Page 82 of Bought to Break
‘On the ship. When you …’ She swallowed visibly. ‘When you were going to beat me, why didn’t you?’
‘Do you remember what you said?’
She stared at him for a moment, clearly wondering if he was going to turn on her.
‘Yes,’ she said finally.
‘It made me angry – at myself because I realised that I had failed them.’
‘Who did you fail?’
‘My brother and sister,’ he said finally. He hadn’t meant to, but the words just began to tumble out.
‘We lived on the streets in a large city in the north; me, Toman and Lily. We played together, ate together, stole together. We cuddled each other at night to keep warm. We survived.’ He chuckled mirthlessly. ‘We were good at it, too.’
‘You had a family?’
‘They weren’t blood kin,’ he confessed. ‘But we might as well have been. I was the oldest – well, the biggest at least.’ It had been up to him to keep them safe. He flinched. He remembered the last day he’d seen them vividly. It had been a sunny afternoon. There were colourful decorations littering the streets for some festival.
‘Toman was the smallest. He was always frail, and he fell ill. Lily was blaming herself, though she couldn’t have been more than ten winters, and I had to leave them for something. I don’t remember why – food or medicine, perhaps – I don’t know.’
He paused and her hand found his. ‘What happened?’
‘When I returned, they were gone. I searched for them, but they’d disappeared. I scoured the city. I found out they’d been snapped up and sold to the games arena, but it was too late.’ He closed his eyes as he remembered. ‘I snuck in, high in the stands, but it had already begun.’
They’d looked like insects, he was so far from them, as they’d scurried around trying to escape from the beasts that were let in to sacrifice them. He covered his face with his hand.
‘There was a group of children; Lily and Toman among them. I watched them all torn to pieces. I couldn’t even hear their screams over the crowd.’
‘Oh, Kane,’ she said softly. ‘That’s awful. I’m so sorry.’ He stroked her fingers with his thumb and she squeezed his in return. ‘What does this have to do with the Collector?’
‘After, I wandered the streets in a daze. I happened upon a group of mercenaries bragging about the coins they’d earned for selling flesh to the ring. Their leader didn’t look like the others, but his face … I’ll never forget it. I was terrified but filled with hatred. This man had killed my friends as surely as if he’d torn them apart himself. I knew who he was; everyone did, and everyone stayed out of his way. I wanted to avenge them, but I couldn’t. He was too powerful, even then. Gods, I felt so helpless.’ He shook his head.
‘Go on.’
‘I vowed I’d find a way to destroy him. I joined the Army at the bottom as a soldier.’ Kane sighed. ‘Except that by the time I was a Brother and strong enough to destroy him, Vineri had become a very powerful man. He’s impossible to get close to. I stumbled upon him once by accident and he slipped through my fingers.’
Chapter 38
Lana
After Kane stopped speaking, he stared at the fire in silence.
Lana didn’t say anything. Now she knew each of the Brothers’ stories, and she was filled with anger. The Collector was a plague and, regardless of what Gaila had said, she knew she had to try to kill him somehow after she had taken the Vessel from him.
She glanced at Kane’s profile, the light of the fire dancing on his features, and wondered if she should tell him about the goddess. He might believe her, but she doubted it. She wasn’t sure she would herself if she didn’t feel so much better than before. In truth, she felt a bit guilty for telling him she was cured when of course it might only be temporary. She didn’t like to lie so brazenly, but she just didn’t know what to say to him about it. She would just have to make sure she didn’t renege on the deal she’d made with Gaila, that was all.
He was sitting so still, lost in his memories of Toman and Lily, she supposed. She imagined him as a boy, trying to save his family, and her heart ached for him – for all of them. Without really thinking, she put her hand on his arm. She felt it tighten beneath her fingers, but he didn’t move. She inched closer and put her hand in his as she had during his story. This time, though, he didn’t respond in kind.
‘I don’t want your pity, woman,’ he snarled so vehemently that she would have stumbled back if he hadn’t also closed his hand over hers, effectively trapping her.
He turned his head towards her. His face in shadow now; she could only guess at his intentions and hope against hope that he wasn’t going to finish what he had started on the boat.
‘I would never give that to you,’ she said softly, wondering if he could see fear in her eyes.
He surged to his knees, pulling her up with him, and before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers. He pushed her arms into the small of her back, urging her closer so that her body was flush against his. She could feel him in front of her, already hard, and she moaned. He had hardly touched her since the night she’d been claimed, and she had wanted him to so many times since; every time they sparred and fought, whenever she’d seen him watching her with the others, even on the boat when he was going to whip her. She had hidden it, fearing his scorn when he found out she desired him so badly when he clearly didn’t want her. But he did – at least at the moment. And she would take it.
She kissed him back, employing some of the devices the goddess had used on her, and heard him groan.
