Chapter 3

I could hear them downstairs. Muffled voices, something heavy hitting something soft.

Last life he carried my body out of a crematorium. This life he was getting beaten for me.

What could I do for him?

Get him out. Get him free. Give him the life he actually wanted.

One of the housekeepers rushed in. "They're still going at it. Seth passed out and nobody told them to stop."

My chest tightened.

"What did Julian say?"

"He's with Seraphina. He hasn't said anything."

Hasn't said stop. Which meant they'd keep going until Seth couldn't get up again.

Seraphina wanted him silenced. He'd recognized her face and she couldn't risk him remembering where from.

I turned toward the stairs and Seraphina's voice hit me from the end of the hallway. She was standing there with two of the older housekeepers flanking her like bodyguards.

"If you go down there right now, you're proving everything I said at dinner."

I almost laughed.

"You're right. Why would I care what happens to the help."

I glanced at the necklace still in her hand.

"You still want me to wear that?"

Her eyes lit up. She held it out like an offering.

"You'll actually put it on?"

I took it from her and sighed.

"Tomorrow's the anniversary of my mother's death. I'm going to St. Catherine's to light a candle."

"If you really mean all this, come with me. Put it on me there, in the chapel. In front of God."

Something flickered in her eyes. Suspicion. But it was gone in a second, swallowed by the thrill of winning.

She probably thought I was caving to save face after the scene at dinner.

"Of course. I'll go with you tomorrow."

She smiled. The same smile she had in my last life when she got what she wanted.

I nodded and turned to walk away.

"You're not going downstairs?"

"No."

Seth was already unconscious. Going down there wouldn't save him.

Begging for him would only hand Seraphina exactly what she wanted.

But I had another way.

Back in my room, I typed out a message and had someone deliver it to Beatrice Sterling's office.

Beatrice might not care about one housekeeper. But she cared about her reputation.

Someone roughing up her staff at a party? She'd want a word about that.