Page 21 of The Spinster’s Secret Stake
Their guttural curses grated in the air, and their crushing grips tightened on her arms.
She bit down hard on the hand covering her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs.
The next instant, the other abductor backhanded her, and she slumped into unconsciousness.
SEVEN
An abandoned tavern
The outskirts of Blackheath, England
That same morning—perhaps an hour later…
“Wake up. You must wake up.”
Gentle but persistent shaking roused Roxina, and groaning, she forced her eyelids open. Confusion muddled her mind as she tried to remember what had happened.
She had been walking to church with Dash.
A coach lurched to a stop beside her.
Two thugs dragged her inside, and one cuffed her across the cheek.
Then nothing.
Until now.
She swallowed against the fear tightening her throat.
God above, she had been abducted.
Abducted!
Why?
Her cheek burned hotly where the clod had struck her. She had no doubt a bruise had already begun to form. The throbbing pain in her skull only added to her disorientation.
What of Dash?
Had the curs injured him?
Renewed fear and fury tunneled through Roxina’s veins.
She forced herself to count: one, two, three, four, five.
Histrionics and rage would get her nowhere.
She must stay calm and focused.
Muted light filtered inside between the wide cracks in the irregular boards that made up the uneven walls.
Roxina blinked, trying to focus her gaze.
Where was she?
Dust motes floated in the golden rays crisscrossing the shadowy interior. The scent of mildew, urine, and sour ale clung to the air as the damp walls exhaled decades of neglect. Every surface bore the weight of dust and decay. The cobweb-covered wooden planks above her creaked, whispering secrets of past transgressions.
A broken pierced-tin lantern dangled from a rusted nail, its smoke-stained, cracked glass splintering the golden light that slipped through the gaps in the walls, casting eerie patterns across the dirt floor. Crates, umber-colored rum bottles, barrels, and other rubbish lay scattered about haphazardly, as if long ago, someone had tossed them aside and forgotten them.
