He stopped wiping and stared at her for a moment, as if seeing her for the first time.
“After your father gave me this scar and…more, I escaped. I found a place where I could live. I grew bigger and stronger and vowed to make you all pay for what was done to me.” He lifted his hand to finish wiping her face clean, using rougher strokes than before.
Once finished, he threw the rag to the ground where she sat and said, “I don’t want to hear you say sorry. I want you to feel my pain. Once you’ve done that, then and only then, we’ll be even.”
He busied himself with tasks around the campsite, talking low to his horse, but ignoring Liv as if she weren’t there. He didn’t replace her gag, and she didn’t try to speak to him either. Her mouth felt too good without something covering it constantly.
Only once he’d laid out a square of cloth did he turn to her once more. “You’ll sleep beside me so that I can ensure you don’t try to run. And don’t worry about your doubtful virtue. I would as soon as bite my own hand off as use it to caress you.”
“I’ll cancel the wedding then.” She gave just the slightest snort of laughter and thought she caught a hint of a smile on his mouth. As if he’d have gotten anywhere with her. Even with her hands tied behind her back, she would have made sure the area between his legs was only good for a self-cupping while he had a good, long cry.
“I don’t recall asking you to marry me.” He pulled her to a standing position and helped her lower herself to the thin, reedy mat that would serve as their bed. She tried to get comfortable on her side. Yet, the minute he laid down behind her and draped his arm over her waist, her heartbeat picked up and she felt heat rising up her neckline.
“You haven’t proposed to me yet, but just wait and see, you will.”
Her comment got a dry chuckle, but no more. “Try to get some sleep. There’s more walking for you tomorrow, and we have a long way to travel.”
She tried to focus on his words. She really did, but all she could seem to think about was how impossibly heavy and hot, like a brand, an arm could feel when placed in just such a way on her body. It didn’t help that her hands were still bound behind her, very near where she imagined his thighs met. If they got any closer, she might get more of a handful than she’d ever wanted.
Perhaps, it would be best if she focused on something a little less…provocative. Of course, she could think about her escape. Perhaps, a grasp on such a sensitive area could be exactly what she needed to turn things around. Once she had him at her mercy, she would demand he cut her loose. Then, she’d take his horse and make a run back toward her sister, who should have been here by now. It would be the first thing she addressed once they were reunited.
She began to squirm backwards, trying to encounter her means to escape, but he must have caught on to her plan because he grabbed her with both hands and turned her to face him, essentially removing her one and only opportunity.
She felt the intensity in his gaze as he asked, “Do you need me to bind your feet and put the gag back on you?”
Liv shook her head and a piece of her hair fell over her cheek as she said, “I would prefer not to have either.”
“Then, don’t give me a reason to, and I won’t.” He brushed the hair from her face with rough fingers, and she shivered slightly at his warm touch.
“I wouldn’t mind if you removed the ties around my hands either.”
At the sight of a lift of one side of his mouth in a crooked smile, Liv felt the breath leave her lungs in a hurry. He was handsome normally, but when he smiled, he was devastatingly gorgeous. It was unfair.
He shook his head and said, “I might be feeling generous, but I’m not stupid.” He yawned and with a muscular swipe of his hand, pulled her into his chest. “Besides, when we reach your father, I’m sure he’ll be happy to remove the ties himself.”
Liv felt chills for a different reason at the thought of seeing her father once again. He wouldn’t remove the ties from her arms. He’d be more likely to remove her arms from her body.
There was only one solution—whatever it took, she couldn’t let Rise hand her over to her father.
She’d just have to…to—a yawn overtook her, and she was suddenly incredibly sleepy. It had come over her suddenly, and she felt herself beginning to drift into sleep no matter how hard she fought it. From days of constant movement, the minute she relaxed, exhaustion took over.
5
Rise couldn’t believe she hadn’t complained yet.
He had made her walk miles now, and he could imagine the blisters that were forming on her feet. Yet, she hadn’t said a word. She had stumbled along, continually looking over her shoulder, without so much as a grimace or a groan. He had to admit that some small part of him admired her strength of will.
It didn’t change anything, though. She needed to suffer as he suffered. He thought he would finally get a taste of vengeance when he reminded her of their first meeting, but instead of throwing a haughty chin in the air and claiming her entitlement because she was a princess and he was a slave, she had pitied him.
He hadn’t felt even a little of the satisfaction he’d been craving. For a brief, maddening instant, he’d thought she actually meant it when she’d apologized. It had been…surprising and so, so frustrating. And completely unexpected. But her pity angered him. She had no right to pity him now.
Considering her response so far, she was nothing like he remembered, nothing like he’d imagined. Yet, that wasn’t whatmade him angry about the whole situation. He was furious with himself because he actually felt…guilty…for how he was treating her. It boggled his mind, and he wondered if she were working some sort of sorcery on him.
He shifted in his saddle and turned back to face the vast wasteland before him. She had to be using her powers to influence his emotions toward her. It was the only explanation. He still couldn’t believe that for the first time in his whole, miserable life, he had slept through without a single nightmare. Every night he could remember had been filled with every atrocity committed against him or that he had witnessed, played repeatedly, in his dreams. Yet, the one night he had slept with the Queen of the Deadly Arrows in his arms, he’d slept peacefully for the first time in his life.
It was baffling. And even more confusing, if she were working such abilities on him, why didn’t she just pour it on and try to use her magic to escape?
When he swiveled to catch another look at her, she was staring backwards once more. He decided it was time to allay that hope for her.
