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I did so, then reached into my clothing for the sharp flint I’d found the other day. I’d secreted it away for an opportunity like this one. Devon was fast (I still had no idea how he’d caught me when I’d first ridden off on Siegfried), but the river was faster: it could carry me to freedom. Provided it didn’t kill me first. And then, as before, I would have to come back for Uther.
A frisson of sharp excitement passed through me as the tether snapped beneath the flint. It was followed by a sharp contraction of my stomach as I stared at the fast-flowing waters into which I was about to toss myself. Was this really such a good idea?
No. No, of course it wasn’t. It was probably the stupidest of all ideas.
But I didn’t have any others, and I refused to be prisoner to this man for one more day.
And so I jumped.
For the first minute or so, it seemed to actually go quite well. Against the odds, I found the safe path down through the boulder-strewn weir, buffeted by the waters but snaking between the rocks. The river was as fast as I’d hoped; I’d already put considerable distance between myself and Devon, who might not yet even realize I was gone (there was no way I would hear him coming over the roaring of the waters). But then, the current seemed to get faster still, it picked me up and tossed me. I winced breathlessly as I was dragged over the stony bed, rocks scratching at my limbs. When I opened my mouth to get a big breath of air, water rushed into it and then the river bounced me off a rock, knocking the breath out of me. The rapids flipped me over and back like a cake on a griddle. Now the rocks came faster and harder, knocking my body and my out-flung limbs. I tried to cover my head, knowing that at this speed one bad blow could dash my brains out. Suddenly the river was no longer the route to freedom, but a road of pain, pummeling me and punishing me.
I’d made a mistake. Perhaps it had been my only chance to escape, but that was no reason to throw my life away.
I’d just been so damned angry. I wanted to prove to Devon that I could get away. All I had proven, though, was that I was going to kill myself.
A glancing blow to my head made me dopey, and my head dipped beneath the surface. I breathed in water, too weak to stop myself. I could feel unconsciousness beckoning, a black void looming up to swallow me into it, and right then, I welcomed it as an end to the pain.
Suddenly, I wasn’t alone. There was a splash beside me and then strong arms around me, holding up my head so I could choke up the water I’d swallowed and breathe again. Devon put his body between me and the worst of the rocks, fighting against the current, his muscles straining impossibly.
Somehow, he managed to get us both to the rocky shore, and I lay there, unable to move, coughing up water, as I felt over my battered and bruised body to see if any permanent damage had been done.
“Are you alright?” The urgency and anxiety was sharp in his voice as Devon stooped over me. I couldn’t respond. “Selena?” He demanded. “Are you okay?”
And that was when it dawned on me: he’d risked his life to save me. Why had he done that? He knew that the lion’s share of the bounty my sister was offering was for Uther not for me. So, why had he saved me?
“Selena?”
“I think I’m okay.”
I managed to sit up, feeling all over my body for tell-tale broken bones. But, against all the odds, I seemed to have gotten away with only cuts and bruises. That was extraordinarily lucky.
“I’m okay,” I repeated.
“You’re sure?” His face was filled with what appeared to be concern. Although how it could be concern I didn’t know because the bastard had already proven that he didn’t give a damn about me.
“I’m sure.”
On the instant that he was sure I was okay, Devon’s face darkened with an anger I’d never seen in him before. “You stupid woman! What were you thinking? You could have been killed!”
“I…”
I wasn’t sure what explanation I could have offered that would have made a difference, but before I could say any more, Devon grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me to him as he seated himself on a boulder, dragging me down over his lap with my ass in the air.
“No!” I yelped with whatever energy I still had remaining, which wasn’t much.
But Devon was beyond angry, and all that anger was about to be concentrated on my rear end.
When we were younger, my sisters had been beaten by various nannies and tutors for their disobedience, but my father had forbidden anyone from ever laying a hand on me. Perhaps I would’ve been better prepared…
The first smack came as more of a shock than anything else, but it was swiftly overwhelmed by the second, the third, the fourth and so on. Strangely, after each thump, Devon then rubbed my offended flesh with the palm of his hand, which somehow deadened the pain.
“I don’t like this just as much as you don’t,” he said, voice low.
“I doubt that very much.” I spat the words back at him.
The hell with this!
My ordeal in the river had left me exhausted, but that also meant that Devon was just taking my capitulation for granted. And I wasn’t about to lay here and let him go to town on me. So, I grabbed his ankle and tugged it upwards, sending him over backwards, twisting out of his grip as he went, away from that spanking hand.
