Page 16

“Not true,”he wheezed. “Find Ike and go back to the ranch in Texas. Then get yourself a pretty gal who likes horses and cows and have lots of babies.”Judd’s voice trailed off, and his eyes closed.

Seth thought he slept, but then he whispered something barely audible.

“Do it, Brother. Before you end up dead before your time, like me and Pa.”

Those were the last words Judd ever spoke as his labored breathing grew shallow and, within minutes, stopped altogether.

Seth didn’t know how long he sat there, tears in his eyes, not only grief-stricken but feeling lost and alone. He needed to find an undertaker and bury his only brother then decide what came next in his life, but he couldn’t leave him just yet.

Running footsteps and shouts in the hall broke into his sorrow. When he opened the door, he immediately smelled something burning. The air was hazy with smoke. He stepped into the path of a terrified woman rushing by. She was barefoot and naked beneath her hastily tied robe.

“What’s going on?”

“The Palace is on fire,”she replied, skirting around him. “I don’t know how it started or where, but I’m not sticking around to find out.”

The hallway filled with more people in various stages of undress. Urged by what they saw and smelled, they rushed to the stairs. He trailed behind, watching as coughing, crying people descended from the upper floor.

“Is everyone out?”he asked.

“I don’t know, but the smoke is thick, and it’s not safe to go up,”an out-of-breath older man replied without stopping.

Between coughs, one of the ladies informed him, “The fire must have started in the attic. I checked the door, but it’s locked, and only Heloise has the key.”

Seth started up the steps, unwilling to allow anyone the unthinkable fate of burning alive.

The third floor was much worse, with black smoke filling the corridor and flames visible at the far end.

He covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and quickly checked the rooms for anyone left behind.

There was a loud crack from above as he approached the midway point.

Ahead of him, plaster fell from the ceiling in a shower of burning embers, several landing on his shirt.

Hastily, he stripped off the burning fabric, rolling it to smother the remaining sparks before using the less damaged sections to shield his nose and mouth from the smoke.

However, there was little he could do about his burning, watering eyes.

He tested the knob of the closed door, and, just as the woman stated, it was locked.

He stepped back then raised his boot and kicked it.

The door opened outward, so it took him several tries to break through the wood.

After tossing the broken pieces aside, he discovered a sharply angled narrow staircase.

The thick smoke made it tough to see, but orange glowed above.

Seth started up cautiously. If the door was locked, maybe the attic was empty.

“Is anyone up here?”he called.

Hearing coughing, he climbed quickly. When his head came even with the attic floor, he paused,taken abackby what he saw.

Fire licked up the far wall, but more shocking was the large table in the center of the room with shackles bolted into it.

Nearby stood a set of wooden stocks like they’d used centuries ago to punish criminals in the town square.

Lying between the two devices was a dark, thick coil.

It could have been a snake in the gray haze of smoke, but snakes didn’t have leather-wrapped handles.

“What the hell?”he uttered.

A fit of coughing drew his attention. His stinging eyes widened at the sight of a young woman, naked as the day she was born, dragging a dark shape across the floor.

Being undressed in a whorehouse wasn’t particularly shocking.

What stunned him most were the angry red welts crisscrossing her back, buttocks, and thighs.

His gaze again fell upon the dark coil, convinced now that it was a whip.

A thousand questions ran through his head, but they would have to wait for answers.

“You need toget out of here, now! The fire is spreading fast!”he shouted over the roar of flames.

She dropped what she held with a loud thud and spun to face him. Even the smoky haze couldn’t hide the haunted expression in her unusual moss-green eyes.

Criminy, what happened up here?

“He deserves to rot for eternity,”she told him in a raspy voice. “But I couldn’t leave him up here to burn alive.”

Seth looked at the man in black, knee-high boots sprawled on the floor. He couldn’t tell if he was breathing, and his stillness suggested her efforts may have been in vain, but they didn’t have time to waste while he checked.

“Go,”he ordered. “Turn left at the bottom of the stairs, away from the fire. I’ll bring him out.”

“Thank you!”she exclaimed, wheezing and coughing. When she turned sideways to pass him on the stairs, he shoved his singed shirt into her hands.

“Cover your nose and mouth,”he said, wishing he had more to offer her as protection.

Trusting she would follow his instructions, Seth hurried up the steps.

Glad for the man’s slight frame, he lifted him onto his shoulder.

As he started back down, the pop and crack of splintering boards followed by a several loud crashes reverberated from behind.

The intense wave of heat that followed staggered him, and he almost dropped his shifting burden.

Seth didn’t look back as he leaned against the wall for balance and descended as quickly as possible.

The hallway and stairs were clear of people. He paused briefly on the second floor where he’d left his brother.

“Is anyone here?”he called. When he heard nothing except the roar of flames on the floor above and the crackle of dry wood, Seth made the only decision he could.

He continued downward, determined to rescue the man—dead or alive.

Knowing for sure his brother was gone, he’d return for his body afterward, if possible.