Page 7 of Bought to Break
She shook her head, not looking away from him. He grabbed her to him in a sudden movement and she recoiled with a cry. She was terrified of them, he belatedly realised.
With that sobering and thoroughlysofteningawareness he swore loudly, let her go and clambered out of the pond. Let his Brother calm her. Sorin was much better at that sort of thing than he was. Sorin wooed who he wanted. Viktor didn’t bother these days. If they wanted him, he took them. If they didn’t, he threw gold at them until they did. Slaves? He didn’t know. He’d never owned one. Though clearly, she’d been taken against her will before. She was slight; he could so easily …
He growled in revulsion, disgusted with his dark thoughts as he threw on his tunic. He didn’t even bother drying off, ignoring the chilly air. Instead he lay by the fire in his blanket, quietly freezing his bollocks off as he fumed.
He listened to the sounds of Sorin and Lana leaving the water, Sorin giving her back the cloak she’d worn all day. They settled next to him, Lana between them both for warmth, and he drifted into slumber.
He wokeat sunrise to an empty space where she’d been. He jerked up, surveying the camp and ready to jump to his feet to go after her when he spied her. She was by the pool with both their horses. The warning he was going to shout at the foolish girl to back away from them slowly before they attacked died in his throat.
She spoke to them softly and the giant, monstrous war beasts bred to kill – that Viktor had seen bite men’s hands off with nary a warning – were nuzzling at her and playfully nipping at her cloak as she hefted their saddles onto their backs and deftly buckled them. Who was this girl?
Next to him, Sorin sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning. When he saw Viktor’s face, he followed his gaze. It landed on Lana and his mouth dropped open like a shocked boy.
‘Gods,’ he breathed. ‘Well … you don’t see that every day,’ he said lamely as Lana kissed one and then the other’s nose and the horses stood docilely as ponies while she fussed over them.
Viktor shook his head. There was more to their little slave than he’d realised yesterday, but he still didn’t understand this strange feeling. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do with her yet. Theyshoulddestroy the Writ and free her. He looked over at Sorin who was still staring at her with a keen interest. No, they wouldn’t be letting her go. They were too drawn to her, but she didn’t feel the same pull to them as they did to her, that was certain.
He stood with a huff in one quick movement. ‘It’s time to go,’ he announced.
They gathered their belongings and rode on, Lana with Sorin once more. Viktor knew he wouldn’t be able to have her in his lap and not touch her, even if she was unwilling, whereas Sorin seemed to have more restraint.
They reached the town they’d been aiming for to replenish their supplies from one of the Army’s caches and left their horses at a stable nearby.
Lana looked amazed by everything; the shops and storehouses, the cobbled main street. She’d clearly never been outside her village. Viktor’s anger had dissipated now, and he was left bewildered by her behaviour in the pool. He and Sorin were Dark Brothers. Their army was feared, it was true, but they had saved her from her masters. He’d expected a bit of gratitude if he was honest.
Perhaps she’d never had more than one man at once. In their unit, they shared everything, even women – especially women – but she was not from their world, after all.
Or perhaps her former masters had hurt her worse than the bruises and welts on her skin. He frowned. Women could have pain if they’d been taken too roughly in the past, he knew.
He came to an abrupt stop, an idea coming to him. Sorin halted next to him, a brow raised in query.
‘The alchemist will look at her.’
Sorin nodded. ‘We need to visit him anyway. We brought that lichen he asked for last time.’
‘I’ll take her.’ Viktor glanced behind at Lana, who followed them closely, still in her borrowed wrappings. ‘You go to the supply stores and don’t forget a new healers’ bag. And find her something to wear besides my fucking cloak!’
Chapter 6
Lana
Lana watched Sorin go, wishing he had stayed with her, not Viktor. They both frightened her, but Viktor was by far the more fearsome of the two. He never smiled; he always seemed angry. Sorin, on the other hand, tried to make her laugh, and he’d stopped what he was doing to her in the water when she’d been afraid. Viktor hadn’t, not at first. Their touches had felt nicer than anything Ather had ever done, though. And they didn’t seem vicious. They definitely weren’t the monsters the stories portrayed them to be. She chuckled softly as she followed Viktor. They were pleasing to look upon, too.
Viktor led her through a nondescript entrance and into a dimly lit room. Shelves filled with bottles lined the walls, intermittently interspersed with books and coloured stones. A thin man in blue healer’s robes sat in a chair by a small fire, reading. He looked up with the closing of the door.
‘Ah, it’s you. I wondered when you’d be this way again. Did you bring what I asked for?’
Viktor pulled out a small bag and tossed it to the man, who caught it after a short fumble. He opened it, glee spreading over his face as if he was receiving a long-awaited present.
‘And was it where I said?’ he asked as he pulled out a lump of what looked like dried moss.
‘High in the mountains of the north, through the cloud bank and close to water. Exactly as you said.’
The man stood. ‘Excellent. Excellent. What do you want for it? A potion? Coin?’
Viktor unceremoniously dragged Lana in front of him. ‘Sorin and I bought ourselves a slave in a nearby village yesterday.’
The apothecary nodded as he surveyed her. ‘Who was your master, girl?’
