Behind me, the villagers whimpered. They were not my family, but they had become my friends in the time that I’d lived among them. I knew them, and I knew many of them were weak. I thought of Betta, the smith’s young wife, and Merena and her sister, who had been kind to me whenever I traded with their father.
I didn’t want any of them to suffer. Not when I was stronger.
Not when I could allow my rage to overcome my fear.
“I will do it.”
I lifted my chin and my glare to meet the sea raider’s eyes.
“Leave these people alone.”
The Stormseeker hummed as he stepped closer, seeming to study me.
“Ye, little warrior?”
Before I could blink, he’d reached out to grab my chin. Nay, ‘twas too kind of a word to describe his cruelty; his hand closed around my jaw, his thumb holding me captive. One slip, and his fingers would be around my throat, crushing the life from me.
If he and his men wanted to plow my belly, he would keep me alive that long, at least.
The thought made my heart skip a beat, made my knees weak.
You are strong. You have survived afore, and you will survive again.
And so I masked my terror with bravado, glowering up at the beast who held me pinned with more than just the grip of his hand.
“Ye would sacrifice yerself, pretty little human?” he murmured, low enough that I doubted any others heard him. “To save these sheep?”
Although his fingers held my lips nearly immobile, I did my best to spit at him.
“They aremine!”
I would protect them.
Was it my imagination, or did the sea-raider’s gaze soften speculatively? ‘Twasnotmy imagination the way his thumb brushed against my cheek.
Softly.
Gently.
Reverently.
I shuddered as my body swayed toward his, beyond alarmed by this response.
Bymyresponse.
Suddenly, Vrogul Stormseeker, chief of the sea-faring Battleborn, stepped back, his hand dropping to my arm. Before I could draw breath to gasp, he yanked me against him. I hit his chest with an undignifiedoof, my knees shaking in fear and confusion.
“This one,” he growled, then raised his voice and his gaze to sweep over the villagers.
“I will take this one. Her sacrifice will save the rest of ye.”
As the villagers’ grateful voices raised in prayer, I closed my eyes and tried to keep from shaking.
Sacrifice.
I swallowed, my stomach ready to release my last meal.
Father, help me to meet my death as you did: with courage and honor.
But I knew, somehow, that I would break before then. Already tears prickled at my lids as I accepted the inevitable.
I belonged to my enemy.
