AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The blond one was as preternaturally beautiful as the others, but there was such cruelty in his silver eyes, I shrunk back.
“Pathetic little butain. And the enforcer”—he spat on the floor—“thinks he can bribe us, stop us from punishing the kingslayer?”
My heart pounded in my chest as they approached, their vicious grins widening at the sight of my fear. Than stood tall and defiant, ready to take them on. But there were too many of them—he couldn’t protect me. Not this time.
One of the guards grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet so harshly, I whimpered with pain.
“Get your filthy hands off her!” Than roared, lunging at the nearest male.
But they were stronger, faster. They overpowered him easily, pinning him to the ground as they tore at my thin shift, their intentions clear. I tried to fight back, but what chance did I have?
My ears rang with their howls of laughter as they pulled the garment off me. There were hands on my breasts, pinching my nipples. Then they lifted me up while the blond guard freed his cock.
This was happening, whether I wanted it or not. One of the Fae holding my shoulders whispered in my ear, “This is for killing our king. Be glad we did not bring the hunting dogs to fuck you to death. You deserve it.”
He lifted me higher while the other two grabbed a leg each. I fought and kicked, but they were so strong, they spread-eagled me midair while the blond guard stepped between my thighs.
I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing myself for the tearing pain while Than shouted and fought like a madman.
And then they let go, and I dropped ass-first into a deep puddle.
“What the hell?” I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked around, my mouth wide open.
A rush of water surged in a horizontal column, slamming into the guards and forcing them away. Their screams echoed through the empty corridor, followed by the sound of bodies crashing against the stone floor.
The three Fae who’d pinned Than to the ground lay motionless at the bottom of the wall. The blood pumping from their wounds bloomed like macabre flowers in the puddles under their heads.
Where did all this water come from? Who controlled it? I couldn’t see anybody in the cell except for the two Fae on the ground, and two more who got stuck in the door frame in their rush to flee, each trying to push the other out of the way.
And then we were alone with the bodies. The magnitude of what had happened crashed over me like the water column that was slowly draining away through gaps in the flagstones.
I’d nearly been raped. Again. Another inch, and that bastard Fae would have pushed his dick into me. The shivers started slowly, but grew until I was shaking like a leaf.
“Are you alright?” Than’s voice broke through my thoughts as he pulled himself upright, concern etched across his face.
I shuddered, fighting the urge to be sick, unable to meet his gaze. The thought of their hands on me, of what they’d intended to do, left my stomach churning with nausea. Instinctively, I pulled away from him, flinching at the touch of his hand on my arm.
“Please,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Don’t touch me.”
Hurt flashed past his face, and then he shook his head and handed me his shirt. “No.”
No, he wouldn’t touch me? Or no, he didn’t agree? He didn’t elaborate. Instead, he stripped one of the dead guards while I pulled his garment over my head. Weird how, in my old life, that would have grossed me out. But here, extra clothes were the difference between dying of the cold and survival.
When he put the clothes on, they were too big on him. Bending down, he rolled up the legs and tightened the belt to stop the pants slipping off. Then he approached me as if I were a frightened rabbit, his palms open and relaxed.
With a gentle persistence that both surprised and calmed me, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close as if to shield me from the world. I inhaled deeply, finding comfort in his scent of leather and smoke.
“Listen to me,” he murmured, his breath warm against my ear. “I won’t let them hurt you again, Beth. I swear it.”
I clung to him, wrapped in his dirty, oversized shirt, and sobbed like a baby. I knew he meant every word of it, but I also knew he wasn’t the one who’d saved me. Somebody else had—some unseen stranger whose presence I’d felt.
That night, nightmare images of leery men and brutal hands kept waking me up. Eventually, I sat up and stared into the semi-darkness. The damp stone wall pressed against my back. Tiny shivers ran across my skin like shocks of electricity.
They would come back and finish us off. Right now, they were probably too scared, but it was only a matter of time. Somebody had already returned while I dozed and looked in on us. He’d slammed the door and locked it before we could react and make a run for it. Not that we would have gotten far.
Ten feet from me were two dead Fae, their open eyes frozen like novelty ice cubes. What were we supposed to do with them? Than had pulled them as far away from us as possible, but I could still see their outlines. And then he’d gone to sleep, while I lay awake, freaked out and terrified.
Turned out, I was wrong about Than. He wasn’t asleep after all, pressing his hard, warm body against me. The steady rhythm of his breathing anchored me in the present, stopping my thoughts from galloping to my upcoming execution.
