Page 56 of Odette's Vow

I let out a snort of laughter. I couldn’t help it.

Dazed, it took Matthias a few moments to come round. He groaned as he got to his feet. Then he looked down at me, still trying to suppress my laughter, before he gathered the blood in his mouth and spat it at me. It landed on the same cheek he’d licked.

Waiting until he left, I wiped the mingled blood and spit from my left cheek by rubbing it against my shoulder.

The third time the door opened, I was sure it would be Odysseus retiring for the night. I had learnt my lesson. My arms were numb and heavy from having them above my head for so long. The discomfort made me wriggle, but I could find no comfortable position on the hard floor. I had tried them all in what must have been, what, eight hours? If not more?

But, it wasn’t Odysseus. My heart sank. Because there in the doorway stood Matthias again, this time with two men either side of him.

“There she is, the bitch.”

Together, they crowded in. The room really wasn’t big enough for all of them. I tried to keep my laboured breathing even, knowing what was coming, but the sheen of sweat coating my skin smelt of fear.

Matthias grinned. “She knows what she’s going to get. Hold her down, you’ll get your turn,” he ordered the other two.

Taking a deep breath into my lungs, I screamed.

“Shut that bitch up, NOW!”

Again, I screamed. Hecuba had held cool decorum, but she’d also had a weapon. The only weapon I had right now was my voice.

The men tried to shove some cotton in my mouth, but I tossed my head back and forward, until it took the two of them to hold my head still and shove it in. By then, their hands, wrists, and forearms were close enough to my own bound hands that I gouged large scratch marks into them.

“Gods be damned! That little?—”

“Matthias.”

That voice, the solemn timbre of it. My body sighed in relief. He’d heard me.

“Lord Odysseus. I was just coming to fetch—, and well, then she—,” one of the boys started.

“She was trying to escape. So we sought to restrain her for you,” Matthias interjected.

“Out,” Odysseus pointed at the two sidekicks.

They scuttled away, their heads down, allowing Odysseus to step into the room.

“Thank you, Matthias.”

“You’re welcome, my lord.”

Thank him?Thank him?I would have raged against my restraints if I wasn’t having so much difficulty breathing with the rag.

“But tell me, if you were so busy trying to restrain her from escaping, why is she gagged?”

Matthias stuttered, stumbling over his words, searching for some excuse that would work.

“Shall we ask her?” Odysseus leaned forward and snatched the fabric out of my mouth.

I took a deep breath and gulped the fresh air into my lungs.

“Did he touch you?”

I took a few more breaths of air, followed by a few swallows to wet my parched throat before I answered. “Not like that,” I shook my head. “But he did lick my cheek, and spat on me.”

“Did he now?” Odysseus’ tone turned dangerous. “Have I done something to offend you, Matthias?”

“No, my lord.”

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