Chapter Two
She prepared to explainwhy she could not be ransomed. She would lie about her wealth and claim she had a fiancé who had paid for the gown. She quickly invented a name, an occupation, and an excuse for why the man couldn’t be contacted. Her mind raced to work out her plan.
Then she was dropped on a thick mattress within the floor. Her teeth banged against the gag in her mouth, and she grimaced as best she could.
When she looked up, however, her plans fell away. She recognized the man who’d been carrying her. It was the Ketturan warrior with Linzen heritage. Her heart pounded faster, partially with relief. He’d survived the Wilds. Thank the mystics!
He removed the gag. “Where is she?” he asked.
She blinked. So he did speak their language. Why hadn’t he done so? It would’ve made him more sympathetic and allowed a deeper explanation than had been afforded through the translator.
“Where?” he repeated.
“Who?” she asked, her heart sinking. There was only one person he could be looking for.
His sandy blond brows drew together, and his green eyes narrowed.
“Away,” she said.
“Where?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry about what happened. I’m very glad you’re alive and well. I worked to help you survive. Did you hear that?”
“Where is she?” he repeated, obviously obsessed with his goal of learning where Giss was hidden.
“She’s away. I can’t tell you where. Even I don’t know. It was a precaution in case anyone came to the house looking for her.”
“I know you know where she is. I’ll find her whether you tell me or not.”
“I don’t know where she is,” Zawri lied. It was horrible the way she was always forced to lie when he was around.
“Show her your chest and back, Linc.”
Zawri turned her head sharply. The good-looking former slave leaned against the door frame. The heady smell of mandenwood floated in.
The warrior’s green-eyed gaze studied her for a moment. “No.”
The former slave dragged his own shirt off and turned. There were myriad scars that had been partially decorated with tattoos. It was something freed slaves often did, a way of claiming and transforming their pasts with marks of their own choosing. She doubted though that they ever forgot the violence of the beatings that had scarred them.
“It doesn’t bother me to show mine. Have a look and know that Larsinc didn’t have scars before he went into the Wilds. Now he’s got some freshly healed ones from being knifed and attacked by animals. There are no tattoos to mask them. You should see, so when you’re punished, you’ll know why.”
Her heart banged against her ribs. “I—that wasn’t supposed to happen. I paid—”
“Don’t mark her skin when you punish her,” Larsinc said.
“Don’t you mean whenyoupunish her?”
Larsinc shook his head. “I have something else to do.” Then he leaned down to speak softly to Zawri. “You believe it’s your job to protect her, so know this, if you tell me where to find her now, her punishment and yours will be less. Tell the truth.”
She stared up at him. What was the chance that a Ketturan-trained warrior could get passage into the luxury band where the most powerful families sent their children? There were private security forces and sophisticated technology. Also, he didn’t know where to look. The locations of the schools changed for a reason. Kidnapping had become a private industry for both financial and political reasons. This one warrior wouldn’t be able to find Giss’s location and, if he did, he would certainly not be able to get a hold of her.
“I don’t know where she is.”
Larsinc shook his head, frowning. “Your kind always thinks it can escape the consequences of its actions. Arrogance and dishonor run so deep that you can look me in the face and lie.”
Searing heat flamed in her cheeks. What did they expect her to do? Tell the truth and give them an excuse to torture her for information?
“You have me. That should be enough. If you need to beat me and force me to pay restitution, so be it. But leave my sister out of it. She didn’t have a choice about the way she worded her statement.”
