Free A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

endeavors. She’ll be safe, far away from the brute who did this to her. Not to mention Heedson.”
    â€œHe’ll never let me go,” Grace said at the mention of the director’s name. “My father is paying him well to keep me here and for his silence as to my condition.”
    â€œIn your current state, no, he wouldn’t let you go,” Thornhollow said. “But you came across the solution yourself. Your family’s story about your absence being due to a long holiday won’t hold up if you come home scarred.”
    â€œThornhollow, you wouldn’t!” Falsteed cried from the darkness.
    â€œNo, he wouldn’t,” Grace said. “I’m of no use to him without my mind intact.”
    â€œQuite right,” Thornhollow agreed. “I’m not in the practice of smuggling privileged young women out of asylums, even if they are as sane as a field mouse. She’ll be put to use and earn her keep with me at my new assignment.”
    â€œAnd getting her out of here?” Falsteed asked.
    â€œYour man, Reed, he’s dependable?”
    â€œAs the dawn.”
    â€œHe’ll be the perfect player in our little ruse, then,” Thornhollow said. “Now, Grace, I imagine you’ll want to say a little something to Dr. Falsteed. I’ll give you some moments alone. Join me in the surgery when you find yourself quite prepared.”
    Thornhollow disappeared into the darkness, his footfalls echoing after him.
    â€œPrepared for what, young one?” Falsteed asked, his voice heavy.
    Grace took a deep breath. Even though their plan was her only hope of salvation, she was worried that Falsteed would disapprove.
    â€œWe’ve worked it out,” she said softly. “If Heedson believes Thornhollow has cut me and I’m unrepairable, he’ll panic at the thought of my father’s wrath.”
    â€œI should say. For you to enter the asylum healthy and with child and walk out a drooling idiot would hardly be to Heedson’s credit.”
    â€œPrecisely.” Grace wrapped her hands around Falsteed’s cell bars,wishing her friend would come into the light before she left him forever. “He’d go to any lengths to cover the enormity of such an error. Bruises and cuts for his own sadistic pleasures will heal, but if I’m permanently damaged he’ll have no choice but to aid in my escape.”
    Falsteed sighed heavily, the warmth of his exhalation reaching her but not the sight of him. “And what am I to do after you’re gone? Wait for a new prisoner and hope they’re interesting?”
    The second smile of the day spread across Grace’s face, her stomach now alight with the possibility of a future. “They could only be so lucky, to have you with them here in the dark.”
    Fingers closed around hers, but she couldn’t see past his wrist. “Write to Reed here at the asylum under the name of a Miss Madeleine Baxter. He’ll get the letters to me. I would know how you fare.”
    â€œGood-bye, my friend,” Grace said, her throat tight once again. His fingers gripped hers, stopping her from moving away at the last second.
    â€œBe wary of Thornhollow, Grace. He’s a good man, by all measures. You have nothing to fear from him that you would from other men. But that is precisely why you must guard yourself. He does not understand human nature, our emotions and attachments. He’s made a place for himself among the insane because it’s easier for him than moving among society. People are a mystery to him.”
    â€œThey are to me as well,” Grace said, squeezing his hand before she followed Thornhollow into the dark.
    â€œYou’ve said your good-byes?” Thornhollow’s back was turned to her when she entered the surgery, his hands busy sharpening a scalpel.
    â€œI have,” Grace said. “Shall I sit or . . .” Her voice trembled as she motioned to the