Starved Beast

My mind was dizzy and confused, and yet the mist and pain were gone. I found myself unexpectedly in the present, or was it the past? With a sense of d'j ... vu, I found that Christine was swaying in front of me, full of nervous expectation.

"You're the daughter of the Marquis," I asserted blankly as if this would come as a surprise to her, which, of course, it didn't. For me, it was still an upsetting surprise although the more I looked at her, the more that I saw the likeness. I felt stunned, and the rock fell limply from my hand. "You're Christine de Lyons."

For certain, I'd awake to discover that I was insane, or that this was a dream or the mischief of the Devil; for how could she be here with me in my cave?

I wondered whether she knew that her father was a murderer and a liar, a cowardly scoundrel who'd betrayed the people of France?

I remember him on his horse and Isabelle in his wake, as he took her away.

There was a noose tugging upon her neck and her hands were bound behind h