Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1) (17 page)

He left without a word. She poured herself a
glass of wine and saluted herself with it in the mirror to
celebrate her imminent Council seat.
Who cares about Gryffon
anyway? Soon I will be on the Council and moved into the palace.
There, I'll have my pick of the highest nobles, rich and powerful
men throwing themselves at my feet. Not good for nothing,
wandering
…she felt herself spiraling back into her rampage once
more and instead focused on Lord Carlon. Although his support alone
did not guarantee her a seat, it certainly would give her an
excellent chance.
If I can just get Father to see the light. And
it just might be possible with Lord Carlon backing me
. Her
father would have to see that she had a chance to get the vote with
Carlon behind her. Once he realized this, he wouldn't risk her
gaining the seat without his support. Backing her also implied he
was giving her permission.
And he wouldn't want his little baby
girl to gain anything unless he says it's okay.
She sneered
mockingly.
Once I have that power
...
I'll make
him
beg for things
.

The little wench had the misfortune of
entering the room just then, obviously under the impression that it
was empty. Jezebel jumped at the chance to disabuse her of this
notion. “Well, well, well,” she sneered. “If it isn't the little
Golden Girl, hard at work.”

“My lady,” she squeaked out in a surprised
voice and then stammered, “I was just returning this book I
borrowed.” She held the book out to Jezebel instead of placing it
on the table where she had been about to put it.

Jezebel took the book and, never taking her
eyes off the girl, proceeded to rip page after page out of it. The
girl stood there dumbfounded, watching her stupidly as she tore the
book apart. “You call this taking care of a book?” Jezebel demanded
when there wasn't a page left intact. “How dare you mistreat my
property like this after I was so nice to let you read it? You
probably can't even read. You probably just look at the pictures.
No doubt you have absolutely no concept that this book,” she shook
the offending item, “was worth ten thousand coppers. Do you have
ten thousand coppers to repay me with?” The girl stared at her with
eyes so wide Jezebel thought that they might pop out of her head,
but other than opening and closing her mouth a few times like a
fish, she seemed unable to respond. Jezebel shook her head at her
in disgust, and snorted. “Typical. You lowborn sluts are all the
same. Devon!” She screamed this last word shrilly and waited,
watching the growing fear of the girl.

“Yes, my lady?” he queried after looking the
situation over with interest upon his arrival.

“Ah Devon,” Jezebel purred. “I need you to
lock up this miscreant before taking her to the Hall of Justice to
be judged. Just look what she did to my book that I so nicely let
her borrow. Can you believe that one of my own servants would do
that to me after all I do for them?” She held out the book for him
to see.

He took it carefully, eyeing the torn pages
strewn about on the ground. “But I didn't do it!” the girl burst
out in an appeal to Devon, looking completely bewildered. He simply
shook his head at her.

“No one is going to listen to you,” Jezebel
told her in a quiet voice, “and now you'll find out what they do to
whores like you. Get her out of my sight, Devon.”

Devon took the girl by the arm, ignoring her
protests, and led her out of the room. Jezebel smiled to herself,
listening to the pleading of the girl as Devon led her away. She
took another sip of wine, and the tingling sensation as it slid
down her throat added to her general feeling of satisfaction.

*

Devon led Layna down the hallway towards the
staircase that led to the lower levels. The lower levels that were
off-limits so that no one would know what went on there. Layna
didn’t want to find out first-hand what did. She implored Devon to
let her go, but he remained deaf to her plight, and continued
stoically down the stairs into the dank dungeons below. Layna had
never before set foot in the lower level, and had never wanted to.
This had been where the bar fight man had been led not so long ago.
She spared a split-second to wonder what had become of him, but his
past hardly seemed relevant when her own future was so
uncertain.

As they descended into the bowels of the
manor, the walls seemed to close in around her. Terror spread
through Layna, and her breathing became shallow and wavering. When
they reached the bottom, Layna tripped over the uneven ground and
landed heavily on the floor. Gasping in horror at a deep red stain
there, she snatched her hand away from it and hastened to right
herself. Devon shoved her against a wall and ordered her to put her
hands up onto it.

Slowly, with shaking hands, she complied. She
closed her eyes tightly as he groped her in the guise of checking
for anything that she could use to escape. He brought his body
close to hers, and buried his face in her hair. He inhaled deeply.
She could feel him pressing against her, and a tear squeezed out.
She braced herself for whatever he planned on doing next.

Loud footsteps echoed down the stairs, and
Devon turned hastily to see who was intruding. “Don't you touch
her,” Gryffon growled at him.

Devon took an involuntary step backwards as
Gryffon continued his momentum from his descent straight towards
the smaller man. “You have no right to be down here,” Devon shot
back at Gryffon, but he made no forward advance.

“And you have no right locking up innocent
girls when we both know what really happened,” Gryffon retorted,
shaking his finger inches from Devon's face. “We both know Layna
didn't do anything and if you so much as lay a finger on her I will
rip you apart. You hear me?”

Devon's gaze darted to Layna and back to
Gryffon. Layna could almost see the wheels turning, debating
whether or not it would be worth it for him to start something with
Gryffon. Evidently he decided it would not because he dropped his
eyes and said gruffly, “She needs to be locked up until she can be
taken to the Court of Common Pleas.”

“Fine,” Gryffon spat out. “But I'm not
leaving you alone with her. I don't trust you any more than that
witch upstairs.”

Layna stood glued to where she was standing.
The wave of relief crashing over her from Gryffon's sudden
appearance was so great that she suddenly felt lightheaded.
Blackness washed over her view. The last thing she saw as her eyes
rolled back into her head was the ceiling rushing away from
her.

When she awoke, she was curled into a ball on
a bed of straw facing a stone wall. Slowly she turned, and her fear
returned in full as she realized she was inside a cell. She
scrambled to her feet and let out a strangled cry of despair. Her
outburst startled Gryffon, who was sitting on a chair next to the
cell. He reached out a hand, and rested it on her shoulder through
the bars.

“Shhh,” he soothed. “You may have a bit of a
bump on your head. You caught me off-guard there when you fainted.
I was only able to break your fall a bit rather than catch you as I
would have preferred.” He gave her a sympathetic smile and patted
her shoulder once more.

“Thank you,” she whispered, hoping that the
two simple words could relay to him just how much his coming down
here and saving her from Devon had meant to her.

“It's the least I could do,” he said his lips
tightening around the edges guiltily. “After all, your troubles no
doubt are a result of my seeking out your company. Besides, you owe
the thanks to your friend Katrina, she saw you being dragged down
here and rushed to tell me.”

He smiled ruefully at her and she tentatively
smiled back. “What's going to happen to me?”

Gryffon's eyes darkened and he growled his
distaste at having to relate bad news to her. “Unfortunately,
Jezebel is a higher noble, and for some reason the court equates
nobility with rightness. Their words carry weight with the
Justices. But in this case especially, her word is no better than
any other two faced liar's, noble or not. Which is why,” he glanced
around quickly, “I’m going to break you out of here instead. Devon
has made it clear that Jezebel didn’t give him any specific date
that he had to bring you to the court by, nor a condition you had
to be in when he brought you, and he’s commented more than once
that he intends on,” he paused, apparently unsure what wording
would be least upsetting to her, “playing with you first.”

She sank to the ground of her cell and held
her knees, rocking back and forth. “Oh god.”

“Don’t worry though,” he added hurriedly, “I
have at least enough influence that I demanded he bring you to
court immediately, and depending on the outcome of that will
determine my next plan. Going to court actually brings with it a
level of safety, having you in their books will document the
situation. It will be much harder for them to say you just turned
up missing. And while I’m here, at least, Devon won’t dare touch
you.”

“Please don't leave me,” she whispered,
staring straight ahead. She tried hard not to think about what
could happen to her if he did, or what might happen to her in the
future even if he didn't.

“Never,” was his answer, and they passed the
rest of the night in silence.

Layna awoke the next morning, surprised that
she had been able to sleep. She saw that Gryffon was bent over the
chair at an odd angle and was snoring loudly. Despite her
predicament, Layna couldn't help but smile at him, and she reached
an arm out to poke him awake. She did not envy him the stiffness he
was going to have from sleeping in such an awkward position.

He let out a grunt and jerked awake,
immediately reaching a hand up to his neck. “That's gonna hurt,” he
moaned. He rolled his head from side to side, and grimaced. “What
am I talking about, it hurts now. Ow.” He gave her a lopsided grin
and asked gently, “How'd you sleep?”

“Surprisingly alright,” she answered with a
shrug, “but now I'm awake and yesterday wasn't just a bad dream.”
She lapsed into silence for a moment, wallowing in her sorrows, and
then whined, “How can she do this to me when I didn't do anything
wrong?” Tears threatened to spring to her eyes again and she fought
to control them but couldn't. She burst out sobbing and Gryffon
tried to comfort her through the bars of the cell.

“Shh,” he consoled her, “it'll be okay. Most
likely they’ll just give you a fine and then she’ll have to release
you. We’ll just have to make sure that you disappear before Devon
can get his hands on you again once we’re out of the safety of the
courthouse.”

Layna tried to ease her sobs and finally gave
a great big sniffle. She rubbed her nose on the back of her sleeve
and sighed heavily.

Devon came down the stairs just then and
stopped on the bottom step, looking ready to bolt if Gryffon caused
any problems. “Time to go,” he stated flatly, watching for
Gryffon's reaction. When all he got was a curt nod, Devon came
forward and pulled a key off of his belt. He undid the lock to
Layna's cell and pulled the creaking door open. “Come on,” he said
gruffly to Layna. He reached out a hand to grab her arm.

Gryffon intercepted it and said warningly,
“She can walk just fine.”

Devon grunted noncommittally, but pulled back
his hand and moved aside so Layna could come out. She did so
hesitantly, trying not to even brush up against the awful man. They
made a solemn procession through the halls, and Layna caught sight
of Katrina, who gave her a sympathetic smile and mouthed, “Good
luck.”

It was some consolation to Layna that at
least the other servants seemed to know the truth, or even if not,
supported her regardless. She still felt as though she might throw
up at any second.

They rode in silence to the Hall of Justice
where Layna and Gryffon followed Devon to the court official. Devon
checked her in, “Layna Nyx; damaged her mistress’s, Lady Jezebel's,
property and her mistress seeks compensation.” The man scribbled
this down on a slip of paper, and then briefly turned to Layna to
ask how she pleaded.

“Innocent,” Gryffon cut in for her. At
Layna's nod, the official made another note before waving them
towards the next room. Layna was taken into custody by the court's
guards, and Devon left her in their hands while he went to let
Jezebel know when she would need to make her claim.

Layna sat nervously, feeling her whole body
shake uncontrollably despite the warmth of the room. Gryffon put a
reassuring arm around her and she melted into him, resting her head
on his shoulder, oblivious to its societal inappropriateness. After
what seemed like hours, they were told it was time for her to enter
the courtroom. Layna was led to a small table before the Justice,
while Gryffon was asked to sit on the benches behind.

Jezebel swept into the room carrying a folder
full of papers, not bothering to look at Layna or Gryffon. She took
her seat at the other table, ignoring the attendant who tried to
pull out her chair for her. She tapped the folder on the table
twice before setting it neatly down and folding her hands on top of
it.

The robust man who served as the Justice of
the Peace sat in a throne-like chair on the dais in the front of
the room. He peered up at them through his spectacles at Jezebel’s
appearance, having previously ignored Layna’s own entrance.

“Ah, Lady Jezebel,” he acknowledged in
recognition. “How wonderful to see you. You'll have to pass along
my thanks to your father for having me to dinner the other night.”
Jezebel beamed at him, her arrogant stance seeming to intensify.
Layna's heart sank.

The attendant rushed forward to hand the
Justice a document. He took a moment to review the contents, and
then addressed Jezebel. “Please state your grievance.”