Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (17 page)

“You should not have come here
.
I
understand that you begged to be taken here, but I don’t know why.
I don’t buy that you tried to come here for me, because despite what you seem to believe, you did not know me.
We were never lovers.
At some point, you will need to tell me the real reason why you are here.”

“What would that change?
You said I cannot go home regardless.
I
don’t think I’ll tell you anything more, especially since you don’t believe anything I’ve been telling you.
I see no reason to cooperate with you if you will not offer me anything in return.”

“You cannot have your freedom, not when we are in a war
.
If you cooperate, you’ll find yourself in a more pleasant situation.
You
really
have no choice but to cooperate.
That is the lot of a slave, to obey the master.”

She went ballistic.
“Slave?
Am I a slave?
I thought I was a prisoner, but a slave is worse than a prisoner.”

“You are a prisoner
.
”

“So why did you mention slavery?”

He sighed, knowing she would not be able to handle what he had to tell her.
“Prisoners that aren’t killed are
eventually
enslaved.”

She
made a pained expression
.
“What happens to the slaves?”

He knew she would continue to ask him the question until he answered.
“They serve their master
by doing whatever the master requires.
Sometimes they are entranced so they can carry out their tasks without troubling the master.”

“What tasks?”

He had difficulty looking into her eyes, knowing that they would soon fill with hatred and despair.
“For a female, likely the tasks would
involve
pleasures of the flesh
.
There are few females
here.”

“I would rather they have me killed
.
”

“They would have you entranced.
You wouldn’t care what happened to you then; you would perform any tasks without thinking or feeling.”

“That’s not acceptable
.
It would be better if they went ahead and killed me.
I can make certain they’ll kill me, too.
I’ll just attack one of them so they have no choice but to kill me.”

She was starting to concern him.
Her voice was flat and she looked at him with lifeless eyes.
“You’re not thinking straight.”

“I’ll attack you in your sleep.
They’ll find your dead body and then they’ll
kill me.”

He wasn’t sure what to do with the woman.
She was despondent and desperate; such a thing could make her highly dangerous to
herself
and to others.
He wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t try to take her own life.
He regretted telling her what could happen to her.
He could now see why others chose to have their humans entranced.
He grabbed her and forced her to look into his eyes so that he could
attempt to entrance her.
He wasn’t an expert at entrancement, but he was adept enough for the task.
He mentally compelled her to feel calm and relaxed and to be free of concerns or worries.
It seemed to work, but he
didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in case the effects didn’t last.
He led her to the den and sat her on the sofa.
He sat down next to her and she leaned on top of him, resting her head against his chest.
He let her
rest there, as she had finally calmed and he didn’t wish to disturb her.
When she started to rub her hand on his chest and kiss his neck, he knew something had gone wrong with the entrancement.
It wasn’t supposed to have that kind of effect.
“What are you doing?”

She didn’t respond, but continued to touch him, running her hand toward his stomach.
He lifted her head and looked into her eyes.
They appeared dull and lifeless, the signs of heavy entrancement.
She had as much
function
ing as an amoeba in that state; she may not even be capable of following directions or commands.
With his hybrid senses, he could actually smell her arousal, but he couldn’t explain how she had come to be in such a state.
She moved her hand lower, just past his stomach.
He covered her hand with his own.
“Stop.”
She obeyed that command and stopped moving her hand
.
H
owever, she climbed on top of him and straddled him.
She locked her thighs tightly against the sides of his torso and began to grind against him.
He forced her to look into his eyes while he broke the entrancement, as something was definitely wrong.

He watched as her dreamy expression turned to watchful wariness.
“What did you do to me?”

“You were too upset, so I tried to entrance you.
It didn’t work,” he said.

“You wanted to mentally drug me, make me into some kind of automaton or robot?
Just because I was upset?
That sounds kind of extreme.”
She tried to unlock her thighs from around his torso.
“I don’t want to be impaired like that again.
Don’t try to entrance me again.”

“You were distraught.
You started making threats, so I had to do something to get you to obey me
.
”

She was absolutely pissed.
“I see.
One must entrance their slaves when they don’t obey.
I recall you making
that statement.
Was that why I was sitting on you?
Did you command me to do that?”

The way she had been rubbing herself against him had been torture, especially since he had already told her that he wouldn’t use her
for sexual reasons.
“No.
I told you the entrancement didn’t work.
You did all of the sitting and touching on your own.”

“I was out of my mind thanks to your entrancement.
That makes it your fault.”

The entrancement had been a bad idea.
He hadn’t liked the way she had turned into a mindless vegetable, and he sure couldn’t understand why some of their people, like Brett and
Brendan, liked to keep females in such a state.
“Will you at least agree not to do anything that would endanger yourself or others?
I’m not asking you to do much.
You only need to stay here and be mindful of the rules.
You’ll be interrogated some more, but you will not be tortured.
If you wish to confess to anything, I’ll
try to broker some kind of deal for you.”

“I’ll agree to do that, but I have nothing to confess.
I’ve already told you why I came here.
There’s not much else I can say.”

He nodded.
“Alright.
You should get some sleep.”
He walked her to the small guest room and she climbed
inside the bed.
He went to his own bed and slept alone.

***

Eden collapsed in a heap on the bed, but she couldn’t sleep.
She noted the fact that he had placed her in the guest room instead of his own room.
It was surely an ominous sign.
She was emotionally drained and weary.
She had been so excited when she had found herself at Donovan, thinking
a happy reunion would take place.
She had thrown herself in Drest’s arms, expecting him to
do his transporting thing.
Only he didn’t do it
.
H
e
had just
stood there holding her awkwardly.
When she had looked into his eyes, she had seen no signs of recognition.
He
looked at her like she
was a stranger to him.
Even though
he
was acting differently, she had thought when he began to touch her that things would return to normal between them.
She realized her mistake when she became aware that he had not taken her to the lodge.
She still could not believe that he had taken her to an interrogation room.
He had taken her right there on the table and she had let him.
When she had started to question him about things,
she had
felt him tugging at her mind
, trying to influence her.
S
he didn’t appreciate the violation.
He hadn’t done that before when they had been together.

He genuinely seemed to have no memory of her.
She was starting to think she may have lost her mind
, that
their past life together was a delusion and a fantasy.
He seemed like a different person to her now, so cold and distant
.
The male she once knew and loved did not exist any longer.
She was ready to give up; it was too painful to be in Asstrumnia near Drest when he claimed to have no knowledge of her.
Going back to Avenal would probably ensure she was given to that hateful Roman, but she couldn’t stay here.

She turned restlessly in the bed.
He had told her that t
here would be no more sex.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
How else would she fill her days and nights during her captivity?
She had assumed when he brought her to his lodge that they would have frequent intercourse, like
before.
He had been unable to keep his hands off her back then, but that was after he had marked her.
Perhaps the attraction was one sided and he had only felt desire for her because of the mating bond
.
N
ow that the bond was broken, he felt nothing at all.
He was a sexual creature and she
feared he would seek gratification
in the arms of
some other female.
She knew the feelings of jealousy swamping her were not rational.
Now that he had taken her in the interrogation room, he was no longer interested in her sexually.
He didn’t want her.
S
he
feared that she would eventually
be farmed out to another
, forced to be a slave in the worst possible way
.

He was not human.
How did she let herself forget that fact?
He had
hybrid abilities and he had the nerve to use them on her.
He had done something to her with his mind.
Her memory was foggy, but she remembered that he had manipulated her mind into some kind of altered state.
Her thoughts had fled and she felt drugged.
The next thing she had been aware of was the feel of Drest’s body underneath hers.
Her thighs had been wrapped around him and she had been grinding herself against him.
She had thought that she was dreaming.
He had looked as embarrassed as she felt, and it was clear that he was uncomfortable with the result of his mind tricks.
He had told her that the entrancement didn’t work.
She assumed that it was a method he planned to use to control her.
She was
glad that it didn’t work.
She wondered what they would do to her.
Would they have her killed?
Would Drest care enough to protect her?
Probably not.
He claimed he didn’t know her or remember her.
He saw her as an enemy.
She would
have to find some way to escape, preferably
while she still possessed some shreds of her sanity
.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

The next morning, B
elenos arrived to check on the prisoner
.
Drest talked with him for a few minutes before leaving for the College of Bards.
Eden was grateful for the company, although she wasn’t sure why he was suddenly being so kind and considerate to her.
He stayed for a few hours,
then
at the noon hour, he returned with lunch.
He shared a pie with her that had cheese and meat on it; he called it a pizza.
She had never had anything remotely like it before, but it was delicious.

Late that afternoon, the druid, Ninian Byrne, arrived to interrogate her.
She didn’t feel comfortable
meeting with him alone, as he had been the one who had conducted the intrusive examination on her.
“Drest isn’t here.”

“I came to see you,” Ninian said.
“I want you to take a seat on the sofa.”
He waited while she sat down, then he pulled up a chair and sat opposite her.
“I’m going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer truthfully.”