Page 4 of The Forsaken

Did he think she meant the scars he brought back from the sea? It was a fair assumption. The gossip pages constantly wrote that the once-handsome Lord Kerr now inspired only dread, save for the most scandalous women of Polite Society. Andromena longed to tell him he was still whole. She wanted to say the cruel tales comparing him to a beast were lies, and that she did not fear him at all.

She gave him a tender smile. “I merely expected they would have sent one of my brothers or c-cousins or crewmen or—”

“They didn’t send me.” He cut her off like the only person he was saving this day was himself from her chattering.

“They didn’t?”

Viscount Kerr said nothing; his meaning clear. He’d rescued her all on his own.

“Were you passing by or also on the way to Meghan and the Duke of Hartwell’s wedding?”

“Yes,” said Kerr.

“I’m not sure it can be both of those.” She dazzled him with a smile.

Or tried to. His jaw stayed locked.

Her mirror-practiced coquetry was in dire need of work.

The muffled bells chiming the hour of Meghan’s supposed-to-be-wedding rescued her from further embarrassment.

Andromena fiddled with the lace on her glove. “I-If you’ll excuse me, my lord. My family will be along shortly to collect us.”

Everything happened in a flash. She took a step to go, the same moment Lord Kerr took a jarring step towards her. Naturally, Andromena responded as any sane person would at finding themselves charged with it, and stepped aside. Which, unfortunately, sent the viscount stepping off into the thin air.

The viscount disappeared so quickly, his fall so silent, she thought she might have dreamed up their meeting. Only the deep tracks of his boots proved it was real.

Heart beating fast, she forced herself to look over the ledge, and her heart dropped all the way down with it.

Yes, he was there, five feet below her. All six feet two inches of him, clad in black, stretched with his arms and legs out on either side of them like the Devil frozen mid-snow angel, his tricorn cap flown some two yards behind him, and only his face covering protecting him from the elements.

Blast and damn.

He shouldn’t have rushed at her. It really was his own doing that he’d possibly killed himself. That was no consolation.

Andromena eyed the fastest and safest path down. “J-Just a moment. I will save you.”

The soft heel of her footwear broke the ice coating with a crunch and sank through until the snow swallowed several inches past her ankle. Andromena wrenched her foot free and took uneven steps to reach him. A gale snatched her hood back, and the snowy specks of ice battered Andromena’s face. Her breath came in quick spurts, leaving puffs of white as she slipped and slid all the way down, until she reached him.

She stared down at his motionless body.

A cold knot of dread twisted in his stomach. “Wh-What have you d-done, you f-foolish man?”

Silence alone answered.

Her teeth chattering a frantic rhythm, Andromena rubbed her numb arms, shivering as the freezing wind stripped the last of her warmth.

“K-Kerr?”

The wind howled a low, mournful sound.

Check him. Do something, Andromena…

Past blurred with present.

Do something…!

Around her, the ice-studded snow suddenly whipped like a cyclone about them, faster and faster, into a violent whorl that ripped her hood off completely and snatched her curls free of her face. The Fairy Queen commanding Andromena: Look! Look what you have done to this great sea captain, you banshee. You will pay for your sins.