Page 41 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“Harrow, you bitch, don’t you dare!”
Raith growled, claws curling, but he waited for Harrow’s permission to respond to the insult.
She met his gaze with a vicious smile that stirred his blood. “If he’s going to make a fuss, I suppose we’d better gag him.”
Raith hauled Loren up by the shirt, and the human started shouting. “Put me down, you Goddess-damned bastard! Harrow, don’t even th—”
Raith struck him upside the head. At the last second, he pulled back the hit so as not to kill him. Instantly unconscious, the human dangled from Raith’s grip on his shirt.
“Sweet Mother Goddess of the Veil,” Malaikah said from the doorway.
Harrow didn’t miss a beat. “Mal, grab a tea towel and one of my headscarves from inside.”
Malaikah returned moments later to pass the items to Harrow. “Do you think he saw me?”
“He didn’t see you.” Gingerly, Harrow stuffed the tea towel into Loren’s mouth and then tied the scarf around his head to hold it in place. It was a pretty piece of silk, and she tied a neat knot at the back with trembling fingers.
This was not a female accustomed to gagging a prisoner, Raith thought, and he decided that was a good thing.
“Can you carry him back to the cage and shut him in without being seen?” Harrow asked. He nodded, and her eyes narrowed. “Can I trust you not to kill him? And to come right back here afterward without going after Salizar?”
Raith made a face. She was far too clever for her own good. Reluctantly, he nodded.
She stared hard into his eyes. “Promise me you’ll come right back here without killing anyone.”
A vow.
Suddenly, he knew. A vow was enslavement.
He couldn’t break his word once it was given, and though he wasn’t sure what would happen if he tried, he knew it would be something extraordinarily unpleasant. He didn’t know how he knew this, but he just did.
Did Harrow realize how binding such a thing was for him? Likely not. But he was coming to trust her, and he wanted to prove himself for the sole reason that she alone believed in him.
He met her gaze and said, “I vow to return immediately after depositing the human in the cage. I vow not to kill anyone before returning unless they try to kill me first.” He added that last one as a measure of self-protection. Then, to be sure he didn’t bind himself indefinitely, he added, “If I do not return for any reason or if our plans are interrupted, this vow will hold for the remainder of this night, and then I am free of it.”
The binding settled around him like a vise, like a collar around his neck, squeezing the air from his lungs. A prison worse than the one he’d just escaped.
Whatever circumstances arose, he would follow those words unto pain of death—literally.
Because what he felt if he tried to break a vow was worse than dying.
He frowned. How did he know that? Hadn’t he just concluded he didn’t know what would happen?
The questions faded as he noticed Harrow staring at him. “What was that? I felt… When you promised, it felt like—”
“Go,” Malaikah hissed from the caravan door. “We’re running out of time.”
Raith tossed the human over one shoulder and hurried from the tent to fulfill his vow.
…
Once they were alone, Malaikah stood in the doorway of the caravan and gave Harrow “the look.”
Harrow could return it with only one thing: sheepishness.
“Innocent? Pure? Really, Harrow?”
“I know what I sensed.”
