Chapter 2
When she awoke, she knew two things. Her hands and feet were bound by magically reinforced bonds, and she wasn’t alone.
She was positioned upright, against a log, possibly in the Howling Forest. With concentration, she stared at the inky blackness surrounding her but couldn’t make out any form or figure.
“That was too easy. I expected much more of a battle with the mighty Liverity Strongwill, the wielder of the quickest and deadliest arrows and the evilest of curses in all of Hedonista.”
Hedonista? She hadn’t been in Hedonista since she was six years old. It had been her home in Umbraland before being taken from all she’d ever known.
Liv craned her neck and searched the area for the source of the voice, but she couldn’t see another living being.
Only darkness surrounded her, leaving nothing visible.
She couldn’t even hear movement. Her senses were completely numb, and her heart rate began to pick up speed in reaction.
What was going on? Where was she? And who had spoken?
She swallowed a few times and began to pull in deep breaths through her nose, blowing them out through her mouth. After a few calming moments, she managed to ask, “Did my father send you?”
A tense pause followed by a humorless laugh was his response, but she sensed him moving. He was close. Even though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was within feet of her.
“Whatever he promised you, he lied. I can assure you of that. Let me go, walk away, and we’ll both live to see tomorrow.”
“You must take me for the biggest fool in all of Umbraland if you think I would trust any assurances or pretty promises that come out of your mouth.”
“I don’t take you for anything. I don’t even know you. There’s nothing that says we can’t keep it that way.”
Suddenly, like an apparition taking form, he pulled a blindfold from her eyes, and the owner of the voice was revealed, crouched in front of her, his knuckles white around the handles of twin knife blades.
“I can think of a couple reasons.”
The air escaped Liv’s lungs as she took in the image of the male in front of her.
His ice-blue eyes stared straight into her, as if he could see all the way to her soul. With a father so evil as hers, she wondered what he’d find there. She was slightly curious if he would find good or evil inside of her, but she was too distracted by the rest of him to think about that for long.
The rest of his features were just as striking, with an angular jaw, dimpled chin, and chiseled cheekbones.
His nose was long and straight, flaring slightly at the tip.
The only mark that marred his pure handsome features was a ragged scar that traced the left side of his face, slicing over his eyelid and up into his thick, night-black hair.
His was the most attractive face she’d ever seen, and his scar only drew her to him more.
Ever since she could remember, she’d been drawn to the contrast of perfection and imperfection.
A strange artistic sensibility that few others could understand was the hallmark of everything that attracted her gaze.
It was possibly why she’d tried to rescue every disabled creature from birds to dogs to anything else that would let her close.
Yet, the power exuding from his muscular figure spoke volumes of his lack of weakness. He didn’t need her help. He seemed more likely to want her blood. But why? Was it personal? Or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? It seemed imperative to find out.
“Tell me, stranger, what do you hope to accomplish by kidnapping me?”
He slowly sheathed one of his knives and sneered in her direction. “Hope? I lost all hope years ago. Now, the only thing driving me is revenge.”
The fury in his gravelly voice burned over her with his every word.
Every bit of his anger was directed at her, and she stared harder at him, wracking her brain to try to recognize the stranger.
Had she wronged him in some way? She’d lived a hard life for all of her twenty-eight years, and it was possible she had done something to harm him or someone he loved.
She never would have done it intentionally, but she often had to steal her bread or take mercenary work, never questioning the mission for which she would be paid.
Yet, she had tried to choose carefully, not wanting to cause any undue harm.
“If I have unintentionally offended you in some way…let me say, I was just trying to survive, same as you.”
“Survive?” The blast of rage that erupted from him swept over her like a fiery wind. “You were trying to survive…the same…as me?” He stood up and began to pace in front of her.
“You have no idea what it took for me to survive. You…you don’t have the right to speak to me about survival, princess.”
Princess? Who did he think she was? He clearly had the wrong idea about her. Yet, he had used her name. Did he…did he not know that…she was estranged from her father and all he represented? She had been for so many years now, she just assumed everyone knew the truth.
“Look, I don’t want to be the one to take away your bluster, but if you think I ever actually lived the life of a princess of Hedonista, you might need to get your facts straight, my man.”
For a moment, he stopped pacing and stared at her as he seemed to consider what she said. “Be that as it may, you are going to be my way inside. You will be my means to the revenge I seek. You are a Strongwill, and you will help me make Grawl Strongwill pay for ruining my life.”
Suddenly, his words sunk in. Her father hadn’t sent this beautiful, insane man to kill her. Her father was his target, and she was merely the means to his ends.
The problem with his plan was simply that her father would kill her and anyone with her on sight.
Did he understand that they wouldn’t live long enough to be allowed within hundreds of feet of her father?
If he thought her father would let him close enough to exact his revenge, he really didn’t know her father.
Maybe she could convince him to join Val and her so that they could find the curse breaker and finally end her father’s despotic reign over the parched land. Yet, she’d have to tread carefully. He hadn’t exactly been open to anything she’d had to say so far.
“Though I don’t believe you should devote your whole life to revenge, I don’t doubt your reasoning for why you have.
No doubt, I am certain with everything in me that whatever Grawl has done to you, he should pay, and pay with his life, for it.
” She pulled a deep breath into her lungs and said, “My sister and I would help you make him pay.”
His hard bark of laughter held no humor as he said through gritted teeth, “Even if I had to crawl across shards of broken glass and blazing fiery coals and I only had one breath left in my lungs, you wouldn’t even be the last person I’d ask for help because I would never rely on you or any words that come from your lying mouth.
” His gaze dropped to her mouth at that moment, and he seemed to contemplate her lips for a second before lifting his hands to cover the bottom of her face with a piece of cloth, tying it at the back of her head, and cutting off any protests she might have had.
“We have much terrain to cross, and I have zero patience remaining, so if you know what’s good for you, don’t give me any trouble. I won’t be as understanding as I’ve been thus far.”
Even through the makeshift gag with every one of her curse words muffled, Liv was able to get her meaning across if his low chuckle were any indication.
“Finally, some fire. If we weren’t on such a tight schedule, I might like to spar with the legendary Liverity Strongwill, but I have plans that won’t wait, and I’m sure your father will be thrilled to have his favorite princess back safe and sound.”
His hardened gaze never left hers as he lifted his fingers to his mouth and gave a piercing whistle.
His horse galloped into the small opening and stopped to nuzzle his hand.
With quick motions, he looped a rope around the bonds at her hands and connected it to his belt.
His hand holding his remaining knife moved so quickly she barely caught a glimpse until her feet were free of the bindings that had been holding them.
He pulled her to her feet and turned his back to her as he lifted a pack onto the backend of the horse.
With a swift motion, he mounted the horse and clicked his tongue as he picked up the reins.
The horse started forward slowly, and she understood quickly that she would be walking behind as the rope between his belt and her hands tightened, pulling her into her first few steps.
“Try to keep up, princess. I don’t think it matters in what shape you arrive, so if I have to drag you the entire way, so be it. But I would think you would prefer to remain upright.”
She would prefer to knock the smug look she imagined he wore right from his handsome face. It wasn’t fair that such a horrible being should look so tempting, but she would clearly look past that when she finally had him at her mercy. And she would have him at her mercy. That, she vowed.
He wanted her to be a worthy opponent. Well, he should be more careful what he wished for because she was going to give him exactly what he was asking for…and more.