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“Yes, I know.” Verity came closer to her and handed her the mug. “You told me that about twenty times yesterday as you drank the ale merrily. I knew you wouldn’t feel right. And so did Master. He was the one who cut you off. Otherwise, you would’ve still been drinking till morn.” She laughed again.
Hades cut her off? He’d seen her in her debauched state? Eloise groaned. She took the mug and looked inside. The drink smelled foul and looked like sludge. She grimaced.
“Drink up. You shall feel better in a jiff.”
“I doubt that.” Eloise averted her nose. She put the mug on the bedside table and turned to Verity. “How did I get to my room last night? I haven’t even changed my clothing.”
Verity chuckled again, triggering Eloise’s headache. “Master brought you here.”
“He did?” The headache was getting worse.
“Mhm. Picked you up in his arms and carried you and all that.”
Oh, Lord!“He carried me?”
“That’s right.”
Eloise’s neck heated.
“You do not remember anything from last night, do you?” Verity asked with a grin.
Eloise shook her head. “No, I do not. And perhaps it’s for the best.”
Verity chuckled once again. “I asked for water to get heated a while ago. It should be ready now. Have a bath, relax, you will feel better soon. Then you can join us in the hall again. Today Hope and Faith are about, so perhaps they’ll teach you something new.”
Eloise groaned. She wished she could say no, but she had a few more hours to last to win the wager, and she couldn’t hide away under a coverlet and spend the day in a dark, quiet room as she wished. “Very well,” she said. “But please, no more ale.”
Verity laughed. “I thought genteel ladies were versed in drinking. You are not what I imagined.”
Eloise frowned. “I don’t know anything about other genteel ladies. But I just never had time or inclination to drink. I always had too many responsibilities.”
Verity waved the issue away. “Responsibilities.” She scoffed. “Forget this word while you are here. You might think you’re imprisoned here, but you’ll see. You are going to be freer here than you ever were back home.” Verity winked and left the room, but the weight of her words lingered.
Was there merit to her words? Eloise pitied these women for having to work in such a profession. She pitied them because they didn’t have their homes; they had no prospects to marry. But wasn’t she rebelling and running off into the night just to escape those shackles—those responsibilities? Did she not consider marriage an impediment to her freedom?
The bath was brought to her room, and once the men filled it with steaming water, Eloise slowly and gingerly undressed and plopped inside. The warm water felt nice on her tired muscles. She tried not to think about anything at all, to give her head a rest, but Verity’s words kept coming back to her.
Now that the idea was planted in her mind, she could not nudge it away as easily. Were the women here—the whores—freer than she had been in her home under lock and key?
When Eloise sneaked out of the room the night she got captured and snatched away, she sneaked out to experience a moment of freedom. And perhaps this was not what she’d envisioned back then. But this house where she could do anything without consequences—was this not freedom? Should she not take full advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself to her?
She scrubbed the wanton thoughts away. She was not one of the wicked ladies who wantonly flirted with the men and drunkenly invited them to her bed. No, she should find the library, lock herself inside, and await the rescue from her brother. And once she won the wager, this would be exactly what she’d do!
Besides, she had a note to compose, and for that, she needed to know more about the mansion and befriend her reluctant guards. She needed to come up with a perfect note to her brother that would help him easily extract her from this house. Sal had boasted how this mansion was impenetrable. But she’d learned something else last night too. Ava had escaped.
She had been watched by the same guards; she had lived in the same wing. And she had escaped. Although her escape didn’t end well for her, it gave Eloise hope. She could find an escape from this place, too.
