Page 115 of To Catch A Rogue

This entire cursed room would have watched and not said a thing.

She used her rage, stabbing again and again, until she rode Lady Kirinov to the ground. The woman's chest was a bloody, gaping mess, gore spattered across the beautiful sky blue of her gown. Her mouth gaped, breath rattling through her lungs.

"Finish it," said the auctioneer.

Blue bloods were almost impossible to kill.

Head or heart, and she'd practically macerated the heart.

Lark put the tip of her knife beneath Lady Kirinov's chin and jammed the blade up into her brain.

And then it was over.

Lark looked up at the bloodthirsty crowd. "Is there anyone else who wants to try and steal what belongs to me?"

Nobody moved.

* * *

Clapping echoed through the room,bringing her back to the here and now.

The world spun around her, leering faces flashing into view and painted lips drawing back to reveal teeth. Lark shook her head. The hunger roared through her with raking teeth, demanding more blood. It would be so easy. She could practically hear their hearts beating, and blood dripped from the knife in her hand.

Then Charlie was at her side, twisting her arm to look at the bloodied slash in her coat. Safe. He was safe. She could pull back now, let the hunger subside.

Color flooded back into the world. With it came pain. Jesus, it hurt.

"Just a cut," she panted. "I'm fine."

"It's more than a cut." He looked furious. "You need blood."

"In the carriage. Not here."

Not now, so close on the heels of the hunger's grip. She was on edge as it was.

The shock of Lady Kirinov's blank staring eyes flashed through her mind. Lark was no killer. She'd defended herself in the past when she'd had to, but the idea of deliberately taking a life made her feel a little ill now the rage sloughed off her.

"Let's get out of here." He hustled her off the stage, handing her over into Gemma's arms.

"A delightful performance," the auctioneer called, "though I daresay Lady Kirinov would disagree. Let us bring out Lot 2."

It was the Silent girl who'd served her that first morning.

Two footmen dragged her kicking and screaming silently onto the stage, clad in the same voluminous white gauze that Gemma wore. Nadezhda's voice had been stolen from her, and somehow it made this worse, for she could not even beg for her life.

Their eyes met, and Lark's stomach plunged. Someone had set this up. Someone had known who worked in their house and deliberately taken her.

The auctioneer gave her a smirk as the mute young woman implored him with her hands. "Perhaps this time, we'll have an uncontested bidding."

The bids started pouring in.

Every blue blood in the room was roused by the smear of blood on the floor as several footmen dragged Lady Kirinov's body out by her ankles. If they got their hands on the girl, this wouldn't end well.

"Come on," Charlie said, gesturing to her. He stood several feet away, protected by Gemma and Obsidian.

Lark turned back again, helpless to resist.

The girl was terrified.