Page 55 of The Stolen Princess
“I was untying you!” he winced as he rolled himself up to a sitting position.
“Yeah, untying me so you could domore.”
“You are thelastgirl I would try to do something physical with.”
Myka straightened. “And you’re the last man I would ever want to touch me.”
“I won’t touch you,” he said it like he was baffled that she even assumed he would.
He stood and walked toward her—somewhat stiffly, she noticed with satisfaction. Then he loosened the tie around her wrists and shoved the cord in his pocket.
“Take a nap or something,” he said, then he opened the door. “I’ll be back later.”
Myka flinched at the sound of the slamming door and released her breath. Outside, she heard Drake fasten a lock around the door. She supposed she should be happy about the lock. No one else, including Horseface, could come in. She closed her eyes, grateful that, at least for another minute, she hadn’t been harmed.
She went to turn the handle on the door, even though she already knew that it was locked.
“Where’s the princess?” a voice from outside asked.
Myka pressed her forehead against the wall, trying to look through a hole where a knot in the wood had decayed away.
Old ’n Slow Winslow walked over to Drake. He carried a cast-iron pot with cooking utensils poking out the top. They stood fifteen to twenty feet from the shack and obviously didn’t expect her to be listening. Drake nodded toward the hut. “She’s in there.”
Winslow frowned. “In your house?”
Drake straightened, placing his hands on his hips. “Is that a problem?”
“I thought we agreed to figure out a plan for the princess when we got to camp.”
“And now we have.”
“Why did you put her inyourhouse?”
Myka would like to know the answer to that question too.
“Dawsick has proven himself a liability to our mission. If he hurts the princess, Adler will never bargain with us. She needs protection, and I can provide that.”
“You’re just going to leave her alone in there?” Winslow nodded toward the shack.
“She won’t go anywhere. The door is chained. Besides, I don’t think I have to spend every second with her.”
“What? Are you already regretting that you volunteered to let her ride with you to camp?”
He’dvolunteered? Something about that piece of information stuck to her heart.
Drake placed his hands on his hips. “I only volunteered because I wanted to make sure she didn’t escape.”
“I say leave her locked up every day,” Dawsick said, approaching the two men. “She’s a prisoner.”
Drake turned to him. “Her father is the one who went against the Council, not her. If the roles were reversed, you wouldn’t want Princess Seran to be locked up every day for something King Bryant had done.”
More proof that Drake was a good guy.Myka swallowed, trying to fit that little piece of information about her captor into her head, but it was like trying to fit a square block through a circular hole. It didn’t work. Usually, Myka gave people the benefit of the doubt, but with Drake and the other men here, she refused to believe that they could be both kidnappers and good people. It was much easier to hate them.
Dawsick’s expression went hard. “Princess Seran is dead, and it’s all Adler’s fault. I think locking up his daughter is mild compared to what he did to King Bryant’s daughter.”
Myka’s fingers dug into the splintered boards. How could Dawsick blame Seran’s death on her father? He’d had nothing to do with it.
“And,” Dawsick said. “I don’t like comparing Princess Seran with that girl.” He pointed to the shack, making Myka flinch. “Princess Seran was more ladylike than that immature brat will ever be.”
