Release (18 page)

Lilla’s cottage sat on the edge of the group of buildings that made up the brothel. It was a bit bigger than the others, but not nearly as big as the main house. Risciter let himself in without making noise. The cottage was set up like the others, except that it had a few more rooms. A tiny kitchen was tucked in the back, and instead of entering a bedroom, he entered a small living room with couches and a modest vid screen. The door to the bedroom was open.

The floor creaked a little as Risciter crossed to the bedroom. He paused, trying to step more carefully. Would this noise wake up Lilla? When there was no reaction from the bedroom, no sound at all, Risciter moved again.

Another creak.

He stepped more softly. Silence.

The bedroom was quite dark, since it didn’t have windows the way the living room did, letting in the light of the stars and moon. Risciter stood in the doorway for a few moments, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Eventually, he could see Lilla’s sleeping form on her bed. She lay on her back. Risciter watched the slight movement of her breathing as her chest rose and fell.

Lilla was not a small lady. Risciter didn’t fancy the idea of dragging her to the main house, and that was where he wanted her. But he also didn’t want her to make a lot of noise, struggle, or alert Ariana to his presence before he was ready for Ariana to know he was there. If he drugged her here in her bed while she was asleep, she wouldn’t make any noise. But he’d have to move her. No, he’d have to get her to move herself. That was the best option.

Decided, he put the cold blade of his knife against Lilla’s throat and pressed until the pain woke her.

Her eyes popped open, and she scrabbled with one hand for a rifle that was lying next to her.

Damn it. Risciter hadn’t been expecting that. “Drop the gun.”

Her hand had just closed over it. “You’re the Duke of Risciter, aren’t you?”

“Shut up,” he said. “Make one more noise, and I’ll jab this knife into your throat.”

She gave him a look of vicious hatred.

“Let go of the rifle.” He pushed with the knife to make himself clear.

Slowly, she let go of it, shooting daggers at him with her gaze.

“Good,” said Risciter. “Now you’re going to get out of bed nice and easy.”

For a second, he thought she’d refuse. But then she sat up. Risciter kept the knife at her throat and used his other arm to steady her as she got off the bed.

“We’re going to walk to the main house,” he told her. “You’re going to be quiet or you’ll be dead.”

They started walking. Lilla kept her head high, her teeth clenched. They walked out of her cottage and into the night air.

They took three more steps towards the main house and then Lilla stopped. “It occurs to me,” she said, “that you’re going to kill me no matter what I do. Why should I cooperate with you?”

Risciter seethed. “I told you to keep your mouth shut.”

“Why should I?”

Risciter whispered in her ear. “Because if you don’t, before I kill you, I’m going to fuck you with this knife.” He was improvising. Truthfully, Lilla didn’t excite him in the least. She was too old and too fat for much fun. She had a world-weary jadedness about her that turned him off. But if he could frighten her enough, maybe she’d cooperate.

Lilla stiffened next to him. Then she turned her head and spat in his face.

Risciter wiped her saliva off his cheek, anger boiling inside him. “You bitch.”

“You waste of air,” she retorted. “If you’re going to kill me, I’m going to warn my girls first.” She sucked in a breath and started to yell, “He—”

But that was as far as she got, because Risciter punched his knife into her neck, cutting much deeper than he had with any of the other girls. This wasn’t slitting or slashing, this was sawing. He ripped his knife through her flesh, her blood gushing over the front of her nightgown, her eyes going blank. She toppled to the ground.

Risciter kicked her body. Fuck. Now he was going to have to drag her after all.

Swearing under his breath, he stalked back into her cottage and stripped a sheet off the bed. He returned to her body and rolled it onto the sheet. Grabbing the four ends of the sheet, he began to tug. By the time he’d passed three of the cottages, he was out of breath. Three more and he was sweating. This stupid cunt had made everything worse. He’d kill her again if she weren’t already dead.

When he finally got her back to the main house and pulled her body into the center of the main room, he couldn’t help but take out his frustrations further. As he yanked her clothes off her body, he stabbed her again. And again. And again. It was a good thing she was so damned big, or she’d be nothing but stab wounds. Idiot whore.

After he’d managed to calm down, he set about arranging her body the way he wanted it. When Keirth saw this, it should shake him. Around Lilla, all the other girls lay dead on their couches. In the center, he propped Lilla up against a bench. She was naked, decorated only with her own blood. He spread her legs, displaying her vagina to whoever might see her. He hadn’t fucked her, but he wanted Keirth to think he had.

Risciter hadn’t fucked anyone tonight. When he’d been a younger man, perhaps he could have managed a few warm-ups before the main event. But he was older now. He didn’t quite have the stamina. He wanted to save it all for Ariana. Speaking of Ariana, it was almost time to go and get her, to put his last piece of this perfect achievement in place.

First, he stepped back to survey the room, to make sure everything was exactly the way he wanted it. He smiled. Yes. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Humming softly to himself, Risciter made his way to the kitchen and into the pantry. After feeling around in the darkness for a little bit, he found the sliding door he’d seen earlier. He opened it.

“Hello?” said a voice.

But it wasn’t Ariana’s. No. It was a bit too high pitched. Too small.

As he stepped into the room, he saw a little girl, no more than five or six years old, sitting up on her bed. Damn it. Risciter didn’t like this one bit. He’d never thought there would be children here. He supposed these whores sometimes birthed brats, though, didn’t they? He shot a glance around the room, making sure there were no more. There was only Ariana, and she was stirring a little on her bunk.

“Who are you?” asked the little girl. “Where’s my mommy?”

Ariana made a noise in her sleep, rolling over.

Risciter really didn’t relish the idea of killing children. There was something about how small they were that made it feel vaguely disgusting. But this child was a loose end. She’d seen him. He had a story to spin about the events that had taken place here tonight. She could ruin everything. And right then, she was going to keep talking and wake Ariana up. He grimaced, but stepped over to the little girl and seized her pillow.

“Who are you?” she said again.

Risciter shoved the pillow in her face. Her tiny body struggled for a very, very long time, during which Risciter found himself retching a few times. He really didn’t like killing children.

But eventually, it was done.

Risciter felt the little girl’s pulse to make sure she was dead. Her small lips had a bluish-purplish cast to them that made Risciter feel sick again. He quickly turned away from her to Ariana. Ariana was small enough to be moved easily. He crossed to her bunk, shoved his drugged handkerchief over her mouth and nose. She wouldn’t wake until he was ready for her to wake.

Chapter Twelve

Keirth had been wandering around in the area around the brothel for quite some time when he finally found it. Risciter’s ship. His heart sank immediately. Risciter was here? Okay, so he’d known he was alive, but he hadn’t expected Risciter to follow him. He guessed he shouldn’t have been such an idiot. He and Ariana had obviously angered Risciter by getting away. Now Risciter knew who he was and knew that Keirth was seeking revenge. Of course Risciter would want to find them and finish what he’d started.

The worst of it was that he’d left Ariana alone.

Keirth ran all the way back to the brothel, scolding himself the entire time. How could he have been so stupid? She’d said there was someone in the cabin with her. It must have been Risciter. Ariana had barely escaped death tonight, and he’d had the gall to give her attitude about wanting him to stay in the same room with her. If he’d known her life was in danger, he never would have let it become an issue. But his conversation with Lilla had gotten under his skin. He’d been so focused on whether or not he had feelings for Ariana that he hadn’t he hadn’t bothered to worry about her safety.

Now, as he rushed back to the brothel, he knew he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her. She could be annoying as hell, but he didn’t want her hurt. He... Damn it, he
liked
having her around. And he could still remember the way her small body had felt pressed up against him, the way her breath caught in her throat when he touched her.

He shouldn’t have been doing that, of course. He should have controlled himself, but—

None of it mattered if she was dead. Risciter was already at the brothel, and he’d left Ariana there alone with no one to protect her. Keirth didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to her while he was gone.

He crashed into the kitchen of the brothel the minute he arrived, not worrying about noise. He tore into the pantry, threw the door open, and stepped into the room.

He was greeted with the sight of a dead little girl. The child who’d been sleeping in the room with him earlier. She hung off the bed, her eyes dull, her hand dangling over the bunk.

What had happened?

He spun, taking in the rest of the room. Ariana
wasn’t there
.

Risciter had found her. This hidden room hadn’t offered her a bit of refuge. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn’t he kept her with him?

Keirth didn’t want to think about what it meant that the little girl was dead. He pushed it from his mind, only focused on Ariana. Where would Risciter have taken her? Had he taken her back to his ship? If so, he must have missed Risciter and Ariana outside the brothel.

Keirth walked out of the kitchen and into the main room.

The first thing he saw was Lilla.

He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and stumbled out of the room.

No. Not Lilla.

Keirth leaned against the wall in the kitchen, barely breathing, trying to process what he’d seen. Risciter had killed Lilla. Why? What did Risciter want with her when he had Ariana? Of course, the little girl had been dead in the room too, hadn’t she?

Feeling cold all over, Keirth stepped back into the main room. The sight of Lilla held his gaze for a long time at first. She’d been brutally stabbed over and over. There were slashes and cuts all over her body. Her head flopped back and Keirth could see the incision that had nearly severed her head from her body. Her bloody neck was open in front of him, glistening. The way she was arranged wasn’t an accident either. It was sickly provocative, something only a monster like Risciter could think up.

When he could finally tear his gaze away from Lilla, he noticed the other girls. They were dead. All of them. Most were still dressed, but some had their clothes pushed out of the way or removed, as if Risciter had enjoyed leering at them. But each had their throats cut.

That was what Risciter had done to his mother. Cut her throat. Keirth remembered seeing the movement, the flash of the knife. He’d run forward out of his hiding place, screaming. Risciter had stood up, picking up a nearby chair and clubbing Keirth over the head.

Keirth ran for the steps. Were they all dead? He pushed open doors on the top floor. Here, some of the women had been with clients. But everyone was dead. The men had been stabbed to death, the women’s throats slashed. There was blood everywhere, dripping off of satin sheets, running in rivulets down naked flesh. He checked every single room. There was no one alive.

But where was Risciter? And where was Ariana? Was she dead already too?  God, how long had he been gone? How had Risciter managed to kill all of them?

He didn’t want to check in the cottages, but he did. Everyone dead there too. The same way.

Finally, he got to Ariana’s cottage. He didn’t want her to be in there, dead. He hesitated at the doorway, not wanting to open it. If she was gone...

The things he would do to Risciter if he’d killed Ariana.

But it would be all his fault. If Ariana was dead, he’d stay alive only long enough to cut the man to shreds. Then he’d kill himself too. Because he deserved it. Ariana would be dead because he’d left her. He turned back to look at the rest of the brothel. All these women were dead because he’d lured Risciter here. He’d as good as killed them.

The force of the thought made him stagger. He grasped at the door of the cottage to keep himself from falling.

And there were strong arms behind him, wrapping around his body.

Keirth tried to turn, to struggle, to see his attacker, but there was something on his face, a cloth over his nose, over his mouth. He smelled a sickly sweet aroma, like flowers, and his vision started to go dark around the edges. Keirth’s arms flailed out, one last attempt to free himself. And then everything went black.

* * *

Keirth woke up inside the cottage. He was tied to chair, facing the bed. All the lights were on. Ariana was lying on the bed, nude. She was spread eagle, her arms and legs tied in place. She was crying, and he could hear the sounds of her sobs echoing through the room. Risciter was standing in the corner, toying with a knife. When he saw Keirth, he grinned widely.

“You’re awake,” said Risciter. “I’ve been waiting.” He gestured with his head to Ariana. “So has she.”

Keirth strained against the ropes that held him, but they didn’t budge. The chair he sat on was wooden with a plush cushion. It must have gone with the vanity in the room. He rocked on it, testing its strength. The wood creaked a little under his weight but didn’t give way.