Finding Him

Excerpt

BEAST OF ITALY

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Italy, 1834

Trembling fingers reached up just in time to keep the scarf around her shoulders in place, her eyes planted on the floor for fear he would catch her staring. After a while, she lifted her eyes up to find his eyes planted on his glass of whiskey that had remained the same quantity for the duration of time she stood before him.

Scarred fingers clutched his glass, twirling the drink back and forth and causing her to fear it would spill from its confinement in his glass to the floors.

"Name?" His low growl caused a cold shiver to wash over her. Tightening her hold on the scarf, her eyes settled on the part of his neck that had been left exposed by his shirt collar, to find the reason for his terrible voice; the burn scars that mutilated his neck.

The fire, she remembered the story she had been told by the housekeeper who had hired her. She was never to stare at him for too long, she had been warned. She was never to stare at his burns and she was especially not allowed to show fear in his presence.

Still, she couldn't help but stare, her eyes slowly trailing the burns to his chin. She could not see his face but she guessed it was scarred as well.

"Ira." She fought to keep her voice from trembling as her eyes fell back to the twirling movement of the liquid in the glass.

"Do you wish to work here, Ira?" His voice never ceased to frighten her, she thought, opening her mouth to respond and at the same time, lifting her eyes up.

Her lips clamped shut as her eyes came to settle on him. He sat staring at her, a monster of a man with scars that covered the entirity of the left side of his face, running all the way to his ears and finding expression on his neck. His entire neck was so recklessly consummed by the fire, she could hardly believe his ability to speak.

"Do you wish to work here, Ira?"

It wasn't a question, she realized, it was a statement. He sought to pose it as one, but she knew he seemed to have arrived at a conclusion; she didn't seek to work for the beast of Italy.

Eyes moving slowly up his neck, grazing over every one of his scar until it was settling on his blue eyes, she saw him. She saw a human being, not the beast he was painted to be and she knew she had her answer.

"Yes, Lord Talbot, I seek to serve you."

His skin rose up in what she assumed was an attempt to raise a nonexistent brow. "For how long?"

"For as long as my lord shall need me."

*

Author's Note:

Finding Him has finally come to an end. It's been a long road!
Let me begin by saying thank you! Every single one of you as always, have been instrumental to getting me here, to this ending. It's never ever an easy road writing but it's always worth it. I'm one of the most blessed authors here on wattpad and I'm blessed because whenever I count my blessings, I count you. Thank you for adding value to my life, for being my reward for so many months and hours of writing. From the depths of my heart, I love you.

Which is why, I'm gifting you with a sequel. If you haven't guessed it yet, Julius is getting a story of his own. I thought of many endings to Julius and one thing I was certain I didn't want, was death. I didn't want to kill him off and in this sequel, I hope to help you understand him better.

Also, he is scarred now. If you didn't get that from the excerpt, there was an accident and he is now scarred. Will his scars make him a better person? We shall see. Who is Ira? We shall see! Will you come on Julius' journey with me? I desperately hope so. Will we be seeing Daniel and Hadassah again? YES! If you didn't notice, I hardly said much about them in the epilogue, it was more about Julius because I wanted to ease you into his story.

So, until then, you can keep up with the new story by following my profile.