“Are you out of your bloody mind?” she hissed, and plucked the opener from my fingers with startling ease. “Do y’really think you can take on an Elite warrior like Captain Rawlings with a wee bit o’ rusted steel?”
“I don’t expectyouto understand, traitor.”
She made a sound at the back of her throat. Something that was almost a laugh. “I havna betrayed you, but I understand the need to take it out on someone, if you must. Go ahead, Priestess.” She released me, crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and cocked her head to the side. “Take a swing. Get it out o’your system.”
With a huff, I raised a trembling hand, shoving my filthy hair back from my face. “He killed them!” I hissed.“Yourpeople and mine. They were coming to rescue us, and he erased them. Usingmy—” I choked. “He killed them all usingmyki. Now give me back my blade,” I continued, knuckles white on the banister once more.
She tucked the opener into the folds of her skirt. “Get your wee ass back into bed before he realizes you’re awake. The captain is white-lipped with fury, an’ he’s been into the drink. ‘Tis good practice not t’antagonize a man twice your size, if he’s tryin’ t’lose himself in the cups—’specially if it’s because o’you.”
Teeth bared, I dropped low, assuming a wobbly fighting stance.
“Stop.Stop—”she seized my arm, tugging me off balance and using my unsteady momentum to force me back into the captain’s bedroom. “You’re weak as a kitten, girl. In no state to go attackin’ one like the captain with nothin’ more than misplaced fury.” She shoved me toward his bed, closing the door behind us with a gentle click. “I took you for reckless, but I didna expect you’d be stupid as well.”
Panting, I tried to face her, hands pressed to the captain’s rumpled bedsheets.
“Now listen, an’ listen well.” She slapped the letter opener down on the captain’s desk and crossed her arms. “You’ll get nowhere but dead if you continue down this path.”
I didn’t blink.
“Fine.” She spread her hands. “Assumin’ you can get past me without falling down, you aim t’fight him. With what weapon?”
“You took it.”
“Wrong. Try again.”
“Perhaps you don’t understand what’s going on here, traitor.” Fists clenched, I pulled a breath through my teeth. “I havenothing.Because of him. He’s taken my ki. My freedom. And now whatever chance I had to regain that freedom lies dead in a mud-pit between here and there. If you won’t help me, then—”
“They’re not dead,” she said, cutting me off. “No one died this mornin’, though from what I understand, your wee stunt nearly putyouin an early grave.”
Deflated, head spinning, I clutched at the blankets. “Not dead?”
“Not even a captive was taken.” She smoothed her skirts then stooped, gathering the stack of documents I’d flung to the floor. “You may have lost what the Goddess gave you,” she said. “But you’refarfrom powerless.Look at me, lass.I’ve been given ample chance t’escape no less thanthreetimes since the auction—”
“And yet, here you are. Working for the worst of them.”
Her eyes fluttered closed. A breath hissing between clenched teeth. “And why do you supposethatis, hmm? Why do you think I stayed, when it would be easier andsaferfor me t’run?”
“What reason have you to leave? You’ve been promised freedom for your efforts. A comfortable life paid for by the Empire. The only rational solution is that you’ve been working forthem.For years.”
“I’m here foryou, you abominably silly chit.”
Brows pinched, I said nothing. Not quite daring to trust… fighting off the glimmer of hope.
She nodded, hip bumping the captain’s desk. “I know how hard this’ll be for you, what with your formative years spent with that great forest beastie. But you’renota lion. It’s time to start thinking like awoman, Mila. Now,what are you armed with?”
I sat, perched on the edge of his bed, the slimy shock of realization oozing into my guts. “You want me to whore myself.” I swallowed, hard. “To the captain.”
She shrugged, reclaimed my letter opener and set the point into the surface of the desk. Spinning it. “Is it whoring to use the gifts the Goddess gave all women, then?”
Scowling and churlish, I said, “The Goddess is dead,” but couldn’t meet her eye.
“And yet, I still hear you using Her name under your breath when y’think no one is listenin’.” Her pretty green eyes lit from within. “It’s not whoring t’use what you got. An’ if you seek to fight him, you haven’t many other options.”
“And they callmeinsane.”
Lips tilting, she flashed her teeth. “There’s nothin’ quite so pliable as a man after he’s slaked his lust. It’s then you’ll notice the perfect moment to strike.”
I jerked, hearing Kas’ wisdom spoken with her lips flooded me with some much-needed perspective. And yet… “Anything”—I cleared my throat—“anything is better thanthat.”
