Hold Your Breath 01 - Stone Devil Duke (28 page)

“
You have given me a great gift, and I promise I will always savor out time together.” His sticky breath invaded the pores on her face, and she gagged at the sick smell. “I do want to enjoy this, so the longer you hold out, the better, duchess. Please try.”

He
moved to stand in front of her, his eyes eating her body.

Aggie stared
straight ahead, unblinking, trying not to be intimidated by Von Traff. As long as Devin and her brother were safely away from this madman, she didn’t care what he did to her. Now that Jason had the panther, he would have Von Traff in the gallows before he could harm Devin. That was what mattered. Here, this moment, she would just have to endure.

“I
have decided to start with something simple. This tip.” Von Traff rubbed the point of the tool. “I will drive this tip first under each one of your fingernails, until all have been separated from your delicate fingers.”

He
smiled as he looked her body up and down once more. “Then, before we put it away, it will be pressed into your left ear, until it pops membrane after membrane. I will leave your right ear untouched, for you will need to hear my demands.”

He moved the poker to his mouth, holding it
sideways in his teeth as he gripped her arm and spun her half out of the chair, and she landed on one knee. He pulled a short, thick knife with a wide blade and a common, leather-wrapped handle from his pocket. The knife didn’t match the rest of the set. Slicing through the rope at her wrists, he seemed to neither note, nor care that the ropes were almost cut through.

He
yanked her arm up, and his knee punched up into her gut. Aggie fell back into the chair, wind knocked out. Before she could suck in air, he tied her left arm to the chair’s armrest.

His a
rms caging her, he hovered. “I will ask you one more time before I begin. Where are the papers?”

Aggie couldn’t say a word. All she could do was shake her head.

Striking snake, he grabbed her right wrist, and clamped all her fingers inward. All except her pinky, which was wedged straight out in an iron grip. He pushed the finger onto the wooden armrest.

The humming started as he jammed the point of the tool slowly
under her nail, ripping skin.

The pain was instant. Brutal. She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t writhe.

All she could do was shut down. Shut down everything in her mind.

Nothing could get in. Nothing c
ould get out.

The pain existed. It was all that did. But that was exactly what needed to happen. Nothing in. Nothing out.

Waves of excruciating torture hit, refusing to yield. Neither did his words. More about the papers. Something about ear drums. Something about eyeballs. Something about nipples. Vague words, spotty, filtered into her brain, none of them taking root. She was blank.

The void continued until she realized she was standing, and his common blade was flat on her chest, tearing down through the fabric of her
dress and chemise.

It clicked her mind back to firing
, and she sucked in air, thrusting backward, only to hit the chair and fall back, her hands tied behind her again. When had that happened? The fabric fell away from her chest, exposing her in the most vulnerable way.

Von Traff snatched her upper arm, jerking her back to her feet. His face went in front of hers, appraising her eyes.

“You are back with me. Good.” He was sweaty. Sneering. His eyes went down to her breasts. “This is much better when you are aware.”

His blade
came to her neck, sliding down along her skin until it stopped on her nipple. Cold. Aggie recoiled just enough to gain space from the sharp silver.

“Perfect. I should have started with this.” He laughed, vile. “All of these tools are going to travel up and down your body, slicing, carving your most intimate places. You will beg
to tell me where the papers are.”

Repulsed, Aggie
tried to dig her heels into the papers at her feet as he dragged her to the desk. She only managed to slip and fall, but Von Traff’s vice grip kept her upright.

He pushed her face-down onto the desk, hand on the back of her neck as she tried to kick from her awkward position.

The sound of the front door crash
ing open startled them both, but before Aggie could move, Von Traff gripped the back of her hair, jerked her upright, and clasped her in front of him. He instantly had the blade pressing dangerously into her neck.

It was the first thing
Devin saw when he tore into the library, and it stopped him dead.

Aggie
froze. She was half naked.

Terror filled her as sh
e pleaded with her eyes for him to not believe the wrong thing about the scene before him.

He answered her fear without hesitation.
“Let her go Von Traff—it is over. We have the papers.” Devin leveled his pistol at Von Traff’s head.

Aggie’s eyes flew wide. Devin had the papers
? How had that happened?

“Do
not bother with the empty threats, Dunway. I will kill her without the slightest bit of provocation, then use her body as a shield against your bullet.” To prove his point, he pulled the knife harder against Aggie’s throat.

Aggie
shoved her head backward to avoid the blade.

“Very simple
, Dunway, put the gun down and your wife doesn’t get hurt.”

Aggie watched
Devin struggle for a moment, and then the blade on her neck start to separate her skin, warm blood seeping out. His eyes on her neck, Devin blanched and instantly set the pistol down on an upright table.

“Good
, Dunway. Wise choice. I was not ready to kill her quite yet. I do like to enjoy their writhing bodies as their blood spills.” He smirked at Devin, and let go of Aggie’s hair, reaching around to crush her right breast, twisting the nipple.

Contorting
at first to escape his grope, Aggie realized his loosened grip was her opportunity. She kicked off from the ground hard, throwing her weight back away from the blade, and then dropped straight to the floor. The knife only nicked her chin as she fell. She rolled away from Von Traff as fast as her bound arms allowed.

It
took Von Traff a critical second to react to the surprise move. But it was too late. Devin had already lunged at him.

Ly
ing on the floor, Aggie gave thanks she hadn’t been killed by her stupid move. She craned her neck back to see Devin wrestling with Von Traff, trying to get the knife away. Papers and books flew in every direction as the two men struggled. Rolling to her knees, Aggie slid, slipped, then finally gained her footing.

Why in the world had
Devin attacked him when his pistol was still lying on the end table? She ran to the desk and assessed Von Traff’s torture tools. The curved sickle tool seemed best. She spun, looking over her shoulder to see what she was grabbing.

Sickle blade in her blood-slippery hands, she fumbled with
getting the blade on the rope, but once in place, the sharp edge made quick work of the binding.

Devin
and Von Traff slammed into the back of an upturned couch next to her. Why hadn’t Devin disposed of Von Traff as easily as he could have? He was a master at slicing necks. She had seen that more than once. Was he hurt? What the hell was going on?

T
he struggling pair rolled, and Aggie caught a glimpse of Devin’s face.

It terrified her to her toes.

She had never seen Devin—or any man—so enraged. Was that what his father had looked like so long ago? Was this what Killian had said—Devin made stupid decisions in the name of his demons? Von Traff had grabbed her naked body and now Devin couldn’t even see straight.

Von Traff’s
blades would do her little good, she realized, so Aggie tore across the room, ducking under the wild swinging of the two men. She reached the table with the pistol, checked for a bullet, and had it cocked by the time she turned to Devin and Von Traff.

She set her aim,
the gun slippery in her bloody fingers, but Devin and Von Traff continued their savagery.

Von Traff still had the knife
in his grip, swinging it wildly. Devin deflected all but one of Von Traff’s thrusts, and it cut across his forearm.

Catching eye of what Aggie had in her hands,
Devin hit the floor, giving a clean shot of Von Traff. The gun slipped in Aggie’s hands.

The baron lunged
on top of Devin with a thrust, but Devin deflected the blade from meeting his chest by sheer strength, holding Von Traff’s wrist suspended in mid-air.

Aggie froze at the sight of
the blade above Devin’s heart.

“Aggie—now,
” Devin yelled.

It was all Aggie needed.
She fired.

Von Traff fell back, the bullet hitting his
shoulder. But he still gripped the knife and was attacking again before Devin could gain his footing on the loose papers. Devin slipped onto his back, but then kicked out Von Traff’s feet the moment before blade hit flesh.

Von Traff sl
ipped, falling heavy, face-down. He went still.

Devin
got to his feet. Slowly, he stepped to Von Traff and kicked him over. Von Traff’s own blade had pierced his heart, the leather handle sticking out of his chest.

Both heaving,
Devin and Aggie stared at the blood pooling around Von Traff.

Devin
was the first to move.

~~~

“Hell, Aggs—” Devin rushed to her, gathering her in his grip. “What has he done to you?”

H
e pulled back, cupping her head in his hands, searching her face. “I am so sorry I—I never should have left you—it was stupid—I never should have believed—and then I didn’t protect you—I—hell—damn the bastard—damn me—are you all right?”

Aggie nodded numbly. Her eyes
stayed on Von Traff’s body.

Devin
tore off his shirt and wrapped it around Aggie, covering her naked chest. He lifted her wrist to remove the gun from her hand, and nearly threw-up when he saw her fingers. Through the blood, it looked like two fingernails were missing.

Fighting the need to suddenly dismember the body behind him, he instead picked Aggie up
and walked out of the house.

Devin carried Aggie to his horse, purposefully turning her so she didn’t see the two bodies lying near the carriage that had brought her here.

He set her
to her feet on the gravel driveway as he checked the saddle. It had begun to drizzle, and Devin swore under his breath. He wanted this to all be over for Aggie, and now they had to ride back to Stonewell in the rain.

Aggie stood
, waiting, silent. He turned back to her, only to see wet splotches on her face. He couldn’t tell whether her cheeks were moist from the rain or from tears.

His knuckles brushed her cheek lightly, wiping some of the wet away.

“Aggs, I do not know what I would have done if…” He stopped, drawing a deep breath. “I love you, Aggs.”

She looked up at him, silent
.

Brow knitted in confusion,
Devin touched her shoulder and gave Aggie a little nudge. She blinked, looked to his horse, and asked flatly, “Ready?”

Devin
paused, staring at Aggie. It was as brutal as a slap to his face. He willed her to acknowledge him. To return his sentiments. But she didn’t.

Silently, he lifted her up on
to his horse’s back, and then joined her.

The rain came
harder, and lightning flashed off in the distance as Devin set back to Stonewell. He tucked her into his bare chest as best he could, and tried to shield her from the pounding rain. She stayed silent.

Had he been wrong? Did she not love him
? Was he a fool to have believed this whole time she was happy to be his wife, happy to spend time with him, talking, arguing, and laughing? Or had he ruined her love for him when he had so quickly believed she had betrayed him?

He stared down at the top
of her head. Her blond hair was thoroughly wet, tendrils clinging to her neck and down her chest.

No matter what she had just been through.
He had to know. He had to know if he was wrong about their whole time together. He had to know if he had ruined it all.

He pulled up on the reins, stopping. “Aggs
.”

There was no response.
Devin rubbed her arm, covered by his thin, soaking shirt.

“Aggie.”

Still no response. Devin squeezed her shoulder.

“Aggs
.”

No response.

His bare neck prickling in fear, Devin reached to turn her face up to him.

Her eyes were vacant.

A
ceramic vase hit the wall, shattering.

Devin
winced at the sound, his eyes not moving from the full glass of brandy he gripped tight in his hand.

Sudden thumping started, then
stopped. Devin took a deep, calming breath. The noises of destruction had been getting louder and louder.

“For
God’s sake, Dunway—I am going in there.” Jason started toward the study door again. “She will be hurt.”

Devin
took one step to his left, directly in front of Jason’s exit, and put his hand firmly on Jason’s chest, effectively stopping him.

“She already
has been. That is the point.” Devin glared at Jason. “So no, we will stay in here.”

Jason didn’t immediately back off, so
Devin stared him down, wills clashing.

Taking a step back,
Jason relented, went to the decanter of brandy, poured a glass, downed it, poured himself another, and then stomped back to the couch he had been waiting on.

A large thump, followed by what sounded to be the splintering of wood
, broke through the momentary silence.

“You had better be right about this,” Jason mut
tered, still glaring at Devin.

Devin
went back to leaning on the wall by the door of the study, staring into the amber liquid in his hand.

Yes,
he had better be right about this decision. His immediate anger at Aggie for ignoring his declaration of love had shattered the moment he lifted her face to his in the rain.

The
complete lack of emotion reflected in her face petrified him. There was nothing there. Nothing.

It had only taken him a moment to understand. She was not ignoring him, she was in shock. Shock in a
ll that had happened to her. Shock in all that was finished.

Then she opened her mouth, rain hitting her forehead
. “I do not know…” Her voice had trailed off, unable to finish the thought she couldn’t formulate in her state.

But
Devin understood. Or, at least he hoped he did. She had been too brave, too scared, too strong, too smart, too hard, too calm—too damn everything, for too damn long.

The last year had made her
into steel. But if not tempered right, steel can be brittle. And Aggie had never had time to temper. She had never had time to grieve for all that she had lost. Grieve for her father, her mother, her brother, her lost innocence.

She had accepted all t
hat was given to her and moved on, because that was the only way to survive. And she had survived. Survived with grace. But she had missed a crucial piece. She missed the grieving.

Devin
knew what he had to do. He had to give it back to her.

So he had wrapped her
tighter into his bare arms, trying to warm her against the rain, and hurried. They rode the remaining hours in silence.

Arriving at
Stonewell, an anxious Jason tore Aggie off the horse, he was so relieved to see her safe. He swung her around, not even noticing her lack of emotion until he caught Devin’s face, which cued him to look at Aggie’s.

Jaso
n’s concern was immediate. His sister was blank, and he looked accusingly at Devin. Devin shook his head, forcing Jason to back off as he pushed his hand between them, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and guiding her into the house.

Jason followed d
own the hallway, but Devin turned and told him to wait in the study. His voice gave no room for argument, and Jason did as requested.

Devin
led Aggie further down the hall to the rarely used rose parlor, adjacent to the study. The room was only in use when Stonewell was full of guests, and was one of the most ornate in the house. A red-hued room, it had light burgundy rugs on the floors, floral curtains, red rose-colored couches and chairs, and a harp next to a pianoforte for entertaining in the corner. It also held countless artifacts passed down through the generations of the house—vases, tapestries, ivory inlaid tables, and a barrage of lace scattered about.

Devin
guided Aggie to the large sofa in the middle of the room and sat her down. He left to gather a robe, washcloths and a pitcher of water, and wasn’t surprised when he returned and Aggie hadn’t moved a muscle. She stared straight ahead, eyes empty.

Kneeling before her,
Devin gently dabbed away the blood on her neck, on her chin, and then on her hands, wrists, and fingers. When every drop of blood had been erased, her skin clean, he wrapped her in the robe and stopped, eyes level with hers.

“Aggie…Aggs
, look at me.”

Her
green eyes shifted to Devin’s.

“Aggs, I need you to do something.
Not for me, not for your brother, but for yourself. You need to do this if you are to move on with your life. Our life.” He squeezed her leg gently.

“Aggie, you need to grieve. Grieve for your father. Grieve for your mother’s loss of sanity. Grieve for the fact you were fo
rced to kill. Grieve for the brother you thought you lost. Grieve for all the time and all the innocence those bastards stole away from you. Grieve for the times you could not sleep because you were too scared to close your eyes. Grieve for everything…and let it go.”

His hand
s moved to cup her face. “This will not be easy, but you have to face all that has happened to you, and deal with it. God knows I wish I could do this for you, but I cannot. You have to do this on your own.”

Devin’s
grip along her jaw hardened. “I need your best, Aggs. Right now. After all you went through, this, this is the moment you need to find your best. Find your fight. I know you have it in you. You need to pull out that last shard of courage that has kept you so strong this far, and make it through this last piece. Make it through and come out the other side. I know you can do this, Aggs. Do you understand?”

Silence.
Not the slightest twitch.

Devin
’s head went down, searching for words. Searching for some way to break through.

Long moments passed before he lifted his head, eyes brimming with moisture. “Aggs,
I need you to come back to me. You don’t have to be whole. It does not matter to me. I will take the smallest part of you. That is all I ask. Just a little bit of you to come back.”

He swallowed
, the lump in his throat threatening to cut his words.

“
I don’t need you to come back to me completely. But you need to do whatever it takes to come back, even a little. Anything. The smallest bit is all I ask, Aggs. I will be here, no matter what. But please. Please try. Please just come back to me. Just a tiny part of you. I swear we will figure out the rest from there.”

Devin
moved his hands down to her shoulders, then back up along her neck.

“Aggs, please,
do you understand what I am saying?”

Finally,
a tear trailed solo down her cheek, and she nodded.

Devin
searched her face for comprehension, and, finding it, gently brushed the tear with his thumb.

He stood up, took a nearby blanket and wrapped it around Aggie
, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

~~~

Eight hours had passed.

Devin
winced as something heavy banged into the floor. It had been quiet for the first two hours. Devin and Jason could hear nothing at all coming from the room. Eventually, soft sobbing floated into the study. Both were shocked when the first glass smashed against a wall. Devin had to pin Jason to the floor to stop him from going in.

Since then, screams
, glass shattering, wood splintering, cloth ripping, and an odd pounding-thumping came at a frantic pace from the room. Devin had initially thought this was a good idea, but he was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of his plan.

He took a small sip of the brandy he had been staring at f
or the last hour and a half. He could not stop her now. Aggie needed to finish whatever she had started in that room.

“I cannot believe you a
re making her do this. She obviously was not ready to think about all of this so soon after Von Traff’s death.” Jason stood up, starting a repeat of the argument they had been having since the first glass shattered.

“She needs to do this.”

“Why? What good is it going to do her? Give her a few days. Be gentle and she will be back to normal.”

“Gentle is not what she needs. She needs to fight.
Fight before it overtakes her. You saw her. She was on the edge. An edge she could fall either direction from. I would rather she not turn out like her mother.”

Jason jumped. “Ou
r mother? What is wrong with my mother?”

“I thought you saw her in London.”

“I did. I checked on her and Lizzie, but it was through a window.”

“What was she doing?”

“Sitting. I don’t know. Reading, maybe.”

Devin
sighed. Jason didn’t know. “Your mother is catatonic. She has not spoken since your father died. Aggie said she sits, eats, sleeps. No reaction to anything or anyone around her.”

“What? No.”

“Yes. And I am damn well not going to let that happen to Aggie if I can help it. She would not want that for herself.”

A piece of wood hit what sounded like the ceiling.

Jason shook his head, leveling his glare at Devin. “My mother aside. This is not the way. You don’t know how she is going to come out of there. This could push her down the very edge you are afraid of. You are gambling with my sister’s sanity and I am beginning to wonder if you really do care at all for her, if you did—”

“Shut
the hell up,” Devin said, voice lethal.

Jason stared at him
, waiting, willing Devin to attack.

Devin
rubbed his eyes with his free hand. He stared at the floor for an uncomfortable amount of time.

At Jason’s cough,
Devin looked up at him, allowing Jason to see plain on his face, the torment this was putting him through.

“If I could take,”
Devin started slowly, voice reverberating with raw emotion, “all the pain Aggie is feeling right now away from her, and add it one-thousand-fold to my own, I would do it in a heartbeat. There is nothing…I repeat, nothing I would not give to or for Aggie.”

Silent
, Jason sat down, a man unable to help his sister.

Devin
was right. There was nothing he could do.

~~~

It had been quiet in the room for an hour. Devin ordered Thompson to have a bath drawn for Aggie. Jason had fallen asleep on the leather couch, and Devin quietly left him in the study.

He opened the door to the
rose parlor slowly, having to lean into it with his shoulder to move what turned out to be a broken table wedged behind it. Once in, he looked about the room under the dim light of the wall lamp, and was not exactly shocked at the complete mayhem that greeted him.

Not one piece of f
urniture in the room was intact. Not one glass, not one vase, not one tapestry, not one figurine, not one piece of lace. Everything had been destroyed.

Devin
had expected no less of his wife.

He found her, curled in a ball, sound asleep in the middle of the mess, stu
ffing from the sofa strewn around her body. Walking gingerly into the room, crunching glass as he went, Devin gently picked Aggie up.

He brought her up to his
room where a bath was waiting. Thompson had also delivered tea. Good man. Devin laid Aggie on the bed, stripped her, and then removed his own clothing. Not breaking from her exhausted sleep, she only twitched at his hands on her body.

H
e carried her to the copper tub and slipped them both into the warm water, Aggie nestled against his chest.

He was
hed her body as she slept, softly rubbing soap into the scabs of earlier on her fingers, wrist, and the small line at her neck where Von Traff had pressed his knife into her flesh. His stomach turned on itself once again as he examined the contorted scabs where fingernails had once been on her right pinky and ring finger.

“Hmmmm,
Devin?”

Devin
let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Those were her first words since the ride back from Mitlan.

“Yes, I
am right here, Aggs,” he said softly in her ear, caressing her arm.

“I love you.”

Devin stilled, his whisper in her ear, “Aggie, are you awake?” As much as he prayed she was, prayed she didn’t hate him, he didn’t want to wake her if she was actually sleeping.

Aggie
slid her head on his chest so she could see his face. “Yes.” She looked at him as though he had turned daft.

“Then say it again.”
Devin demanded, his face hard, for he wanted this more than anything.