Page 26 of Bought to Break
Chapter 14
Kane
Kane stood in the shadows outside the large house. The man Lana had been searching for was powerful in this town, so it was best to tread quietly. She was in there. He could feel it somehow. There was a balcony door open on one of the upper floors. He was about to start the climb when a maid emerged from the kitchens. He stepped back out of sight to wait, but as she passed, he saw a wisp of tell-tale red hair and smiled. The girl must not have received the help she’d wanted.
He followed her at a distance, watched her take off the maid’s dress and couldn’t help but gape at the one underneath. Gods. The gossamer matched her hair exactly and clung to her like a second skin all the way to her hips before flaring out to the ground. He made himself look away for a moment to get himself under control. Had her friend dressed her thus? If so, he could guess at theirrelationship.
They walked to the poorer area of town. She was trying to get back to the tavern for her gold. Of course she was. She wouldn’t get far without it, after all. His eyes narrowed. They’d need to make an example of her, the little thief. No one stole from the Dark Brothers.
She stopped suddenly and slid to her knees. His brow creased. He approached slowly, wondering what she was doing. As he got closer, he saw she was weeping and rolled his eyes, not in the least bit moved. He wouldn’t put it past her to know he was watching and be putting on a show to try and wrap him around her finger like she did to him in those fucking dreams.
She looked up and he saw her face for the first time. Her cheek was swollen, the side of her jaw bruised and her lip cut deeply. She didn’t try to run, just quietly stared at him.
‘Who did that?’ he asked before he could stop himself.
‘Two men trying to rob me,’ she said dully as she slowly got to her feet. ‘I think they’re dead,’ she added, as if she knew by the tightening of his fist that he wanted to kill the two bastards for hurting her – despite his earlier promises to himself that he would do something similar.
He frowned. ‘You might as well come without a fuss – unless you want to go back to that house.’
Her shoulders slumped and she shook her head, not meeting his eyes.
He turned and started walking, and she followed meekly. He glared back at her. What was this? He’d expected some fight, argument, something other than this submissive assent. He noticed she favoured one side and her arm was bandaged, but he didn’t ask. He’d see for himself later. He led her to the stable, intending for them to leave the town without delay.
‘I’m glad you found him,’ she murmured, gesturing to Viktor’s steed.
He sat astride his horse without a word to her.
‘Um … the gold.’ She had the decency to look ashamed, he noted. ‘It’s at a tavern where I took a room.’
‘I found the horse as well as the gold, thief. It wasveryeasy,’ he sneered, adding the last to dent her pride.
She flinched at his tone but said nothing more. Her gaze flicked to Viktor’s mount.
‘If you think I’d trust you anywhere but riding in front of me, you must have been hit harder than you thought,’ he snapped, more angrily than he’d intended, but his hands were gentle as he reached down, picked her up and settled her between his legs.
She made a small gasping mewl that she tried to cover with a cough, but Kane had heard it all the same. His little captive was in pain, but now wasn’t the time. He would deal with that once they were back in the forest.
Then he made a discovery. ‘You walked through the whole town not wearing anything on your feet?’ he asked incredulously, examining them both for damage and then wondering why. What did he care if the soles of her feet were cut?
‘My shoes were taken.’
‘Your cloak as well?’
‘Yes.’
He snorted and clicked his horse to a walk, pulling Viktor’s behind. Before long they were on the forest road, heading south towards the coast. The sun was high and there were still hours of daylight for journeying. By all accounts they should have made the next town by that evening, but as the afternoon wore on, he could see that she was too injured for a hard ride. Her hand kept pressing into her ribs and her belly when she thought he wasn’t looking, and before long she couldn’t sit upright, covertly leaning against him for support. Not that he was complaining.
They stopped in the late afternoon and he made camp a little way from the road while she sat on one of the large boulders that littered the ground, staring into nothing. He offered her ration biscuits and some fruit, which she devoured hungrily.
He sat by the fire and watched her, huddled on her rock, until the light started to go. In their first encounter, she’d had much more spirit.
Finally, she looked back at him.
‘You’re hurt,’ he said.
‘Just my face and wrist. A physician saw to them. They’re fine.’
‘So you’re a liar as well as a thief.’ His words found their mark as her eyes blazed for an instant before they became shuttered once more.
