The Darkest Sword by Samantha Kroese (ebook voice reader txt) 📕

Ashiyn was unaccustomed to feeling the absolute terror that wracked his mind. Every one of his Master’s rants about Rurik’s perversions came flooding back. “I should return to my Master. He will be displeased.”

Rurik cornered Ashiyn so close that Ashiyn stumbled back into a bookcase, spilling tomes onto the floor. “My brother is never pleased. Do you think I care? You came unbidden into my tower and sought to steal secrets. My brother understands punishment.” Rurik reached to trail a talon down Ashiyn’s cheek. “You’ve grown into something quite marvelous, young Prince. My brother may not appreciate your beauty, but I do.”

Ashiyn shuddered at the touch, his terror only escalating. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t use his magic. His heart thudded so loud in his chest he thought it might explode. The presence of the priest was overwhelming, it drove away all sense. It made him want to submit, if only to appease this monster, so he could flee.

Rurik leaned close to Ashiyn’s ear, his voice a perverse hiss, “Go back to your Master, little rabbit. If I catch you in my tower again, I will thoroughly enjoy teaching you terror and humiliation you cannot even imagine.”

Ashiyn cringed as the monster’s hands traced over him. Then the oppressive magic lifted, and he immediately launched himself through the shadows back to Rhadamanthus’s castle. Once he closed the pathway with his magic and he was back in the safety of his chambers, he fell to his hands and knees and vomited from the terror and the implications of what could have happened. He would have been powerless to stop it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ashiyn spent the next several days quiet and sullen. He’d learned nothing about the blade that could help him kill Rhadamanthus. And he could still feel Rurik’s touch and the beast’s hot, foul breath. It did not improve how he felt about Soryn being stuck there, but he dared not ask Rhadamanthus for Soryn. And he dared not go and try to steal him. He wanted to go visit, but he was terrified of being caught by the priest again. And what if Rurik told Rhadamanthus that Ashiyn had been there and asked his brother’s permission to punish him? Would Rhadamanthus allow it? Ashiyn did not think so, but he was uncertain now.

He stood mulling those things over in the hallway outside of his chambers when his elderly servant, Sark, limped up to him. Ashiyn narrowed his eyes. “What is it?”

“Master, the slave woman. She refuses to eat,” the servant mumbled, shaking in terror and bowing low even though the movement pained him. “She won’t tell us why.”

Ashiyn waved the servant away, rubbing his head. He could feel a headache coming on. The last thing he wanted to deal now with was this stubborn woman. Maybe he should just kill her. He pulled open the door to her cell and scowled at her from the hallway. “How long will you test my patience?”

Annalysa gasped and scrambled back on the bed, her eyes wide with terror. “You died. I saw him kill you!”

Ashiyn rolled his eyes. He really wasn’t in the mood for that reaction either. “I’m an immortal, you silly woman. I die, I come back. It is a normal day around here. Please tell me you weren’t starving yourself because I nobly sacrificed myself for your honor or some such foolishness.”

Annalysa’s gaze softened with pity. “He kills you like that every day?”

Ashiyn walked into the cell and slammed the door shut behind him then glared at her. “I don’t want your pity, slave.”

“Seems to me you’re a slave as well, my Prince,” Annalysa muttered, crossing her arms. “You have to do what he says, or he kills you.”

Ashiyn drew his sword and narrowed his eyes. “I no longer have the patience to deal with you.”

“Why? Because I’m defiant like you? I thought you said you liked that,” Annalysa said, her eyes locked on the blade. “I don’t fear death, Prince. That will only send me to my family. This is going poorly, though. I should thank you for not doing as he said, especially with the high price you pay for defiance.”

Ashiyn rested the tip of his blade on the floor and leaned heavily on it. “I told you I would not take you against your will. I am not my Master. And I have no need to take what others freely give. I could go outside and down to the court and a dozen women would throw themselves at my feet begging me to take them to bed.”

“Not at all humble, are you?” Annalysa snorted. “Why would you be then? Your life is unusual, my Prince. Most men have to seek a woman’s favor before she’ll jump into his bed.” She sobered and looked to the door. “He’ll come back, won’t he?”

“Yes. Until I have properly learned my lesson,” Ashiyn shrugged.

“If I submit to being your bed slave, he will leave us alone?” Annalysa asked as she rose from the bed. “I think I would much prefer you over him.”

“Most certainly you would,” Ashiyn snorted. “He would tear you apart as he used you.”

Annalysa grimaced, then walked closer to Ashiyn. “I don’t want to die that way. I have changed my mind. I will do as you say until such time as you tire of me and give me my freedom.”

Ashiyn slid his blade back into place on his back before she could get close enough to touch it, not trusting her. After all, he had seen her cut down the guards with their own weapons. “Maybe I don’t want it any longer. You are a nuisance. I should just kill you and be done with you.”

Annalysa slowly undid the buttons of her shirt, revealing her chest. “You are a man of strong needs, my Prince. That is clear.