Jacques did too because he took my arm. “Let me take her back. She has work to do with the washing.”
Benn tugged me forward, making my gut flip, wrenching me from Jacques’ grip.
“I want to see something first,” was all he said.
Before I knew it, Benn pulled me into the dark, familiar room, pushing me forward until I fell to my knees near the horde king, the skin scraping there. Our eyes connected briefly. Glowing red against a startled green. His eyes narrowed. I saw a fresh cut marring the side of his face, but then his long, dark hair fell forward, shielding it from my view.
The horde king’s gaze cut to Benn then, just as he sealed us into the room, closing the door in Jacques’ face.
“Do you recognize her, Dakkari?” came Benn’s voice.
I spread my palms on the cold ground, beginning to push myself up to a kneeling position. My knees began to throb and sting, blood welling from the small scrapes, but I paid it no mind. The malice in Benn’s eyes—dangerous and almost gleeful—told me I needed to be on my guard.
“Look at her closer,” Benn said, his sudden, quick footsteps echoing around me. I made a startled sound in the back of my throat when he grabbed the back of my neck and pushed me forward, until my face was only an inch away from Rowin’s.
In the darkness of his eyes, I could see myself. Reflected pitifully. My frightened features made determination lurch in my belly and I told myself I wouldnotbe afraid. Not in front of him. A horde king of Dakkar was brave.
I could be brave too. If only for a few moments.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the horde king’s tail slide. My lips parted. I looked deep into his eyes and placed my palm over it. It wiggled underneath my grip, warm and strong, but didn’t he understand? Benn would rather cut his tail off him than bother chaining it.
Rowin’s eyes narrowed.
“No?” Benn’s voice sounded. In it, I could detect his growing frustration though he kept it carefully masked. I knew why I was here. It was in Benn’s nature to pick and prod, to find all the places thathurt, those vulnerable places we kept close and guarded.
Whyhe thought the horde king would react tomewas another question entirely. But this was a test. One of many. I was a pawn in a larger game. Nothing more.
Benn jerked me up. The back of my neck would be bruised too.
My fear returned to me in a rush when Benn dragged me against his body. There was a dagger in his other hand now, one he flashed in front of me as his other hand left my neck to wrap around my waist.
I felt the press of his cock against my back. He was hardening against me and fast. My fear, my rapid breaths aroused him. The smell of him made me want to vomit. It wasn’t that he smelled unpleasant, but I would forever associate the saltiness of his skin and his natural musk with pain and the feel of his hand striking my face. I would forever associate it with the smell of metallic blood and the way his hands had been coated in Song’s blood after he murdered our former leader in his sleep.
“This is the female who led you to us,” came his voice, purred into my ear. “She is the reason why you are here, why you are chained on the floor like an animal, why your sword cuts into your own flesh daily.”
Benn pulled my hair back until my throat was exposed but my eyes never left the horde king’s. The dagger flashed. Rowin leaned forward.
I thought Benn might actually kill me. I thought he would do it because he would want to see how the horde king reacted.
Instead, he cut my dress. From the nape of the neck all the way to my waist, the rough slide of the material against the knife scratching at my ears in a grotesque way.
Cool, frigid, unyielding air rushed against my exposed chest. Benn pulled my dress away, leaving me naked in his arms, with his cock against my back, and he threw the ruined material into the corner.
“Do you recognize her now?” Benn asked, though there was an edge to his voice as he spoke the words. Benn walked me forward until I stood just before the horde king. If his arms were free, he’d only have to reach out and touch me.
Instead, it was Benn’s hand that trailed over my flesh and my belly roiled in revulsion and panic as he skimmed the undersides of my breasts.
“This is the body you followed like a beast in heat,” came the words from behind me. “Look at her!”
The horde king growled when he saw me squirm, when he saw me try to avoid Benn’s touch. The sound was ominous, dark and echoing in the cavernous room. The chains shook behind him.
This only delighted Benn.
“I admit her face is not much to look at and she has the mind of a child,” Benn spat out. “But her body. It’s incredibly…well, I don’t need to tell you. You’re only here because you thought of nothing else but fucking her, didn’t you, Dakkari?”
“What is it that you want from me?” Rowin asked. I was surprised at his voice. It was calm. Even. Nothing like the dark growl that had slipped from him. Even Benn’s touch stilled over my skin when he heard it. “Only a true coward tries to use a female as a shield. Let her go.”
I felt Benn tense for a brief moment.
