Both Heidi and Lettice went to the Isle valley with the two guards Rhys sent who were following them from a good distance. Lettice was a regular customer of the store they were in right now, as she rummaged through several dresses.

Heidi who had taken a seat, looked down at her hand, running her fingers over the bruise that was in the process of disappearing. At one side her relations.h.i.+p with Nicholas had turned into a secretive weather of spring and on the other side, her relations.h.i.+p with Warren had turned sour after the little argument that took place the day they visited Duke Wilford"s manor.

Unlike Nicholas who had noticed the bruise, Warren had turned a blind eye to it. Like his mother he expected her to be next to him, he didn"t say it out loud but she had noticed the disagreeable look he had when either Mr. Rufus or the lord was around her, or any male in general. It made her suspect if he knew about her feelings for the lord, which she doubted he did because she had been extremely cautious from the beginning in concealing her emotions. It seemed that Warren and Heidi didn"t hold and share the same thoughts as the other. The Lawson"s considered the slaves beneath them, most of the vampire and the human families considered it so it shouldn"t have come as a shock. Yet she hadn"t expected the Warren who was a kind gentleman to hold her hand in a death grip to stop her from uttering a word in favor of the slaves.

"What do you think about this? I think it suits your skin and figure," Lettice interrupted her thoughts.

"It looks good," Heidi looked at the dress which Lettice held in her hands.

"Really? We can pick something else if you want," the young woman said, her mossy green eyes looking at Heidi. Both the women had come in search of dresses for the grand ball that was going to take place in Bonelake.

"No. This is fine. How big is the grand ball?" Heidi enquired.

"I haven"t attended it myself but with what I heard it is no less than a masquerade ball with all the important men and women from every part of the empire come and gather to celebrate the vampire culture."

"Vampire culture?" She didn"t know something as such existed.

"So I have heard," she handed back the two dresses to the woman so that it could be packed.

Lettice wanted to fix the pendant of her necklace and she went inside the store while Heidi decided to wait for her from outside. She looked at the vampires and vampiresses walking up and down the streets of the town in their expensive clothes. There were some who flaunted their slaves like jewellery, dragging the slaves by thick chains. Unknowingly she walked few steps away from the store where Lettice was still inside when her back hit someone.

"I am sorry," she was quick to apologize.

By the annoyed expression of the man it seemed like he was about to say something before it registered who it was and he bowed his head.

"Don"t worry, Lady Curtis," Heidi raised her brows in question. Did she know him? He was a buff man, with scars on his face. His clothes were refined but his eyes didn"t give the same feeling. He did seem familiar, "I should have seen where I was going. Unfortunately, this little thing has been giving me a lot of trouble," he said yanking the slave by the chain who appeared no more than ten.

"That"s, alright," she said looking back and forth at the slave and then the man.

"Apologies for my manners. I am Calos Juves. We met at Duke Wilford"s manor," he said and she only nodded not remembering if they spoke. She had spoken to too many people and it was hard to remember who was who, "Please have a good day," he bowed and left the street.

Heidi stood there, looking at the man dragging the slave roughly. She didn"t know but it felt like she knew him and she tried remembering where she could have seen him before. It was the scars on his face that bothered her.

"Find her! Find her! She shouldn"t have gone any far!" the guards in the building scattered around while the little girl hid herself in the tree which had grown tall and wide. Men dispersed in the goal to find the slave who had escaped from her cell.

"How did she f.u.c.king escape?! You couldn"t handle a small girl!" the warden asked infuriated.

"We are sorry, Sir! The door was locked when we made rounds," a guardsman spoke up with his head down.

The girl who was sitting on the tree, with her eyes livid, she dropped down when there wasn"t anyone. She ran across the land, with her body so frail and thin, the guards at the gate lost sight of her when they were alerted. She thought she was free as she continued to run, running for her life and freedom.

But the warden had caught up with her and he caught the girl who struggled. Swinging her tiny hands at him which did nothing. The man laughed at her plight, "Did you think it is easy to escape? Young girls are worth a fortune. I wouldn- argh!" the man cried out in pain, holding his face which was oozing with blood.

The girl fell down, holding the shard of gla.s.s in her hand and she continued to run...

Heidi blinked her eyes several times, taking deep breath through her mouth. He was the warden she had escaped from when she was a child. The man who had killed the woman in her cell. Her palms felt sweaty at the knowledge of who he was. She told herself there was nothing to be worried about. After all it happened a long time ago. When Lettice arrived back to where Heidi was waiting for her, seeing the distress on her friend"s face she asked if everything was alright. Heidi hasn"t known Lettice for a long time but that didn"t mean she didn"t trust the woman. Maybe she was the only woman she trusted after her mother, Helen.

"I"m so sorry. I can"t even imagine what you went through," Lettice hugged Heidi, after Heidi has revealed a little about herself of how she had come to stay with the Curtis family, "You don"t have to worry about Howard. I will arrange my maid and someone else to look for the man."

Reaching back at the mansion, Heidi walked inside to see no one around in the main hall. When she placed a hand on the railing of the stairs, she heard Stanley call for her.

"Lady Heidi," he came with quick footsteps while carrying letters in his hand, "This one came for you," he said handing one of them to her and disappearing from her sight.

She had been dreading to receive a letter knowing well who it was from. She was afraid to open it. Scared to know what was written inside it.

Not wanting to open it, she took it to her room and let it rest on the top of her desk.