Free The Iron Princess by Sandra Lake

still had a chance to break free and run for it.
    All eyes around the table were on her—they were well entertained by their senior commander. A greasy tongue flicked at her ear.
Oh, that is foul.
Snapping her head to her shoulder, dislodging his tongue from her ear.
    “Don’t worry,
zaika
, I like wives as much as I like whores.” His hand released her waist, making aim for her chest. As he was about to claw at her breast, she twisted off his lap and backed away from the filthy beast. The soldiers jeered, their laughter growing even louder.
    Katia grabbed a knife from a platter of meat and held it out in front of her. The officer who had threatened her was no longer laughing. His eyes stayed locked on hers as he slowly pushed up from the bench and stepped toward her. She leapt back, waving the blade in front of her, deflecting his pursuit. She was prevented from running for the exit by several large soldiers who had stood up to surround her, eager to see how their entertainment would play out.
    The officer’s rage was rapidly sobering him up. This was not good.
    “Wife!” The word came from above her, from a male with a deep, dark voice. “Why are you holding a blade to my good friend Vladimir?” Katia craned her head up to find a pair of green eyes staring down at her. She tried to smile but gulped instead.
What in the devil?
    “Apologies, Vlad, my wife does not understand the Slavic tongue nor your customs. Always finding her way into trouble, this one.” Lothair smiled at the officer and then smacked Katia’s bottom hard, marking his territory. He draped his heavy arm around her shoulder.
    “
Better to stick with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know
,” her grandmother had always said. Katia swallowed her pride, batted her eyelashes, and began to play the part of bewildered, stupid wife. It was not hard to play, since she did feel overwhelmingly dim at the moment.
    Vladimir’s eyes squinted, questioning the validity of the statement, not quite ready to let go of his target. “No one informed me that you brought a wife to Bogolyubovo.”
    Lothair pushed Katia behind him and stood toe to toe with the man that challenged his claim. “I did not bring a wife.” He stared the man down. “She is disobedient and followed me here from Turku. I will be sending her back tomorrow with the trade convoy.” He growled out his words.
    “Leave her above stairs. I will not answer for what my men deem to be fair game,” Vladimir said.
    “Understood,” Lothair said. For a long moment, the two men glared at each other. Lothair’s hold on her arm tightened as he backed them toward the side exit. A dozen drunk soldiers watched with interest.
    The sounds of the hall began to fade behind them and the dark corridor swallowed them into the shadows. Katia tripped on an uneven stone, her eyes not yet accustomed to the dark. Her blood pulsed with a mixture of fear, relief, and annoyance. What was
he
doing here? After all these years, to find him among her family’s enemies was gutting.
    Lothair pulled her down a dark, secluded passageway and shoved her up against the cold wall. “What the hell are you doing here?” he snarled.
    “What am I doing here?” she repeated incredulously. “What are
you
doing here? How do those soldiers know you? Are you one of them?” She launched her counterattack. If German tribes had begun to join with the Rus and Slavic forces, betraying the peace alliance with Sweden, all hope may have been lost already.
    He was breathing hard and for a moment all she could smell was the ale on his breath and the cedar scent of his skin. He was truly her Lothair, her greatest triumph and bitterest defeat. “Answer my question.” He ground out his words between his clenched teeth. “Did your father send you here?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous, of course he did not send me here. He has no idea where I am.” She peeled his fingers from her arms. He had been gripping her so tightly that she