Free Bought by Charissa Dufour

Chapter One
    Bethany stared down at her ruined slippers.
They had been soft doe hide, perfect for dancing or a relaxed day
during the summer. Now they were so wet she could barely keep them
on her aching feet.
    Her dress hadn’t fared much better.
    The rich green fabric had turned a dull
brackish brown color after her recent plunge into the icy river and
the subsequent crawl through the mud. The wet folds of the skirting
clung to her legs until every curve showed. Bethany felt fresh
tears roll down her face and drip off her chin. Every inch of her
body ached.
    As a princess, she had never been forced to
walk farther than the castle bailey, but that life had ended with
the attack on her caravan.
    Bethany’s mind broiled with righteous
indignation. How dare they attack my caravan? How dare these
vagabonds take me prisoner! And how dare my father send me so near
King Wolfric’s land in the middle of a war? It is all his
fault.
    In Bethany’s short life, she had never before
experience true hatred toward any member of her family. She had
been angry with her parents for taking away a toy or keeping a
master on when she had tired of the subject, but that was a far cry
from the rage building up in her chest.
    Her father had sent her to Garrul to “lighten
the heart of her uncle” or rather to entertain the old, gouty
soldier. Bethany hadn’t wanted to go. She had even thrown a fit,
inappropriate for any twenty-year old, but common enough for her.
Though it usually worked, it had done nothing to sway her father,
and her mother did as her father bid.
    If it hadn’t been for them, I’d be safe at
home, rather than trekking through the woods of this forsaken
country.
    Bethany shifted her hands, trying to ease the
pressure on her wrists. The ropes were too tight!
    The princess glanced up from her feet to look
around at the men walking alongside the long row of captured
individuals. Something about them told her they were not part of
the group that had attacked her caravan. They had just been at the
right place to pick her up after her headlong run through the
woods.
    When the attack began, her lady-in-waiting
had sent her through the trap door of their wagon and into the
woods, to wait until the attackers had been killed. Somewhere out
there, her people were looking for her.
    A dusting of hope brushed across her senses.
They were looking for her! It was only a matter of time before they
found these slavers and freed her.
    “What’r you smilin’ ‘bout?” demanded one of
the men before pounding her on the back of the head with the hilt
of his sword.
    Bethany’s vision blurred as she slumped to
her knees, the rope tied around each of the slave’s necks cutting
into her flesh. The princess blinked a few times before her
eyesight cleared.
    “Choow…” she began, trying to say “how dare
you,” though the only sound to escape was a gagged choke.
    The slaver hauled her to her feet and pushed
the whole group forward.
    Bethany opened her mouth to try again before
clamping it shut. They didn’t know she was a princess, and she
needed to keep it that way. Besides, every time she tried to talk,
she risked spitting out the signet ring hidden in her mouth.
    The princess clamped her mouth shut and
stared fixedly at the back of the man in front her. All she had to
do was put one foot in front of the other. Her soldiers would
finish off that mob of vagrants who had attacked her caravan, and
then they would come in search of her. Another hour, maybe two, and
she would be safe, and warm, and happy all over again.
    Then will I have a word or two to share with
my parents!
    Two hours passed slowly by with the only
change being in her feet. A shoe had slipped off, and when she
tried to stop to retrieve it, the two men behind stumbled over her,
dragging the whole group down by the neck. The slavers cursed and
screamed as they beat their captives back into order, giving
Bethany a few extra blows to her back and shoulders as punishment
for