Sedrak was still watching her, and she met his eyes after piling the furs on her body.
“Soon you will learn your place,” he said. “I’ve been wanting of a plaything lately.”
He threw the flap over the cage and she was shrouded in darkness again.
Chapter 2
Her dreams were feverish. A tableau of shame. She awoke in a sweat each time the memory of Sedrak bending her over and insisting she bare herself to his clan formed in her mind. The only solace she felt was when she remembered the words she’d heard through the thick tapestry that covered the cage.
Return to your people, Ryken. And may you never blemish my sight again.
He had let Ryken live. Presumably, he had also freed the other men.
She wanted to believe her courage had helped. But she knew her actions had been driven by fear of what Sedrak might do if she disobeyed. And in her darkest moments, she wondered if it was not something else.
But no. She had done the only honorable thing that she could have done. She had no choice. She owed Ryken her life, and he was blood: there had been no choice but to submit to this barbarian.
She lost count of how many times she woke and fell asleep again. Each time, the cart would still be lurching along the road, the sound of men’s voices and footsteps stomping on dirt surrounding her. The voyage seemed interminable.
Exhausted, she finally fell asleep. When she awoke, there was an unsettling stillness—the cart had stopped moving—and the sounds of fires crackling around her.
She had barely assessed this situation when the flap flew open and a stranger stood before her: a barbarian warrior, one of Sedrak’s men. Fear stung at her eyes, and she huddled in a corner of the cage, resolute: she would not go withthisman. For whatever reason—and she knew it was madness—she was resigned to her fate with Sedrak, but not one of his men. Though it seemed foolish and impossible, she felt safer consigned to Sedrak’s whims than to anyone else’s.
The man opened the door of the cage, reached in and grabbed the leash still affixed to the collar around her neck.
Leola murmured a “No!” but her throat was dry, and she was being pulled by his strong arms and could not stop him from dragging her to the opening of the cage. The best she could do was to scramble out, to keep from being dragged into the dirt, to maintain some of her dignity by clutching her torn garment around her.
When she was standing in front of the cage, wide-eyed with terror, he threw a fur over her shoulders. Tugging on the leash, he led her into the camp.
A sea of tents had been pitched in a clearing. Cooking fires glowed in front of them. Leola stared in wonder. Few of the men looked in her direction, which was a relief. They walked at a quick pace, obviously intending to walk through the camp and not linger there.
At the center of the camp was the largest tent, a triangular flag flapping in the wind above the roof.
Her keeper raised the tent flap and pointed a finger, gesturing for her to enter.
Grateful that he hadn’t beaten her, or worse, she ducked through the entrance and stepped in. The air inside was warm and slightly damp. It smelled of animal skin, meat and earth and wood. A fire crackled in a hearth made out of stones on one end.
She scanned the inside as her eyes adjusted to the light.
Sedrak reclined on a pile of furs. He no longer wore his tunic. His chest and abdomen were bare. Leola’s gaze darted along the lines of muscle that looked like they’d been cut from stone. She still couldn’t quite believe howbighe was.
He caught her gaze and smiled.
She turned her eyes down toward the ground.
“Are you rested?” he asked.
She managed a nod. Despite the restless sleep shedidfeel rested, though she could not imagine why it mattered to this beastly man.
“Take that off,” he ordered, flicking a finger toward her.
Leola bit her lip and hesitated.
Sedrak growled as he rose and approached her. She was reminded of his height and his physical mass once he was next to her; without his tunic, muscles bared, he was even more formidable than before.
Grabbing the fur around her shoulders he yanked it off, exposing her naked body once again.
Leola had barely any time to think before he spun her around, pushed her shoulders with ease to bend her over, and smacked her bare bottom.
