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The moon was hidden by the leaves of the tree, which rustled in the wind. Owls hooted and foxes barked. Rufus was very still.
She slipped out from under the blanket, picked up her shawl and tiptoed past the others. She walked away from the camp and farther into the wood. A few twigs snapped beneath her feet and she paused after each one and held her breath. Nobody was following her. She quickened her pace.
She disturbed a deer. It stampeded through the undergrowth making a racket. Now, she had to move faster. Picking up her skirts, she ran, dodging the trees and brambles.
Somebody was chasing her. She heard heavy footsteps and breathing.
She stumbled on a root and crashed onto the ground. He loomed over her, planting his boots on either side of her body, trapping her beneath him.
“Bethan!” Rufus exclaimed. “Why are you running away?” A beam of moonlight fell between two trees and lit up his face. He looked surprised more than angry.
She blinked. “I have to,” she said. What else could she say?
“We put our trust in you. We left you unfettered by chains. I… I trusted you. I convinced Felix to buy you. He thought you were a troublemaker, a thief.”
“I’ve not stolen anything,” she said quickly. “Your coins, nothing. I left with nothing.”
“But you are more than nothing, Bethan. You belong to Felix. You stole yourself away and you will have to be punished.” He moved to one side and bending over, grasped her wrist and drew her up.
“Please don’t. I won’t do it again,” she lied. How could she promise to stay when she needed to find Ceadda?
“I don’t believe you.” He held onto her wrist. “I want to believe you, Bethan. Why would you run away?”
“I’m a slave. I want to be free.” She wasn’t lying, but it wasn’t the real reason, and how much could she trust Rufus? Was he as kindly as he seemed?
He drew her closer to him. “You won’t be free until you have served the gods. Come with us and find out what you can achieve with their blessing. You will be honoured and treated with great respect. You might be a slave, but you are special. I know this. Even Felix is now convinced. We watched you come last night and it is a good omen.”
His warm breath bloomed over her face. She wasn’t afraid of him. She wanted his kisses and to feel his arms around her body. What he said excited her and filled her belly with butterflies.
He looped his hand around the back of her neck and angled her head higher. “Why did you run?” He had stunning eyes that caught the moonlight and the pupils reflected it like the mirror she’d seen in Atticus’s chamber.
“I’m ashamed,” she said. Hardly a lie given the way she responded to him.
Rufus laughed softly. “Oh, pretty one, there is no shame in what you can do with your beautiful body. It is why you are so important to us. To me.”
; “Will you tell Felix?”
“Um. He is my friend and also an honoured companion. And your master. I’ll grant your wish this time, but that means I shall punish you here and now for running away. Take off your clothes.”
He dropped his arm, stepped back, and folded his arms across his chest. She froze to the spot. He stunned her with the calm demand, as if it was perfectly natural to punish a slave in the middle of the night.
“Strip, Bethan, and lay over this fallen tree so that I can spank your bottom hard.” He gestured toward the husk of an oak tree.
Why was life so complicated? Couldn’t she have married a young farmer and had lots of children? Instead, her father had married her to an older man with a soft cock. She’d tried so hard to make him like her, but he hadn’t been interested in doing much. When he died in his sleep she’d been relieved, but also hated herself for feeling no grief. The raid had happened a few days later and any opportunity to marry again was thwarted by the bandits who stole her away.
Now she had to stow her plan to rescue Ceadda. She couldn’t risk the ire of Felix. He would do more than spank her, she was sure of that. Her teeth chattered as she tossed aside the shawl and drew the stola over her head. The night air was brisk, but not freezing. The summer had nearly arrived and soon the long days would bring hours of daylight.
“I don’t want you to wake the others, so I’m going to gag you.” He unwrapped one of the linen ribbons around his wrist and fashioned it into a ball. “Open your mouth.”
He seemed to have such power over her. She’d thought only Felix could command her like this, and now she was discovering Rufus had the same magical effect. She complied as easily as if he’d asked her to pop a berry in her mouth to savour. The linen tasted of salt and leather, his musk, and she gripped it between her teeth. However, to her surprise, he didn’t bind it in place. He trusted her to keep it there herself.
He unhooked his cloak and draped it over the trunk. Taking her arm, he directed her to lie over the tree. The fur cloak cushioned the hard bark beneath her hips and belly.
“Legs apart,” he instructed her. He climbed over the tree and sat astride it with his long legs easily reaching the ground on either side. Now he was positioned right next to her raised bottom.
She flinched before the blow struck and jolted when it did. Rufus’s hand was no different to Felix’s: hard and flat. She kicked her legs up and shrieked into her gag. When the second smack landed on her other cheek, she instinctively reached behind with her hand and tried to swipe his away. She couldn’t help it. Her bottom was smarting badly after just two spanks.
