Bittersweet Endeavors (35 page)

“What is it that you don’t understand,
Myra
?”  His tone
grated
out like
broken
glass, and
Myra
felt
a chill
course
through her as his voice cut
through
her
very bone.  “Do you not understand that I have to watch my wife make eyes at another man when she’ll not even
give me the slightest glance?
Can you not see that this mayhap be humiliating for me in front of our guests?
”

“We agreed,
Zachary. 
Tis
a marriage by
name only.  You’ll be able to return to good grace
s
with
King
Charles, and I
the freedom
to save my sister and
unseat
my uncle.  Is that not what we agr
eed
?”

Zachary
stepped
forward
and
towered her small frame. 
He no longer donned his periwig, and a
lock of his dark
-
gray
hair fell forward over his eye
and made
his appearance all the more menacing. 
His face
reddened
and his cold,
gray
eyes scourged through her
as if
he
attempted
to
steal her soul
. 

“If you’d get
Seth Preston out of your mind, we could have a real marriage,
Myra
.”

“I don’t want a real marriage with you!”

If possible,
all
of Zachary’s
life’s
blood rushed into his cheeks
and it displayed
his full
-fledged
anger. 
It was then that Myra
knew she shouldn’t have
declared her hatred so blatantly. 

Zachary grabbed
a fistful
of
Myra
’s
hair and
easily
overpowered her
. 
He pulled her
toward him,
and
he thrust
his
lips
on
to
hers.  She struggled
with
in his
clutches
and tried to break free of his hold
. 
Aside the pain,
she
only
comprehend
ed
that the
vile man erased the sweet kisses
Seth
had
left
behind only a
n hour before he came into the room
. 
It
nauseated her.  Without care to repercussions,
Myra
raised her hand and clawed
her
sharp nails against his cheek.  Five ghastly layers of deep, bloodied indents marred his cheek.  B
l
ood oozed from the sight
.  She
gasped
aloud
when she saw
what her action produced
. 

Zachary’s hand went to his face.  Anger
surged
through
his eyes
when he lowered his bloodstained hand and
comprehended
the damage she inflicted
.  He threw
Myra
to the floor and she cried out as her head collided against the bricks of the hearth. 
Blood trickled down her forehead. 
Zachary backed away from her and stumbled, and
his hand r
ose
protectively
against
his face
as
he wince
d
in pain. 
H
e rushed to the
looking-glass
that was lying
on her bureau. 
Myra
swallowed her fear
,
a
nd
she watched
the
maddened
expressions
s
play across
Zachary’s face when
he viewed the grotesque marks she
had
left behind.

“How dare you do this to me?” he shouted. 

In slow, calculated
steps, he edged toward her. 
Her fear equaled the time her
uncle
had
held her captive by the roadside
. 
Unlike her uncle, she feared this time she wouldn’t escape death by the madman who held her.

“I didn’t mean it,”
Myra
pleaded.  “I truly didn’t mean it.”  She dragged herself
across
the floor until her back
leaned
flush against the
hearth
. 
At the least, he’d beat her, and at his worst he’d
take her
life for her insolence. 
Neither option was acceptable.  She closed h
er eyes
and
mentally
detached
herself for
the thrashing she’
d
undoubtedly receive.

“Sir,” a
stranger
’s voice called
out
in nearly a shout.
 

Zachary
h
eld
his arm in mid-air
and
read
ied
for his
strike
,
but
he
stopped
at the
sound of the
man’s voice.  M
yra
opened her
eyes and saw
who gave her th
e
short reprieve,
and
her mouth
opened
in surprise. 

Thomas
?
 
Thomas
Witcliff.  As
he helped
her on the ship
when coming
to Jamestown
so
many months ago, he now
stood
before her
and helped
again.  Zachary must have bought hi
s bond
at auction,
Myra
surmised
.  She
was
relieved
when she saw
his
kind face.

“I can take care of those wounds on your face,
s
ir,”
Thomas
offered.  “
But if
you do
not
want
lasting
scar
s
, I must tend
to
them
posthaste
.”

Zachary glared at her, and she almost tho
ught he
’d
continue his tirade
up
on her.  To her good fortune, his vanity won out and he stormed out the door. 

“Thank
you,”
Myra
mouthed to
Thomas
before he followed his employer out the door.  A gentle smile tugged at the corners of his mouth
,
and after a
terse
nod, he
followed Zachary down the hall
.

Lucia
quickly
returned
after the
men left
. She lifted the hem of her skirt and pressed it against the wound on Myra’s head.  With her other hand, she
caressed the mark on
Myra
’s cheek
which
had
already
started
to turn pale yellow and gray
around the
existing
bruise. 
             

“He deserves worse than what you gave him,
Myra
. 
He’s a beast! 
Hopefully one day
he’ll get what’s
truly
due him.”

Myra
held Lucia’s wrist
and prevented
her
further prodding of her
head and
cheek.  The more she pok
ed, the worse the pain grew.  “
Tis fine.  Honest
.”
Myra
stood and closed her
bedroom
chamber door.  A heavy sigh followed the echo of the door’s squeak. 
It wasn’t until she turn
ed the key that she felt safe.

“We have to do something, Lucia.  We
need to
get you away from here before his anger turns to you.  He may decide to use you against me.  He h
as
already threatened
to
harm Seth
, a
nd God’s truth, Lucia, I don’t know what I’ll do if he threatens you, too.”

“I’ll not leave.” 
She shook her head vehemently
and
a
frown held firm on her face.  “I’ll not leave you here alone to contend with him
, especially whilst that babe is in your belly
.”  Lucia bit nervously at her bottom lip. 

Myra
shook
her
head in resignation.  “There’s no getting out of this.  It shall only get worse.  Especially once
he learns the
re’s a
child within my womb
.  I am damned to be his wife, in the eyes
of
law and God, Lucia.  There’s no getting loose of this now. 
No matter if Seth still loves me, we’ll never be together.
”
 
Myra
threw herself onto the bed and wept. 
She wished that
she force
d
Seth to listen before she
yielded
to Zachary
’s ultimatum
. 
 

“We’ll
leave Virginia and not return until after the baby’s birth
,” Lucia suggested.
  “Cook told me that Zacha
ry has accepted an invitation at
the Preston’s
on
the morrow
.  You can speak to Seth and see if he can
offer assistance
.”

“I know no
t what to expect from Seth.  P
resently
, I’
ll
be satisfied if he d
oesn’t
hate me.
  But we do need to get a way to England and find Mary posthaste.  By Zachary revealing my identity so soon, we have no time to
delay
.  We need to get her to safety before word gets back to my uncle
that my identity is no longer hidden
.”  Myra shook her head.  “I don’t believe Zachary had any intentions on helping to bring her to safety.  I think his only intent was to get
the
Brunnington
title
, as well as a way to gain an audience with The King to make his plea
.  His marriage to me has afforded him both.  He gains little advantage by helping me
now
.
”

“Tis settled
,
Myra,
you must go to Seth for help
. 
He’s the only one who can
trust to aid
yo
u now
.”

*                    *                    *

Zachary
stare
d at her from the moment they
arrived, and no matter what direction she turned, she
felt
his examining
gaze upon her
. 
Myra
shifted uncomfortably in her chair.  It
was
all she
had done
the p
ast
two hours
since the
y arrived at the Preston’s home
.  S
he
ran
o
ut of areas to look
in order
to avoid
making
eye
contact with Seth
, as well as
Margaret’s damning stare. 
Myra
tried to greet her
up
on their arrival
at the Preston Manor
, but
she
was
met with a cold
silence
and then mumbled words of disgust as Margaret walked away from her
. 
Myra knew she couldn’t blame Margaret for her reaction. 
Margaret
wasn’t
privy to the real reasons of her and Zachary’s relationship,
and
believed
that
she
stole the man she love
d
. 
It left her devastated,
and rightly so,
b
ut she
couldn’t
allow herself to worry about Margaret
. 
She needed to talk with Seth alone, and
Myra thought and contrived
of
a way she’d get away with it.
 
But
if Zachary
caught wind of her plan, he’
d
surely make h
er pay the consequences
, and possibly harm Seth in the process
.