Free Three Worlds 01 - Seduce Me In Dreams by Jacquelyn Frank

She had definitely done neither in the past thirty minutes that they had been confined to this chamber. But during her captivity among this tribe, every one of the Nomaads had come to learn about the Chosen One Ravenna and her stunningly accurate visions.

    The Banda Nomaad suddenly jumped away from Rave as if she had burned him. She sagged forward with her release, but only for an instant. Kith watched through the fall of his hair as she threw back her shoulders and her hair with incredibly regal grace, and then hoisted herself to her feet so she could turn to face her assailants. It was no simple trick for her to regain her footing from a kneeling position when her arms were tied to a prison pole against her back. But Ravenna did it with poise and made it look easy. Kith felt so proud of her then that he was close to bursting with admiration and love. She had everyone‟s attention, but Kith knew that it was not her intention to escape, only to buy herself a little time, and a little power while she was at it.

    “What fools you are, wasting your opportunity with a Chosen One on beatings and lustful games when you could be finding out your futures. I can tell you the present and the past. I can tell you when you will die or when a family member will pass on. Would you not wish to know ways to obtain riches? No. You prefer to waste your time playing like barbarians! Pah!” she scoffed. “You wouldn‟t know what to do with the glory of a Chosen woman even if she drew up detailed instructions! I have a direct love with the gods!” she said feverishly. “They tell me their words and touch my mind! I am their child! They are looking down upon you even now. And what do you think the gods are feeling for you as you molest their daughter?”

    Rave let that sink in as she glanced surreptitiously at Kith, checking to see if her sensitive brother was well. Through the fall of his dusty hair, she saw the shine of amusement glittering from his hazel eyes. Rave then looked boldly at the guard who had thrust himself against her. He had turned white as chalk, not easy for a swarthy-skinned Banda Nomaad. He was also sweating up a storm under his burnoose even though the climate underground in their new prison was cool and controlled. She stepped up to him and saw his Adam‟s apple working hard as he swallowed.

    “Do you wish to know your future, foolish one? I will give you another chance if you promise never to violate a Chosen woman in such a manner again. I will speak softly to the gods about you and convince them to ease their wrath.”

    “Yes, angel, I beg you.” He bowed at his waist, touching his fingertips to his forehead and then his heart in a traditional salaam. “We were ordered to lash you and to take the spirit from you, so you would be more docile a bride for the Shiasha of the ruling tribe.”

    “Yes, angel,” spoke up another guard quickly. “Though you have the queenly grace and manners that the Shiasha would find valuable in his bride, and your status as a Chosen One will bring our tribe much reward, your stubborn manner and prideful attitude is most unappealing in such a role. The Shiasha would be angry with our tribe if we produced a less than suitable—and biddable—bride to him.”

    “So you were ordered to shame me? To mar my perfectly unblemished skin with lashing?
    You think the Shiasha would want a scarred bride? Idiots! Who gave such a stupid order?”

    “The Shia of our tribe.”

    “Your king then. A minor king who thinks he knows what the Shiasha wants in a bride?”
    Again she scoffed with queenly derision. “And your little king would have a daughter of the gods beaten and then gifted to the Shiasha so that the curses of the gods would follow me to his household?”

    Every guard, to a man, gasped in horror. The Shiasha of this area was a powerful warlord.
    Everyone curried favor with him and scraped and bowed to avoid his wrath in even the smallest way. Even Rave and Kith‟s own