Page 22 of Bought to Break
Using a large stone this time, she mounted him at once, drawing her fur-lined cloak around her despite its dampness. Kane was coming, and she couldn’t let him drag her back to the Brothers. She stayed in the trees, following the road through the forest from a distance and not letting other travellers see her. At around midmorning, the woods gave way to farmland, and that quickly turned into the outskirts of a town.Kingway!
Before long she was in the centre of a bustling market. She stowed Viktor’s horse at a stable and paid his board for a few days. She knew she should sell him and get more gold to aid her in her flight, but she just couldn’t do it. As she gave him a departing pat, she hoped they would find him. He was a war horse, after all. He didn’t belong with the other nags ploughing fields.
She found an inn that looked inconspicuous in a poorer part of town in case it took some time to find her father. She got a room, food and even a bath. She felt guilty for using her ill-gotten gains for such a frivolous thing, but as she slid into the steaming water, her chilled, aching body finally relaxed and she realised this too had been needed. For her, it was as necessary as a hearty meal. After soaking until the water started to cool and feasting on a thick mutton stew with fresh bread, she washed her soiled clothes and hung them by the crackling fire. Then she lay on the bed and closed her eyes.
She woke sometime later.It was night and all was quiet. At first, she didn’t know what had awoken her, but then she heard it – a scratching noise at her door and whispers. She scampered off the bed and donned her still-damp dress quickly. Then she looked around the room, her heart hammering. What should she do? There was nowhere to hide and it was too dangerous to climb out of the window in the dark. Remembering the knife, she grabbed it from the table. If there were more than one, she wouldn’t stand a chance. She looked about wildly. There was only the bed. She darted back to it and lay down, closing her eyes just as the door creaked open. She feigned sleep and willed her breathing to slow, the dagger clenched by her side.
‘There, on the bed. She’s asleep. For fuck’s sake, be quiet,’ a man whispered.
‘I am being quiet. You’re the one who took so long to pick the lock on the fucking door,’ a second answered.
She wanted to see them, assess the danger she was in, but she didn’t dare move a muscle.
‘Look for her coin purse,’ the first one said.
So they were here to rob her. She doubted they’d find it. The first thing she’d done was find a loose board and stow the coins under the floor. They were silent as they searched her room. It didn’t take long.
‘He lied. There ain’t no gold.’
‘We need to go back to him with something, or he’ll slit us open from throats to cocks.’
‘Do you think …?’
‘What?’ asked the first one.
‘Well, look at her. She’s pretty. Worth something.’
There was a pause before the other one sighed. ‘Well, I reckon she’s better than nothing.’
Lana tensed. They were going to takeher! She opened her eyes, gripped the knife and leapt up, swiping the air. The blade connected and she heard a grunt of pain. Suddenly her wrist was grabbed and squeezed. She screamed as loudly as she could, hoping someone would come to her aid, but it was cut short by a blow to her stomach that left her winded. She fell to her knees, gasping, and the knife clattered to the floor. She heard voices outside the room. So did the two men. The largest one gave a growl and hit her face with the back of his hand, making her fall back.
‘Little bitch.’
He kicked her in the side and then they were gone.
Lana thought someone would come then, but no one did. After a while lying on the floor, she lifted herself up with a whimper and limped to the door, closing it firmly. She sat in front of it, clutching her side, and sank into oblivion.
Lana woke latethe next morning with a groan. She got to her feet. Nothing seemed broken, but her stomach and side were badly bruised. Though she wanted nothing more than to stay in bed, she set out to search for her father as soon as she had the strength. The Brothers would be looking for her, and it wasn’t as if she’d gone far. Her only protection would be her father. She walked slowly as she inquired around the market but had no luck until later in the day, when she happened upon a merchant who said he knew who she spoke of. He directed her to a large house in a wealthy area. She found it easily enough, and, as she stood on the doorstep, she took a deep breath and knocked on the thick, wooden door.
Chapter 12
Kane
Kane prowled around the room slowly. The innkeeper had said that a young woman with red hair had paid for a night and then left. The morning after the storm, he hadn’t even bothered following her tracks through the forest as soon as her trail had turned towards the road. He’d just made the half-day’s journey to the nearest town. When he’d found Viktor’s horse easily at the first stable on the main road, he’d known she was here or had been very recently, and, truth be told, he’d been disappointed that she hadn’t hidden the mount better. Perhaps he’d overestimated her.
Locating the inn had been more difficult. It was a sizable town and she had chosen a place down a tiny alleyway in the poorest area, which he hadn’t expected given the amount of gold she had stolen. It had taken him two days to find it. And over those days and nights he’d begun to have visions whenever he slept; vivid dreams about her and what he was going to do to her, with her. He clenched his fists. How she was doing it, he didn’t know, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw her, taunting him. His cock began to harden and he swore, trying to focus on the job. He had to locate her first, but once he did, he was going to make her tell him how she was worming her way into his mind, and then he would punish her for it by doing everything she’d made him see in his dreams.
After inquiring with the innkeeper, who Kane assumed ran more dubious businesses than his semi-respectable inn, he was sure he’d found her. She had already moved on, though, or so he’d thought until he’d found the knife she’d stolen, bloodied and discarded under the bed. That didn’t bode well, but there was no other blood anywhere else in the room. There may be no cause for concern. She didn’t have experience with much else besides horses, according to Sorin and Viktor. She may simply have cut herself. It was a stretch, but it was possible.
A floorboard creaked under his weight as he moved around the room, and he froze. All the other boards had been silent. He pried up the wood. There, nestled in the dust, was a tied cloth filled with gold. He frowned at it. She wouldn’t have left it willingly and he’d been watching this place all day. Where was she?
A curious feeling spread through him, which he was shocked to discover was worry. He sat on the bed. What was wrong with him? He’d scarcely said five words to the girl. He hadn’tworriedabout someone in a very long time, not since well before he’d joined the Brothers.
He stood again, abruptly stopping the line of thought. He stowed the gold and the small dagger at his belt. Time to speak to the innkeeper. Kane had noticed the small, round man’s demeanour change from friendly to uneasy when he’d realised who Kane was asking about, though he’d tried to hide it, of course.
He found the man where he’d left him, sitting in a chair in his taproom downstairs, nursing a tankard.
‘The girl with the red hair. Where is she?’
