Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
The men vacated and Klaus entered. The door closed, and he shed his cloak and left it on the back of one of the chairs.
I kept pulling and yanking, because there was no way in hell I was going to let this happen without a fight.
He stood at the foot of the bed and stared down at my naked body, his hands in the pockets of his pants. His eyes dragged over me slowly, savoring every single inch of my porcelain skin.
I’d never felt so violated in all my life. “Let me go…or I’ll kill you.”
His eyes met mine, not the least bit wary of those words.
“I swear to the gods…”
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“Wish you would. Prefer that over this.”
“It’ll hurt at first, but you’ll get used to it.”
“Fuck. You.”
His hands pressed into the mattress, and he leaned forward over my hips, his eyes on my left thigh.
I tried to squirm away, but I couldn’t move at all. “You fucking bastard!”
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to my inner thigh.
I bucked against him to hit him in the face.
“You really shouldn’t do that.” He opened his mouth and slowly pushed all the rows of teeth forward. “One wrong move…and you could die.”
I was stunned into silence, seeing all those rows of teeth about to perforate my flesh. My usual sarcasm left me. Everything left me. My fight. My hope.
“I won’t kill you. Only take what I need.”
It was even more sinister than I realized.
“Now, stay still.”
8
HUNTLEY
I jerked upright and gripped my chest.
The pain—it was excruciating.
The darkness was impossible to penetrate with my sight, to check for enemies as they surrounded my camp. I didn’t hear a sound. Didn’t feel a wound as my hand moved over my heart underneath my shirt.
I felt nothing.
But it was still enough pain to make me keel over.
I ended up on all fours, panting through the agony, weak everywhere. “Fuck…” I fell back to the bedroll and gripped my chest as I gave a groan. It lasted for minutes, the intensity constant, my breath coming out through clenched teeth.
And then it finally stopped.
Just like that.
My body finally relaxed, and my palm fell from my chest. “What the fuck…?”
At the first sign of sunrise, I rode my horse through the trees, the temperature dropping deeper the farther I went. It was a three-day journey, but I made it in two because I hauled ass. I approached the gates to the outpost and watched the doors open when they recognized me.
I rode through the gates and immediately dropped down from my horse. “Where’s Ian?”
“His cabin, Your Highness.” The guard took my horse by the reins and guided him to the stables.
I jogged through the outpost and ignored the questions people tried to ask. My unexpected visit made people uneasy, because it could be a sign of impending war. His cabin was close to mine, so I burst inside without knocking.
A naked woman was in the bed covered in the furs, and he was working at his desk with just his breeches on. It was still early morning, so he hadn’t even gotten his day started. His mug was full of coffee, and the fire kept the room warm.
The woman was so knocked out, she didn’t stir.
He was on his feet instantly with a shirt over his head. “How long do we have?”
“There’s no attack on the outpost or HeartHolme, but time is still of the essence.”
The woman pushed off the furs then looked at Ian with sleepy eyes. “Keep it down, would you?”
Ian grabbed his coat and his ax and walked out the door.
I joined him, and together we stood a few feet away, the residents watching our conversation.
“What’s happened, Huntley?” He was my height and had my same eyes, but his look was even harder to penetrate than mine. A solid wall of indifference, he was a lot like our father, but he may have forgotten that after all these years.
“Mother has given Ivory to Klaus—to prevent a war.”
His eyes were lifeless. “The issue?”
I didn’t know how to say this, to tell my little brother I wed without his presence. He’d act like it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew it would bother him. “I married her.”
That cold wall was broken by his authentic reaction. His pupils dilated. His jaw tightened. His breathing changed.
“It was the only way I could protect her…or so I thought.”
“I’m not surprised Mother handed her over anyway. You shouldn’t be either.”
“Well, I am. Because I thought her love for me was greater than anything else. Guess I was wrong.”
“You came all the way here to tell me this? But you didn’t come all the way here to tell me you were getting married?” There was a bite to his words, a coldness he never showed me—just our enemies and those stupid enough to antagonize him. “What do you want from me?”