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I sneak forward quietly, going as fast as I dare and turning invisible as I go. He might not be able to see me, but I don’t want him to hear or smell me coming either. I need to get the drop on him so he can’t yell for help. The last thing I need is for all his friends to come running.
I hear the sound of a blow, and everything in me clenches, but it’s the merc who lets out a grunt of pain, stepping back and clutching his face. She sees her moment and tries to sidle past him to run, but he grabs her by the arm and pulls her back with a laugh.
‘You have spirit for a human slave these days,’ he chuckles as he forces her wrists above her head and pushes her hard into the side of the barn. ‘I can’t wait to fuck it out of you.’
I’m almost there, my knife ready.
She spits at him, kicking out at him as he uses the cut I made in her sack on the boat to rip it all the way down to her waist.
She tries to twist away at first, struggling with everything she has. But then she just stops. Her body relaxes, and her face goes blank.
‘The fight gone from you already?’ the merc mocks.
She says something quietly.
‘What was that?’
‘I deserve it,’ I hear her whisper.
He laughs, palming one of her tits roughly. ‘Aye, you do at that,’ he purrs.
Angry at myself beyond all reason for letting it get this far, I leap the last few feet, pushing the knife through his neck at the artery as soon as I can reach him. I kick his leg out from under him as I rip out the blade, turning him so that she doesn’t get sprayed by the blood.
He thuds to the ground on his front without a sound, and I take a look at her.
She’s still standing where he put her, her arms over her head, her sack gaping open, but I don’t even look at the tantalizing flesh I know will be visible; my eyes are riveted to her face, or more precisely, her lips.
She’s still saying the same thing.
‘I deserve it.’
‘I deserve it.’
Over and over.
‘Harbinger?’ I ask cautiously, letting her see me.
Nothing.
‘Lia?’
She finally looks at me, blinks and the anger returns. She looks at the dead mercenary and then at me, and then she steps forward and hits me hard in the face.
My head snaps to the side with the force of it, and for a moment, I’m certain she’s broken my jaw. I’m impressed, but I keep my answering grin off my face.
She steps around me, and I grab her arm, stopping her from leaving.
She pulls away immediately with a small cry and fear in her eyes that she’s trying to disguise with anger, and I raise my hands in front of me.
‘Just wait,’ I say, watching her closely. ‘Just wait. I’ll get rid of him, but you need to stay here. You understand, Lia, don’t you?’ I step closer, and she doesn’t retreat.
‘You can try running again tomorrow when we cross the next bridge,’ I say gently, ‘but it’s not safe for you in this place bound as you are.’
She gives a faint nod, her face going blank again.
CHAPTER NINE
‘You need to go back inside.’
