The only jewelry I have ever seen her wear are the blue stones in her ears. If she wants me to believe the strange piece of metal in my hand is jewelry, she’ll be disappointed, because it most definitely is not.
Her eyes darken with frustration. But she stays silent.
“Is this all?”
She nods, and I sigh.
“I’m tired. Don’t make me search the rest of you.”
She pulls at her hand, still trapped in my fist, and I let it go with a warning look. Her hand disappears down her dress, between her breasts, and she pulls out a thin knife.
My mouth drops open. The woman is a walking armory.
She smirks at me. “I want these all back in the morning.”
I study her. She’s waiting for me to agree, one eyebrow raised.
“Where is the last weapon?”
She growls, gesturing at the pile next to me on the bed. “Are you kidding me? You just took it.”
I reach into the pocket of her dress, pulling out a pile of papers. One of them is a map of this part of Agron, and I study it with interest. “You’ve been busy.”
She ignores that, and I place the papers next to her weapons.
I survey every inch of her, going as far as to make her roll onto her stomach as I run my fingers along her spine. She shivers, and I ignore what that does to my body.
“No knife here?”
“I have a bung shoulder. I can’t reach for it quickly.”
I almost concede, but while her face is a blank mask, she can’t hide the hint of triumph in her eyes as I begin gathering her weapons.
I lean forward and pull the ornate pin from her hair. Her golden locks tumble down around her face, and this time, she’s truly furious.
I study the hairpin, unsheathing it and whistling as I poke the sharp end. “I haven’t seen these before.”
“I had it made for me,” she grits out.
I meet her eyes. “I wouldn’t have known, but you rarely wear ornaments in your hair.”
I don’t know why I feel the need to explain, but she’s silent as I move her weapons away. I’d think her cowed if not for the resentment that burns in her eyes.
“You will rue the fucking day you decided to come after me. Do you hear me?”
I smile at that, placing her weapons on the table by my window.
Sarissa keeps talking. “I bet taking my weapons and tying me up makes you feel like a man.”
I scowl at that. This female has an uncanny ability to annoy me, which she uses ruthlessly. And I usually can’t help but retaliate.
I pick up another piece of material, ignoring her gasp of outrage as I take her free hand. She bucks, kicking out, and I narrowly miss her foot as she aims at my balls.
Vicious female.
I tie her other hand to my bed. Turns out I’m not a merciful male after all.
“You’re right,” I say. “It does make me feel like a man.”
She stays sullenly silent, and I sigh, pulling one of my blankets from the bed. I leave the rest for the hellion and walk toward the long sofa in front of my fire. She casts the flames a wary look, and I frown at her.
“Go to sleep.”
Chapter Two
Sarissa
I hate the commander.
I’ve always hated him, of course. But before this, I hated him the way you’d hate a bad boss, or a colleague who took credit for your work.
It was a distant kind of hate. One I could put aside when I wasn’t near him so I could focus on other things.
Now my hatred for him is all-encompassing. My hands shake, twitching with the urge to wrap them around his wide neck.
I wouldn’t kill him, of course. That would be more than a little awkward for my cousin. But I’d love to choke him out, tie him up, and leave him cursing my name.
The thought fills me with warmth, and I allow visions of my revenge to float through my head. Korzyn doesn’t know it now, but he has fucked up big time.
Revenge is a dish best served with a punch in the face.
I glower as he rolls over again, the crackling of the fire the only other sound in the room. Truthfully, we don’t need a fire, but earlier, he ran his eyes indolently over my body and added another log. The implication being, of course, that I’m a scrawny, weak human who needs to be kept warm.
I haven’t slept a wink. The hours crawled by as I waited for the commander to go to sleep so I could figure out a way to get free, collect my weapons, and still hopefully make my boat. All the plans I’ve made, ruined by the commander. Typical.
I’m not dumb. I have every mile of my journey mapped out. I’ve got contacts on both this side and the other side of the water, all waiting for me. Tonight, once I crossed the water, I was supposed to walk east for about a mile until I came to the tiny town of Hexir, where my friend Weva’s sister, Teriez, lives. I planned to spend the rest of the night there before leaving at first light and walking back west until I reached the forest.
From there, I would have made my way to Rakiz’s camp, staying with friends and contacts along the way. It shouldn’t have taken more than a few days on foot, and I have backup plans for my backup plans.
I scowl. The commander hasn’t seemed to sleep any more than I have. At one point, I began tugging on one of my hands, certain I could feel weakness where it was connected to the bedpost. Korzyn sat up and let out a low growl, vowing that if I didn’t stop,
