Chapter Thirteen
I’d been imprisoned three weeks, though it seemed like years. I thought I would never see my lovely home again, and yet, it did little to comfort me. For some reason my fair Florence was now tarnished in my mind, having stayed in its prison, undergoing a seamier side of what I thought was a glorious life. Perhaps that just proved to me that nothing was without its dark fringes, not even this lustrous place.
I knew that my mysterious rescuer would call on me, and was thankful that he was gentleman enough to allow me some moments to bathe and return at least part of my dignity. With my soiled clothes burned in the grate, with the grime and smell of the prison washed away, I almost felt human again. Allowing my golden hair to dry in the sunshine, I let that warmth warm me a
