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The carriage stopped completely. The girls swayed in their seats. Everyone looked around nervously, eyes darting.
The guard at the bench stood up and threw the door open beside him. Red and the younger guard joined him at the back, arms crossed.
The younger guard from the front grabbed the nearest woman on the bench opposite me, and she yelped as he undid her rope binding and then hauled her to her feet outside.
He smiled cruelly and started walking off with the stumbling girl toward the trees on the side of the road.
Rage seethed inside me. I was ready to give away my entire plan and identity for the sake of saving this stranger, and I tried to keep it down . . .
Then the girl being hauled away glanced over her shoulder one last time, and I saw the pure fear stricken across her young face.
I blurted, “Take me instead!”
The guards all froze. The one with the girl, now five feet away, cocked his head. He shrugged, starting to move forward, and said, “Makes no difference to—”
“No,” Red snarled. “She’s mine.”
I locked eyes with the older soldier and his beard twitched. A scar near his eye wrinkled as he smiled. “You thought I didn’t notice you, girl? This will be fun.”
The color drained from my cheeks. Oh God.
Over his shoulder, Red said, “Come back when you’re done with that one. And hurry up now.”
The younger guard nodded curtly and stalked off with his victim.
My heart sank. I had tried, and failed. This man, Red, was going to be my undoing. The rage that had been seething inside me became unbound and dangerous. I wanted to whip my hand out of the cuff and stab these two fuckers and go rescue that poor girl.
Except I knew I would fail. I wasn’t armed, I was hungry and not strong enough to take on two guards—grown men—while they suspected me of lashing out.
So, for the next ten minutes, the eight girls in the carriage listened as the young soldier raped the girl off in the shadows of the trees. We heard the girl’s whimpers. Her crying voice. The sounds of flesh against flesh. The soldier’s cruel laugh.
It was a nightmare I’d never forget. Forced to sit here in silence and terror, wondering when our time would could. Who would be the next victim?
My palms bled from my fingernails biting into them so hard. I knew who the next victim would be, because Red had already announced it.
I tried my hardest to block out the sounds of the nameless girl’s cries. After a while, she stopped, and the echoes from the woods died down.
It was blessed, ignorant peace. Even though everyone here knew what was happening where we couldn’t see. Guilt and sadness and fury rampaged through me.
A few minutes later, the guard returned to the cart hauling the girl by her shackled arms behind him. The girl’s face was downcast, staring at the ground in shame, and I bristled at the sight.
Once the girl was deposited and threaded back into her seat, Red climbed into the wagon, sneering, “My turn, you feisty whore.” His hand wrapped around my wrist, and every muscle tensed. Girls sniffled and whimpered as he swiftly undid the rope holding me down—not bothering to notice my cuff was looser than it had been when I’d been brought in here. He was in too much of a hurry to feed on his depravity.
As he yanked me out of the carriage, I felt the key on my thigh slide down the front of my cloak and down my leg.
Because of the ruckus of footsteps and girls crying while Red moved me, no one noticed the key thudding to the floorboards in the center of the cart.
No one except Maria.
I chanced a look over my shoulder, the fear plain on my face, and saw her staring down at it, jaw unhinged. Her bare foot darted out and covered the key, and she quickly glanced up and gave me a nod.
Red pushed me down from the single step, and then I was outside in the chilly night. My heart raced as he tugged me away from the cart toward the trees.
“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” he snarled in my ear.
I said nothing.
“Heard you got my boy killed with your little antics in Nottingham,” he continued, then scoffed. “Stupid fucking lad. I tried to tell him you were bad news.”
