30. Follow Me
SOUNDTRACK: Running out of Time by Tommee Profitt and Staarz
~ GRACE ~
The first time I landed an elbow in Breckon’s ribs, he cursed. The second, he picked me up and carried me under his arm like a child. But he wearied quickly, and when I got an arm loose and landed a punch straight into his mostly-flat belly, he snapped.
I thought, when his hand went for his belt, that he was going to rape me, right there in the queen’s brightly lit corridor.
I scrambled to my feet from where he’d dumped me on the ground, and tried to flee.
But he caught my arm, wrenching it back and pulling me against him with a snarled curse.
Feeling the heat of him against me, my skin went cold like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over my head.
I sobbed with relief, when he only used the belt to loop around my wrists to keep my hands secured at my back.
I continued to fight as best I could, but my head was a cauldron of sensations, screaming alarms, dragon images, and echoing despair, as I tried, again and again, to reach Voski in the bond.
He’d heard me once. He could do it again.
But no matter what, or how often I tried. There was nothing. I mentally screamed into the void.
By the time we were out of the castle and Breckon tossed me to the floor of the grand carriage, the horses danced and tossed their heads again, because Koa had followed me, and now circled high overhead, screaming.
‘The mate! The mate! Firebird, you must fly!’
‘I can’t, Koa.’
‘I will burn the horses—’
‘No! Please, Koa… just… let me think.’
Breckon knocked the base of his fist on the ceiling of the carriage three times, and it lurched, then swayed, then lurched again. And then the wheels began to rattle, louder and louder, faster and faster, as the horses picked up speed.
Each time Koa screamed overhead, their pace picked up another notch.
Breckon sat back on one of the two bench seats in the carriage that each spanned its width and faced the center and each other.
This carriage was spacious, so there was room between.
Which was a good thing, because he’d thrown me inside, with no way to catch myself.
I lay on the floor, on damp carpet, curled on my side, my hands still secured at the hollow of my back.
Tears prickled the backs of my eyes, and my throat, but I wouldn’t give in. I panted. My hip and shoulder hurt where I’d hit the ground twice now. And my shoulder was especially sore from being wrenched more than once when he dragged me around.
I took a moment to pause and assess, as Voski had trained me, examining my body, testing joints and places that pained, to figure out if anything was broken, or would limit me.
But I never took my eyes off Breckon. He sat back in the plush seat, sweat on his brow, catching his breath as he peered out the window and scanned the moving countryside.
I wondered if he was aware that he repeatedly combed his hand through his hair from left to right, over and over, to smooth down the hair he’d grown and combed over to cover his bald pate?
I might have laughed, but then his eyes snapped from the window, down to me, and his expression turned icy cold.
He nudged my knee with his booted toe. “I’ve half a mind to leave you down there for the entire trip, after that performance.”
“Performance?” I said bitterly. “That was no performance.”
Screaming as he dragged me from the room, clawing, punching, doing everything in my power to go back, to get to Voski, who lay, pale and lifeless on the floor—
“You should be grateful. I saved your life.”
I frowned at him, but didn’t give him the satisfaction of asking how he’d come to that conclusion.
“The king’s orders were to find you,” he said smugly. “Then either kill you, or take you. The choice was mine.”
“Your generosity is humbling,” I said through my teeth.
He smiled. “Bonds feeling a little tight?” he asked cruelly.
My heart, which was already racing from all the struggling, and the pain, began to beat even faster. The bond.
‘Koa?’
‘I follow!’
‘Where’s Kham?’
‘Kham—he stays! He must. Voski needs healing.’
My breath stopped. Voski had been hurt?
“That was no thief who came for you in the city,” Breckon said with a self-satisfied smile. “He was an assassin, tasked with locating you. Then notifying me, so I could choose whether to let you live, or not. Instead your sneaky mate killed him. Fucker.”
“I don’t believe you. The king has no reason to want me dead,” I said flatly.
Breckon didn’t tip his chin, but his eyes dropped to meet mine, then narrowed. “Nothing but a child making castles in the sand. Cease your games, or be overwhelmed by the waves.”
“I’m not playing games—”
“We can leave the bullshit now, Grace. I know how sneaky you are. Your father didn’t hide that from me—and while I appreciate the chance to hunt, believe me—this is not the hunt I had in mind.”
My lungs crackled, my mind flickering between images of a hunt with Voski, that made my heart thrill, and the cold chill of running through a forest pursued by this man and his cruel smile.
“Your mother should have disciplined you better. However, I do enjoy taming animals. So, we will have our fun. It is, in part, why I decided to keep you. When our mutual friend found you, you’d made it much farther from home than I anticipated.
I thought he was leading me on a chase to make more coin. But, no. Lo and behold, here you were.
“Imagine my surprise when I found him dead? I had no doubt he’d been killed on your behalf. But you were difficult to pin down. I’d almost given up when the rumors of the new female in the dragon keep reached the ears of my informants. And that meant it was a Furyknight on your leash.”
He bent down, cupping my chin. I tried to pull out of his grip, but with my hands tied and positioned as I was on the floor, he only dug his fingers in and held me there. “We all fall for you, don’t we?”
“Ha!” The glittering in his eyes terrified me, so I was grateful for the sincere opportunity for humor. “You know nothing if you believe that’s true.”
“I just watched a man almost beaten to death to stop him coming after you. Stupid idiot. He only made me more determined to keep you.”
“If you suffer such inadequacy that it required the desire of another man to gird your loins, you deserve—”
My ear rang, my cheek burned hot. I gasped, blinking.
He’d struck me?
“Rest assured, Grace. I do not enjoy inflicting pain for its own sake. You will learn to behave. And when you do, your life will become far more comfortable. But until then, do not believe that I will overlook a sharp tongue, or a disrespectful word, or dragging feet. You are my wife, and you will behave with the manners and aplomb to which you were raised.” His grip on my chin softened, and his thumb stroked my cheek.
I was far more frantic to remove myself from that touch, than I had been the pinching fingers.
“And maybe, one day, when you’ve provided our family, you may choose to fly with your dragon again. ”
Oh Lord, help me. Abject terror sang in my veins as the years stretched out ahead of me. I’d been to his manor in my youth. I knew what a dark, dank life he led.
“There must be another way?” I gasped. “Any number of women who would marry willingly and provide the heir. I wouldn’t stand in your way. If you need something… assets, or—”
“My wealth far outstrips yours,” he sneered. A fact I knew to be true. “It’s your bloodline I need. Our children will be raised in the castle halls, not as merchants welcomed for their wares, but as dignitaries and men of influence.
“You’re perfect, Grace. Wild enough to be interesting.
Well-bred enough to provide true power. Oh, don’t worry dear.
Just pop out a golden-haired baby, we’ll present him to the queen.
She’ll knight me. Then you can wander off to any adventure you choose with my blessing.
That is, of course, assuming your Furyknight remains interested in drinking from a used wineskin, and hasn’t found another to amuse him. ”
I wanted to kick him. And I wanted to weep. I closed my eyes for a moment, reaching for Voski, unclear how far we could reach. We hadn’t tested it. I knew the dragons could reach each other over much greater distances, but kingdom to kingdom? Never.
‘Can you hear me? Are you there?’
The image in my memories was one of Voski, slumped on the floor like a rag doll, Gil and Ronen squatting over him, frowning, talking in dark mutters, while Donavyn stood protectively between the queen and Bren, and Breckon. Though he couldn’t have cared less.
My Lord was gleeful that we’d made it out of the castle and into this carriage.
The only good news was that he’d thrown me down on the same side as my sheath. And he hadn’t seemed to notice it under my loose jacket during our struggles. Even though it made me cold, I knew what to do. At some point he had to unbind me. And when he did…
Breckon nudged my knee again, and when I opened my eyes, he was leaning down, smiling.
I swallowed hard. “Would you please unbind me? There’s nowhere I can go now.”
He shook his head. “Don’t entertain ideas of flight, Grace.
If you disappear, I know precisely who will have his hands on you.
Don’t believe I can’t have a Furyknight strung up for kidnapping and violation of my wife.
You take very good care of yourself, Grace, or I’ll take the price I paid for you out of your mate’s hide. ”
And then he began to tell me how. The men he knew—like the assassin he’d sent after me, only worse. And though I made myself remain still, keep my face expressionless, he wasn’t fooled.