Page 16 of Seized to Sacrifice
She focused her gaze on his eyes and saw sympathy for a moment. He knew what the slaver had done to her. It was probably common practice. Perhaps that was why she’d been bought in the first place by these men.
Her gaze hardened and she said no more.
‘And before the slaver? How did you get that gash on your head? Or did the slaver do that as well?’
She touched her head and winced. It still felt swollen. ‘No, he didn’t, but … I don’t remember how I got it. I was in the forest. I walked for a long time I think.’
‘And you don’t know where you were going?’
She shook her head, trying to remember something. Gods, anything would do, but there was nothing. It was as if she had been quite literally born yesterday in some ways though not in others it seemed. She knew what a fire was, a cup and a spoon, that the temperature outside leant itself to spring. But nothing about herself.
‘My name’s Nyx,’ he said softly.
She wasn’t sure what to say. She should tell him her name. That was the normal thing to do, but she had none to give.
‘And yours?’ he asked when she didn’t say anything.
‘I … I don’t remember,’ she said finally, knowing she sounded like a fool. But then she straightened. One of them had called her something in the dungeon. What had he said? ‘Elle.’
He looked startled, even took a step back. ‘That’s your name?’
Why was his tone so much colder now?
‘It’s what the other one called me,’ she said, drawing the blanket higher at his dark eyes that had suddenly become so foreboding.
‘You would call yourself by this name?’ he asked.
She regarded him and shrugged. ‘It’s better than nothing.’
His face was impassable, and she wondered who this ‘Elle’ actually was. The woman was well and truly hated by them. Perhaps she was making a mistake by taking such a moniker.
‘I don’t have to be called Elle,’ she said hastily. ‘There are many other names I could choo—’
‘No,’ he said, cutting off her words, his tone calmer. ‘It suits you.’ He gave her one last look before he turned away. ‘Drink the broth. I’ll be back soon.’
He left the room.
Elle.
At least she had a name now. For some reason she felt a little bit better, not so adrift as she had been since the forest.
She heard muffled voices outside. It was Nyx speaking with one of the others. Their words were angry and clipped. They were arguing and it was impossible not to hear that she was the subject of their dispute.
‘… well enough?’
‘No … just woke … ill.’
‘Put … back or I will.’
She frowned at the door. They were going to put her back in the dungeon! Her eyes flitted around the room. She couldn’t let them. She’d never come back out! She had to escape from this place before she was locked down there in the cold darkness again.
Even knowing it was futile, she began to pull at the chain that tethered her to the bed with all her might, falling back with a yelp as she came free, and her back hit the wooden headboard with a low thud. Surprised, she took the ends of the iron chain, examining them closely.
They looked solid and unbroken at both ends. Perhaps the link had pinged off, she thought, giving the coverlet and floor a cursory inspection, but not seeing it anywhere.
There wasn’t time for this. Free was free. It didn’t matter how.
She dropped the links and moved around the room, finding a chest of clothes at the end of the bed. She pulled one of his shirts over her head. It was so large that it fell half-way to her knees. His breeches were laughably massive on her as well and there was nothing to tie them to her waist, so she let them fall and kicked them off. The shirt would have to suffice.
