Page 32 of Dangerous Exile
Talen opened the carriage door and the bright light of the day flooded the interior of the coach for the seconds it took for him to alight. She was still blinking the white splotches out of her eyes when he reappeared, opening the door and holding his hand up to her. “Pull the hood as much as you can over your face and keep your head down. Look at your feet, nowhere else.”
A fresh wave of terror gripping her, she did as bade, the hood of the dark grey cloak taking away all but a narrow slice of the world in front of her. She set her right hand into Talen’s grip and stepped down from the carriage.
His arm went around her shoulders and he ushered her forward. Her focus stayed on the tips of her boots peeking out from under her skirts with every step, their feet crunching along the grey gravel until they came to the wide, cream stone steps. Up and into a cavernous foyer—she could tell by the hollow echo of their footsteps—and then Talen turned her to the right, prodding her up two levels of stairs.
It wasn’t until they’d walked along a long hallway where she could hear people—some singing, some talking, some yelling—that he steered her into a room.
The door clicked closed, but she still kept her head down.
“You can look up now, Ness,” Talen said.
Her head lifted slowly, her hand pushing back the hood away from her face and onto her shoulders.
A room. A simple room with gauzy curtains pulled in front of the windows. A bed with thin wooden rails sufficing as the head and foot boards. White sheets and coverlet. Empty walls. One wooden chair by the fireplace. That was all.
Not the luxury that had been surrounding her at the Alabaster house, but she didn’t need luxury. She needed somewhere safe to hide.
She looked to Talen. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere no one will look for you.”
She nodded, moving over to the window and she pulled aside the gauzy white curtain.
Black iron bars crossed the window.
No in. No out.
How had she not realized it?
The sounds she’d heard on the way in. People in all states.
Mad people.
She doubled over slightly, pain seizing her gut, all the air leaving her as though she’d just been punched. Her fingers crumpled the curtain in her hand and she looked back at Talen, her voice nothing but a whisper. “Wh—where are we?”
His left hand lifted, palm toward her to calm. “It’s an asylum, but it’s the safest place there is, Ness. No one will think to search for you here.”
The world started spinning around her.
No. No. No.He couldn’t leave her here.Not here.
She forcibly stretched her fingers, letting go of the curtain, and rushed across the room to him. “No—no, please don’t do this. Please.” Her right hand grabbed the lapel of his jacket, tugging it, her voice pitching high and fast. “Please don’t leave me here, Talen. I can’t. I can’t. Please don’t leave me.”
His head snapped back, confusion creasing his brow. “But it’s perfect. We’re outside of London and it’s the safest place for you. No one will find you here, Ness. I swear it.”
“No, please. Please.” She yanked on the front of his coat, words heaving from her chest. “Not here. Anywhere but here. Please, please. There has to be somewhere else. There has to be. Please.”
He caught her wrist, stilling her frantic hand as he ripped her grip from his coat. “Now you’re the one acting quite mad.”
She gasped back a sob that threatened with his words and her legs buckled under. She dropped onto her knees in front of him, her neck craned to look up at his face, her panic taking her breath as her manic words barely squeezed through her throat. “No—I swear, I swear I’m not crazy, Talen. I swear it. Is this because I think you’re Conner? Because I won’t believe you? I’ll believe you. I’ll do it. I’ll stop. I’ll stop insisting you’re him. You’re not. You’re Talen. Only Talen.”
She grabbed the bottom hem of his coat, tugging at it as she begged. “Please, just don’t leave me here. I’ll never say another word about the past. Never. Talen. Talen Blackstone. That is who you are. I can do it. I’m not mad. I swear I’m not.”
His forehead still wrinkled, he looked down at her, his light blue eyes searching her face for understanding as to why she was suddenly acting insane.
Blast.
Shewasacting like a mad woman. Falling to the floor. Begging. Of course he would think this of her.