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nAs 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 met his, she heard him question,

n“What is it?

n“You were being quiet.”

n“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 time 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.

n“I was seven when I received the mark. I ran away from the slave establishment,” at Heidi’s confession, Nicholas raised both his brows. Slaves rarely tried escaping from the prison like environment the slave offered due to the punishment that was implemented, “I don’t remember how I got in there. I don’t have memories of my biological parents but I do have memories of the confined walls of the building I was in. The slaves, the head guard. I see them in my dreams sometimes. During my stay there, there was a woman there who took care of me like her own daughter. Unfortunately I don’t remember her name, maybe we never exchanged our names. She took care of me, even going an extra mile by giving me her share of food. She was a good person,” Heidi said softly.

n“Did she die?” Nicholas asked her.

n“The guard killed her in front of me. 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 me,” 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.”

n“I didn’t want to get married to Warren initially and I ran away.”

n“You seem to hold a successful record when it comes to escaping,” Nicholas commented teasingly making her smile.

n“I wasn’t successful though.”

n“Why not?” he asked, curious with the story.

n“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 me. I...I didn’t want a marriage like that. If my mother was alive she wouldn’t want that for me. 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 men.”

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 something more than her family’s ill-treatment and now that she had finally opened up to him, he waited for her to speak patiently.

n“Duke Dorian Scathlok. My uncle Raymond is well acquainted with him. He was the one who proposed our names 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 me.”

n“Did he now. The plan must have gone awfully bad if I’m still alive,” he joked, “What about your caretaker?” he inquired

n“I’m not sure if Howard is fine,” she said worried.

n“I will see if I can find anything about him,” he offered.

n“You will?” she turned around to face him, forgotten about their naked bodies.

n“Anything that will ease your mind, sweetheart. Did anything else happen during your time in Woville?” he asked her casually to see her dart her eyes.

nShe nodded her head, taking time to put her thoughts into sentence, “The Duke tried to-he tried what you did a few moments 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 me?”

n“For what reason? It isn’t hard for me to point an unfaithful person in a crowd who is going to kill me. 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 meet your family or the Duke from now,” he dropped a tender kiss on her head,

n“Don’t be so nice to me,” she could feel her eyes water.

n“Why not? Don’t tell me you’re the kind to believe you don’t deserve it.”

n“Things don’t stay the same,” she murmured but he heard it well.

nHe knew it was the wrong time to smile but he smiled anyways which she couldn’t see. It was ironic how both of them worried about the same things.

n“Let me tell you this, Heidi,” he said, still holding her in his arms, “I have no plans to leave you. Not now, not in this lifetime 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 time to place a kiss on her forehead.

nOnce 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 something so horrific at a young age, he thought, only few were chosen to such destiny.

nHe hadn’t heard the name Doriam Scathlok before and Nicholas was the kind of man who remembered people, unless he hadn’t spoken to the man before. He recollected his butler saying how he found her to be shaken after meeting a man on the day of her and Warren’s engagement. All this while Heidi had the key to who was trying to create trouble in Woville against the vampires.

nThen there was the other person was another person Heidi had mentioned. 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 establishment after Wilford.

nNicholas laughed at a private joke.

nHe remembered 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 establishment but he wasn’t in the mood that night. Going to the building, he had met 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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