle tightly to her chest.
She had no idea where Kuhn was, but sohow, she felt certain he would find her if he wanted to. With the Reapers around she knew the creature would be in hiding.
Belle walked down the stairs and soon found the secret door that led outside the house. She took the key from beneath the vase at the door, just as she had been shown, and unlocked it by feeling around for the keyhole in the dark.
When she finally pulled the door open, she stepped out of the house from a side where no one would suspect that the wall was, in fact, a hidden door.
Not wanting to risk going around to the front and using the main gate, she knew she would have to jump over the short iron fence. It seed almost impossible in her condition.
But who would have thought that the sound of more gunshots would push her into doing sothing that went beyond her physical limits?
Belle didn’t even realize how she managed to climb over the iron. All she knew was that she had thrown her bundle over first, lifted her dress, and hauled herself up.
She landed on the other side with a painful thud, the impact shooting through her back and lower belly, but the urgency of the mont overpowered the pain.
She grabbed her things quickly and began to hurry out of the narrow corner that separated the manor from the neighboring house.
A loud scream rang out from behind her, sowhere deep within the house, but Belle never turned to see what was happening.
She kept running, one arm clutching the bundle clothes tightly under her arm, the other wrapped protectively around her heavy belly. The baby stirred and kicked in protest, its sharp movents jabbing at her ribs and lower belly. It was as if it sensed her panic and was not pleased by it.
Pain flared in her back, and each step sent waves of pressure through her legs and pelvis. She could hardly breathe.
But Belle couldn’t stop.
"Endure it, little one," she whispered through trembling lips, her voice thick with fear. "Please... I can’t stop yet. Just hold on for ."
anwhile, back in the house she had left, the Councilman who had brought enforcent into the house stood at the foyer as n tore the house apart to search for the lady, who just an hour ago, a letter had arrived from the man he sent to Aragonia that the Cutter family were imposters who had never co from there.
"My Lord, we have killed every single person," ca the report of one of the enforcers, who held a rifle poised in front of him with blood on his face.
"Good. What about the lady?" he asked, admiring the gun in his hands that had a bullet that could kill a night creature. "I need her alive. We have to use her to experint with a new weapon for what creatures they are."
"Yes, sir. The n are still searching the house for her. She hadn’t left, and she is sure to be sowhere inside."
"Hurry it up. And make sure none of the workers stay alive, kill them all." He barked the order at the man, who bowed and then hurriedly went to order n.
The Councilman was acting on direct orders from the King, to eliminate every servant who had ever received a bite mark from the creatures in this house. Since Nullshade hadn’t worked on the lady, and she had been exposed as an imposter, the Councilman had drawn his own conclusion.
They were dealing with creatures that could maintain human forms... and drink blood.
They couldn’t afford to keep the workers alive and risk spreading more unknown creatures. No one was certain if the bite had only been for blood and not with the intention to turn them. As per protocol, he was doing his duty of clearing their land of future spread of monsters by killing any possible threat.
"My Lord, we found sothing in the basent!" ca the urgent voice of one of the n who ran back to report to the Councilman.
Everett’s brows drew together as he demanded, "What did you find?"
"It’s Harry, my Lord. You need to see this."
The Councilman left the foyer where he was standing and keeping a close eye on the stairs so no one would escape. But hearing the boy he had personally recruited into the enforcent, who had gone missing, had been found, he left the post and went toward the basent.
Everett was shaken when he found the boy dead, his sword deep inside his chest, and the body had started decaying with a foul sll in the air.
"We believe the lady had done this, Sire," said the bulky man who had been posted in the house with the dead guard.
The Councilman’s hands clenched into tight fists as he stared at the dead body of a boy he had taken more like a son he didn’t have.
"Where is the woman?" he asked calmly, while his anger shimred within him.
"She... she’s nowhere in the house. We have looked everywhere, Sire."
Everett’s eyes swirled around to the man who spoke.
"She’s a damn pregnant woman, she wouldn’t have gone far. What are you all doing here? Get the hell out and find the bitch! I want her brought to alive or dead, understand?!" he barked, angry veins bulging in his forehead.
And the n answered in unison,
"Yes, sir!"
They all scattered from the basent to follow the orders of finding the woman.
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