Free Dark Surrender by Erica Ridley Page B

into a temptation she cannot resist.”
    Before she realized what she was doing, she touched her fingers to his arm to stop his pain. She jerked her hand back to her side as if his sleeve had caught fire, but it was too late. He froze in place, almost as if he’d quite forgotten what he was doing in the catacombs in the first place, and then his hot gaze settled firmly on Violet.
    “Yes?” he asked softly.
    “The library isn’t necessary,” she stammered, trying to remember what she’d been about to say. “That is, until Lillian knows her letters, a blackboard and a bit of chalk are as good as anything. I was just thinking that what she really needs is a change of scenery. She’s stuck in that sanctuary all day, every day. Mightn’t she look forward to lessons more if they were somewhere else?”
    His eyes narrowed. “She shall not enter any room with an exterior door.”
    “I understand,” Violet agreed quickly. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for any child getting hurt on her watch. “And I agree. But is there no other chamber we can turn into a classroom? Even a small section of another room? It doesn’t matter where, so long as Lillian gets the sensation of ‘going to lessons’ like other children. She will feel less . . . trapped.”
    He thought in silence, then nodded slowly. “Since the abbey is no longer used for religious purposes, most of its outbuilding rooms are empty. I shall have to order another desk and other supplies, but I can think of one room with a bench and a small table.” He turned and continued forward. “I’ll show you on our way to the library, and you can let me know if it’ll do. We’re almost there.”
    Before long, they arrived at a new intersection. Although this passageway was blessedly free of holy corpses, it was therefore thrice as narrow and just as black. She stayed close to his side.
    Presently, his long strides brought them to a ragged incline, which split to a dead-end before two ancient doors. A basket of candles hugged the wall near the intersection.
    “This outbuilding holds unused prayer rooms.” He selected a pair of tapers and lit one for her before replacing his own dying nub.
    She clutched the candle tight. “Thank you.”
    “Thank you .” He fitted a key from his breast pocket into the lock, then held the door open for her. “I confess, you have given me hope.”
    She smiled up at him as she stepped inside the small chamber. He did not return the smile, but his eyes showed his sincerity. He had probably felt desperation for far too long to remember how to smile. She could certainly understand the feeling.
    He gestured behind him. “If this prayer room will suffice, with pleasure I will have it transformed into a classroom for Lillian.”
    When Violet lifted her candle for a better view, the smile died on her face.
    The prayer room had already been transformed once, it seemed. From a vaulted haven to an empty shell lined with layers of wooden planks. She touched a hand to her throat. How she would’ve loved to see the original stained glass, to stand in a pool of rich color as the sun’s warm rays slanted through the artisan windows. What an absolute horror to have turned an exquisite abbey into a labyrinthine crypt!
    She forced herself to traverse the perimeter of the small room. Instead of her soul blossoming open and free—she’d never been particularly religious, but she did enjoy a deep connection to art—she felt more confined and deprived of beauty with every step. This space was awful.
    She was not unfamiliar to the unwelcome sensation of hopelessness seeping into her very bones. Free from one horror, trapped in another. Was it better for Lillian to traverse suffocating catacombs just to while away a few hours in an empty coffin of a room? Or was she better off cloistered in her current chambers, knowing there was a key to her spacious prison but never being allowed a moment’s freedom, even to visit the