Dark Stallion (4 page)

Emma felt her chest tighten at that. King Fart had
stolen
their babies? The bastard!

The dark haired one frowned thoughtfully. “I saw none in the dungeon ….”

“Because they had already been taken to work the mines!” Colwin said angrily, grinding his teeth in his irritation. “They had a dozen with them when me and the others were captured—several barely old enough to walk!”

Emma thought for several moments that she would throw up as images swarmed in her mind of little baby centaurs working in a mine, probably beaten, too, if the blonde’s condition was anything to go by.

The dark one surged toward her abruptly and snatched the gag from her mouth. “Why were you climbing out the window?”

Emma sniffed, redirecting her mind from the babies with an effort. She’d been so consumed with her own plight, she hadn’t thought about anyone else being held at that horrible castle against their will. “To escape.”

The brothers exchanged a speaking glance. “You expect us to believe you didn’t want to marry the king?”

Emma gaped at the blond when he asked her that. “Have you seen that …
pig
?” she demanded indignantly. “Would you want something like that slobbering all over you?”

They both looked doubtful and uncomfortable at that question.

“What were you doing at the castle at all if you didn’t go there to marry the king?”

Emma was about to inform him that she certainly hadn’t gone willingly when it abruptly occurred to her that they weren’t likely to believe her story.
She
didn’t believe it, and it had happened to her! Beyond that, this was a far more primitive society than she was familiar with. What if they
did
believe her but thought it was some kind of magic? It might make them anxious to get rid of her—permanently if they thought she was some sort of witch!

“I don’t know,” she answered hesitantly after a brief pause. “I just … woke up there. I don’t know how I got there.”

At least that much was the absolute truth.

“And the king just decided to marry you?” the dark one demanded, disbelief evident in his voice.

She glared at him. “Evidently, he liked my hair!” she snapped crossly. “All of them have black hair—or at least, all of them that I saw.”

“Now that you have brought that up,” the blond said, “where is it that you come from?”

“I have not seen a hoonan with hair anything like yours in all of mearth,” the dark one said.

Emma was about to ask him to verify that he was talking about the place where they were when the blond interrupted.

“It is not as if you have traveled far and wide, Aydin! She is certainly from a distant realm we are not familiar with.”

“And in your wild adventuring, have you seen a hoonan with hair like hers?” Aydin asked, his voice tight with irritation.

“If I had, then I would not have asked her!”

“I hate to interrupt when you two seem to be in the middle of a family quarrel, but is it possible that I could get a drink of water?”

“He has not brought a skin!” Colwin said condescendingly in Aydin’s direction, as if to point out that she was blind.

“
That’s
what you were talking about!” Emma said, suddenly painfully aware of how dry her throat was. “We don’t have any water at all?”

“We have no supplies at all,” Aydin responded, his words clipped.

“Except your short sword,” Emma agreed.

“That is a weapon, not a supply,” Adyin responded tartly.

“But you could kill something with it so we could eat, right?”

He stared at her blankly. “It is a sword!”

“Isn’t that like a knife, though?”

The two brothers exchanged another look, and Emma realized they were beginning to get suspicious about her origins. “Well, could I at least go somewhere and … you know.”

“I do not know. Do not speak in riddles!”

Emma narrowed her eyes at the blond. She was starting to dislike him. “Pee.”

That elicited another blank look.

“Piss, damn it!”

Aydin looked amused. She was starting to dislike him, too! “If you have the need, then piss.”

Emma gasped with indignation. “Here?”

“It is all woods.”

Emma planted her fists on her hips. “I don’t care if it
is
all woods! I’m not going to … go with you two watching me!”

Aydin shrugged. “I have already seen your woman’s mound when I tossed up your skirts.”

She felt her face heat, but that didn’t prevent her from giving him a drop dead look. “Asshole!” she muttered under her breath. “You’re as bad as
they
are!”

“What did you say?”

Emma sent him an uneasy look. “Nothing.”

“Repeat it,” he demanded in a thundering voice.

Emma cleared her throat. “I said that you’re as bad as they are!”

“Before that.”

“What do you mean they?” Colwin demanded.

“Those people—back at the castle.”

“Be still, Colwin!” Aydin ground out. “Tell me the word you used before.”

Emma bit her lower lip. She wasn’t about to repeat it if he was going to use that tone of voice. In fact, she was sorry she’d said it all!

“So you are not from King Bart’s realm,” Colwin said triumphantly.

“I never said I was,” she said crossly.

“You also did not tell where you
are
from,” Adyin said pointedly.

And she wasn’t going to either!

He studied her for several moments and finally shook his head in irritation. “Come, woman! I will take you to the stream for water and you may relieve yourself.”

“We are near a stream?” Colwin asked indignantly. “Why did you not say so before?”

Aydin gave him a look. “Your nose should have told you that, Colwin! And if not your nose, then your ears. You have been too long with the hoonans if your senses have failed you!”

“You can …
smell
water?” Emma asked a little uneasily.

He sent her a look she had trouble deciphering. “Aye. I can.”

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Chapter Three

“I have a name,” Emma said a little resentfully when Aydin had helped her to her feet. She didn’t know whether to be glad or uncomfortable that he settled one hand loosely around her upper arm once she was standing. Most of the numbness from poor circulation had passed, but she was still painfully stiff.

On the other hand, he had made that comment about his sense of smell, and she didn’t exactly feel as fresh as a flower.

Then, too, it was a strong indication, she thought, that he thought of her as a prisoner. She supposed there shouldn’t have been any doubts in her mind about that all things considered, but there was an element to the situation that had almost as much the feel of a rescue as it did captivity.

He sent her a look. “But I do not know it.”

“Emma.”

“That is a strange name,” he murmured curiously.

He should talk about strange, Emma thought wryly!

“Very … exotic, just as your hair is.”

Exotic? Emma? She found it oddly pleasing that he thought so when it was so old fashioned.

They didn’t walk far before she heard the sound of rushing water herself. She’d more than half suspected—maybe just hoped—that he was exaggerating his sense of hearing and smell. Not that she wasn’t thrilled to hear water when she was so thirsty both from the running and the damned gag that it was all she could do to gather enough spit in her mouth to moisten it even a little, but ….

It dawned on her that she found him attractive, regardless of whether she’d consciously acknowledged it before or not, or she wouldn’t have been so concerned that he might find her unattractive.

That was dangerous in too many ways to count! They hadn’t rescued her, regardless of the sense of relief and gladness she felt at being free of the horrible man who’d decided he was going to marry her—and the hell with how she felt about it!

Not that she’d had the nerve to actually inform him hell could freeze over before she would actually consider it! But, if he hadn’t been such an arrogant, conceited jackass, he would’ve figured it out when she threw up all over him right after he’d forced a kiss on her!

She shuddered at the memory. If she hadn’t felt so horrible, what she’d done would’ve terrified her right then. She had, however, and it wasn’t until they’d dragged her up the stairs and locked her in her room that it had occurred to her the disgusting bastard was a king. He could’ve had her slain right then and there if he’d been of a mind to. It was just dumb luck that he happened to be fearful enough of catching something that he’d decided she was sickening with something—besides his stench!

She’d decided it wasn’t a good idea to wait around for the promised visit from his physician, though! Quite aside from the fact that he might have been able to determine that she wasn’t sick at all and the possible consequences of that, it was almost as terrifying to think of being quacked by a primitive ‘man of medicine’! God only knew what sort of things might have occurred to him to do to her to help her get well!

Aydin dragged her from her frightening thoughts when he halted. “You may relieve yourself there,” he said, pointing to a clump of low growing shrubs, “but make it quick if you do not want company.”

Emma surveyed the bushes uneasily. “There isn’t anything … I need to watch out for, is there?”

He released her arm and moved away from her. “Only the wildlife.”

Thank you for reassuring me, Emma thought indignantly, glaring at his back as he stalked to the edge of what appeared to be a fairly large stream. In little more than the blink of an eye, he shifted from centaur to man. Colwin, who’d walked with them, also shifted. She was still staring at them in stunned disbelief when they unfastened the loincloths around their waists with a complete lack of concern, dropped them on the bank, and dove in.

The gleam of moonlight on their muscular bodies was enough to send her into a trance. Fortunately, the splash of water when they went in broke the spell, and she turned away before they surfaced. After studying the bushes unhappily for a long moment, she gathered the heavy skirts high enough to walk and picked her way over to the nearest bush. When she’d crouched down and saw that the bush created a reasonably effective privacy screen, combined with the fact that the sound of rushing water would thankfully muffle what she was doing, she gathered the yards of fabric in her arms and relieved herself.

It was almost orgasmic. She hadn’t realized just how badly she needed to empty her bladder until she finally could!

It felt too good to spend a lot of time chaffing over the fact that she’d had to squat in the woods but, unfortunately, with relief came a dawning of just how dire her situation was. They were in the woods. God only knew when she might have some hope of even a crude bathroom! As disgusting as she’d found the ‘handy’ pail in the room where she’d been imprisoned, it wasn’t as bad as baring her butt in the woods! There was a reason she’d never been a camping enthusiast back home, she liked modern plumbing.

Thrusting it from her mind with the reflection that she had more important things to worry about than discomfort, she moved away from the bushes and dropped the armload of fabric. Almost as soon as she did, she tripped. She didn’t know how women in the olden days had managed with all the damned clothes considered required for a lady! The yards and yards of fabric hanging from the waist of the dress would’ve been bad enough, but she’d had to wear an underskirt that almost seemed like it was twice as voluminous! And, as if it wasn’t enough to be weighed down with all of that, a corset that squeezed her lungs so tightly she was almost surprised her eyeballs hadn’t popped out of her head.

Well, the centaurs didn’t appear to worry about wearing a lot of clothes—or any, for that matter! She decided to remove the underskirt at least and reached beneath the skirt to untie it. It took a few moments to find the tie and then to untangle it, but the moment she dropped the underskirt she felt so much lighter it was almost like floating. Stepping out of it, she considered whether to just abandon it or not and finally decided that might not be a good idea when all she had was what she was wearing.

Gathering it up, she moved down to the bank and studied the two men, who were now standing in the water rather than swimming. The moonlight gleamed off their wet bodies, exposed to well below the waist and, for a moment, she was captivated by the view. She shook it off with an effort, realizing they were liable to consider it an invitation.

She didn’t particularly find the idea of bathing in a stream appealing. She’d always had just a little bit of a phobia about natural bodies of water, but nature’s bathroom was all she had to work with. Aydin’s earlier comment was enough to convince her to make her way carefully down the bank and see what she could do to bathe a little ‘scent’ off. The clothing hadn’t exactly smelled lovely when she’d been forced to put it on. In point of fact, she was pretty damned sure it had already been worn by someone else—who didn’t have more than a passing acquaintance with soap and water.

She took the underskirt with her with a vague notion of washing it, but she discovered as soon as she’d gotten it thoroughly wet that it was so heavy that two strong men would’ve had a problem washing the damned thing. And the two strong men at hand seemed more interested in watching her than helping. She struggled for a few moments to haul it out of the water again and finally gave up.