Free Chains of Revenge by Keziah Hill Page A

amused contempt.
    Had she dreamed their delicious early morning tryst? From the way he avoided her eyes, she hadn’t. She threw off the blanket then raised herself, leaning on her elbows with her legs open.
    ‘What are your plans?’ she asked.
    He turned to her while buttoning his shirt, then let his gaze rest on her. His face was impassive but Lissa noticed the slight tremor in his hands and the fast beating vein in his neck. She smiled seductively. He turned away from her.
    ‘To see to the fortifications. You’d do well to check on your own work, My Lady. Our wedding will be later today. No doubt our subjects would like to celebrate.’
    She sighed and climbed out of bed. ‘You don’t have to tell me my duties. I’m well aware of what my people need. Father was mostly off making war and financially crippling us,’ she said with rising irritation. ‘I know what it takes to keep Horvald going.’
    ‘Excellent.’ He stared at her as she started to pull an old dress over her head. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ She frowned at him.
    ‘The chains. You are my slave after all.’
    He picked up the gold harness and slipped it onto her, tying it at the neck. ‘That’s better.’ He pushed her wild, curling hair away from her face. ‘You are so beautiful,’ he muttered, then gently kissed her lips.
    She cupped his face in her hand. Turning, he captured her hand in his and kissed her palm.
    ‘Enough,’ he said. ‘There is work to do.’ With that he strode from the room barking orders to his compatriots.
    He was such a strange, complex man. Full of emotions he couldn’t let himself feel. Well, it seemed he didn’t want to hurt her at least. Not physically anyway. For that she had to be grateful. No, not grateful. She would not let herself fall into that trap. She would demand her rights and respect. The gold harness she didn’t mind so much since, truthfully, she found it incredibly arousing, but she would not be led like a dog. He would need to understand that.
    She pulled on her dress and made her way to the water room. After a quick sluice, particularly to the parts of her body that ached with unaccustomed use, an ache that was far from unpleasant, she dressed and made her way to the dining room. Devadas and his compatriots, Luc and Alain, were wolfing down food and talking about what Antos might plan. The women of the house were eating breakfast at the other end of the table.
    Lissa notice some quick, knowing glances between Devadas’s two right-hand men and Ella and Xanthy. Well, well. Maybe they suffered from some pleasant aches this morning as well. The two young women giggled and murmured to each other.
    ‘Ella, Xanthy, I’ll need you to go through the stores with me today. Is Ris here? We’ll need to plan a feast for tonight.’
    ‘A feast?’ Xanthy said, a wide smile on her face. ‘That’s good news.’ Then her face fell as she glanced fearfully at Devadas. ‘At least I think it is ….’ she trailed away.
    Devadas’s smile resembled a grimace. ‘Of course it’s good news, Miss Xanthy. Weddings are always good news, aren’t they, My Lady?’ She didn’t immediately answer him. Crossing to him, she held his face in her hands.
    ‘Yes, My Lord. This wedding is good news indeed.’
    She kissed him gently then rested her forehead against his. He closed his eyes for a moment, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
    Luc cleared his throat. Devadas opened his eyes and stared at Lissa. Gone was the despair, replaced with something that looked like ease. Acceptance. Hope for a future for them bloomed in Lissa’s breast. Maybe they could take their history and make it work for them. He stroked her arm as he turned away.
    ‘Come,’ he said to his men. ‘We need to do a tour of the town fortifications.’ As they pulled on their leather armour and checked their weapons, he frowned.
    ‘There is no need for you to go outside the town’s walls is there?’ he asked Lissa.
    She shook her head.