Chapter 7
Seven
ZAKAI
I’d been excited to find someone who recognized my language, but from the look on his face, the barbarian didn’t speak enough to understand me. I tried again, choosing simple words in the hope of getting my point across.
“You know Al Nuzem?”
His nose wrinkled and he tipped his head side to side. “Mother,” was all he could reply.
“Is she here?” I asked hopefully. The sentence was too complicated because he frowned at me. I tried again. “Mother here?”
He shook his head. “Mother… gone.”
From the sadness in his expression, his mother hadn’t just escaped or left on a trip. She was truly gone from this world. Which was sad, but also frustrating. My one chance at being understood was slipping through my fingers, making tears of frustration burn in my eyes.
The barbarian who had been watching over me said something to the one I’d crashed into, and I saw the new one make a face and shake his head while replying. Still, he made a poor attempt at translating.
“No… go. No… cry?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. Whatever he was attempting to say wasn’t helpful in the slightest. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and shrugged. I sighed. I would get no help from him.
I’d gotten distracted from my plan to run when crashing into the man. He’d cursed in my language, which was why I’d hoped he spoke my tongue, but now that I knew it was a lost cause, my gaze shifted to the tent flap again.
Before I could escape, my barbarian grabbed my uninjured wrist, clicking the shackles into place without a word. I hadn’t even seen it coming.
“You asshole!”
I tugged hard on the iron binding us together, glaring at him, but he only removed his long enough to switch hands before tucking the key away again.
I hadn’t realized it was in his pocket before, but I was definitely going to find it once he was asleep.
When I tugged again, his hand shot out, capturing mine in a grip just tight enough to make me gasp and my knees a little weak.
He tugged lightly on the metal links between our hands, then gave a pointed look at my injured wrist. I got his meaning.
Keep tugging like that and I was going to hurt myself.
The question was, was it worth the pain if he was forced to remove them to care for the injury again?
Or would he just switch to my ankle or something until I decided to behave?
Only one way to find out.
Three days. It had been three days since I’d arrived at the barbarian clan, and I was no closer to escaping.
When I’d started tugging on the shackles again with the intention to cause injury so he couldn’t use them anymore, my barbarian proved to be smarter than I’d expected.
I tugged only twice before he grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together, making my tugging completely ineffectual.
I couldn’t cause injury that way, and any attempts I made to pull my hand free made him tighten his grip just shy of the point of pain.
I tried crying and acting like he was hurting me, but he just gave me this bored look like he could see right through me and ignored my tantrum. It wasn’t worth the effort.
In the meantime, he continued to try and teach me his language.
I knew a few words, like bed and trench, because he repeated them so often, but I’d never admit it out loud.
I purposely ignored him whenever he started his lessons and only picked up the few words I knew because he said them frequently.
I’d run into the barbarian who knew of my country a few times since our first meeting, but every attempt he made to speak with me was pathetic.
I eventually just waved him away and focused on finding new ways to annoy my barbarian into letting me go.
Thus far, I had been unsuccessful. Crying, pleading, and bargaining did no good.
I tried to hurt him, but my dominant hand was trapped in his, and my attempt to use my other hand to hit him did absolutely nothing.
He just raised his eyebrow at me like he always did and ignored me.
And the one time I attempted to kick him in the nuts, he pinned me to the bed and held me there until I submitted and behaved.
I no longer feared he’d assault me. He didn’t seem to want to hurt me at all.
The few times I’d gotten injured were all because of my own actions.
And each time, he took me back to the healers who bandaged my injuries and sent me back on my way.
It made me more brazen in my attempts to escape, knowing I wouldn’t be hurt for it, but the repeated failures were disheartening.
It was as though he’d seen it all and was unfazed by my actions.
“Bowl,” he said plainly, holding the bowl out to me.
I just shot him a dirty look in response.
Setting it down, he touched the lamp beside it. “Lamp.”
“Lamp,” I mocked like a brat, then froze when I realized I’d spoken out loud.
The barbarian’s smile was proud and he nodded once in approval. Then switched tactics, pointing at his own chest. “Uttin.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Asshole.”
He shook his head, repeating his name again, drawing it out and emphasizing the word so I could understand him. “Uttin.”
Rolling my eyes, I repeated my own rendition of his name, dragging the word out like he did. “Asshole.”
He couldn’t understand me, but I got the feeling he knew his nickname was unflattering. He gave me a flat look and moved on like he always did when I wouldn’t cooperate. When he started repeating things for the third time, I got bored and whined to the world at large.
“Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve this punishment?”
A huffed laugh made my gaze snap to my asshole barbarian. For just a flash of a second, he looked like he was laughing at me. I’d seen that expression a few times, usually when I was mocking him. He wasn’t intimidated by me in the slightest. Instead he found me… amusing.
“I hate you,” I snapped.
He hummed like he understood me, then picked up the bowl again. I couldn’t take another lesson, flopping over and burying my head in my arms. “No more! I don’t wish to hear more!” I whined.
He sighed a lot like my guards did when they were annoyed with me. That bothered me even more. He wasn’t allowed to be exasperated with me. He was the one keeping me here. If he wanted to keep me so badly, then he had to accept me as I was.
Thankfully, he didn't continue his lessons, instead leaving me to my own devices while he returned to looking at some papers the teacher had given him. He’d dragged me along to a lesson or two, hoping I’d learn something, but because I didn’t speak the common tongue and the tiny teacher didn’t speak mine, it was just another place to be bored.
I wasn’t sure how much more boredom I could take.
I could laze around at home if I wished, but never for days on end.
I had training and meetings with my father and brothers.
And sex! Oh, how I missed sex. I’d already gone without during the trip to that stupid town that betrayed me.
Now because the barbarians were more noble than I expected, I’d gone even longer.
It was the best way to pass the time, and I was pissed I had to go so long without.
Peeking out from under my arms, I studied the barbarian. While I’d wanted him to keep away from me when we first met, it was starting to annoy me that he wouldn’t touch me. Was I not attractive enough for him?
I scoffed at my internal thoughts. Of course I was attractive enough. Everyone said so. Even my older brothers said I was the pretty one of the three of us.
An idea formed in my head. I could seduce the barbarian, then when he was cum drunk and sleeping, I could get the key from him.
I’d made a few attempts to get it, but both times he removed the key from his pocket and put it out of reach and then stayed away from it so I couldn’t get close without pulling on the shackles and alerting him.
If he was too out of it to notice, I might be able to reach the key.
Shifting to my hands and knees, I stretched like a cat, giving my ass an extra wiggle to get his attention. He barely glanced at me, his focus on his papers. It annoyed me, and I sat up abruptly, scowling at him.
“Don’t ignore me, asshole.”
“Uttin.”
I growled, crawling over to him and sitting close enough that our knees touched. “Pay attention to me,” I demanded.
He said something in response, but I didn’t understand him.
All I knew was that he didn’t look up from the stupid papers.
With another growl, I made an attempt to snatch them away only for him to jerk them out of my reach before I could grab them.
I gaped at his bored expression but shook off the shock quickly and returned to my original goal.
Now that he wasn’t looking at the papers, I had the space to crawl into his lap, giving him a sultry gaze that had seduced countless men into my bed.
Including Abdul at least twice. I was just that irresistable that he’d risk beheading to get fucked by me.
Before I could even speak a word, the barbarian grabbed me by my hips and moved me off his lap, shaking his head. And when I tried again, he patted my head like a dog and stood, returning to his papers while staying out of reach of me.
That asshole!