My da's snores grow louder.
"Wake up, Da, please," I beg, hoping he wakes up and has slept a majority of the alcohol off.
Once he's sober, there's no way he'll agree to hand me over to the O'Learys. I tell myself that he would never have kidnapped me and put me in this situation if he wasn't drunk.
Maybe he would.
He wouldn't.
How can I know?
He wouldn't, I reprimand myself.
"Da, wake up," I say, louder.
He continues snoring.
"Da," I sharply state.
He blinks a few times and then he snorts.
"Da, wake up," I repeat, then worry that I might cause the thugs to come back in.
He rubs his fist over his eyes, groggily saying, "Okay, okay, I'm up." He slowly sits, and confusion fills his face. He glances around and then realizes I'm in front of him. "Maeve?"
"Da."
Alarm fills his expression. He frets, "Maeve, why are ya tied up?"
He steps in front of me and glances down. He scratches his head.
"Da, please help untie me."
His confusion disappears, and a new chill runs down my spine. He stares at me, helpless, with sympathy in his eyes, but also frozen.
"Da, untie me," I repeat.
He opens his mouth, then shuts it.
I barely get out, "Da."
"Maeve, I did something bad."
"What?" I question, trying to stay calm.
"I signed ya away in a contract."
"We'll talk about it later. Untie me," I order.
He looks at the back of my hands and then states, "I don't want to get hurt. We have to wait for them."
"For who?"
The door opens. The thug who took the gag off me strolls in. He taunts, "Ah, family reunion going on?"
"Shut up," I seethe.
He arches his eyebrows. "You've got a lot of balls. Seems you're in a position where ya shouldn't be speaking in that tone, now should ya, lass?" He crosses his arms and leers at me.