“You really are pathetic, Natalia. He is my property.”
“Slavery is illegal on Bor Narga.”
“Human slavery. He’s not human. He’s animal.”
One more cut, and the ropes fell from his wrists. The burning ceased.
“He is free,” Natalia said quietly.
Ochen touched her cheek. “Thank you.”
Delia shouted at her hunters and lunged for him, but Ochen had already formed the clear thought of his own lands in his mind. He aimed there, and Natalia, Delia, her hunters and the tiny room dissolved into light. The last things he saw were Natalia’s beautiful brown eyes, then he was home.
“So how was it?” Natalia’s mother peered at her over breakfast the next morning in the elegant dining room. Carefully placed screens kept the desert sun from being too harsh, and the result was a room of cool shadows and splashes of light.
“Terrible.” Natalia picked at her cold grouse eggs. “Delia did have a Dream Catcher, but he got away.”
“Good for him.” Arene Sorvenska sniffed. “I’d hate to be bound to that woman.”
“Yes, Delia’s men beat him. But he’s gone now.”
“Evil little witch. Best you don’t have anything more to do with her, dear.”
“No fear, Mama.”
“Good.” Arene sniffed and went back to reading her beloved newspaper.
Natalia had half-expected Ochen to come to her in the night. He hadn’t, of course. He was likely back in his mountain realm, wherever it was, healing and doing his best to forget about his captivity.
It wasn’t his fault he had to use me to free himself. He was desperate. It’s nothing personal.
She should be used to men using her by now. But the hurt when he’d confirmed that Delia had bribed him to choose her twisted like a hot knife. Of course he’d obeyed. His first concern had been to g
et away. If she were ever a captive, she’d be more worried about freeing herself than the feelings of her captors.
At least he’d given her a glimpse of what passion was like. She should be satisfied with that and go on.
Natalia threw down her napkin and sprang to her feet. No. She was tired of being unsatisfied, tired of making do, tired of resigning herself to disappointment. Was this what her life was to be, quietly living down her humiliation with no chance at real happiness?
Her mother looked up in surprise. “Is something wrong, dear?”
“I’m going out. A long way out. A trip into the desert. It may be a while.”
“To a meditation centre? Good idea, dear. You’ve been restless lately.”
“I’ll pack and go today.”
Arene smiled. “Have a good time.” Natalia bent so her mother could kiss her cheek. She left the room, hearing her mother’s “Dear, dear,” before she turned back to her newspaper.
The Sorvenskas’ hunter and gamekeeper wasn’t optimistic about Natalia’s chances of finding a Dream Catcher, let alone a specific one, but he agreed to take her to the mountains. After all, the Sorvenskas paid well.
He led Natalia past the Eastern Rim to an area so remote and treacherous that they had to tackle the last miles on foot. Natalia had never been in mountains, had never left the great desert around the oasis city where most of humanity dwelled.
The uplands were cool and moist, strange to her. Trees grew straight out of the cliffs so thick that the rocks could barely be seen. Even in her sturdy hunting boots and leggings, Natalia slipped and slid, cut her hands through her gloves. Exercises that kept a lady trim were not good training for climbing through mountains. The gamekeeper, Bahl, was patient with her, but she could see he worried.
Ahead of her Bahl stopped suddenly. The trail he’d been breaking the last day or so ceased abruptly at the edge of a gorge. The gorge spanned at least 1,000 feet and dropped to a misty river far below.
Bahl wiped his forehead. “We’ll have to turn back, my lady. We don’t have enough supplies to go much further, only enough to get back to our transport.”