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“Shut the fuck up,” he sneered. “They already told me you’re bleeding, and your screaming will only rile the Demons up even more. We plan to get out of here before your new protector even realises you’re gone. Want him to find a dead woman?”

“He’ll come for me!”

“I’d like to see him try,” Bragg stated with a dry chuckle, hoisting her to her feet by her hair. “We’re Demon killers, sugar. If we can’t kill him, our iron will trap him for the Demons to take care of. Shit, even the three-metre pits might keep him down.”

When he carted her in the opposite direction to his tent, her relief was short-lived. Copying the idea of her people, a central stake kept up a canopy of chains that stopped them from being attacked from above. A set of shackles hung from a curved hook, glinting in the firelight as he pulled her up a small hill.

Bragg secured her to the stake. Her toes barely skimmed the ground as she hung there with her arms stretched above her head.

“Since I can’t fucking trust you just yet, why don’t youhangoutfor a while? I’ve got shit to do before we leave.”

Grabbing the chains, Linh lifted herself to swing and kick to get down. Her hair flung around her body, but she quickly stopped when Bragg gave her a mean glare.

“How’d you befriend a Duskwalker, anyway?” he asked, cupping his chin in thought. “Is that what killed three of my best trackers? I was upset when I thought your stupidity had gotten you eaten.”

Linh said nothing and just huffed at him.I can’t reveal anything.Her lips tightened, before the bottom one trembled.He’ll kill me if he finds out the truth.He didn’t want to be ‘betrayed,’ and would be infuriated if he learned Linh had been intimate with Nathair.

She’d known for a long while that Bragg didn’t see any issue with how he treated her. Despite not being truly married, hecalled her his wife and treated her like she was property. No woman, unless they were unhinged, fearless, or just as deranged as the rest of these people, would choose this life willingly. Deals were made via unfair and forced trades, or women were stolen.

Her gaze slipped to a woman following a bandit, and the light had been lost in her eyes before Linh had even met her. Linh didn’t even know her name, but the woman had accepted her wifely role because there was nothing she could do.

Bragg had just been waiting for Linh to break like her.

The idea that there would be a point where she just accepted this man was hollowing. It instantly made tears brim in her eyes, and her brows furrowed even further than they already were.

She wanted to throw all her hate in his face. She wanted to tell Bragg she loved Nathair, that he pleasured her, that he was better in any and every way possible she could think of. Instead, she bit back the small fire she had, only so she didn’t increase her own suffering.

He will come.Nathair had to come.

The question was when, and what she’d be forced to endure until then. A tear slipped down her cheek, but she tried to settle her anxiety. She stifled the rest as she looked at Bragg through the strands of her hair that had fallen around her face.

“You know this is all your fault, don’t you?” Bragg drawled, shaking his head. “All you had to do was stay put and be good, and I would’ve treated you well.”

Linh was sure that was true. If she just obeyed, there would be no need for harshness. She wasn’t willing to do that.

A few men stopped what they’d been doing to come watch their interaction. They always lingered when there was entertainment to be found.

“I don’t think she’ll stop trying to run, boss.” One of the men snickered. “You picked a wildfire. Look at the way she’s looking at you now.”

What? With fear as she fucking trembled? If they thought it was a glare of hate, then they were poorly mistaken. Although she felt nothing but disgust and spite for the man before her, for all of them, she was too scared to register anything but her fear.

“I thought you kept all your promises,” another shouted, which gained the attention of a few carting sacks of food they’d likely stolen.

“Yeah. Weren’t you telling us all this morning what you would do once the lads brought her back?” The jeers were pointed and sharp, and they spelled out that Linh was in danger.

For a split second, Linh thought she saw a double glow of red, like two lights, but they darted and faded within the blink of an eye. She searched the edges of the dark – the camp’s torches only giving them enough muted light to see where they walked.

Bragg tsked, as he shot his men a sharp glare. “Damnit. I was hoping you all had forgotten.”

Linh hadn’t forgotten the threats of the past, and she swallowed thickly when he placed a hand on the hilt of his dagger.

“It’s safer if she can walk on her own,” Bragg argued.

“You’re a bitch!” a man shouted from the left, and laughter erupted. “Look at her, she’s as light as a sack of flour. Just cart her on your horse. It’ll be fine.”

From the back, anucksounded from someone, followed by a thud. A few people checked behind them, but shrugged and turned forward to watch Bragg yank his dagger from its sheath.

“I did promise you that if you ran off again, I’d cut that little heel of yours.” Bragg moved to stand behind her and knelt down. Linh kicked when he grabbed her left calf, but he held her still. “Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to walk – you’ll just have a little limp.”