“Apparently.” The word came out from between her teeth.
“I am curious about his state of mind,” Carlo mused. “Did he feel torn between wanting to fuck over Ithicana and wanting tofuckIthicana’s princess, or were the goals one and the same?”
Ahnna’s temper snapped. With a sharp jerk, she slammed her head back, skull connecting with Carlo’s face.
He swore, and Ahnna braced for retribution. Instead, Carlo spat blood on the snow and then started laughing. “Oh good. I was worried you might be breaking, lovely, and that would have been disappointingly easy.”
Ahnna cringed as he pulled her close and planted soft butterfly kisses up the side of her face, smearing her cheek with blood.
“I shall have to try harder,” he murmured. “Thank you for being a challenge, Ahnna. I will do my best to be creative.”
Don’t react. Do. Not. React.
Carlo went back to his singing. Song after song, until the sun was little more than a glow on the horizon. Only then did he give the order to his men to make camp.
Allowing the soldiers to lower Ahnna from the saddle, Carlo jerked his chin toward James, who was on his knees and breathing hard. “Stake his leash to the ground next to a fire and get him warmed up. Food and water.”
“Let the bastard die,” one of the men muttered. “All of Amarid will cheer.”
Carlo went still as death, and every one of the soldiers went stiff with tension. Slowly, he walked over to the man and lowered his head so that they were eye-to-eye. “Do you think it isyouwho will determine how the bastard prince of Harendell dies?”
Ahnna’s hackles rose, every instinct in her body screamingdanger.
“No, sir,” the soldier whispered, gaze moving this way and that as he tried to evade Carlo’s dead-eyed stare. “Apologies, sir.”
“Since you are clearly a stupid person, I will explain,” Carlo said softly. “I want James to walk, to crawl, and then to bedraggedto Riomar, because I would like to watch him break before delivering him to Mother. This is not possible if your idiocy sees him frozen to death on the first night in our company, never mind the pain I will suffer if we deliver to Mother a rotting corpse. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” The man was trembling, and though all of these soldiers were her enemies, Ahnna felt a surge of sympathy. Because she knew a dead man walking when she saw him.
“I do not suffer fools.” Carlo patted the man’s cheek, then swift as lightning, drew a knife across the soldier’s jugular. “So I will not suffer you.”
The soldier staggered back, his hand clutching the wound. It did nothing to stanch the spray of blood that painted the white snow as he pleaded for aid from his fellows.
No one moved.
They only watched with dull eyes as he collapsed to the ground and went still.
“Strip him and leave him out for the lions to eat,” Carlo ordered. “Perhaps such an offering will protect the rest of us every time we need to venture into the dark to piss.”
Then he strode into the trees.
“Come on, then,” one of the soldiers restraining her said. Ahnna gave no argument as she walked through the blood-soaked snow to where they were setting up camp.
The soldiers fastened her bound wrists to a stake driven deep into the ground between her knees, which allowed her enough range of motion to eat and not much else. Not that she’d be good in a fight with her right arm broken. Not against this many men, and not in the middle of the wilderness where she’d need to hunt to survive.
James was similarly restrained on the far side of the fire from her. His shoulders rose and fell with rapid pants of exhaustion, steam rising from him, but the heat of a day of running would soon turn to cold in the cruel night air. The soldiers draped blankets around both of them, as well as setting food and water at their feet. Seeming content that they weren’t going to escape, the soldiers moved to finish constructing the rest of the camp.
“Are you all right?”
Scowling, Ahnna lifted her eyes from the fire to glare at James. “Oh, I’m wonderful, James. I can think of no better way to spend the day than bouncing on the lap of a one-balled sadist with a dubious claim to sanity who intends to deliver me to his mother, the queen who is working toward the destruction of my family and homeland. But enough about me. How was your day?”
James blew out a slow breath. “I know you hate me, but if we are to escape, we need to work together.”
“Or maybe I escape and leave you to entertain yourdear nemesis.”
“Ahnna, you have a broken arm.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
