• Prologue
    1810
    “Bloody hell! You shot me, look, you bloody shot me! I can’t believe this, look at my foot! Look at it!” Jemmis Dastardy, the earl of Fitsborough pointed at his foot with shock, his mouth opening and closing.
    “I told you, if you didn’t give me the information I wanted that I would shoot you. Did you doubt me? Well it doesn’t matter anyhow, for you surely don’t doubt me now. I shall ask you one more time, and you better answer me or next time my aim will be a little higher.” The tall woman standing before Jemmis raised her pistol till it was pointed directly at his privates, cocking the hammer to punctuate her point. Small beads of sweat formed along his receding hairline.
    “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about…I swear!” Jemmis’s tongue darted out like a lizard, wiping the sweat from his upper lip.
    “This is your last chance. Where is Lady Miranda? You have till the count of ten. One, two, three…”
    “Go ahead, shoot me” Jemmis winced as one elegant eyebrow arched above the black mask, but mustered up his little courage and continued, “But know this! Shoot me and you’ll never find out!”
    His captor let out a chilly laugh, “Oh I won’t kill you. Not yet anyhow. You see, Jemmis I know things, and I know people. I can destroy you. Of course that is assuming you live the night” The woman raised her pistol-less hand casually, “if you don’t bleed to death first.” Jemmis looked at his foot. It was bleeding quite a bit, but where he knew little about wounds, he didn’t think this would kill him. The Masked Woman followed his gaze, and let out the same chilly laugh.
    “Oh that’s not the wound I would worry about if I were you. I was thinking more along the lines of the body parts I am going to cut off one by one if you don’t give me the information I want.” She pulled out a long knife from her boot, the gun never wavering from where it was aimed. Sliding the cool blade along Jemmis’ un-wounded foot, she continued.
    “Maybe I’ll start with a toe, or an ear, I once knew a man who had both his ears cut off, and he was living quite happily without them. He was even married.” She knelt over Lord Fitsborough, the muzzle of the pistol pressing against his privates. Running the knife under his nose she whispered in his ear, her cold breath tickling his face, “I heard a man can live without his nose as well. He can’t talk very well, or eat much, or go out in public…but he can live.” Jemmis grunted, fear dulling his pain, and much to his captor’s disgust, arousing him.
    “I heard about you,” she scoffed, “but I didn’t think it was actually true. You’re one of those freaks who can’t get it up unless they’re terrified. Maybe that’s the problem I should deal with, cutting off your pathetic line at the source, bye-bye future Lord Fitsborough’s.”
    Jemmis watched warily as his masked captor stood, following her movements with an appreciative eye. He may have been tied up, beaten, stinky, and hungry, but hell, he was only human. And the male in him demanded he watch the woman’s pert bottom as she swayed away from him and to a cabinet on the wall of his prison. Alarm bells went off in his head as he saw her coming back with a vial of dark liquid in her hand. He snapped his mouth shut as tight as he could, tilting his head away from the offending liquid.
    “Oh shut it. I am not giving you anything else, nor am I inclined to kill you before I find out what I need to. Besides, I need you to have a story to tell all your friends when you leave.” She laughed bitterly at Jemmis’ look of hope. “Yes, I will be letting you go. But it will be later rather then sooner if you don’t tell me where your people stashed Lady Miranda. Now come on, drink up.” Jemmis held his jaw closed as long as he could, but damned if he wasn’t thirsty enough that even this vile liquid looked like an elixir. The woman tilted the bottle toward his mouth, and Jemmis lapped the drink up. His last thought was that he could see straight down the woman’s bodice when she leaned over him, before the pommel of her blade slammed into his temple and all went black.