“No!” she cried.
He lifted his arm and cracked her across the cheek. Her head snapped to the side and hit hard against the floor. Pain ripped through her face and neck. She gritted her teeth, turned her head, and curled her fingers around the hilt of the knife. She lifted the weapon in her hand and pushed him off her body with all her might. Billy fell to the side, off kilter because of his fight to remove her breeches. Daphne took one last deep breath and plunged the knife into his chest, just below his left shoulder, right where his heart would be. Blood spurted, dark and hot, out of the wound in his chest, coating Daphne’s hands and splattering across her face and clothing.
“Gah!” Billy screamed and crumpled to the floor while blood continued to pour out of the large wound around the knife.
“She’s kilt me!” he cried.
The hulking mass’s eyes went wide, then they narrowed into beady black coals. “Damn you, bitch.”
Daphne watched in horror as Boris advanced toward her with murder in his eyes. The giant was going to kill her. Rape her first, then kill her. She knew it, but at least she’d taken one of the two. She’d go to her grave knowing she’d taken a life for her brother’s. And Billy was indeed dying. Blood trickled from his lips and he gurgled. He’d propped himself against the wall, staring unseeing into the room, each breath more shallow than the last.
“That was for my brother,” she spat at the dying man.
Billy made no other sound.
“I’m going to snap your neck after I’ve had my way with you,” the hulking mass snarled.
Daphne sprang to her feet and faced off with him. “You’ll have to catch me first.” She leaped over to Billy and yanked the knife from his chest with one solid move. More blood sprayed onto her breeches. Billy’s eyes drained of life until they were completely blank.
She turned back to Boris, the knife clutched in her slick, bloody fist. The weapon may have given the giant pause, but not for long. He lunged at her. She aimed the knife at his heart but it slid into his shoulder instead. Groaning in pain, he tackled her to the ground, nearly breaking her back. She struggled for air. She would suffocate if he stayed on her for any length of time.
“No!” she screamed, but the knife was still lodged in his shoulder, pinned between them. She couldn’t retrieve it. Her wrist was pinned to the floorboards. It felt as if it might snap.
“Aargh.” With an unearthly cry, Boris groaned and collapsed atop her, his bulbous face falling to the side of her neck.
Daphne’s eyes went wide. What had just happened?
The next thing she knew, the giant body atop hers was pushed over and fell away and Rafe was standing there, breathing heavily. His hands on his hips. She glanced over at the hulk’s body. The handle of a knife was standing up in the back of his neck.
“And that was for me!” Rafe shouted at the hulk’s quivering mass, viciously kicking him in the side.
“Rafe,” Daphne cried, tears pooling in her eyes. She was still shaking so hard her teeth clacked.
Rafe fell to his knees beside her, his hands skimming her neck, her chest, her legs. “Daphne, are you all right? Have you been stabbed?”
“No, no,” she sobbed.
“You’re covered in blood.” Rafe enveloped her in his arms, cradling her head against his chest. “Did they hurt you? Did they—?”
“I’m fine. Just… frightened.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Rafe, how did they know? How did they find out? The barmaid told them I was female but… how did they know my name?”
Rafe didn’t let her go. He stroked her head. “I don’t know. They must have done some investigating after they discovered you weren’t a boy. I can only imagine they paid enough money to the right person.”
Daphne shuddered. It truly didn’t matter how they found out. All that mattered was that she was safe. And Rafe was safe. “How did you find me?” she whispered against his chest.
“Those two idiots, Anton and Viktor, offered your life for mine.”
Daphne gasped. She pulled back away from him slightly and cupped her blood-streaked hand over her mouth.
“I agreed of course and they brought me here. In shackles.”
Daphne eyed him up and down. He clearly wasn’t wearing any shackles on his wrists or his ankles. Her brow furrowed. “How did you escape?”
Rafe’s infamous grin lit up his face. “You and I didn’t quite make it to that lesson, but unfortunately for them, escaping shackles is one of my specialties.”
Daphne had to smile at that. “Did you… are they dead?”
“No. Though not because I didn’t want to kill them with my bare hands. The crew took them. They followed me here. They were unable to find where you’d been taken because they’d been watching the door to the tavern, not the alley, but when Viktor brought me out of the inn, they followed us.”
