Chapter ten
He flattened his body against the boulder and held me tightly to his solid chest.
Keeping my body barely lifted from the ground, powerless against his constricting hold.
My chest heaved deeply, unable to control itself.
I knew exactly who held me against my will.
Aris.
I went for a jab in the only place I knew would hurt him severely—his wound.
Just as I threw an elbow behind me to puncture his cut, he squeezed my arm to my side, hardly impacting his wound.
It was as if he knew exactly what I intended to do.
He chuckled in my hair near my ear.
Shivers went down my body.
My breath sprinted faster than before.
Oh, gods.
I was caught.
I’m going to die.
“You don’t understand.”
He kept his voice low as he spoke near my neck. “Listen.”
At first, there was silence.
The beating of my pounding heart and his breath.
Then, I heard the pouring of the rain bouncing off the ground.
After a few moments of listening, I heard it.
Screaming.
It was Klawdia.
My mouth went dry.
They were the worst screams I’d ever heard. I almost let out a sob. They were dreadful, murderous screams.
What have I done? I brought this upon us.
My eyes turned vacant as I listened to her screams.
What was going to happen to her—to me? My chin trembled, but I refused to give in.
Was the emperor going to kill me? Would he rip my heart out, too?
Hesitantly, the emperor released his hand over my mouth, allowing me to breathe more freely.
I couldn’t believe it.
Klawdia had been captured, and who knew what the warriors were doing to her for her attempted escape.
Unspeakable things.
The screams continued and grew louder, echoing in my ears.
They were all I could hear now.
Why did he pull me away when he did?
“These warriors have no mercy for captives and prisoners of war.
They’ll make a lesson out of her to the others for disobeying and trying to escape.”
His grip around me didn’t waver.
The screams were further and further away now.
I was sure they were back at the base of the war camps.
The emperor loosened his grip on my waist but kept his arms secured around me.
“There’s nothing left for you here.”
He loosened his hold as the illusion of escape faded, and with it the last hope I had.
There was nothing left here of my land because he and his warriors took that from me.
Everything that I had ever known, they took it from me and squashed it.
The emperor pushed himself off the boulder and prowled around to face me.
He observed me through the twilight, his gaze not faltering from the rain.
I kept my vacant eyes upon him as I pulled my fingers into a fist and felt my knuckles go white.
He was playing with his food.
I wondered how long he’d play with me until he devoured and killed me.
I took a step back to provide more distance between us.
“Don’t have any more thoughts of escaping.
It’s not going to happen.”
He took a slow step towards me, calculating my movements.
I saw how this was going to be.
I swallowed, taking another step backward, and found the slick boulder pressed against my back.
My heart was pounding so loudly, I was sure the emperor could hear it himself.
I had to try.
I couldn’t accept this life.
I would have to make a break for it through the side of the boulder.
The emperor must have read my mind because he looked to my side and back to me.
It was going to be a deadly dance between an emperor and his prisoner.
I took a cautious sidestep.
He followed my exact movement and smiled, amusement flooding his face.
“The fact that you think you have a chance of escaping when I’m right here is pretty comical, I have to admit.”
He made a fair point, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying.
What, was I supposed to sit idly waiting for my fate to come to me?
Slowly, I moved another step along the wet boulder.
Again, he followed my movement.
His eyes locked on me.
I was the prey, and he the predator.
Without another moment, I made a break for it.
I sprinted faster than I knew possible, my legs burning.
As I willed myself to run faster through the dark and wet woods, I could hear the emperor’s footsteps directly behind me.
Branches grabbed at my clothes and hair as I fought my way through the underbrush.
The trees above me were too thick for the moonlight to reach my path.
Thorns cut my cheek as I dashed through the trees.
Faster and faster, I ran.
What was I thinking? He was the emperor of one of the strongest empires in the world.
How would I outrun his strength and training? Or was this part of his ruthless game?
I didn’t care.
I had to keep trying.
As far as I knew, this was my only moment to fight for my freedom and my life.
It was close—so close.
My freedom right at my fingertips, just me and my cottage.
Run faster! I screamed in my head.
Just as I thought I couldn’t hear him anymore, he was running alongside me and pulled my body into his as our legs tumbled with each other’s, and we plummeted into the wet grass near some trees.
His body landed on top of mine, and his hand covered my mouth before I could make a sound or move.
I might have panicked and struggled against his weight if I didn’t hear something else.
“Did you hear it this way?”
I heard a warrior ask nearby.
“Yeah, I heard something come through here.
If there’s another bitch around, she’ll have it coming,”
another warrior mumbled.
My heart rate caught up to my breathing as the emperor’s body crushed mine, his large hand still covering my mouth ensuring I wouldn’t make another sound.
“Maybe it was that pretty little redhead that’s been walking about.”
“I sure hope so.
I’d love to watch her squirm beneath me.”
They both chuckled.
My body froze in the emperor’s arms as the warriors’ conversation faded.
Once they were completely out of sight and no longer within hearing, the emperor moved his head in front of mine so that our eyes met.
The emperor could surely feel my body shake uncontrollably beneath him.
How was I ever going to escape?
He must have seen through the darkness because he whispered.
“It’ll be safer where I’ll take you.”
And for a moment, I believed him.
In that moment, I knew that my life would never look the same as it did before in my village.
I’d never again wake up in that crowded cot, looking forward to mixing herbs with Fenrah.
I’d never again be able to walk to my garden or the woods knowing that I was safe to do so.
I’d never have that cottage in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the woods and my gardens. I’d never again have the freedom to plan my life the way I chose, but instead would be subject to someone else’s will. I belonged to another.
My eyes watered, but I stopped them from overflowing and demanded strength from within.