“Your brother allowed you to come here? Where is he?” The first man looked around, then called out, “The brother of this woman must retrieve her now.”
Cassandra’s heart pounded in her chest. Her stomach squeezed and bucked and bile jumped into her mouth. Where is he? Jordan never came forth.
“You’re a liar,” one of the men said. “You’re a runaway, aren’t you? We don’t allow that here. We’ll keep you until your master comes.”
The first man grabbed her upper arm, pulling the himation off her head, and jerked her toward him.
“No! I’m not a slave. I have no master,” she cried out, struggling against his grip.
“Then I’ll be your master,” he growled.
“No, please. My brother—”
The man tightened his grip and yanked her again. “When my slaves lie to me, they receive the hardest punishment.”
“I’m not lying. He’s here!” And just as she said it, she saw Jordan standing in the shadows between two buildings, the blond woman with him. She locked eyes with him, hers begging him to help her. With a slight shake of his head and a smirk, he turned and sauntered away.
Her heart stopped cold. He was allowing this to happen. Allowing her to be taken as a slave. Was that his solution so he wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore? Or his punishment for not going with him?
As the man dragged her along, past Fig, the goat nudged her hand, pushing her fingers into a fist. Could she hit this man? Hard enough to make him release her? It would draw even more attention, but she could easily escape. No one but Jordan could catch her and he had abandoned her. Again. It was her only way to escape. She tightened her fist, pulled back and just as her knuckles crashed into the man’s ribs, someone else called out.
“Wait! She’s telling the truth. She’s not a slave.”
The man released her, but not because of Niko’s words. Because of the force with which she’d hit him—he flew to the ground, landing hard on his large rump. His face turned purple with rage. Cassandra looked from her near-captor to Niko, her eyes wide with disbelief and terror. She should run, she knew. But she couldn’t release herself from Niko’s green-eyed gaze.
“How do you know?” the man growled from the ground.
Niko swallowed. He tore his eyes from hers and stared down the man. “Because she is my master.”
Chapter 8
Jordan didn’t go far—just around the building to another shadow, where he could watch as they captured his sister. Inga, the witch who’d made the stone fall, had already disappeared, waiting for him at a nearby creek. But he couldn’t leave yet, too delighted with his work, needing to see it to the end.
Except this man was about to ruin everything. Why had he ever bothered saving him from the werewolf?
“You’re not a slave, Niko. You’re a soldier,” said the man who Cassandra had punched as he struggled to rise to his feet. When he did, he lifted his chest, likely trying to make people forget a woman had knocked him down. “You just want to take her from me.”
Niko bent over and whispered something to the boy by his side. The boy ran off, then Niko spoke, his voice firm and convincing. “When I was gone all that time, I was with her. She saved my life, nursed me back to health. I am forever indebted to her. But I ran away and she is here to reclaim me.”
Jordan could see the surprise all over Cassandra’s face. He shook his head. If this all worked as he’d planned, when he rescued her from her enslavement, the first thing he needed to do was teach her to be a better liar. But this was not going as planned. Not at all.
“You indebted yourself and ran away?” the man demanded. “You ought to be stoned.”
“Yes,” someone called from the crowd that had begun to gather. “You shame your family and your town!”
The corners of Jordan’s lips turned up. Maybe it will work out after all. Perhaps even better than planned. But Cassandra surprised him.
“No,” she said, her voice loud and firm. She’d recovered from being dragged, now standing with her back straight and putting on the facade of someone in a higher class than she was. “He is my slave. I will take care of the punishment.”
Protests came from the crowd, but they were quickly quieted. To Jordan’s dismay, both Cassandra and Niko were allowed to leave … as long as Niko left with her. He watched as Cassandra grabbed the goat and Niko’s arm, and pushed her way through the crowd and out of town. Then he followed.
He momentarily wished Eris were there to cloak him. Inga could cloak herself—make herself invisible—but her magick lacked the strength to hide others. Eris had no idea he was here, though, and wouldn’t be pleased about it. In fact, she would be beyond angry, especially in her current condition.
So he followed at a distance, keeping to the shadows as the sun fell in the late afternoon sky. Neither Cassandra nor Niko said a word until they crested the same hill where Jordan had found her and were halfway down the other side. Then Cassandra suddenly stopped and turned on Niko.
“How could you do that?” she demanded, her eyes flashing with anger. Jordan watched with anticipation, hoping his sister would do the right thing and rid herself of this useless man.
Niko appeared unfazed. “You saved my life. I just saved yours. Well, at least, I saved you from a life of enslavement.”
“You lied to them!”
“I didn’t exactly lie. I am indebted to you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the soldier. “Well, your debt is paid. You can go.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Go.” She flipped her hands at him in dismissal. “Go back to your life. To your wife and children.”
“I can’t go—” Niko stopped. His brows pushed together. “What do you mean, my wife and children?”
Cassandra lifted an eyebrow. “Your son?”
“I have no—you mean that boy? He’s my nephew.”
Jordan’s eyes narrowed as he saw relief overcome his sister’s face, exposing her true feelings for Niko. Now he understood why she’d been so eager to avoid the man.
Cassandra quickly recovered. Her face went stony again. “It doesn’t matter. You have a mother to take care of. Sisters. Other family. Go back to them, Niko. Go back where you belong.”
“Don’t you see that I can’t?”
“Of course you can. You’re not really my slave.”
Niko shook his head. “You don’t understand. That’s not how it’s done here. My own neighbors will stone me, possibly to death, if I don’t meet my obligations. You are my obligation now. I just made it public. I must go with you.”
Cassandra heaved a breath of frustration. Her eyes flashed again, exciting Jordan with their anger. He hoped she would punch the man, just as she’d hit him.
But her head dropped and her next words came out softly.
“How can you even want to be with me? Didn’t you see what happened in there?”
Yes! Jordan fought the urge to whoop aloud. His attention had been consumed with the slavery part of his plan, and how wrong it had gone. He had nearly forgotten about the other part—expose his sister as the demon she really was.
Niko chuckled. “Quite impressive. You took down a grown man.”
Cassandra’s head jerked up. Her eyes hardened. “And caught a falling stone that he said took three men to carry.”
“And protected my nephew. Saved his life. I owe you for that now, too.”
Cassandra’s eyes widened briefly and then narrowed. “And you don’t have a problem with that? You don’t think I’m … I’m a … ”
