Sarah stayed.
Ruby had offered her a room in the manor's guest wing, and Sarah had accepted with tearful gratitude. She was still jumpy, still flinching at sudden sounds, but there was something loosening in her shoulders. Something that looked like the beginning of hope.
"You don't have to hide," Ruby told her on the second morning. "You can walk in the garden. You can explore the house. No one's going to hurt you here."
Sarah wrapped her hands around a mug of tea. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's what he always said. 'The other shoe always drops.'"
Ruby sat across from her. "Cavendish said that?"
"He said a lot of things." Sarah's voice was flat. "He said I was nothing without him. He said if I ever left, he'd make sure I never worked again. He said—" She stopped, her throat working.
"He was wrong," Ruby said firmly. "About all of it. You're here. You're safe. And you're going to help us bring him down."
Sarah looked up. "You really think we can?"
