Sold to Serve by Kyra Alessy

Chapter 11

After Kade left, she thought for a long time, confused about her feelings. She had enjoyed being in Mace’s bed, though she saw now that, in comparison to Kade’s treatment of her just now, Mace had not been considerate of her at all. Ironic that the Brother who looked most like a barbarian was the gentlest of the three of them. But then Mace had believed that she’d snuck into his chamber to seduce him like a practised courtesan. He’d probably been quite disappointed by her lack of skill in bed. She snorted. Good.

She put him from her mind. She had genuine troubles to worry about and she was feeling quite tired after ... her cheeks heated. Kade had been right. It had exhausted her. She lay back in the bed and curled up, falling to sleep almost immediately.

She slept fitfully,plagued by dark dreams and fevered nightmares. She was still in the well. A beast pulled her under. The monster from above climbed down the rocks like a spider and sank its fangs into her flesh. She screamed and fought, tried to escape, but she was back on the hill, running and running but not moving, unable to get away from the things that were behind her.

Then a warmth and a sudden feeling of safety blanketed her, chasing the gory visions away. She nuzzled closer to her salvation, breathing in a tantalising fragrance of mint and lavender very much at odds with the wood smoke and metal of Kade, but it calmed her and she drifted down into a blessedly dreamless slumber.

The morning brought with it a thirst and a loudly rumbling tummy. She sat up, surprisingly lucid, as she heard the door open, wondering at the lingering scent in her room. She’d dreamt of that smell last night and she was sure she recognised it, but she couldn’t place it for the life of her.

She waited for whomever it was to speak, surreptitiously ensuring her blanket was pulled high though she still wore the shirt Kade had given her. The smell of roasted meat preceded him, making her mouth water.

‘How do you feel this morning?’ Mace.

‘Better than yesterday, I think,’ she said coldly.

He was silent for a moment before speaking again. ‘I’ve brought you a meal if you’re hungry.’

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, wondering if she was in any danger from this Brother. Davas had told her he was the one who’d brought her out of the cave. That counted for something, she supposed.

A tray was placed on her lap and he put a cup in her hand. ‘This is a tea that Davas brewed for you.’

She took a sip and made a face. It was awful.

Mace chuckled. ‘All his teas are horrible, but they do help.’

She wrinkled her nose, but gulped the rest as quickly as she could.

‘Good girl,’ he praised her, making her stomach flutter and her cheeks redden reluctantly.

She frowned. Was it her imagination or had his tone become huskier? What was the matter with her? After how he had treated her, how could she find any of his attentions pleasing? She swallowed hard, trying to cover the warmth of her embarrassment by feeling for the food he’d placed in front of her.

‘Let me,’ he commanded softly. The bed next to her dipped as he sat, his proximity making her heart beat faster. She took a shuddering breath, hoping he wouldn’t ask about Kade’s shirt that she still wore.

‘Open your mouth,’ he coaxed.

He slipped a bit of meat past her lips and she all but moaned at the taste of it. How long had it been since she’d eaten anything other than bread, gruel and porridge?

He fed her slowly until she was full and she couldn’t help but sigh contentedly.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said suddenly.

She drew back, trying to keep the grimace off her face. She didn’t want to speak of what had happened the other night. It was too mortifying.

‘What for?’ she heard herself ask politely and cursed her upbringing.

‘For the other night in my chamber. I thought … you appeared and I should have known it wasn’t what I assumed. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I know it’s a poor excuse.’

Kora cast her eyes down. Even though she couldn’t see his face, she could feel his eyes on her and knew her cheeks were crimson yet again. ‘You didn’t hurt me,’ she finally said quietly.

‘I know that I did. Forgive me.’

She knew her face showed her surprise that he was asking for absolution. She cast her thoughts back to that night, his touch, his mouth doing those wicked things, and she put her fingers to her hot face. She would have forgiven him. It was in her nature to do so.

But what about all the weeks before? She closed her eyes. At best he’d ignored her. At worst he’d helped Lucian make her miserable. She grimaced. There was another, ever present suspicion that made her question everything: What if this was a trick – something Lucian’s twisted mind had thought up to torture hers? Perhaps it was just another part of her never-ending punishment.

‘I want to. But there’s been so much – ’ she began, but he hushed her.

‘Let me at least try to make amends.’

She shrugged, not believing for a moment that he would do as he promised once his guilt wore off. He would forget his shame, and the fickleness of human nature would divest him of this current need for forgiveness sooner rather than later, she was sure.

Over the nextseveral days she fell into a routine while she convalesced. Every morning Davas brought water in ewers for washing and her breakfast and, after him, Kade would usually appear, bringing a clean shirt for her to wear. Always one of his. She found this odd, but when she asked him for something more substantial to cover herself with, he told her that they’d had to send to the village for women’s clothes because they had no others – and that while she was stuck in her room it didn’t really matter anyway. Kora didn’t say anything more about it despite how peculiar it was though the second time she caught Kade leaning in to smell her, she told him she wouldn’t wear anything he brought her unless he stopped. He seemed a bit perturbed, but he hadn’t done it since.

If Kade wasn’t there practically sitting on top of her, Mace would sit with her for hours on end, talking with her about his life before joining the Brothers. He was trying to make up for what he’d done as he’d promised he would. It was a welcome surprise. She was amazed to find that he was the younger son of a noble himself. His childhood had been similar to hers. He’d found his years cloistered within his family’s estate as suffocating as she had hers and had run away to find adventure and glory.

She remembered walking the halls of her family home or even just sitting in her chambers, feeling the walls closing in on her. She’d have to get out or she was afraid she’d go mad. She’d sneak down to the stables to ride her horse, Brisa, in the twilight or run through the meadow down to the river that ran through their lands and hope that none of the servants who saw told tales to her father. He had very specific ideas regarding how young girls of noble birth should behave and his punishments typically involved taking away things he knew she loved. She frowned as she remembered the day he’d sold Brisa. She didn’t even remember what she’d said or done to make him do it, just the hollowness inside her and the realisation that there wasn’t much left that he could take away.

Kora shook herself free of her musings. She could well understand Mace’s feelings. They weren’t much different, Mace and she, and Kora wished she could share her own memories with him. She was tempted, but there was always a voice that cautioned her. She couldn’t trust anyone even if she did feel a connection of sorts beginning to form.

Mace thought of ways to break up the hours as well. One afternoon, he brought her a tray of foods and made her guess by taste alone what each dish was. By the end they were both in fits of giggles and she couldn’t remember ever having such fun with anyone.

As he took the tray from her knee, his hand brushed hers. He hadn’t touched her once in these past days, not even by accident. She pulled her hand away with a tiny gasp, and a sudden heat pooled in her belly.

‘Your skin is flushed,’ he observed.

She drew away from him and drawing her mouth into a thin line. She was still embarrassed whenever she thought of what had happened with him before, but the other conflicting things she’d felt hadn’t gone away either. If anything, the need she felt when she was around him had only increased.

She felt his weight leaning forward on the bed and squeaked as he touched his lips softly to hers. He hadn’t kissed her once the other night, but he was now, and it was very different from Kade’s aggressive, yet no less pleasurable, invasion of her mouth. Yes, she liked kissing, she decided.

He pulled away from her just enough to speak. ‘I’m only going to kiss you. You can tell me no, Kora,’ he murmured. ‘I won’t force you. You won’t be punished if you refuse me.’

Kora felt for his face and cupped his cheek, sliding her fingers into his short flaxen hair, remembering how it had shone so golden in the sun the first time she’d seen him. Unable to help herself, she surged forward, capturing his mouth with hers. A moan slipped out and was muffled by his lips. She needed to feel him next to her. She needed her other four senses to make her forget she was lacking her fifth. But mostly she needed him to finish what he’d begun that night. She longed for that pleasure. Before Kade had shown her, she hadn’t known what she craved, and it had irked her that she yearned so for something she didn’t understand. But she knew now and found she wanted that feeling again. She wanted Mace to make her body succumb to it.

What had happened with him had scared her, but over the past days, he’d been kind. She’d seen beneath the mercenary leader’s veneer and she liked it.

And when she thought back to the night she’d shared his bed, the fear and the pleasure had been a potent combination. After years of crushing any feelings of exuberance down lest they be noticed by her father, she now found peril too thrilling to ignore.

She’d taken risks before; of course she had. She’d left her room in the night to watch the servants in their festival revelries. She had disobeyed her father at every turn, even knowing that the price would be high if she was caught. She’d rebelled as much as she could in that stifling house while still ensuring he believed her to be a timid maid. But none of her adventures had ever excited her like Mace and Kade did.

She wrapped her arms around Mace’s neck, afraid he would pull away from her, but instead he pushed her back onto the bed and lay down beside her, one leg draped over hers and effectively securing her to him.

‘You aren’t well enough for this,’ he murmured even as he pushed the counterpane down, pulled Kade’s shirt over her head and took the tightening peak of her breast into his mouth. His tongue played with it, sending such a delicious sensation straight down her body that she couldn’t help the tingle she felt in her belly and between her thighs.

‘The only things not well are my eyes,’ she moaned, ‘and I don’t need those at the moment.’

He laughed warmly and the sound of it was like a caress in itself. His hand moved to her other breast, kneading it gently as he kissed her mouth again. As she relaxed next to him, his tongue moved past her lips, exploring her as his hands did.

Caught up in his touch and her body’s response, she didn’t hear the door open. It wasn’t until someone coughed lightly that she realised someone was in the room, a voyeur who casually watched them. She froze, curling into Mace’s body as she felt for the blanket. She pulled it over herself like a child hiding from imagined monsters – except here the monsters were real.

‘Can’t you fucking knock?’ Mace growled. Then he made a sound of irritation. ‘And why are you walking about spying? You should be resting. You look terrible.’

‘I can take care of myself, as you well know. Besides, I would have missed the show. You shouldn’t be letting her exert herself. Come. We need to talk. Now. There’s been another raid on the village.’

Lucian.What was he doing here? Kora stayed under the covers, hoping he’d forget about her.

Mace shifted off the bed. ‘If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t be languishing in this bed.’

Lucian snorted. ‘That’s true enough. If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be sleeping on the floor in the kitchen and going about her back-breaking punishment chores instead of enjoying these soft sheets and your pleasurable company.’

Under the blanket, Kora’s face contorted with rage. Before she could think better of it, she uncovered her head and turned it in the direction of his voice.

‘You made me go and pick those poisonous flowers,’ she cut in coldly, her body shaking in fury. ‘You knew what would happen to me! I might never see anything again because of you!’ she railed at him, eyes swimming with tears. She dashed them away angrily. ‘What if my sight never comes back? What will happen to me then?’ She laughed derisively. ‘Will you sell me on to a place where my eyes aren’t needed? A dockside, mending nets? A brothel in the north?’ She stifled a sob as she lay back, turning away from them both.

Lucian was blessedly silent for once. Mace’s hand found hers, trying to comfort her she supposed, but all it did was remind her that he had helped Lucian, however indirectly. She pushed him away. ‘I’d like to be alone now, please.’

When she was sure they were gone, Kora got out of bed. She knew the room well after the countless days she’d spent here, but she still stumbled a bit as she found the bottom of the bed and then the table in the corner where she knew the ewer of water sat. She bathed as well as she could, wishing for the hot pool in the cellar while she did so. Then she dragged the chair by the wall over to the casement and sat in it. Even though she couldn’t see the view of the valley, she could imagine it and still feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun on her face.

She finally let in the fears that had been hounding her thoughts. What if her sight did not return? What would she do? She didn’t have an answer.

A while later someone knocked, but she told whoever it was to go away. She was neither hungry nor in any sort of mood for company. When the warmth on her face disappeared, she began to feel sick and dizzy. Perhaps she wasn’t as well as she thought if simply sitting in a chair tired her out.

She made her way back to the bed and resolved to map the rest of the keep in the same way she had this room. It was either that or be dependent on someone’s arm to lead her everywhere. No, she would hate that. Tomorrow she would ask Davas for some of the men’s clothes if necessary so that she could move about unaided. Even with Mace and Kade coming to visit every day, knowing she couldn’t simply leave this room whenever she liked made it feel like a prison in the same way her father’s house had.

She closed her eyes and was immediately fast asleep. Like every night now, the shadows emerged from the deep as soon as she succumbed to tiredness. She tossed and turned, unable to wake from the nightmares until she felt someone next to her, smelling of that same light, floral mint that seemed to calm her so well. He came as soon as the bad dreams did, and she curled into strong arms that made her feel safe. Only then was she able to sleep peacefully, not really knowing or caring if it was a dream.

The next day she asked Davas for something to wear when he brought her morning meal and was immediately given another dress. She supposed it must have come from the village, but it was much softer and more luxurious than the others had been; it felt very much like the gowns she’d worn at home. When she remarked on it to Davas, he simply told her that he’d grabbed the first one he could find in their stores that he didn’t think would irritate her skin, which was still inflamed in places from her reaction to the flowers. Her suspicions were confirmed. Kade had been lying to her. But why had he wanted her in his clothes? Was it simply to see more of her body? She couldn’t very well ask him, she thought, her cheeks warming.

Donning the dress hurriedly, she felt much better as she sat in front of the casement with the plate of food – once she’d drunk another of Davas’s horrible teas. She felt stronger today and decided a short walk inside the keep might be a good start for her blind adventures. She could hardly sit in this room for another day. Boredom was eating away at her. At least in her childhood there had been books, unapproved by her father, that had been sneaked in by the maids who’d felt sorry for her.

She assumed there would be no tasks for her as yet. She wasn’t sure what she could do at the moment, to be fair, and no one had mentioned anything at all, but she was still a slave here, so it was only a matter of time before she would be expected to go back to her work, she supposed. She’d better find a way to be useful, which meant she had to learn her way about.

She knew she was on the same floor as the other bed chambers, and the library was on the same level. Once she got her bearings, she would see if she could get there without accidentally throwing herself down the stairs. She would try traversing those another day.

Opening the door slowly, she half-expected someone to order her back inside, but no one did. She took a step and then another, hand on the door and then on the wall to feel her way.

‘Here,’ Kade said, touching her arm and making her jump. ‘Sorry.’

She raised a brow. He didn’t sound sorry.

He took her hand and put it on a rope of some kind. ‘There’s a cord running along all the walls up here to guide you.’

She smiled. ‘That’s very helpful, thank you. I’d hate to break my neck after surviving the well.’

‘Mace helped,’ he said gruffly. ‘And I should tell you that it was Lucian’s idea.’

Her smile thinned. ‘Oh.’ Why would he want to help her, she wondered and almost snorted aloud. It was probably to ensure she went back to work.

‘We can put them on every wall in the keep if you find they help you. My room is over there, across the corridor from yours. Mace’s is the other way, and Lucian’s and the library are this way.’ He held her arm up and pointed it in the direction of each room. ‘I was coming to tell you that Mace and I will be gone for a few days. There are raiders in the area taking livestock and supplies. We need to run them to ground.’

She grimaced inwardly at the thought of being left alone in the keep with just Lucian, but she smiled at Kade, taking his hand. ‘Take care,’ she said brightly. ‘I hope you’re successful.’

He kissed her lips quickly and she grinned.

‘I’d like to go to the library, please,’ she requested, her heart leaping even at his innocuous touch. She remembered the first time they’d met and he’d scared her so. When had she become so at ease with him?

‘Do you remember which way?’

She cast her sightless eyes to the ceiling. ‘Of course. You just said.’

‘It’s the first door. The cord will end just before it. About thirty paces.’

Kora nodded and, taking hold of the rope, hesitantly began to walk, counting her steps. He didn’t follow, and she was grateful that he wasn’t coddling her. When she reached thirty-seven – his legs were longer than hers – the cord ended and she felt for the handle of the door. It opened quietly and she entered, smelling the mustiness of ageing paper and the leather of the volumes she knew were all around her. Remembering the piles and untidiness from the last time she had been in this room, she made her way around slowly, easing a foot along the floor in front of her before each step.

There were two windows on the wall opposite the door, she remembered, and a long table to the right with high-backed wooden chairs around it. The hearth was on the left, and there were two more comfortable chairs there with a much smaller round table between them.

She walked towards where she thought the windows were, intending to open the shutters and let the warmth of the sun in, but walked into one of the chairs with a thump. She gave a low cry and tutted to herself in annoyance, adjusting the picture she had in her mind of the room. Feeling her way around the chair and the edge of the table, she took three steps, her arms out. She reached for the shutters but felt a warm breeze instead. The casements were already open. She turned to the left. She might as well sit on one of the comfy chairs. But her foot caught the edge of a pile of books, sending them thudding to the floor. She sighed as she knelt down, feeling for them as she battled to keep tears of frustration from spilling down her cheeks. She gathered the books slowly, running her hands over the cold stone floor to find them.

It was only her first time out of her room, she told herself. These things would happen until she became accustomed to days without her eyes. She couldn’t hang all her hopes on her sight returning. She must go on as if she would never see again or else she wouldn’t be able to live her life. As it was, she wasn’t sure where she fit now. And escaping the keep was nigh impossible at this point. The best she could ask for now was to stay here and hope to be treated kindly or to be sold on. She had already discounted Davas’s suggestion some days ago of letting her family know where she was. She doubted Blackhale would want a maimed wife, but having to endure her father’s home until he no doubt found a ‘suitable’ marriage for her – which she would, of course, have to be grateful for, for all of her life … She shuddered. She’d rather take her chances in the keep.

She picked up what she believed was the last of the fallen books and coaxed them into a nice, neat pile; as good a one as she could currently make, at any rate. She started as one of the chairs by the hearth gave a faint creak. Someone was here and she believed, with a sinking feeling, that she knew which of the Brothers it was.

‘Do you enjoy skulking about or are you lying in wait to frighten me?’

* * *

Actually, Lucian had been applying a hot compress to his swollen jaw, which Davas assured him was not broken but still fucking felt like it days later. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. He shifted in the chair again, listening to the tell-tale creak as he tried to put his ribs into a more comfortable position. Two of them were broken. As he had feared, Kade had given him the soundest and most thorough beating he’d ever had from one of his Brothers. The only thing currently making him feel slightly better was boldly observing their slave’s kneeling form; specifically, how much of her breasts he could see in the low-necked silk gown she wore as she reached to pick up the books she’d knocked over.

‘I was just minding my business in this chair when, suddenly, you arrived.’ He moved again, stifling a groan of discomfort. He didn’t want her to know how badly he was injured.

She snorted and he smiled genuinely only because she couldn’t see it. She was stronger than he’d first thought. He’d seen some of it that first day when she wouldn’t be cowed by him, but he was still surprised at her resilience. Even as she knelt on the floor in that wine-coloured gown that was much too elegant for her, trying to tidy the mess she’d made, she was no delicate bloom that would fade in the frost. She wouldn’t let something as banal as blindness stop her from doing as she willed. She would press forward to the bitter end no matter the cost. He recognised those same traits in himself and he could admit that he had some measure of respect for her. In truth, a small part of him had missed her presence in the keep while she’d been absent.

He glanced around the room. He should clear all the piles of books away, put them back on their shelves where they belonged. She’d be tripping over them all the time as she tried to navigate the room if he didn’t.

He stopped those thoughts immediately and stared at her for a moment in consternation. Why did he suddenly care for her comfort? He must simply feel some measure of uncharacteristic guilt for his part in what had happened to her. Yes, that must be it.

‘You were wrong yesterday, you know,’ he suddenly said and then silently cursed himself for speaking aloud. What did it matter if she knew he hadn’t meant to hurt her, whether or not she forgave him?

She stayed where she was, staring blankly in his direction. ‘About what?’

‘When I sent you to get the flowers, I thought …’ He ran a hand over his swollen face. ‘They should have simply made it seem as if you’d had too much wine. If I’d known what would happen ...’ he trailed off, not sure what else to say.

She didn’t say anything for so long that he thought their conversation was finished. But then she seemed to decide something. She sat back on her heels, her countenance turning mulish.

‘Why do it at all? Why devise work to harm me? Even if you didn’t know what the flowers would do to me, why did you send me out there at all?’ She shook her head. ‘Why speak to me only to make unpleasant comments? Why steal my dress and then post guards so that I’d be caught? Why send me to the smithy when setting foot in there was so dangerous that only Davas could enter? I don’t understand.’

He felt an unwelcome pang of regret in his chest. She’d caught him off guard and he found he didn’t like it one bit. He ground his aching jaw.

‘I don’t know,’ he said, deciding it was time to put her back in her place. ‘Perhaps I want to see how much our expensive little slave can withstand before she breaks.’

She grimaced and got to her feet, chest heaving as she made her way to the table and sat heavily in one of the chairs.

The colour had drained from her face and she suddenly looked quite unwell.

‘Fuck,’ he muttered under his breath, wondering why he couldn’t keep his temper under control where she was concerned and then wondering why he was worried about such a thing.

‘Can I get you some water?’ he found himself asking.

She sighed. ‘Will you poison it?’ she countered.

He smiled darkly. He’d take her surrender, but he did enjoy that fire in her as well. ‘I promise you that I won’t.’

‘Your word? What’s that worth?’ she scoffed.

‘Not much.’ He chuckled in spite of himself as he slowly stood and took her a cup of the water from the table next to him, trying not to make it obvious that he couldn’t lift one of his legs properly at the moment.

When he set it in front of her, she sniffed it and took a sip. ‘I didn’t think you drank water.’

‘Mace has been delaying the supply wagons from the village, so that’s all there is.’ Lucian rolled his eyes, though she couldn’t see it. His Brother thought he didn’t know.

‘Why?’

‘Because I drink too much,’ he stated matter-of-factly. He looked down at his hands. At least the tremors had finally abated.

She downed the rest of the water from the cup. ‘I should go back to my chamber now.’

She eased up from the chair. He didn’t move, didn’t try to help her.

The door shut behind her and Lucian frowned in the silent room. He shuffled back to his table and sat back in his comfy chair. He told himself he was glad the little intruder had gone; with her distracting body and bothersome voice. This was his room and now he could be blissfully alone in it to wallow in pain.

He closed his eyes and tried to think about their plans for the keep, the problems they were facing with the villagers, and with the bandits that seemed to appear and vanish so quickly. But his mind kept taking him back to thoughts of her – her dress, her hair, what it would be like to kiss her, to have her legs wrapped around him. He thought about how she’d looked squirming under Mace when he’d walked into her room. Breathless, cheeks stained red, mewling as Mace suckled her tits.

Swearing aloud and adjusting his now painfully hard cock, he realised that he needed to get her out of his head somehow. He’d known it for days and it was time to do something about it. He couldn’t be rid of her now that she had both his Brothers under her spell.

He would fuck her, he decided.

Once he’d had her he would see she was just another woman. He’d remember there was nothing special about her and that she was simply a pretty slave. He practically shivered in anticipation. It wouldn’t take much to make her succumb to him after all. Gods, if his Brothers could manage it …

He leant back in his chair and grinned as he began to formulate his plans for her. He would begin tomorrow.

Over the next three days, he was already in the library whenever she entered. He was polite and helpful. He even began reading his book aloud so that she could listen. He ensured she had food and water – no wine though of course because there were still no supplies from the village. She never stayed long though. After breakfast, she’d walk slowly back down the corridor to her room to spend the rest of the day there by herself. The others were still away trying to catch the bandits that were wreaking havoc.

On the fourth day, his pretty slave entered the library and gave him a tentative smile that made his heart hammer in his chest. She’d never done that before and he was at war with himself. Part of him revelled in her softening towards him. He was winning her over – and quickly too. She was either very naïve or the most forgiving woman he’d ever met.

The other part wanted her to keep her distance, to stay away from him and the library, to realise his game before it was too late. But Lucian hadn’t indulged that side of him since well before he’d left his sister to fend for herself in the north. It was easy to push it away and remember that no one could be so pure of heart as she seemed.

Today, when she rose from the chair to leave as usual, he put the next stage of his plan into action.

‘Don’t go,’ he said, letting a plaintive note enter his voice. ‘Stay here with me awhile.’

A look of uncertainty passed over her face. ‘I thought I disturbed you when I came here. Why would you want me to stay?’ She cocked her head to the side.

‘You must be very bored in your room all day with nothing to do. I’m bored in here truth be told,’ he admitted.

She laughed lightly. ‘You can go wherever you like. You could ride out with the others if you had a mind to.’

He chewed the inside of his cheek as he considered. He hadn’t intended to tell her about his injuries at all, but … making up his mind he closed the short distance between them. ‘I’m going to take your hand. You have my word I will not do anything untoward.’

Her lip quirked. ‘But we determined several days ago that your word is worth nothing.’

He grinned at her retort, but she didn’t resist as he gently grasped her hand and brought it slowly to his face. When she felt the swelling of his jaw, she gasped. ‘Did Kade do this to you?’

His brow furrowed. She actually sounded concerned for him. ‘Oh yes, and more besides. I have a swollen eye, broken ribs, two fingers pulled out of joint, bruises everywhere and he’s done something to one of my legs.’

‘Davas told me but I didn’t think it would be so …. vicious.’ Her mouth opened and closed. ‘I thought you were friends.’

Lucian watched her closely, feeling her fingers on him and pretending it was a caress. ‘We are Brothers first. When one of us does need punishing, our unit carries it out. It is the way of the Dark Brothers. You need not concern yourself over it. I only showed you so you understand that I’m stuck in the keep just as you are until I mend.’

He shifted on his feet, feeling like a boy asking his mama for something he knew would be refused. ‘You could join me during the days, if you like. Perhaps we could keep each other company until the others return.’

She would say no. He didn’t know why he bothered asking. She hated him for good reason. Why would she choose to come here to spend time with him? He could order her and she would obey, but he wanted her to be here because she wished to be, not because she was forced to be. He shook his head. No that wasn’t right. What was wrong with him? He wanted her here of her own free will so that he could have her. Duress would only set him back.

‘What will we do in here?’ she asked suspiciously.

His mind suddenly threw him down a very enjoyable rabbit hole, showing him some of the many, many things he would like to do in this room alone with her, and his cock began to harden.

He shifted himself in his breeches, glad she couldn’t see him, and made a noncommittal sound. ‘I’ll read to you if you like. You can even choose. The books came with the keep. They cover a variety of subjects. There are a few instruments ‘round abouts too, though I don’t play anything well. We could devise games to play. Or we could simply talk. All I know about you before you came here is that you were a house slave who was sold away from her home and family.’

She stiffened next to him.

Interesting.

‘I-I’ll think about it,’ she murmured as she stood, misjudging how close he was. He was forced to take a small step back to stop her from bumping into him. He clearly made her nervous, so she didn’t tarry, slipping between the chair and his body like a mouse escaping a cat through an impossibly tiny hole in the wall. She practically flew to the door, arms outstretched and fumbling for the handle. She couldn’t find it. Yes, she was definitely flustered.

‘Let me,’ he called to her, unlatching the door slowly as he observed her. He opened it and put the rope hanging along the wall in her hand.

She mumbled a thanks and then she was gone, leaving him with a vague notion that she was quarry he would definitely enjoy trapping. He turned and shuffled slowly back into the room, closing the door softly.

He found himself looking forward to the next time they were alone together, but, surprisingly, not because his plan was bearing fruit. He wanted her body, yes. He wanted to devour her, but there was something else. She was far more interesting than he’d first presumed. He wanted to spend time with her and the realisation caught him by surprise. He could feel his dislike slowly dissolving and other, much pleasanter feelings were quickly taking their place. That other, nicer part of him began to wonder if he should abandon this plan of seduction. He was only going to hurt her again.

He growled, shoving those ridiculous thoughts away. Everyone hurt everyone. He’d learned long ago that it was much better to be the one doling out the pain than the one feeling it.