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I dipped my head into the water, then raised it, my bedraggled hair hanging in front of my eyes.
“Very nice.”
I started, sending a spray of splashed water up around me, and dragged the wet hair back from my face. Vorst was standing nearby, his leering gaze drinking in my naked body.
“Very nice indeed,” he grinned.
I tried to cover my breasts, but when you’re naked in a shallow pool of water, you don’t have enough hands and arms to cover everything that wants covering—moving your hand to one area just reveals something else.
“Leave!” I yelled at him.
“Vorst, what do you want?”
I hadn’t heard Devon come back around the hawthorn bush, but there he was.
Vorst’s eyes didn’t leave me to look at Devon even once as he replied. “Buck wanted to know how much longer you’ll be.”
“Did he?” Devon clearly didn’t believe him.
“We’re all waiting for breakfast.”
“Then you’ll wait a little longer,” said Devon.
Vorst didn’t move. I felt as if his eyes were etching every inch of me into his brain for later consumption.
“Why don’t I help with her and you can head down stream to do some fishing.”
“I want her help,” replied Devon. “Now off you go.”
Vorst scoffed. “You want her…”
“I want herhelp.” Devon’s voice suddenly became firmer. “I’ve told you to leave and I’m scratching my head as to why you’re still here.”
That extra edge was apparently enough for Vorst, who was no doubt remembering the wrestling match. He finally managed to tear his eyes away from my body for long enough to look at Devon.Vorst said nothing, but there was a look in his eyes that said plenty. One day he was going to come for Devon, not in a fair fight, but when the other man slept, when he was drunk, when he was bathing, and Devon would never see it coming.
“Put your clothes on,” said Devon. “We’re going fishing.”
As he said the words, he looked in my direction for what seemed like the first time. Maybe I was imagining it (maybe I wanted to believe it) but I thought there was a flash of something in his eyes, something like desire.
But all he said was, “Hurry up, you’ll catch your death of cold otherwise.”
Further down the steep and stony hill on which we’d spent the night, the stream broadened and sped up, tumbling over rocks, feeding into deep, icy pools, and dashing itself into rapids. These were not suitable areas for bathing (not least because they were so exposed), but they played host to some decent sized fish, hardy enough to thrive in the chill waters.
“You wait here with the basket.” Devon pressed a woven reed basket into my hands. “I’ll need my hands, so I’m trusting you to be good, else you know what’ll happen.”
“I know,” I said quickly.
“You’ll feel the flat of my hand so you won’t be able to sit comfortably for the next week.”
The threat was somehow worse when he actually said it. More humiliating. I was twenty-one for goodness sake.
Having told me to stay put, Devon then tied the tether to a massive boulder.
“You think I’m going to run off while tied to that?” I didn’t usually speak but… it was different somehow when it was just him and me, and I couldn’t always curb my natural tendency to answer back.
Devon shrugged. “I’d like to take you at your word, but I think you’d kill me as soon as look at me.” He shot me a smile. “Not that I blame you. In your place, I’d do the same. I admire that. Admire it, but I’ll still give you hell if you try anything.”
My aunt had taught me to fight. She’d then set me to learn with her warriors—all women, all with their different skills. With each one, I learned something I took onto my lessons with the next and so developed my own skills, putting together what I’d learned along the way. In a one-on-one fair fight, then I gave myself a decent chance against any of the mercenaries, even though they were all stronger than me. But Devon? I’d need to be on my game to have a chance against him.
