Chapter 8. Brewing Trouble

Panic flickered in her eyes—but she masked it quickly. “Of course, dear,” she said smoothly.

But the moment Cedric stormed off to his study, she rushed to her desk, hands trembling slightly as she penned a hurried letter to Samantha:

“Your father grows suspicious. Write to him at once. Reassure him. Tell him you’re safe and well. Do not say anything foolish. And hurry—your time is running out. You must leave the slaves’ quarters before he demands your return.”

***

At the Slave Quarters

The note arrived secretly through one of Paula’s favored maids, tucked inside a rolled-up cloth during laundry duty.

Samantha read the letter under the moonlight, lips pursed in thought.

“Time is running out…”

Of course it was. She couldn’t stay here, hidden among the others, treated like one of them. Not when her goals were much higher.

That night, Samantha wrote back a carefully crafted letter filled with warm lies and twisted truth:

Dea