His innocent ward

ixed in her memory. Dark, flat eyes , a sharp aquiline nose, a thin mustache and a neatly trimmed beard .He had the finely wrought face of a nobleman, not the thick, h

rsing at he

s crying , 'No

hand ,she didn't hear the two men approaching her from the other side of the room-

of pain. 'Get the l

her mother lifted his steel-gauntleted hand and brought it down hard across Carissa's face before she could t

unged for Carissa, trying t

ds that would play over and over in Carissa's mind . It happene

⚠️ but it was too late. The blade came down in one vicious stroke across her mother's body, splitting her side to the waist in an instant. Her mother's expression went from

to catch her. But the second soldier stopped her before she could reach

e said to the monster who'd just cut down

k of red on the creamy linen. 'Kill the mongrel's bitch. I'd use her to finish, but I

d his arm wrapped around her like a vise. Though she knew i

said. 'I want the rebel brat to pay for what she dared . Toss her in that old well outside.'' His sid

rissa had gone fishing and the skies 🌌 had been dark for some time. The last

by. Her friends. Her home. All that was le

at hand-holds and toeholds there were in the stone walls crumbled with her weight. She'd tried to wedge

had to conserve her strength. Someone wou

long wou

heart raced in her chest. She hated the dark an

cared of Carissa rissa . Th