Page 21 of What Fury Brings
He was a prince of Brutus. A warrior and a conqueror set to rule an entire kingdom one day.
And she’d just stolen him.
Like it was the easiest thing in the world.
They were back on the road shortly afterward. Olerra drove the horses while Ydra napped in the bed of the cart. Sanos was tied off to one side to make room for another person. He cold barely wiggle his fingers with how much rope they’d used on him.
He was hungry. He was angry.
And no one was coming for him.
No one would even think to check on him until afternoon the next day.
But what then?
Once he didn’t return to the palace, his father would send men to find him. They’d scour the city and patrol the roads.
But they certainly wouldn’t come this way.
Atalius would never suspect the Amarrans of stealing from him. Why would they? They’d already delivered a crushing defeat on the battlefield. They’d had his father in their clutches and could have demanded anything.
Hell, they probably wouldn’t even pass a soul on the road. Because of the current contentions between the two countries, no one made the crossing from Amarra to Brutus.
Atalius would be enraged once he realized Sanos was missing. The king needed to control his sons. He especially needed his heir under his thumb.
But he wouldn’t look in the right place.
Sanos was on his own, and he needed to get home. Who was to protect his mother and sister if not him? Who would look after Andrastus when Atalius turned his attention to his second-born son? Would Canus be sent to the front lines to deal with the Ephennans in Sanos’s stead? What if the king thought Sanos had run away? What punishments would he dole out in his fury to find him?
Sanos would escape once the opportunity presented itself, and he would kill the two women who dared to take him.
After a few hours, the women swapped places. Ydra drove the horses while Olerra climbed into the cart. She offered him some water. This time, he was too thirsty to try anything.
After he drained half the skin, Olerra wiped an errant drop from his face with her thumb.
Before he could chastise her for it, he watched as she brought it to her lips.
He wasn’t sure if he glared because he thought it was what he should do, or if it was meant to hide his other physical reactions to her. The way his heart pounded faster. The hitch in his breath. She was brazen and forward. He’d been surprised enough back at the brothel when she’d pushed him against the nearest hard surface, taking charge in their kissing. He’d liked it at the time. Now he realized it must be some Amarran thing.
When she brought her own lips to the waterskin, where his were just seconds earlier, he shivered.
He pulled at his restraints, but they were as tight as before.
Olerra reclined upon the blankets at his feet and slept. She was turned toward him so he could see the smooth features of her face. Those large lips. Long feminine lashes. A light dusting of freckles on her sun-kissed cheeks. She made a face in her sleep, and a dimple appeared on one side.
He made himself stop looking at her, but he couldn’t deny that he was curious.
These women kidnapped husbands, butthenwhat did they do with them? Would he be caged like a dog in her home? Would she give him that horrid toxin and then take him at night while he was drugged beneath her? Would he be gagged at all hours of the night and day except for meals?
His mind continued to spin out of control with possibilities, making sleep impossible. He tried to work at the ropes securing him, but they would not loosen.
The three of them spent all the next day on the road. When Sanos was permitted to relieve himself, the one called Ydra would walk him off to the side of the road and keep a hand on his shoulder while his wrists were still bound. He endured the humiliation of pissing while she was standing at his back. If he tried to shrug out of her grip, she tightened her fingers. Gods, she was strong. It was unnatural. He had no hope of getting away from her like this.
When it was night again, they erected a tent around a nearby tree and tied him to the trunk. They left the gag in while sleeping.
It was only on the second full day of travel, when the two women were well rested, that Olerra bothered to speak to him again, joining him in the back of the cart.
“I have much to teach you and so little time to do it in. What do you know of my people?”
