“I really don’t know,” she told him. “Um, where are you motioning me to go?”
“With me. I’ll take you to the other women. The men are getting hungry.”
What did she care? She wanted to scream it. She wasn’t a slave! “There’s been a mistake, Akkar. I’m not a slave.”
His dark eyes widened. “You are not? What are you then?”
“Do I have to be something in order not to be a slave?” she asked, following him.
“You know, a noble woman?” he went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “Princess? The daughter of an important lord?”
She shook her head. “I’m an award-winning actress. I can perform almost any role! Currently I’m—” she stopped when she saw his blank gaze. He had no idea what she was talking about. She sagged her shoulders, weary of explaining everything she said. She realized, too, that she was simply repeating part of her publicity campaign. This wasn’t what defined her. Was it? She was more than an actress, wasn’t she?
Solemnly, she resigned that she was here, and she might not get home again. She would never be an actress again, just a slave. She would never see her family, or anyone from her past, or her future. No coffee or music. Life here could be extremely hard until she died—or not so horrible with a strong, gorgeous guy in her bed at night. Of course, he was a misogynistic jerk. But he was a lot better than nothing at all. In ten seventeen anyway.
A man was running in their direction. He wasn’t a Dane. She knew because Fin was chasing him on his horse. He held a spear in his hand. Just before the fleeing man reached her, Fin caught up with him and ran his spear through the man’s back. The bloody tip came out of his chest and pointed at her.
She gasped and in the hopes of not fainting in front of Fin, she spun around and ran into Akkar’s arms.
“Bring her to the chief’s tent!” Fin shouted at him. “Guard her or it will be your head, Akkar! That Saxon meant to harm her.”
“I will guard her with my life, Commander.”
Wait. She stopped walking in her soggy Uggs. “Why would he mean to hurt me?” she asked Fin. “I didn’t even know him.”
“But he knew of you,” he countered. “He blamed you for his village being captured. He said you were a witch. He claimed he saw you appear from nothing. He believed as long as you lived, this village would be cursed.”
She blinked and a cold thread of fear went through her. She had appeared from an office in a building on West Thirteenth, where she’d held a charred brooch. She wanted to fall to her knees and cry. It had really happened. And that poor man had seen it.
“Come now,” Akkar urged her forward.
Was she supposed to thank Fin for his gallantry? What if he’d just murdered that man for no reason other than to satisfy his bloodlust and he made up that story to cover himself with Wolf?
She wanted to run back to the tent. This was all really happening. That man really died right in front of her. She fought to stay conscious.
Was she stuck here? Was there a way back? If there was, the chief seemed powerful enough to help her find it.
They made it to tent with Akkar’s whispers of admiration for the temporary shelter filling her ears.
Taking a deep breath to face him again, she pushed the flap aside and entered the tent. She stopped when she saw Hild sleeping soundly and covered in furs.
Wolf had done it. Amid terror and ugliness, his actions, though small ones, shone light bright lights, drawing and attracting her. Her gaze rose to him facedown and asleep in his bed. His ankles hovered in the air on the bottom end. His arm dangled over the side. He was too big for the flimsy bed. She took a moment to take in the sight of his hills and valleys. He had no blanket. She took a step closer. Was that it beneath Hild’s head?
He shifted and turned his face, perhaps to breathe. And opened his eyes.
Her heart thumped so hard she was sure he could hear it. What if he was angry for waking him? What if he rejected her? What would she do for the rest of her life here?
“Camelee?” he asked groggily and leaned up on his elbow. “Akkar, what—?” His gaze settled on her coat. “Is that…blood?”
“It is, Chief.” Akkar told him quickly and quietly everything that happened, and all that Fin had said about her assailant. While the young soldier spoke, Wolf kept his warming gaze on her.
“All right, Akkar,” he said when he was done. “You may wait outside now.”
Akkar left without another word.
“Take off your coat,” he ordered her gently. “Quietly, for the sake of Hild.”
Camelee didn’t argue. It had blood on it.
