Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Dru spotted Mave and went to her, grateful those familiar with her ignored her. Mave had reached them with the news, and they remained faithful to keeping her secret.
“What did you say to Knox?” Dru whispered when she reached Mave.
“What Fate wanted him to know. Now, go look for Owen. He is eager to see you and I have work to do here,” Mave ordered, turning and heading to an anxious mum and small lad, cradling his arm against his chest.
Dru hurried off, though not before glancing to see if Knox still spoke to the merchant. She spotted him walking away with the man and slipping behind a cottage. They must have been discussing something Knox preferred no one else to hear. Eager to see Owen and let him know that Knox intended to speak with him, she picked up her pace. She had barely taken ten steps when she heard the sharp crack of a slap and a woman’s startled gasp.
Dru turned toward the sound.
A group of four men stood near the corner of a cottage, their leather armor and weapons marking them as mercenaries. One of them, thick-shouldered and smirking, had a fist tangled in a young woman’s sleeve. She struggled, trying to wrench free.
Owen was suddenly at her side. “I spotted them earlier when I was in the woods and avoided them and hoped they would steer clear of the village. They’re trouble.”
Dru nodded. He was right about that.
“You’re hurting me,” the woman said, her voice tight with fear.
The man yanked her closer. “Only if you keep fighting, lass.”
A knot of fury twisted in Dru’s gut and before she stepped away from Owen, she whispered, “Stay out of this.”
Dru approached the man and woman. “LET HER GO.”
Her voice rang clear through the hush that had fallen over the villagers. People shrank back, unwilling to interfere, but Dru stepped forward, her stance firm.
The mercenary turned, his smirk widening. “And who are you to give me orders, lass?”
“Someone who knows that only a man with a tiny shaft would lay unwanted hands on a woman.”
Laughter rumbled from the other three men.
“She’s got fire,” one chuckled.
“She’ll have a blade in her gut if she doesn’t walk away,” warned the man she had demeaned and whose face raged red.
Dru ignored them, her glare locked on the man. “Let. Her. Go.”
The mercenary held her gaze for a long moment—then shoved the woman aside. She stumbled, barely catching herself before fleeing into the crowd that had gathered.
Dru wasn’t foolish enough to believe their encounter was over. It had only begun.
“Maybe I grabbed the wrong woman,” the mercenary mused, anger fading from his eyes replaced by amusement. “I think I prefer a fiery one and you can see for yourself how wrong your claim was.”
Dru grimaced and shook her head. “I don’t know about that.” She pointed between his legs. “Your shaft can barely hold a salute.”
The man’s crew and the crowd burst out laughing.
Fury turned the man’s face so red that he looked about to explode, and he lunged at Dru.
Dru moved fast, twisting low then rising fast and striking him in the nose with her elbow, blood pouring from it. He grunted, staggered, but recovered quickly. His hand shot out, fingers clamping around Dru’s wrist like an iron shackle.
“Feisty,” he growled, and dragged his sleeve across his bloody nose. “I like that.”
Dru bared her teeth. “You’ll like this too.”
She drove her knee up, aiming for the most vulnerable spot. He twisted at the last second, her strike glancing off his thigh instead.
The mistake cost her.
Pain exploded across her face as he backhanded her. She hit the ground hard, her vision swimming.
Before she could move, he loomed over her, reaching for his blade.
A vicious roar cut through the air—then the heavy thud of a fist meeting flesh.
The mercenary flew backward as if yanked by an invisible force. Knox stood there, his chest heaving, his fingers flexing at his side, and his face carved from ice.
Dru shook off her daze just as another mercenary rushed Knox.
Knox sidestepped the attack and drove his elbow into the man’s gut, following it with a brutal strike to the jaw. The mercenary crumpled.
The remaining two hesitated, eyes darting between Knox and their groaning companions.
Knox took a slow step forward.
“I’d think very carefully about what you do next,” he warned, his voice low, dangerous.
The leader—the one still on the ground clutching his jaw—spat blood. “You’ve made an enemy this day, stranger.”
Knox crouched beside him, gripping the front of his tunic. He yanked the man close, his voice strong for all to hear.
“Knox. The name is Knox.”
Recognition turned the man’s eyes so wide that they looked ready to pop from his head and the other men stumbled back away from him.
“I can tell you’ve heard of me, so you know my reputation. You know I’m a man of my word. You cross me or my wife’s path again, and you’re dead.”