Chapter 26

Valerie

My heartbeat seemed to only grow louder the longer we waited for the car to arrive. It was just Lucas and I, standing outside the castle door.

Lucas looked easy, unbothered by the task set out before us. I envied the way he didn’t seem to care about much of anything. It seemed a lot less painful than the crackle of sharp anxiety running through my ribs every few minutes.

When finally, a large black car pulled up at the gate, I followed Lucas down the stairs. The car was quite similar to the one that had driven me from the slave shop, but I could tell from the silver accents that it was a different car entirely.

I wondered how many they had. To own one car made you deliriously rich beyond the rest of the population. To have more than one was unheard of.

As we approached, Mrs. Manson and the other servants waited for us at the gate. They all seemed prepared to see us off. I wondered how many of them knew where I was going—what our mission was. They wouldn’t have crowded around l