A Hero Comes Along

Rhea trashed beneath Lonan's unrelenting hold, her nails scratching bloody lines into his hand around her throat, while her legs kicked, wildly, against the tub.

For the first time in her short yet memorable life, she was fighting for her life.

Her lungs burned like a fire had been lit inside of them, for air and from the liquid heat that flooded them.

She tried to scream, not for help but to him, to beg him for mercy, but all it did was let more of the water in.

'He is going to kill me,' Rhea thought to herself as her vision grew blurrier and the burn in her lungs began to numb.

Lonan's hands tightened around her throat as if to speed up her violent end.

Rhea's life flashed before her in a dazzling. kaleidoscope of colours, and her body began to feel weightless.

Slowly, her hands slid away from his wrists and her flailing legs grew weaker, as her body began to succumb to the suffocation.

The cold embrace of death seemed so close, to the horror of a near-unconscious Rhea, until suddenly, it was not.

Lonan's hold on her neck was gone, alongside the weight of his body pinning her down.

Water spewed from Rhea's nose and mouth as she surged up and vomited over the side of the tub.

She sobbed as the biting pain from going so long without air hit her like a train and she began gasping, desperate to get in as much air as she could.

"RELEASE ME!" Lonan thundered and glanced up in his direction, with wet, red-rimmed eyes.

"So you can go back to torturing your wife," Augustus snarled as he slammed Lonan's face into the white tiles of the bathroom floor, his hands trapping Lonan's behind his back while his larger form, kept him pinned to the ground. "Like hell, I will."

"Are you alright, My Lady?" The dark-haired man asked, glancing over to Rhea shivering in the tub.

Rhea tried to speak, but all that came out was laboured breathing, and shaky sobs, fresh tears rolling down her soaked cheeks.

"Don't just stand there!" Augustus roared at the group gathered by the bathroom door. "Help your lady out of the tub and attend to her!"

He commanded with such an intense glare, that they hurried to obey, never minding that he had their Lord trapped beneath him.

Rhea's legs trembled when she was guided out of the tub, her chest heaving as she continued trying to take in air.

The maids struggled to hold her up, nearly dropping her when they tried to move. Rhea's eyes flitted to Augustus who looked vicious in his anger, as his hold on Lonan remained firm.

He met her eyes and his scowl softened, a small, tired sigh leaving his lips as he got off the younger man.

Lonan made to stand, but Augustus placed a foot on his back, stopping him, and then pressed him back down.

He growled out a warning. "Move before I say you can and I will make what you just did to Lady Rhea feel like ecstasy."

Lonan stayed down, albeit with a furious glare at the floor, and Augustus moved towards Rhea and the maids struggling to hold her up.

A small sound left the drenched woman's lips as she was suddenly swept up into his arms, a position reminiscent of the night they had met, and he carried her back into the bedroom.

"Fetch me some towels and a change of clothes for Lady Rhea, and someone please turn that damn faucet off," he barked out his command, while hovering at the edge of her bed, waiting for the items to be brought.

Rhea tried to speak, to tell him he did not have to worry about her and hopefully convince him to let Lonan up from the ground, but all that came out were soft whines and shivers as the cold air kissed her skin.

"You're alright, My Lady," Augustus comforted, concerned eyes studying her as his arms tightened around her. "No more pain will come to you. Not as long as I have breath in me."

He frowned when his words reached his ears, an unsettled look caused deep lines to form on his forehead.

Rhea smiled, finding his reaction charming, and dare she say, cute.

Three of the maids soon returned with towels and a change of clothes in their hands, saving him from his embarrassment.

"Do you think you can stand?" Augustus asked.

Rhea wiggled her numb toes, and they tingled in response, like tiny ants crawling beneath her soft skin.

She nodded anyway, not wanting to burden him with her weight any longer.

"Then I will leave you to it." He gently set her down, his hands holding on until she stopped swaying, and then left to the bathroom to give her some privacy.

"Are you alright, My Lady?" Questioned one of the women drying her off, her dark eyes wet with unshed tears and cheeks flushed like she had been crying.

"I will be," Rhea assured her and the other three fussed over her, with a gentle smile. "You know, I always bounce back from this."

"We know, Lady Rhea," agreed a second woman. "But it did not feel like it at the time. There was this look in Lord Lonan's eyes." She shuddered in remembrance.

Rhea frowned in confusion, wondering what she had missed while trapped under the spray of water.

"What look?"

The young woman paused, her eyes flitting over to her skittish companions and then back to her waiting mistress.

"Madness. Like he did not just want to hurt you. He wanted to see you dead."

A shiver went through Rhea, which could easily be excused as the cooling water on her naked body. But she knew what it really was.

Fear.

In all her years of being Lonan's wife and receiver of his rage, not once had he done anything as drastic and potentially permanent as drowning her.

They were right. Lonan's attack was so different from the many other times he had let his anger take control of his actions. It was like he had lost all restraints, this time, and had truly meant to.....

It suddenly dawned on Rhea how frightening what had just happened was, and she quickly took a seat when she began to feel faint.

This changed everything. If Lonan had truly become so hateful of her that he would try to kill her in such an obvious way then she was not safe. Not until she got away from him and his world.

She was not safe until she let their marriage meet its untimely end, something she had once thought she would rather die than allow happen.

But was her life really worth her marriage?