AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where do you want her, Falsted?” Rafe asked, coldly detached. “I’m tired and at the end of my patience with this one.”
Falsted set down the drink, the glass making a crisp clip against the table that echoed up along the empty shelves. He stalked toward them slowly, his stare not leaving Rafe. “You think I’m stupid, Rafe? My boys said you two were overly friendly at the front of that coaching inn, and this…”
Quick as a striking snake, he grabbed her skirt and lifted the fabric, exposing the lower half of her legs. With a sneered cackle, he reached down and yanked free the dagger she had strapped to the top of her boot.
A longer dagger, the very one Rafe had given her on the journey to Seahorn. Now in Falsted’s grip.
She twisted under Rafe’s hold on her arm, but he didn’t let her move even an inch away from him.
Lord Falsted held the dagger up in front of her nose. “It seems my boys saw this under the edge of her skirts on the way here.”
Rafe instantly twisted her arm to the side, spinning her toward him and away from the dagger, rage in his face. “You little bitch, where in the hell did you get that?”
It took her a full second to react under his blast of anger. A full second to get her heart to beat again. It was an act.It had to be an act.Rafe wouldn’t do this to her.
Her head shook against his fury. “I—I—”
She got it from Rafe—he’d strapped the damn thing to her leg just this morning. But she couldn’t rightly say that.
“I—”
“Shut the hell up you sniveling wench.”
Lord Falsted looked from Rafe to her and back to Rafe. His dead eyes suddenly flickered, excited to watch others’ pain in order to make himself feel alive.
A chortle escaped the old man. “It appears as though a lesson needs to be learned here.” He held the dagger out to Rafe. “She needs to be punished, Winfred. She needs to know who owns her now and any one of us is ready for a little sport if you would rather not.” He leaned in toward Rafe’s ear, his nasally voice dropping to a low growl. “But keep her alive.”
Rafe shook his head. “You test my patience, Falsted. I’ll take her to a room—or cell—or whatever place you’ve decided to lock her down in.”
“No, I think we should have a bit of fun, first.” He motioned to his right where his men stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the door and watching the proceedings with sick glee in their eyes. Falsted looked back to Rafe, his vacant grey eyes skewering him. “Unless, for some reason, you’ve gone back on your word about our mission here?” He glanced over his shoulder, waving the dagger in the air. “Seymour, maybe you would like the pleasure?”
Rafe gave an exasperated eye roll. “Don’t be idiotic, Falsted. Just because I don’t want to destroy something that shouldn’t be destroyed, doesn’t mean I’m not in on the plan.”
Falsted pinned him with his dead eyes. “Then prove it.” He held the dagger out to Rafe.
This time, Rafe took it.
He dropped her arm and turned fully toward her, the cold mask set firmly in place, chilling her to the bone.
Her hands flew up in front of her, her feet backing away. “What? No. No. I’ll go. I’ll go quietly. Just take me to a room. I swear, I’ll go without a word.”
“Too late for that, little bird.” Falsted’s voice grated into her ears, but her stare couldn’t shift from Rafe’s heartless brown eyes, hunting her, stalking her across the room as she backed up.
Ooof.
Her back slammed into a stone wall, kicking all breath from her lungs.
Rafe didn’t stop until he was directly in front of her. Before she could dart to the side, he grabbed both of her wrists and twisted them into his left hand. Lifting them, he slammed them onto the wall above her head, pinning her in place.
So high, she was near to hanging, only the tips of her toes touching the floor.
He took one last step to collapse the last sliver of space between them, his chest hitting her breasts.
In another place, in another time, she would be enjoying this.
But this. This terrified her to the marrow of her bones. His eyes alone did that. His cold, frigid, merciless eyes.
This was what men saw right before they died under his hands.
