Page 44 of Cold Hearted
With each kick, I struggled to stay above water now that a body was trying to drag me under, and I breached the water just in time to hear Claudette screaming for help.
No no no.
Sabine?
I pivoted, grabbing for Claudette, who was flailing, and when I got close to her she launched onto me like I was a safety raft. My head submerged before I could get a full breath, and then both Moira and Claudette were frantically pushing me under in an effort to keep themselves afloat.
As bubbles of air left my lungs, I peered into the bottom of the crystal-clear water and found myself staring into the dead gaze of Sabine, an arrow had pushed right through her back and come out her chest.
It’s possible to cry underwater, because I did then. My throat tightened with unrestrained emotion and a sob escaped me as the last vestiges of oxygen fled my lungs.
I’d killed Sabine, and now I was going to drown and take all of the other girls with me.
Not only would my people back in Faerie die for putting their trust in me, so too would these courageous women. The guilt in that moment was enough to kill me without drowning on top of it.
Just as black dots danced at the edges of my vision and I prepared to meet death, I was grabbed underneath my armpits and hauled up out of the water.
I sputtered and gasped for huge lungfuls of air like a fish out of water, and then came face to face with one of the angry guards.
It was Rodrigo. The mean one who never spoke. Every single vein bulged in his face as he dragged me and the other girls to shore with the help of the other guards.
No. This wasn’t happening, no.
Sabine…
I peered at the shoreline as the women fought and screamed against the guards. Some were crying, others just looked helpless. Then I watched as one guard produced a key and unclicked Sabine’s leg cuff, letting her body float lifelessly down the river.
Rodrigo unclicked mine next and grabbed my wet ponytail. “She’s the ringleader. Clearly we haven’t beaten her hard enough. She still has the desire to flee.”
Fear seized me in that moment, and I bucked against him, only to receive a fist to the face. I wrestled in his grip, and then another guard was there striking me to the ground.
“I’m missing that dagger we took off her the day she got here,” a guard roared, and my stomach dropped out as dread filled me.
“Strip her,” the other guard said.
I went ballistic then, flailing and screaming as they tore my clothes and grabbed my waist and armpits searching for a concealed weapon.
“Got it!” another said as he yanked the sunstone dagger from my boots.
No!
“You little witch,” Rodrigo seethed. “Make her regret her disobedience.” He kicked me in the back, and I fell to the ground, arms splayed out.
I tried to get up and got a blow to the ribs for my effort. Every time I tried to stand or fight back, they pummeled me. But I was Dawn Ambrose, I didn’t give up. So I fought back, I tried to stand, I did everything in my power to show them that they couldn’t break me.
But they did.
Before I blacked out, I came to peace with my situation. I would be stuck here forever, never seeing Zander again or saving my people. I was going to be sold at auction and live a life of servitude. They won.
I gave up.
Chapter 12
Zander
“My lord, you just regained control of your kingdom. You’ve yet to spend a single fortnight on your throne. You can’t truly mean to abandon the capital so soon? Anarchy will ensue.”
I narrowed my eyes at the rotund noble fae trying to tell me how to run my own kingdom. Duke Haymaker was a slimy bastard who’d switched his allegiance to the rondak not even a week after my brother was assassinated. Now here he stood in front of me, daring to tell me what to do as if his very existence wasn’t in jeopardy for just breathing in my vicinity.
