Page 38 of The Stolen Princess
His fingers moved from her hair and started tracing circles on the side of her shoulder. She jerked her arm away and scooted over even more. Her eyes darted to Drake like he could somehow save her from this disgusting man, but he was talking with the old man.
“What? Are you saving everything you’ve got for Drake later tonight?”
Myka clenched her teeth.
Horseface placed his hand on her knee and squeezed. “Don’t think I’m not going to want a turn.” She didn’t look at him, but she could imagine by his sultry tone the type of smile he was giving her.
Her empty stomach felt sick, and her heart raced with anxiety. She liked to think of herself as a pretty strong-minded person, but she had her limits.
His grimy hand slowly inched its way up from her knee. She hated this man, and she especially hated the liberties he took with her. Without thinking, she leaned over and bit the side of his arm where his bicep stretched across her. A mixture of sweat and blood brushed against her tongue, and Horseface’s high-pitched scream filled her ears. His free hand grabbed a chunk of her hair, and he yanked upward, trying to get her teeth out of the side of his arm. The searing pain at her scalp was enough to make her release her clamp.
Horseface twisted his arm, examining the bite marks. Smooth blood dripped to the ground, mixing with the dirt. His eyes flashed to hers, and Myka braced herself for his wrath. His arm lifted, and she closed her eyes, but her eyes jolted open when something caught her wrists, dragging her to her feet. She looked up to see Drake. His fingers gripped her tighter, and he pulled her away from Horseface.
“Dawsick! What are you doing?” Drake snarled, yanking Myka forward.
“She bit me!” Horseface yelled.
“Yeah, well, you probably deserved it.” Drake forced her to sit on another boulder ten feet away from Horseface and his long, piercing scowl.
“Did you really have to bite him?” Drake asked.
“Says the man who kidnaps people.” Myka glared back at him.
“What were you going to do after you bit him? He’s twice your size.”
She gestured back to Horseface. He had walked to the river to rinse his bleeding arm, all the while shouting profanities—a real winner of a guy. “Did you see the way he touched me?” She shivered, thinking back to it. “How is that okay?”
“Yes, I saw it, and I’m sorry. Why do you think I came over? Butif I hadn’t intervened, Dawsick would’ve killed you.”
These men seemed to like killing princesses. Just ask Princess Seran.
“What was I supposed to do?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you call out for me?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she huffed. “Probably, because I thought you wouldn’t care what your friend was doing to me.”
Drake’s expression dropped like her words had bugged him. “I care aboutthat.”
She raised her chin, putting on a brave face. “Well, I can hold my own.” She wished that was true, but she shuddered to think of what would’ve happened if Drake hadn’t come to her rescue.
“I doubt that you can hold your own against a man like Dawsick.”
“Really? Because I seemed to have handled you just fine.” Her gaze went to the fresh cut on his eye and then to his arm where she’d shot him a month earlier. “I’d expect some scarring if I were you, a nice addition to your other scars.”
His jaw clenched in obvious frustration, and he looked away. “If Dawsick tries anything like that again, yell for me.”
She glanced away. She didn’t like this protective version of Drake. It was admirable, and Myka didn’t want to admire anything about her kidnapper. He pushed a hand through his hair, drawing her eyes back to him and her scarf tied around his arm. “I want my hair tie back.”
Drake shook his head. “It’s mine now.”
“How?”
“I paid a coin for it.”
Myka glared at him, folding her arms across her chest.
Drake walked to his saddle pack and tossed her some wrapped granola crunches and dried apples. “Eat this, princess.”
