Page 7 of Forty Days and One Knight
As Secada unlocked the door to their cell, Tahira felt a rage she’d never experienced before. “What did you do to her? You bastard!”
The man sneered cruelly at her, while shoving Lahana into the cell before closing the door behind her again. She fell to the floor, and Tahira dropped to her knees beside her, pushing Lahana’s hair back from her abused face. Secada shut the cell door again. “Nothing she didn’t enjoy.”
Before she realized what she was doing, Tahira was on her feet and lunging at the man, her arms extending past the bars. But Secada took a step back, out of her reach. “Hmm. Your cousin was feisty, but it looks like you’ll be even more of a challenge. Maybe tomorrow night, you and I will have some fun.”
A combination of fear and rage coursed through Tahira and flared in her eyes. Secada cackled loudly as he turned on his heel and headed for the door. “Oh, yes. I definitely think we’ll play before you’re sold,princesa.”
The door clanged shut. Spinning around, Tahira joined Nala who’d crawled over to Lahana. The injured woman was moaning in pain as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her lips and hands trembled as she grabbed Tahira’s arm. “H-he h-hurt me, T-Tahira.”
With tears welling up in her own eyes, she petted Lahana’s long, dark hair with a soothing motion. “I know he did. I am so sorry, my cousin. There is nothing I can do to change what happened. If only I could take away your pain, I would. Just know that I am I here for you. Nala and I will take care of you.”
Tahira’s head whipped around at the sound of the door opening again. One of the guards strode in with a bucket and some rags and set them down just outside of their cell. He pointed at Tahira, and there wasn’t an ounce of sympathy in his eyes or voice when he said, “Clean her up. We’ll hide her bruises with makeup and clothes for the auction.”
Without another word, he left. Silence filled the air, broken only by the occasional sob or whisper from one of the other women. Tahira reached between the bars, grabbed one of the rags, and wet it. Returning to Lahana, she gently wiped her face, neck, shoulders, and arms. Angry red welts circled her throat.
“Did he strangle you?” Tahira asked.
“Y-Yes. While he—he was ...” Lahana gulped and cried harder, and Tahira could figure out what she’d left unsaid. “I—I almost passed out, and all he did was laugh.”
She did her best to clean away the evidence of the assault. She could see Lahana’s eyelids getting heavy. “It is over now ... you will be okay. Just close your eyes.”
In the next cell, Melinda sat on the floor next to the row of bars that separated her from the three cousins. “If he gave her the same stuff as the others, she’ll sleep for a few hours. If she’s lucky, she’ll forget what happened when she wakes up—some do, some don’t.”
Tahira nodded, her heart heavy with sorrow for Lahana. When they were rescued, she would make sure her cousin received the best care, physically and emotionally. And she was certain they would be rescued. Once the royal guard discovered the three women were missing, they’d move heaven and earth to find them. Amar would immediately bring in every special operative he knew to help. Ian Sawyer would be his first call—over the past eighteen months or so, Tahira had become close to the retired Navy SEAL and his wife. She no longer saw him as a guard, but as an older brother or uncle who cared for her well-being. She cared about his employees, as well. In fact, she looked forward to her visits to the United States when the Trident Security teams would join her bodyguards in watching over her. Yes, she loved to tease many of them—taking them shoe shopping was one of her favorite ways to rile them—but she trusted them completely and thought very highly of them. They were honorable men and many of them had found their soul mates. She loved to discover when one of them had fallen in love. Sometimes she knew before they did just from studying their auras. Yes, Ian, Amar, and their teams would find them—Tahira just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.
“Then I will pray that she does.”
* * *
Several months ago...
Darius took a bite of the sandwich he’d just made and then glanced toward the hallway leading to the foyer as the sound of shuffling feet caught his attention. He’d pulled “Princess duty” tonight after several guards, stationed at the Clearwater Beach mansion with Her Royal Highness, had come down with some stomach virus that had them puking and shitting up a storm. The captain in charge had contacted Trident Security to fill in for the incapacitated guards, and Darius had pulled one of the short straws. So, there he was, at two o’clock in the morning, wondering who else was up besides the two bodyguards from Trident’s Personal Protection Division, who were walking the perimeter of the gated estate, and the one monitoring the security cameras in a little cottage in the backyard. No alarms had gone off and all the windows and doors were locked up tight, so whoever it was belonged there.
A shadow flashed a moment before Princess Tahira sashayed in. She gasped when she spotted him, then relaxed again. “Darius Knight, shame on you for startling me. I did not realize anyone was down here.”
He stood in respect of her title, but he couldn’t keep the slight sarcasm from his voice. “I’m sorry, Your Royal Highness. Next time I’ll leave a sign at the bottom of the stairs to let you know I’m in here taking my dinner break.”
Giving him a small smile, she strode over to the commercial-sized refrigerator and opened the door to the freezer, pulling out a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. As she moved about the kitchen, he finally noticed what she was wearing. No sexy lingerie or satin pajamas for the glamorous princess. Nope, she was wearing cotton lounge pants with Hello Kitty all over them. The matching pink T-shirt was a size too big for her. Glancing down, he saw she had a pair of fuzzy, pink slippers on her feet. Her face was devoid of makeup, and her hair was held back from her face by a black, fabric band. She looked cute, and he quickly shook the thought from his head. This was Princess Tahira—the woman who could make his life miserable with the mere mention of two words ... shoe shopping. Thank God there were no stores open at this hour.
After grabbing a spoon from a drawer, she approached the table and took a seat across from him. “Please sit, Darius Knight. That is if you do not mind me joining your repast.”
Sitting, he picked up his sandwich again. “I don’t mind at all, Your Highness, as long as you call me either Darius or Knight, not both names together.”
“I apologize. It is a habit I have had for a very long time, but I am trying to break it when I am in the United States. Obviously, I am still working on it.” She put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, savoring it a moment before swallowing. “Do you have a preference? Darius or Knight?”
He shrugged as he chewed a bite of his sandwich. A sip of soda washed it down. “Nope. Whatever you want to call me is fine. You can even use my nickname.”
“Batman? No. I would feel silly calling you that ... besides, I am a Superman fan.” He chuckled at that surprising fact. “I think I will call you Darius. It is a strong name, and it suits you. Did you know that it means kingly or wealthy?”
“No, I didn’t. It’s a family name. My grandfather was Darius andhisgrandfather was too.”
“Hmm. Maybe there is a royal bloodline in your family from a long time ago. In fact, Darius the Great was one of three Persian kings to have that name.”
He snorted and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, but if I’m in line for a throne somewhere, there’s probably a few thousand people who are ahead of me.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying their food, but Darius found he wanted to hear her talk some more. He had a feeling he was seeing a girl-next-door quality to the princess she rarely showed the public.
“So, where did you get the habit?” When she raised her perfectly-arched eyebrows at him, he clarified, “I mean, calling people by both their given name and surname.”
“Ah. It started when I was about ten. As a member of the royal family, I am constantly being introduced to people—sometimes dozens in a single day—and many of them have the same first or last name. I found it easier to remember their names if I repeated both names in my head several times after hearing them for the first time. Some people have photographic memories, I have a memory for names. I see them in my mind like you might see them in a ... oh, what is that thing called again? It is a bunch of small cards on a wheel.”
