Escape (Chronicles of Hart) (26 page)

“Not if they could see you,”
he whispered, pulling her in. They spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms under the stars and the trees.

***

Two nights after their wedding, when King and Chung had gone back to Washington and Jerry was off to a golf tournament for the week, the front bell rang. Ethan hadn’t heard the noise of the bell in years he hadn’t even thought to consider it in the repairs of the house. It sounded warped and sadistic echoing through the halls in an eerie fashion that chilled him to the bone. He crept from his room where Grace was sleeping soundly under the covers of their four post bed. He was gently padding down the hall when the chime came again, whoever it was sounded impatient. Ethan hurried, afraid of waking Grace if the chime sounded again.

Swinging the front door open he looked into the dusky sky across the vacant front yard. No one stood on the front stoop. Peering cautiously out the door he saw a dark figure walking away into the night down the long driveway cloaked from sight under a heavy trench coat. About to close the door, he looked down. A square box lay neatly on the outside mat, with a card tucked precisely into the twine that tied it. The card read “
Ethan
” in a delicate scroll that he had seen before. He stooped to pick it up with a last glance out the door as he closed it to the meek night.

Ethan quietly padded to the kitchen taking a perch on one of the stools at the counter. He placed the curious package in front of him and stared at it for a moment longer before reaching for the card. The paper was old and worn, as if it had been written years ago and placed in storage. Opening it he found that the paper within was not old at all, instead it was crisp and white with fancy scalloped edges. He turned it over once noticing the same delicate scroll, handwritten in expensive ink,

You may have saved the Princess but you have forgotten the King, dear Prince
.  Ethan felt a chill roll up his spine as the paper fell to the floor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kat Murray lives in Cambridge Ontario with her family, she enjoys reading to her children and watching old movies with her husband.