Chapter One
April 1897
Fiona Bohannan stood frozen behind a heavy satin drapery, dust tickling her nose as her heart pounded furiously in her chest. Beneath the heavy cape she wore, a little girl trembled in her arms. At any moment, Fiona knew the girl could make a sound, alerting the monster who’d just entered the room of their presence.
She peered through a small gap in the curtains as the middle-aged man looked around in befuddlement. He was searching for the child in Fiona’s arms, the girl whose virginity he’d paid for at an auction downstairs not half an hour ago.
The girl couldn’t have been more than seven.
Fiona had sneaked into the brothel with the intention of stealing the girl away, but they hadn’t yet made it out the window when the man had opened the door. She’d just managed to hide them both behind the curtain when he’d come barreling into the room.
“What the bloody hell...?” He strode closer, his bloodshot gaze on the open window, just feet away from where Fiona and the girl stood.
He poked his head out the window, then gave a strangled roar. “The wee bitch has gotten away!” Spinning on his heels, he charged for the door, bellowing all the way about how he’d been robbed.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Fiona shoved the girl out the window onto the ledge outside, following her out as silently as possible. They didn’t have much time. Now that the alarm had been given, a half-dozen toughs employed by the madam would be searching for them in a matter of moments.
The girl whimpered, clinging to the side of the building, her eyes wild.
“I know you’re scared,” Fiona whispered. “But if you do as I say, I’ll get you to a safe place. A place where no one can ever hurt you.”
Staring at the mask Fiona wore, the girl gave a jerky nod. “You’re Prometheus, isn’t you? I heard of you. Didn’t know you was a woman, though.”
“Well, tonight, I am. And we need to get moving.” Fiona inched her way along the ledge, heading for a place where she could easily jump less than three feet to the roof of the building next door. Once she’d gained the roof, she turned and reached out a hand.
The girl’s eyes were huge, but she put her hand in Fiona’s and made the leap as well.
Then they were running, dashing across the rooftops as though their lives depended on it, because they probably did.
Fiona had known the dangers when she’d decided to take up the good work that her friend Adrian Strathmore had begun, but this was her first rescue, and she was absolutely terrified. She had no doubt about what would happen to her if she were caught. Many years ago, Adrian had rescued her in the way she was rescuing this girl, and she would never go back to that life. She’d rather die.
Shouts rang out behind them, and Fiona tightly gripped the girl’s hand, urging her toward a door that led from the roof down into a building full of rundown flats. She’d planned to use this as her escape route all along; she just hadn’t thought she’d be running when she got here.
They made it through the door and then down four flights of stairs before spilling out onto the street. Fiona ripped off the mask and shoved it into her pocket, heading for the hired hack she’d paid to wait for her. She lifted the girl up onto the seat and jumped up beside her.
“Go,” she cried to the hack driver. “We’re being chased.”
The man gave her a wide-eyed look but didn’t ask questions.
As they pulled away at a brisk trot, Fiona sank back against the stiff seat and shared a triumphant smile with the girl. “We did it.”
The girl nodded, seeming a bit dazed.
