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“Should Veda return and confirm your story, her demands will be that you forevermore stay away from Prince Callan. Should you decline, you can pick which of your friends here gets to die for such a refusal.”

“Done,” Scarlett gasped around the pain in her gut. “I will stay away from him.”

“I am not done yet,” Mikale said. “Should you go near him, we will secure them again, and you will find them in pieces throughout the Black Syndicate. The second part of this deal,” he continued, cutting her off as she again tried to agree to the terms, “is that you shall indeed agree to be my wife and show me your good intentions tonight.”

“I will provide whatever proof you wish,” she gasped out trying to force air into her lungs.

“I was hoping you would say that, but what I will require is what you have been giving Callan so freely for a year now.” Her eyes widened at what he implied he wanted from her. He stood at the words. “Tick-tock by the way,” he added, crossing the room to Nuri. He lifted her black tunic to show a gaping wound sliced up her side. She was slowly bleeding out. That’s why she looked so much paler. “I do not think she has much time left, unfortunately.”

Scarlett’s eyes locked onto Cassius, and he shook his head back and forth.No, he screamed with his eyes. Her eyes slid to Nuri who barely looked conscious at this point. Cassius was trying to support her while his own wound was dripping steadily onto the ground.

The minutes seemed to drag until she finally heard footsteps outside the door. Veda slipped in. “She is telling the truth,” she said, a smile spreading across her lips. “Poor Prince Callan is beside himself. You have told her of my demands?”

“I have,” Mikale replied. “She has agreed to such.”

“I am going to take my leave then and see if I can be of any comfort to his Highness,” Veda said, her chin lifting. Instead of leaving the cell though, she crossed it and stopped in front of Scarlett. She crouched before her, her eyes full of hate, as she beheld her. “If you have ruined him, I will ruin you,” she whispered, then stood and kicked her solidly in the torso. Scarlett was sure one, if not two, of her ribs cracked at the impact as the air was knocked from her again. How did the Lady have such power behind her kick? Veda strode from the cell, handing the dagger back to Mikale on her way out.

“Well, now that that’s settled,” he said casually, stooping before her once more. “What of the second part of this deal?”

“Let them go, and you can do what you will with me,” Scarlett gasped. Cassius screamed around his gag, but Scarlett held Mikale’s gaze, unable to look at him. She didn’t care what was done to her. Mikale could do whatever he wanted with her body as long as her family was released and safe.

Mikale seemed to consider her concession. “I shall let the two injured ones go and tend to their wounds, but I keep the others until you have held up your end of the bargain.”

“You will release them after we are finished tonight, or I shall find a way to tell Callan everything that happened here,” Scarlett snarled, working to take deep breaths around the pain in her abdomen.

“You are in no position to make demands tonight,” Mikale purred.

“I’m willing to bet I know his guards better than you,” Scarlett answered. “I can get them messages in ways you can’t even fathom.”

Mikale paused at what she implied, before he stood, crossed to Cassius and Nuri, and took a key from his pocket. He undid their shackles. Cassius ripped the gag from his mouth. “Scarlett, no!”

“Take her and go, Cass,” Scarlett said.

“Scarlett!”

“It is not a request,” she snarled.

Cassius glared at her. He scooped the now unconscious Nuri into his arms, grunting at the extra weight on his leg. He looked over his shoulder once at her,and when their eyes met, tears pricked her eyes once more. She could see the agony as he left her in that cell with Mikale.

Mikale was once more before her, the dagger at her throat. He gripped her chin hard between his thumb and forefinger. “If you try anything,” he hissed into her ear, “I have a guard on standby who has orders to come in here and slit their throats. Do you understand?”

Scarlett gave a slight nod of her head. He unlocked the chains around her ankles with the key and jerked her to her feet. “It’s going to be okay,” she said to the little girl as she passed by her. “Juliette will take care of you.” Her eyes locked onto her sister where she saw nothing but steely resolve. “You’ll be okay, I promise,” she said to Juliette as much as the little girl as she was led from the cell.

Mikale took her down a stone hall and shoved her into a room. It must have been a guard’s sleeping quarters or an old office. There was a small bed against the wall and a desk along the opposite with a small fireplace. She stumbled over her own feet and fell to the stone floor, her knees scraping open. With her hands still bound she couldn’t catch her balance quick enough. She cried out at the pain around her ribs as she landed.

“Get up,” Mikale snarled.

Scarlett pushed to her feet and held out her hands to him. “The least you could do is release my hands,” she snapped back.

“I am no idiot,” Mikale said. “I know how lethal you are. I know exactly how you were trained.” He grabbed her and yanked her dress up, snatching the dagger from where it was strapped to her thigh. He gave her a knowing smile, cutting the sleeves off the dress. Then, pointing her own blade at her, he said, “Take it off.”

His eyes glazed over as she slid her dress to the floor, and he took her in. He set the dagger on the desk and brought his hands to her, running them proprietarily down her sides, up her front. His words were cold and rough, and she fought every urge to flinch and jerk away from him. “May you always remember,” he whispered into her ear as he pulled her to him, “I get what I want.”

She closed her eyes while he did what he wanted. As she felt him press himself against her.As he laid her on that small, hard bed. She let her mind go anywhere but where she was as his hands touched and grabbed and took. As more than his hands did the same. There was nothing loving or gentle about what he wanted from her. She thought of walking along the beaches with Cassius. She thought of laughing and sparring with her sisters. She thought of dancing the nights away with her friends, carefree and happy. She thought of Callan and how it felt to be loved and in someone’s arms who cared for her not just because of what she was capable of, but because of the pieces of her she’d let him see.

When Mikale was done, he took her dress and chucked it into the fire burning it in the hearth. “To ensure you do not get any ideas,” he sneered, leaving the room. She managed to work the blanket around her shoulders and cover herself by the time he came back in. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back down the hall to the cell she had been in. Juliette and the little girl still stood, bound, but their gags had been removed.

“You got what you wanted,” Scarlett snarled. “Release them.”