Page 10 of Kept to Kill
‘If I’d known it would take two nights for you to wake, I’d have given in to your request,’ he said curtly.
‘Request?’ she rasped, her tongue still feeling swollen and dry.
‘Your begging, actually.’
She couldn’t see him but she knew he was smiling smugly behind all those parchments. She stuck said tongue out at him just as another man entered.
She grimaced, cheeks heating, as the new Brother saw what she was doing, his eyebrows lifting.
‘Mal. Good. Have one of the Rats brought in. Whoever’s next for the cull from last night’s crimes.’
The Brother nodded. His unblinking eyes stayed fixed on her until he was gone. She shivered when he’d left, getting the distinct feeling that he would hurt her simply for the pleasure of it if he got the chance.
‘So what did I beg for?’ she asked, standing slowly and trying out her legs. ‘I assume it wasn’t for more of your pleasurable company.’
Lily wobbled slightly before she found her balance. Two days was longer than usual, but then, that bout had been an awful one. Killing three men in a day was not something she would repeat if she could possibly help it. She’d been in a fevered haze for most of it, but she remembered the pain. She hoped she hadn’t cried out with it. She’d never told anyone about the agony she felt during the fever, afraid it would be used against her somehow. She wouldn’t have put it past Vineri to apply it as a punishment when she hadn’t done what he’d wanted instead of his other, usual tactics.
‘Death,’ he said simply, but she could hear a note of amusement in his voice that he was trying to hide. ‘Your demonstration will be soon.’
‘Demonstration?’
‘Yes. You told me that in return for better treatment than meeting your end on the point of my sword – after I’d meted out the justice of the Dark Brothers, of course – you would prove to me you weren’t lying about your gift.’
‘It’s not a gift,’ she snapped.
‘Curse, then.’ He was unmoved by her outburst. ‘There’s food on the table. By the repulsive sounds your stomach has been making since the early hours, I’m guessing you’re hungry.’
Lily’s cheeks heated again as she turned to the table. Her mouth watered at the sight of it piled high with plates of meats and cheeses, bowls of nuts and fruits, baked apples filled with spiced raisins, and those were just the things she recognized.
She took one of the pewter plates and began to heap it with food, tasting a bit here and there and making noises of approval as she added spoonfuls of this and handfuls of that.
She sat down and stared at her plate in anticipation, a smile spreading across her face. She’d never had such an array of food in one sitting. Vineri had fed her, but nothing so fine as all this except sometimes on festival days when all the servants were eating well.
She tucked in with a sigh of contentment, eating until the plate was empty and wondering if it would be rude to go back for more. She looked up to ask the Commander and saw that he’d been joined by two other Brothers. One she hadn’t seen before. He was attractive enough for her to have to force her eyes away from his strong jaw to take note of his long brown hair that was plaited away from his face. He was broad too and very tall, dwarfing the other two just a bit, though neither of them were small men. The other was the one from earlier who’d stared at her – much as he was doing now. He was just as good-looking, though in a different, slightly moremenacingway. She sunk down in the chair slightly, as she was afraid she knew exactly what he was staring at. Her chemise was old, threadbare, and thin, and practically transparent in places.
‘Gods, Brother,’ the new one said, ‘you’d better hope shewaslying. If you leave her alive, she’ll eat through our supplies in days!’
She looked down, feeling a flush creep over her skin. ‘I hadn’t eaten in a while,’ she argued.
‘Get up, girl,’ Quin said impatiently.
She stood, crossing her arms over her chest so they couldn’t see her dark nipples through the thinning cloth, but all three pairs of eyes moved downward and she knew there wasn’t much left to the imagination down there either.
If she’d learned anything in Vineri’s world, it was that weakness invited tyranny. She squared her shoulders and forced her hands down to her sides, pretending she didn’t care that they could see her body. It wasn’t as if they could touch her, was it?
‘I thought she was Vineri’s pet,’ the new one remarked. ‘Look at the state of that,’ he drawled, referring to her ragged clothes. ‘Not that I’m complaining, of course. Didn’t Vineri like you very much, girl?’
She looked him in the eye. ‘He was probably punishing me for something,’ she conceded.
‘For what?’ the new one asked.
She shrugged, saying nothing.
‘What else did he do to punish you?’ Quin asked, clearly intrigued.
‘I’m not giving you ideas.’ She snorted, drawing a reluctant smile from him that had his Brothers looking stunned.
He recovered quickly, however, and beckoned her closer. ‘Are you ready to prove yourself?’
