Hugh ran his hands up her arms. He brushed her throat, tracing an oval there, like a jewel, and she shivered. He sucked in his breath hard and reached to unbuckle his belt. “Stop fighting me, Liath. Why should you not have pleasure? Why?”

Her skin tingled where his lips touched. Why, indeed? It had come time, at last, to choose.

“I will not be your slave,” she whispered. She would have wept, it was so hard to say, but she was too terrified to weep. She placed her hands against his chest and pushed him away, locking her elbows and holding them rigid.

He went quite still. “What did you say?”

Having said it once, she knew she must hold to it as strongly as ever she might. She twisted away from him and slipped off the bed to land bruisingly on her knees, huddled on the rug, her gaze on him the way a trapped rabbit stares at a fox. But she raised her voice above a whisper. “I will not be your slave.”

He sat up straight. “You are my slave.”

“Only by the gold you paid.”

His mouth pulled to a straight line. “Then it is back out with the pigs.” But he smiled as he said it, knowing full well that after a winter of luxury she could never face that again.

Liath thought this over: the dirty straw, Trotter’s back, the cold spring nights. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Yes. I’ll go back out with the pigs.” She climbed stiffly to her feet, walked stiffly to the door. None of her limbs worked right.

He was off the bed in an instant. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around and hit her so hard that she staggered. Hit her again. She fell back and hit her head against the wall. She stopped her fall with a hand and shoved herself back up. With a hand shielding her face, she moved to pass him, to get to the door. He struck her. Again. This time, she fell right to her knees and had to huddle there, panting. Pain flamed through her. Her ears rang. He kicked her in the side, and she gasped in pain, gagging.

“Now,” he said, his voice taut with fury, “the pigs, or my bed?”

Carefully she rose to her feet. Her balance did not quite work right, and her right eye could not focus. She took an unsteady step, caught a breath, took a second step, and rested her hand on the door latch. Lifted it.

The door opening, and the blow, occurred at the same time. She fell forward into the corridor, onto her hands and knees. Another blow, along the ribs—perhaps it was his boot. She struggled to get to her feet, but each time she rose and showed the slightest movement forward, he hit her again.

Blood hazed her right eye, but it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t really see out of that eye anyway.

She got a hand on the wall and pulled up, and then was flung hard into the other wall. Her head slammed into stone, and she dropped hard. When she tried to stand again, she could not. She lay there, whimpering, trying not to whimper, trying not to make any sound, trying to get her legs to work. His boot nudged her side.

“Now, Liath. Which will it be?”

“The pigs,” she said. The words were hard to say, because her mouth was filled with blood. Since she could not rise, she found purchase with her elbows and tried to crawl forward. This time, when he hit her— whether with hands or boot she could no longer tell—a swirl of blackness flooded her. She heard her own labored breathing. She could not see. Her vision grayed, then lightened. She saw the narrow passageway as a hazy pattern of stone and shadow, but that was enough. She heaved herself up on her elbows and drew her body along after her. Forward, toward the pigs.

She heard words, a horrified exclamation, but it was not attached to her.

She hurt everywhere, stinging bruises, sharp deep pain in her bones, a fiery stabbing at her ribs; blood trickled, salty, from her mouth, and yet her mouth was dry. She was so thirsty. She could picture the pigs perfectly in her mind. They lived outside the city of memory, in pleasant comfort: Trotter, who was her favorite, and the old sow Truffling, and the piglets Hib, Nib, Jib, Bib, Gib, Rib, and Tib, some of whom she could tell apart, but she could not now recall which ones had been slaughtered and salted and which ones kept over the winter.

He hit her again, from her blind side, and she collapsed onto the cold floor. Rough stone pressed into her face, but the tiny irritating grains helped her stay conscious; she counted the grains, each one pressing into her cheek, into the open wound, like salt. She just breathed for awhile. Breathing was hard. It hurt to inhale and exhale, but eventually she had to get out with those pigs. She would be safe with the pigs. The book would be safe with the pigs.

Pain like a hot knife stabbed through her abdomen. She screamed out of stark fear. He was going to kill her rather than let her go. Kill her! That hadn’t been the choice.

She opened her left eye to see Hugh standing more than a body’s length away from her, staring at her, his face as cold and stubborn as the stone. But he had not touched her.

The pain lanced again. Warm liquid trickled down the inside of her thighs. Pain stabbed again. She tried to gasp out words, but she couldn’t make them form on her tongue. Ai, Lady! It hurt. She curled up into a ball, and fainted.

Came half conscious when Lars picked her up. Dorit was speaking. Liath caught a glimpse of Hugh and then lost him again. Her thighs were sticky with dampness. The cool afternoon air struck her to shivering as Lars carried her outside. Pain coursed through her abdomen again. She twisted, tossing her head back. Dorit was speaking to her, but Liath could not understand.

Lars’ jolting walk sent flares of pain up her legs. She fainted.

This time, when she recognized she was awake, she tried not to panic. She was lying on a hard surface. She couldn’t open her eyes. Something cold and clammy covered her eyes, like the hand of a dead, decaying corpse. …

She jerked, clawed at it, but her hands were captured and held tight in another’s strong grip.

“Liath, it’s Hanna. Stop that. Stop it. Trust me.”

Hanna. She could trust Hanna. She clung to Hanna’s hands. What had happened? She was naked from the waist down, legs propped up, lying flat on her back, awash in pain.

s off the bed in an instant. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around and hit her so hard that she staggered. Hit her again. She fell back and hit her head against the wall. She stopped her fall with a hand and shoved herself back up. With a hand shielding her face, she moved to pass him, to get to the door. He struck her. Again. This time, she fell right to her knees and had to huddle there, panting. Pain flamed through her. Her ears rang. He kicked her in the side, and she gasped in pain, gagging.

Tags: Kate Elliott Crown of Stars Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net