The basement reeked of rot and damp stone. My feet slid over gritty concrete, then over something soft that scurried away. The sound of insects skittering made my skin crawl. Somewhere close, a rat shrieked.
I pressed my back against the wall, hugging myself, shaking so hard my teeth rattled.
Then pain exploded in my ankle.
I looked down just in time to glimpse a thick coil sliding away into the shadows.
I don’t remember falling. Only screaming.
When I opened my eyes again, the world smelled of disinfectant. A nurse hovered over me, her voice calm.
“You’re fortunate,” she said. “It was a venomous bite. If you’d arrived any later, it could’ve been fatal.”
My lips were dry as sand. “How did I get here?”
“The butler called emergency services,” she replied. “But you need to rest.”
Rest. After being tossed into a basement like garbage.
I scanned the room for any familiar face, but she answered my question before I could ask.
“No one has visited you.”
By the time I was released, my body was weak but my resolve was solid. I would never go back to that house and bow my head again.
At the gate, the butler was waiting.
“They’re all attending an auction tonight, ma’am,” he said stiffly.
“Auction?”