Page 8 of Trapped to Tame
‘No.’
‘But—’
‘Gods, but you’re tiresome!’ she blurted, stopping, and turning back. ‘I’m the fool? Shall I say it plainly for you?’
Fie nodded.
‘I was chained when I wasn’t in the ring. How was I meant to stroll into the forest even if I had a mind to, which I didn’t?’
Fie frowned. He hadn’t thought … ‘How long?’
This time she didn’t answer him.
Fie frowned. She clearly wasn’t a slave, but if what she said was true, she had more courage than he’d given her credit for. There weren’t many females who would go off by themselves, especially if they had little practical knowledge of the outside world. Though perhaps he shouldn’t call it courage at all.
‘Foolish woman,’ he said instead, and watched as she bristled.
She didn't like that. He grinned again. It would be very simple – and quite enjoyable – to whip the tiny female into a fury.
She didn’t speak anymore and neither did he, content to simply watch her walk in front of him, sliding every so often in her short, tattered boots.
He’d found that most, human and fae alike, would try to fill the silence with chatter, spilling all sorts of secrets, but she did not.
By the time they reached the Underhill, he'd know everything there was to know about this one though. That was his skill, after all, and he’d enjoy the challenge. He'd get inside her head, under her skin, understand what motivated her, how she thought. He’d be able to manipulate her into doing whatever he wished, and he wouldn't have to threaten or subdue her. She was in far above her head. The little female had no idea what she was in for.
He led her back to camp and enjoyed the look on her face when she saw how close they actually were, how the fatigue she was feeling was all for naught.
‘Eat,’ he told her. ‘We leave very soon.’ He raised a brow. ‘And you're walking.’
She glowered as she looked away, grabbing a hard biscuit that was warming by the fire and breaking it apart with her fingers, shoving it into her mouth at speed as if she was afraid it would be taken.
‘Gods, she's practically a beast,’ Priest muttered from his horse.
Fie saw her cheeks redden slightly. She wasn’t as immune to his Brother’s barbs as she’d like them to believe.
Drax came back to the camp on his horse. ‘I've scouted the way,’ he said. ‘We'll take the ferry upriver. That'll be faster until the freeze.’
He noticed Eve by the fire and scowled at her. ‘I told you that we will free you when you have fulfilled your purpose,’ he said coldly. ‘Do not test my patience, female. Run from us again and you'll be punished.’
He didn't spare her another look, turning his horse and walking it slowly into the trees.
Priest snapped his fingers and the fire extinguished itself. The woman, already following Drax’s horse, didn't even notice.
Fie would wager that the woman knew very little about the fae. Even if she did somehow realize something was odd about them, he doubted she’d have any idea that they were more than what they seemed unless they told her. He grinned as he watched her retreating form. She looked exhausted and she was shivering from falling in the stream. He doubted she had the stamina for another futile sojourn.
They journeyed for most of the day, reaching a small town where they’d catch the ferry that would take them just shy of Kitore. Priest, always preferring an inn to the cold, hard ground in winter, procured them a room at the finest establishment to be found while Drax booked their passage on the boat the following morning.
Fie was left to mind the female who was all wide eyes and naive expressions. She must be at least twenty winters and yet she had a child's excitement about the most mundane things. Perhaps she didn't realize that her face showed every emotion when it wasn’t guarded.
He trudged up the stairs, her trailing after him. The inn was fine enough to have a bath already prepared so as soon as he got in the room, he took pity on the tired girl and gestured to it.
‘Bathe yourself,’ he said. ‘You stink.’
If she took offence, she didn't show it as she kicked off her boots, not seeming to care that he was present. She unlaced the jerkin and pulled off her thin undershirt, her worn chemise underneath as dirty and unkempt as she was.
He turned away as she began to shuck her breeches though part of him wanted to watch. He was surprised that he had any chivalry left in him. He steeled himself not to look until after he heard her get into the water, but at her soft moan, he could wait no longer, and his eyes fell on the tiny, painfully thin female; her eyes closed and her head resting on the bath. She sighed deeply, able, it seemed, to completely relax in his presence. He shook his head.Silly, silly female.
She took a breath and dunked her head beneath the water coming up a moment later and he couldn't help but watch in fascination at the unbridled pleasure she took in something he found so commonplace.
