Free Duality by Renee Wildes Page A

back to her and she took a deep shuddering breath. It’s just pain, not true damage. Pain’s our friend. Tells us we’re still alive. She forced stillness, glared up at him. “No brand in the world changes the fact we were born free and we’ll die free. You’ll rule naught.”
    “I’ll rule everything. I’m the sun in your little world, slave.” He loomed over her. “Know what you are?”
    Dara tensed as his hand curled around her throat and slid betwixt her breasts. Just a little closer… She sucked in her stomach muscles as his hand glided lower. Her skin crawled, but she focused on the distance. Closer…closer… Finally! “The moon in your worst nightmare,” she snarled, arching up by the chains. She wrapped her legs around his neck and twisted as hard as she could.
    It would have snapped his neck were it less thick with muscle. She groaned. Breaking a neck was a quick death. Strangling took a lot more strength, and time. Time for a skilled target to fight back. She squeezed with her legs, tightening her muscles until they screamed in protest.
    She blocked out that pain, blocked out the fists beating against her. Sweat poured down her face. Her lungs burned, threatening to burst if she didn’t exhale soon. The blows weakened. She pictured Jalad’s face turning from red to purple, from blue to grey. The blows stopped, and her grateful thighs loosened as she gasped for breath.
    Too soon, her mind screamed, as his fingers dug into her upper thigh. Her entire leg went slack.
    He rolled off the bed, wheezing, and his face lightened. Dara collapsed, her strength spent. She’d tried, and failed. She’d not get another chance. He’d kill her for certain now. Lady, may another succeed where I failed. Let me welcome death with dignity .
    He staggered to his feet, hands on his knees, dragging in air like a foundered horse. Dara held no illusions about her future. My life for Moira’s and the baby’s. So be it. Hold my tongue, I beg you.
    He straightened and opened his mouth, frowning when a harsh croak emerged. He swallowed several times as his breathing returned to normal. His eyes targeted her.
    She tried to look defiant, but ached all over from the beating. “Go ahead and kill me. Might want a bow and arrow, though. Getting close to me is dangerous.”
    The last thing she expected was a harsh laugh and look of grudging respect. He grinned, a far more daunting sight than his rage. “I’ll carry your mark the rest of my days. As you do mine.” His voice was like crushed stone.
    “I failed to kill you. Don’t make the same mistake.”
    His laughter crawled over her. “Kill you? What a waste. You’ll be more useful to me alive. Who’d suspect a woman assassin? A healer knowing poisons. A warrior skilled with weapons and unarmed combat. A woman trained to be skilled in bed.” He smiled, an unholy light in his eyes. “All three trussed up in my bed like a birthing-day present. With proper conditioning you’ll be a most useful acquisition.”
    Horror twisted like a knife in her gut. “I’ll never serve you.”
    “Stronger than you have tried, and failed. Women have unique weaknesses you’ve never explored. I shall enjoy educating you.” His dark eyes gleamed in the torchlight. Something darker yet slid behind that look. “Anyone can be broken. Never doubt that.”
    She swallowed hard.
    “Much as the sight of you in my bed appeals, you’ll find your new accommodations more…persuasive. Were you ever down in the old dungeons?”
    The old dungeons below the cellars hadn’t been opened in a century. Hengist’s justice was swift and sure, appropriate to the crime. Bodies languishing in a cell were no use to anyone.
    Knowing Jalad, they were probably the first place he’d found after taking the keep. She gritted her teeth as he unhooked her chains from the wall and pulled her toward him.
    “Never been down there? It’s full of interesting things. I’ve great plans for them.”
    Her imagination