Bound (Bound Trilogy) (11 page)

The skin on my arms prickled.
Who do they think I am?

Severn sat in the chair and removed his gloves, then leaned back far enough that I couldn’t see him. “Perfect. We’ll still try to keep this quiet, but getting her into the city will be easy enough, even if someone stops you.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Is that a problem?”

Aren shrugged. “She won’t be a problem. I thought you’d be sailing with us.”

“Hmm. No, I have the horse. I’ll fly back. I don’t like to leave the city in anyone else’s hands for too long. I suppose I could try to take her with me, if you don’t want the responsibility.”

“It will be fine. Sara will put her under again if she wakes.” Aren didn’t sound any more pleased to be stuck with me than I was to be trapped with him.

“Very well. No sign of anyone following us yet? Her husband-to-be, his father? Anyone?”

“Nothing.”

I thought back to the day I’d rescued the eagle with Aren’s eyes, the conversations I’d had with Callum and Felicia when he was within hearing distance, and fought back a wave of nausea. It had been this man, this Sorcerer, listening to my stories and sleeping in my rooms that whole time.
I should have turned him over to Dorset Langley when I had the chance.

“Let’s hope it stays that way. Much as I’d love to see what you’d do if Dorset Langley himself angered you, I’d rather keep this quiet.” Severn stood and looked at me through the curtains again. “I’d almost say we were doing her a favor by getting her away from them.”

Aren rocked back on his heels. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but when he spoke there was a hint of a smile in his voice. “I doubt she’ll agree once she gets to Luid and finds out what’s waiting there.”

Severn chuckled. “No, certainly not.” He reached out to clasp Aren’s arm with his hand. “I’m pleased to see that your view on these matters has improved. This is for the best.”

Aren cleared his throat. “Indeed.”

Severn took a sudden step closer to Aren. It startled me, and had Severn not been nose to nose with his brother, he’d certainly have seen me twitch. “Don’t disappoint me.”

“Never again.”

Severn held his position for a moment, then stepped back and left without another word.

Aren stood frozen in the center of the room, fists clenched. He breathed in, sighed, and collapsed into the chair, resting his face in his hands. I propped myself up on one elbow and winced at the pain that twisted through my arms and my torso as I moved.

I wanted to speak, but couldn’t find words. Though I waited, Aren said nothing.

“I think there’s been a mistake,” I whispered at last, and pushed the curtain aside so I could see him better. “I’m not whoever you think I am. I understand you not wanting to keep me here…” I trailed off and tried to wet my parched lips with my tongue. “I’d be happy to go.”

Aren raised his head just enough to look up at me, and a look of slight amusement touched his eyes. “No, there’s been no mistake. I wish there had.”

“I’m not—I mean, I don’t use magic. Please, just let me go home.”

Aren leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Let me think.” He closed his eyes, and I waited. I thought he’d fallen asleep when he said, “Gods damn the whole business.” He opened his eyes to glare at me. “If I turn you loose, he’ll find you again.”

“But—”

“Not to mention the fact that my life will be worth less than nothing when he realizes what I did. I can’t let you go.” He stood and tied the bed curtains back.

“Please,” I whispered again when his gaze met mine. I fought back the tears that filled my eyes, not wishing to appear weak. I doubted crying would buy me any sympathy from a person like him. “I’m not what you think I am.”

His jaw muscles tightened and his eyebrows pulled together in a deep frown. He turned away and took a heavy-looking brown coat from a hook by the door. “I have to leave for a while. Sara will be in soon to change your bandages. I’d suggest not talking at all, especially about what you think you know about me, even to someone who seems trustworthy. Everything gets back to Severn. I’ll answer your questions when I return, if I’m able to.”

Before I could ask whether it was his return or my answers that were in question, he had left. The lock clicked into place. I was alone, a prisoner.

It felt like I was watching all of this happen to someone else.
This is a dream, this is a story book. This is not my life.

But I couldn’t wallow in my disbelief and panic. I’d have to figure out how to escape, to get home or to a place where I could send a message to Callum. I suddenly found myself longing for that safe feeling I had when he was around, and wondered why I’d ever desired anything more. All I wanted now was to see him again.

Hot tears slipped down my cheeks. They had to come out some time. I allowed myself a few minutes of sobbing quietly into the pillow, and when I’d finished, my mind felt clearer.

Take stock
.
What do you know?

I knew that my body hurt. I tried to sit up, but the muscles in my stomach wouldn’t support me, and when I moved my legs my ankle burst into pain. I knew that I was afraid, and that I was in trouble.

What else?

Aren was a Sorcerer. I saved his life, and now for some reason he wanted to take me to Tyrea. I’d seen him kill a man.

I didn’t much care what had happened to the one they called Morten, but I wondered about the others. Darryl was certainly dead. If Aren was leading that group that attacked us, he was responsible for that.

A chill washed over me.
What if Matthew had come along like he’d wanted to?

There was no time to think about it more. The door creaked open and a pretty young woman with long, honey-colored hair slipped into the room. She moved slowly and purposefully as she pulled a variety of items out of her basket, but she kept looking over her shoulder, and twitched when footsteps passed outside the door. I didn’t answer when she asked how I was feeling.

“I’m going to check your wounds and change the bandages,” she murmured in a warm Tyrean accent, and I closed my eyes. If she wanted to fix me, it would only help me when it came time to escape. The air felt cold on my arm when she uncovered it, and my skin tingled as she rubbed a thick ointment into it. That explained the strange smell in the room—some kind of herbal remedy for injuries. She worked it into my shoulder, and tendrils of warmth swirled deep into the muscles.

“The arm wasn’t out,” Sara told me, “but it’s been pulled too far. You shouldn’t use it for a while, and rest that ankle while you can. The other cuts and bruises will heal soon enough.”

I flinched when she rubbed the stuff into my cheek. When I tried to touch it, she pushed my hand away. “Look at me, please.”

After a few moments I turned my eyes to her, but kept them unfocused. Sara leaned in close and pressed her lips into a thin line. “We’ll see how things look in the morning.” She held a cup of water for me to sip from, then stood and gathered her supplies back into the basket, which she left on the desk.

“You’ll be fine,” she said softly, and laid a cool hand on my brow. “Just don’t cause trouble. It’s better that way.” And then she left. I didn’t hear the lock click into place.

I waited until I was sure she was gone, then tried to sit up. The room spun and heaved, and my thoughts became disordered. I grabbed on to the pillows to keep from falling to the floor. My thoughts of escape faded as I fought a losing battle to stay above the waves of unconsciousness that pulled me under.

The hours that followed were a blur of nightmares and surreal visions, most of them set in a strange labyrinth. Light from invisible fires flickered against stone walls, and tentacle-vines reached up from the ground to wrap around my ankles and trip me. I thought I woke and saw Sara a few times, but I couldn’t be sure whether I was really awake. At one point she had snakes instead of hair, and dripping fangs sprouted from a grin that was somehow wider than her head.

I woke completely exhausted. I knew I’d had no reason to trust Sara, but still felt betrayed that she would drug me after she’d tried to heal me. Aren had been right about that one thing, at least. I was glad I hadn’t spoken to her.

Though the room was dark and the bed comfortable, I fought off my need for sleep and pushed myself up to sit. My ankle screamed with fresh pain when I put weight on it, and I leaned on the walls and furniture as I made my way to the door, dressed only in my underthings. Perhaps there was nowhere for me to go, but I had to try.

The room tilted slightly and I tumbled, slamming hands-first into the door.  I breathed deeply through gritted teeth until my shoulder quieted, and I reached for the door handle. My heart leapt when it turned under my touch, then sank as I realized that the deadbolt above was locked again.

A lump formed in my throat, but I was done feeling sorry for myself. I would take Aren’s advice and trust no one, especially him. I’d just have to wait until someone came back, and see what was to become of me.

Chapter Twelve

Aren

W
hat the hell am I doing?

I shrugged into the brown coat and leaned against the door that held her captive. I’d had to leave, but probably not for any reason she might suspect. I couldn’t trust my own thoughts in there, and I needed a clear head.

This wasn’t how Severn and I had planned it. He’d chosen his men, all of them strong and trustworthy, but accustomed to action. They grew restless on the road, and when we ran into the traveling merchants, Severn told our men to kill the men and take whatever they wanted from what was left. I’d kept my distance until Rowan came bursting out of that coach and took off into the woods with Morten in pursuit. Whether he counted Rowan amongst the “men” or the other items, I didn’t like her chances. I went after them, but wasn’t fast enough to keep him from harming her.

I tried to tell myself that it was a stroke of luck that we’d found her so easily, and sooner than we’d expected. We were far from any town, and the only witnesses were dead or dying. I was only a few steps away from securing my future. But when I saw how frightened she was of me, I wanted nothing more than to tell her that I would never hurt her. It would have been a lie, but I wanted to say it just to make her stop looking at me like that.

As if it mattered what she thought of me.

I considered letting her escape into the woods, but Severn had already seen us. I thought about lying and saying I didn’t know who she was, but he’d have had her killed if she hadn’t been the Sorceress we wanted. She was so terrified and so overwhelmed that I’d been able to use my magic to push her over the edge into unconsciousness, and I told Severn that was how I’d found her.

I brought her back and got Sara to fix her up while Severn covered our tracks. I stayed and watched over her, and kept telling myself I was doing the right thing in letting him have her. I was acting in my country’s best interest, helping to preserve or restore the balance of magic. Advancing scientific interests. Keeping Severn happy.

All of that paled, though, when I really looked at her. A Sorceress deserved better than to be beaten, chained, hurt, and humiliated. Even a Darmish one. Even for the good of magic.

Severn’s glee over the prospect of torturing her had finished it for me. That, and his satisfaction in bending my will to his. In that moment every reason I’d ever had for wanting to escape had come flooding back, filling me with the hatred I’d fought so long to suppress. It took all of my strength and self-control to continue the ruse, to make him believe I was still with him. Even as he was walking out the door, I was beginning to make my plans. Get her away, leave her somewhere relatively safe, and find a new life for myself somewhere far from my brother.

I still had no desire to be a hero or to sacrifice everything I’d worked so hard to gain, but here I stood preparing to do just that.

I sent my awareness out to search for him, but Severn was gone. “I’m not yours to control anymore,” I whispered. “Damn you. Damn the consequences.” I’d lost my balance at last, and fallen from the wrong side of Severn’s favor. It felt surprisingly satisfying.

Sara approached with her basket of supplies in one hand. She didn’t look up or speak, only stood waiting for me to move so she could enter the room. “You might as well leave the basket there,” I told her, and she nodded.

I made contact with as many people on the ship as I could, suggesting that they wouldn’t think anything of it if they saw me leaving with the prisoner, helping Severn’s guards realize they had somewhere else they needed to be, and arranging for our departure. The ship was still moored in the choppy waters of the little harbor, and I made my rounds in the shipyard as well. It was a far larger group than I’d ever attempted to manipulate at one time. It took the entire night for me to do my work, and with every person I affected I felt the magic draining from me.

At least most of them were too afraid to put up a fight when they felt me enter their minds.

Sara was leaving when I returned to the room at dawn. Rowan still lay in the bed with the blanket pulled up over her, a small breakfast of toast and stewed berries untouched on a tray beside her. She looked better, but her cheek was still marked by scrapes and bruises, and fresh bandages covered her shoulder. She watched warily as I paced, as though someone had released a wolf into the room with her.

“The ship leaves in less than an hour. We need to be off by then.”

Her eyes widened, and she twisted her body to try to look out the window. “We haven’t left yet?”

“No. The sailors decided to wait for the tide, and Severn ordered them to keep distance between ourselves and the decoy ship he sent out.”

She frowned. “Wait—
we
have to be off? And where are we going? I thought you said you couldn’t let me go. I mean…”

I sank into the chair at the end of the bed. It occurred to me that it wasn’t too late to change my mind. Severn would never know.