Page 16 of Trapped to Tame
Drax shrugged. ‘Well enough.’ His eyes narrowed at Fie, who was doing little save taking up space. ‘See about getting our table stocked. Our female is thin and hasn't eaten in days.’
‘Our female?’ Priest cocked the brow. ‘You're getting familiar. Remember whose get she is, Brother.’ He snorted. ‘But I’m sure I worry for nothing. She’s so bothersome that by the time we’ve been in her company for more than a day, we’ll all be chomping at the bit to slit the bitch’s throat.’
Drax ignored Priest, waving his hand at Fie to go.
Fie scowled. ‘I’m not your fucking servant.’
‘You are today,’ Drax replied, throwing the wet rag still in his hand at Fie. ‘Now, fuck off and find us some food.’
Fie growled, but he left the tent.
‘What else?’ Priest asked, sitting hard on one of the chairs, and then looking disgusted as if it was too hard for his backside.
He chuckled at Priest. ‘Perhaps during all that time we were stuck within Kitore’s walls, you went soft, Brother. Can't even abide a hard chair?’
Priest grimaced, but said nothing more so, Drax continued.
‘The Commander will reinstate us. He has no enemies within the fae, and he owes no one any allegiance outside this army.’
‘Well, there's some good fucking news for once,’ Priest muttered, ‘and yet here we sit in this hovel of a fucking tent.’
‘Aye. We shall not stay long, only until the female is ready for traveling.’
‘She’d be ready tomorrow if I was still leader,’ Priest murmured.
Drax shook his head with a snarl. ‘Look at her,’ he said, practically leaping across the tent and pulling the blanket from her, showing his Brother her gaunt, thin body, the bones protruding from her small frame.
Priest stared at the unconscious woman and then turned his eyes away. ‘The binding has clouded your mind, Brother,’ he muttered. ‘She seems hail enough to ride a horse. You care too much about an enemy when you should be thinking of your own kind.’
‘Perhaps,’ Drax replied, absently. ‘But she’ll be no good to us if she expires before we can even get her to the Ice Plains.’
Priest let out a dry laugh. ‘By the looks of her, I’d say she’s used to worse than traveling while she’s fatigued.’
‘Aye,’ Drax agreed. ‘I didn’t know the humans treated their freefolk in such a way. She didn’t appear to be a slave though, not officially at any rate. What do you make of how we found her?’
‘Does it matter?’
At Drax’s raised brow, Priest sighed, deciding to humor his Brother for once. ‘Odd set-up. She clearly likes the ring, enjoys combat, but the chain around her ankle … It was low-grade, but there was enough iron in it to keep her weak when combined with the other deprivations. They were forcing her to fight for them.’
Drax frowned. ‘And more it seemed from the way we found her after the fight.’
‘I had that impression as well.’ Priest looked vaguely disgusted at the prospect. ‘As if any of us would … if we didn't have to that is.’
Drax’s lips moved into a thin line. The female might be tiny and frail-looking, but she wasn’t unattractive. Why was Priest pretending the opposite? Perhaps he simplywantedher to be unappealing.
Drax and Priest didn't speak anymore. Drax sharpened his weapons while Priest went digging through their packs to see what supplies they needed before they moved on.
Not long after, Fie returned carrying a plate piled with meat, bread, and cheese. ‘This is the best I could do for now. I've paid for them to bring us more tomorrow.’
Drax nodded. ‘Female,’ he barked. ‘I know you're awake. Your breathing has changed.’
He watched her crack her eye open. She was afraid. How he knew that he wasn’t sure, but she was. Their Fourth. He shook his head. A fucking Fourth! As if they needed that megrim along with everything else.
He could tell she was hungry too. He watched as she stopped herself from shrinking away from him, from what he’d done. He watched her pretend she wasn’t terrified even as he felt her fear, and he hated himself even more.
But there had been no other way. Even if they’d tried to escape the Camp with her before she’d been claimed, they’d have been hunted down and she’d have been taken from them anyway … after he, Priest, and Fie had been hanged by their necks from the nearest tall tree.
‘It's finished, female,’ he said. ‘You’re bound to us for now.’ He decided to make it clear. ‘If you run from us, we'll be able to find you no matter how you cover your tracks. There's no hiding from us.’
