"I no longer know where Wyn is. He left several days ago." Evi had changed since the last time she'd seen him. His clothes were much shabbier than she'd remembered and his hair was mussed.
He glanced at the merchant, then back to Nova. "This is too public for our conversation." He jerked his head toward the edge of the marketplace where horses and carts were parked. "Let's just walk over this way."
Nova offered the merchant a warm smile. "Thank you for letting me see your lovely wares." She retrieved a silver coin from her pocket that would more than pay for the cloth. "I'd like this one."
The woman gave Evi a distrustful glance. "You're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll return when I have more time to shop." She rolled up the cloth and tucked it inside her shirt and gave the woman another false smile before Evi pulled her away.
Steering her through the market, the crowds thinned as they approached the area set aside for parking. The scent of roasting meat and baked potato hash turned her stomach.
"Let's visit your home, shall we?" he said. Now that there was no one to note his actions, he didn't bother being gentle with her. He shoved her at the peddler's wagon and she hit the door with a thud.
She rubbed her abused elbow. "Wyn isn't there--"
He held up the knife and the tip was stained with her blood. "You'd better think again, woman."
She held up her hands and shook her head. "I can't tell you anything else. He left and all I know is that he lives in the sea and he's returned to it."
"Then you'll bring him back."
"I can't--"
Ber and Dreg stepped out from behind the wagon. Her breath caught when Ber grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the door. Rage was written on every inch of his face.
"She's not being very cooperative, boss." He leered. "I think I can soften her up a bit, if you know what I mean."
All three men laughed at the crude joke and Nova refused to respond. It wouldn't be the first time she was raped and she'd already proven she could survive worse.
"Release her."
Ber relaxed his grip and she gulped for breath. Her throat felt like it was on fire from the abuse.
"Not yet. We'll take her back to her place and maybe I'll let you have her when Kelwyn returns. He can watch." Evi replaced the dagger in a hip sheath. "Put her in the wagon."
"With pleasure." Ber gave her a chilling smile as he brought down his meaty hand and she knew nothing else.
* * *
Wyn wasn't sure how it happened. One minute he'd been varnishing the kitchen table and the next he was being held at sword point by Ber.
"Hello, fishy fishy," the man taunted.
The peddler's wagon lumbered up the lane with Dreg driving and Evi seated beside him. The clang of iron shackles hanging off the side turned his stomach. Silently he thanked the universe that Nova was safe in Wryven.
"Well, well, we meet again." Evi leapt down from the high seat. "I've spent a lot of time and effort to find you."
"I'm touched, though I can't say I've done the same." Wyn rose from his seat.
"Yes, well, I have more to gain from our profitable relationship than you do." Evi retrieved a pair of shackles from where they hung off the side of the wagon. "Ber, Dreg, bring me his present."
Rage welled in his chest as the men ran around the wagon. He could hear the clank of metal against metal as they opened the numerous locks that had been used to keep him inside.
If they thought he'd put on those shackles again--
Then Dreg came around the wagon with something in his arms. He walked toward Wyn and, when he was several feet away, he dumped it on the ground. Nova groaned and rolled onto her back.
Her throat was bruised and her shirt was stained with blood. Her wrists and ankles were bound with shackles that branded her as a slave.
"You bastard," he snarled.
"Now you have a choice, my friend. Either you come willingly or I sell her into slavery. She'll make a beautiful whore, won't she?" Evi tossed the shackles at him and they landed at his feet with a grotesque clang. "Men will pay a lot to fuck her." He dropped into a crouch and removed a slim dagger from a waist sheath. "She could be a little gold mine." He slashed her shirt, baring her breasts. "Not as much as you, though."
"I will destroy you," Wyn snarled.
Evi held the blade near her throat. "I don't think so. I want you to put the shackles on yourself or I kill her. I want you to remember that you gave up your freedom to save her." He sneered. "Every day of your life, when you're fucking your new mistress, at her command of course, I want you to remember what you lost."
Wyn started forward, longing to wrap his fingers around Evi's chicken throat, when the prick of Ber's sword brought him up short. He was well and truly trapped. With his gaze locked on Nova's face, he picked up the shackles. They felt cold in his hands.
For her, he would give his life.
* * *
The moment she awoke, the terrors of the past few hours slammed into her skull. Bile burned in her throat and, as she raised her hands to her face, the clink of the iron cuffs on her wrists brought back memories of the pain, horror and degradation she'd faced as a slave. Forcing the pain away, she rolled to her side to assess her situation.
Her heart sank when she saw her house was in flames. The obscene flicker of fire licked the walls and tears stung her eyes as she watched her future being devoured.
"I see you're awake." Evi came into view, and behind him, Wyn. Shackled and held at sword point, blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but, other than that, he looked much as he had when she'd left only a few short hours ago. "You've got a choice, Nova. You can save what's left of your home or you can save him."
Her gaze swung from Wyn to the house, then back again. Evi laughed as he tossed a ring of keys in the dirt several feet away.
"I think we have our answer," he said. "Put him in the wagon."
Wyn was silent as he was paraded past her at sword-point. He stared straight ahead and, when they opened the wagon door, he stepped in without a fight. The door slammed shut and she heard the rattle of the locks.
No...
She rolled to her knees and scrambled across the ground to the keys as the wagon rolled away. Her hands were shaking so badly it took several tries before she could release the locks on her shackles. As they dropped to the ground, the roof caved in with a mighty crash and a shower of sparks.
She sat back on her heels. It was gone, all of it. Her home, her possessions, her papers of freedom and her money. It had all been in the house. She'd lost everything she'd fought so hard to create.
Her chin dropped to her chest and she longed to cry like a child. Tears stung her eyes when her gaze caught on a bit of color sticking out of her shirt. She pulled the embroidered cloth from inside her tattered blouse. Her grubby fingers left dark smudges on the white material and she clenched it in her hand.
In her life, she'd lost so much. Her family, her sister, her home, her money and she wasn't going to lose Wyn, too. He may leave her, but she couldn't live her life knowing she'd failed him. She loved him too much to let him go without a fight.
She stumbled to her feet as the fireplace caved in. Turning away from the inferno, she withdrew a slim knife from her boot. It wasn't much, but it was all she had.
As a child she'd known these woods like the back of her hand. Now, many years later, it had become unfamiliar territory. Ignoring her own safety, she ran through the thickening darkness. The wagon would have to keep to the road, but she could cut them off by traveling through the woods. She jumped over a fallen tree only to trip over a rock and fall hard on her hands and knees. Ignoring the pain, she rose and continued her blind journey.
She didn't know how long she ran, only that rain was falling. Thunder and lightning shook the ground and lit the sky for scant seconds at a time. Several times she heard the distinctive sound of a tree falling, and the scent of ozone and charred wood was thick. With every step the rain fell harder
until she could barely see more than a few feet in front of her. With her lungs on fire, she finally reached the empty road. Guessing that she'd actually raced ahead of them, she ran to the south only to skid to a stop when she came upon the wreck.
The peddler's cart was on its side in a ditch. A large tree limb lay across the center and Wyn's prison was crushed.
"No!" she shrieked. Was he trapped inside? Was he dead?
Dreg lay face down in the center of the road and his neck was broken. She ran past him with barely a glance. The road was slippery and she almost fell into the ditch where the cart lay. Beneath one wheel she saw Ber's twisted body. Trapped in the bottom of the ditch, he was already covered with a foot of runoff and was clearly dead judging from the massive gash in his throat.
"Oh my goddess, not Wyn. Please not Wyn," she sobbed. She began tearing at the limb, trying desperately to get to the wagon itself.
Without warning, someone grabbed her from behind and hauled her backward. She fell onto the road at Wyn's feet.
"What are you doing, woman?" he roared.
"Saving you," she said. She shoved her wet hair out of her face. How dare he be free and walking around when she was trying to save him? She leapt to her feet, her gaze assessing, looking for any obvious injuries. Other than a few superficial cuts, he appeared in good shape.
"I don't need to be saved," he said.
"So I noticed." She rose to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." He held the reins of the horse in his hands. "Why aren't you saving your house?"
"Because I need to save you more."
"Why?"
"Because I love you."
His expression told her he didn't believe her.
"More than your money?" he asked.
She nodded. "More than anything. I couldn't let them take you away."
"If you did, you'd have your money right now."
"What's money without love? Without family?"
He shook his head, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Isn't that what I've been trying to tell you?"
"Well, I'm a little slow--"
Wyn held out his arms and Nova rushed forward. But, just before she reached him, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Evi ran toward them from the shelter of the trees. His face was covered with blood and his left arm was horribly mangled and it hung useless at his side. With a cry, he threw himself at Wyn's back.
Without thinking, she whirled around Wyn, her dagger at the ready. She heard Wyn make a sound of protest and he grabbed for her hand. She felt Wyn's hand curl around hers as her dagger slid home.
The look on Evi's face was almost comical as he looked down at his chest and their joined hands on the handle of the blade. His mouth opened in a silent scream as a grotesque gurgling sound came from his throat and he slid to the ground. Grimacing, Nova allowed Wyn to pull on their joined hands as the blade slid free.
In the falling rain, three men had lost their lives in the mindless pursuit of money. She looked up into the face of the man she loved. Rather than losing, she'd saved her life.
* * *
"Do you think I'll ever find her?"
Wyn tightened his arms around Nova. They'd bedded down in the back of the cart under the stars. The house had burned to embers and two of the four walls had caved in. They had no blankets, no food and no roof over their head, only the rickety old cart where it had all begun.
"If she's still out there, you'll find her," Wyn said. "I have it on good authority you're a very determined woman."
Nova laughed, the sound rusty. "Well, you have that right."
They fell silent, listening to the crackle of burning embers.
"Where do we go from here, Wyn?"
He heard the uncertainty in her voice. "My island. I'll introduce you to my family. Once we're married, we'll start looking for your sister."
She propped herself up her elbow and he could feel her beautiful gaze on him. "You want to marry me?"
"Isn't that the normal progression of things?" he teased. "We get married, we make babies..."
"Babies?"
"Yes, babies."
She gulped. "How many?"
"Oh, a dozen is pretty common among my people--"
Her lips moved and no sound came out. He held back his laugh. Life with Nova would always be interesting...
ABOUT J.C. WILDER
J. C. Wilder lives in Westerville, Ohio, where she's owned by a Japanese Akita named Severena and a really obnoxious Jack Russell Terrier named Copper Penny. She spends the majority of her time dusting her 6,000 books and staring at her blank computer screen in complete terror. When not writing, she devotes much of her time to studying the medicinal uses of herbs and essential oils and howling at the moon. You can write to her at [email protected].
* * *
MORE EXCITING PARANORMAL ROMANCE
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Dream Quest: Nine Spellbinding Paranormal Romances
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You're invited to follow your heart and your dreams through nine stunning paranormal romances, including stories by award-winning authors Megan Sybil Baker, Rosemary Laurey, CB Scott and J.C. Wilder! Life, love, ghosts, space stations, shapeshifters, dragons, intergalactic intrigue and more! Available in electronic and paperback format from LTDBooks.
The Shadow Dweller Series by J. C. Wilder
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Publisher info:
Stories that stimulate your laughter, Provoke your tears, Evoke your secret fears,
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PARADOX II Page 18
