Page 8 of Bloody Business

While they were distracted, she quietly slipped out of the room.Hadn't she wanted to leave him behind?This was her chance.

....

“We can't find her.We searched every room in the inn, the stables and the surrounding area.She's gone.”Rooster stood at attention, waiting anxiously for orders.

Artur was annoyed with himself.He'd been distracted.It was understandable given his condition, but not acceptable.

She'd slipped out, probably feeling overwhelmed.He knew she was nervous around goblins, but once the doctor started poking at him, he'd been busy growling.Goblin doctors were more efficient than tender.

One of his goblins ran in.“A blacksmith spotted her being grabbed.He was too far away to do anything about it, plus there were at least three men.They threw her on the back of a war ram and took off.We've already got goblins in pursuit, but they had a head start.”

Artur's eyes narrowed.His goblins were competent.They’d catch up and rain hell on the kidnappers.“Find her.Protect her.Interrogate her kidnappers and find out why they took her.”

He wondered if it had to do with the gold hidden in her cart, if that was part of the reason why she was so jumpy.“Also, secure her cart and her sheep.We'll take it with us.”She’d want it later.

He had to heal.But he would find her.They had unfinished business.

Family, sticking their nose where it doesn't belong

“Why don't you justmarry her to her cousin?It would be so much easier.”

“We're not barbarians!”There was some muttering about inbreeding.

Julep heard the conversation through the locked door.With her ear pressed against the cool wood, she grimaced.Not barbarians, ha!Thieves and kidnappers were gentile, now?Typical.

Her father's family had snatched her from the inn.She's been distracted, but in her defense, she hadn't expected them to be out in the rain.

They took her to her Uncle Wex's house on the city outskirts and locked her in a room.Now they were in the main room, plotting what to do with her.They weren't even trying to be quiet.

Her uncle's cold voice said, “It's not as if she's going to get a chance to breed.”

She shivered.As she suspected.As soon as they got their hands on her money, they would kill her.They would probably arrange for an accident.It would be so very tragic.

She hadn't grown up around her extended family, but she'd heard stories.The family had scattered after a goblin attack on their town.Her father had grabbed her and her mother and fled.They had ended up setting up camp miles away, by a stream.Her father found gold in the stream, which he declared was divine intervention.

Eventually, they settled in another small town.He kept his new wealth quiet, but the relatives eventually found out.Her mother died from an infected tooth four years after they moved into town, and that was the beginning of the end.

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