Chapter 268

Lily was lost in a dream of kisses and whispered words of love as she and Charles watched the sunrise through the bay windows. Her husband leaned over her, his gray eyes alight with passion.

Then the sun sank back below the horizon and darkness cloaked them. Charles cried out as dark, shadowy hands pulled him from the bed and dragged him under the floor, which had become the surface of an icy river.

"Charles!" Lily screamed.

She bolted upright in the bed. The empty bed. Charles was gone.

Lily threw back the covers and glanced around the room. The fire had died in the hearth, and everything was quiet. Charles would never have left her, not tonight. Not while they all waited for Hugo to make his move. He had to have been taken. They all had.

But so soon? She had been sure he would wait at least a few days. Why now? No, the why didn't matter. What mattered was where. She believed she knew where Hugo would take them. A place where he could arrange for privacy and have dramatic effect.