The Eden Series: The Complete Collection (17 page)

Inside was filled from floor to ceiling with things. Maps were laid out on a large table, weapons leaned up against the sides of the room, armour sat scattered around the tent, and candles sat on every surface, casting a low glow about the tent. On the left side was a large bed, covered with fur blankets and numerous pillows. There was even a large rug on the ground, making it feel less like a tent and more like a room you’d find in a palace. The man tossed her inside and told her to sit until someone came for her. She walked over to a chair that was in front of the large desk and sat down. The man followed, tying her hands to the back of the chair so she couldn’t run again. He left then, and she sat alone amongst the prince’s things. Looking over at the desk, she saw a large map of Eden unrolled with lines drawn on it. She assumed these were their routes, since all lines led to the Capital City. Her heart beat faster as she thought about her poor brother who was living there.

The flaps opened again, and he walked in, throwing down his sword with the rest of the weapons and taking off the fur vest he had been wearing against the cold. His upper body was bare now, letting Rose see every muscle in his chest. He was extremely fit, larger than most men she had seen from Capital City. The northern life had affected him. He had scars everywhere as well, most likely from training. Rose knew that the army’s training in the mountains was very intense. They never held back, never used blunt weapons for practice. Everything was done as if they were in a real battle, so men were often injured. He walked over to her, going around behind the chair, and sliced the ropes with a small dagger he held in his hands. She could feel her anxiety rising, her mind racing through all the things he’d have planned for her. Blinking back tears, she kept her head held high, refusing to show him any fear. He looked down at her for a minute, his bare skin close to her face, but then he turned and walked toward the bed. Her breathing quickened. She was scared more than she wanted to admit. She had never lain with a man before and would have died rather than do it now with this tyrant.

Instead of calling her to him, he pulled the top fur blanket off the bed and placed it at the foot of the bed. He then proceeded to toss a pillow on top of what looked like makeshift bed.

“You will sleep there tonight,” he said in his elegant voice. Her body was frozen on the chair, too afraid to move a muscle. “Would you rather sleep on the chair?” he asked, his voice betraying his annoyance. She shook her head and slowly stood up, walking over to the blanket on the floor. He watched her intently as she curled herself into a ball on the floor, pulling the blanket up to her chin. Without another word, he climbed into bed himself. Rose didn’t hear another word from him for the rest of the night. Shortly after he climbed into bed, she heard his light snoring and knew he had fallen asleep. Her eyes were heavy too, finally closing on their own accord, and sending Rose into a deep sleep.

It was mid-afternoon when Rose finally woke up. The heat of midday filled the tent, causing sweat to build at the base of her neck. She threw the heavy blanket off her, sitting up with her knees to her chest. Looking around, she immediately noticed the empty sheets on the bed beside her. She hadn’t heard him wake up and leave, but she was certainly thankful he had. A small lady bustled in unexpectedly, carrying a tray of food. She kept her eyes down, avoiding Rose’s look. Dropping the tray on the floor in front of her, the lady quickly turned and left. She wanted to call out but doubted it would do any good. The woman was clearly as scared of these men as the rest of them.
The others,
she suddenly thought. Her heart beat faster as she remembered all the others who had been brought there. What was happening to them, she wondered. Getting up slowly, she walked over to the opening and pulled back the tent flaps. Letting out a scream, she fell back hard onto the floor, bruising her tailbone. Her captor’s body now blocked the opening, and he looked down at her questioningly.

“Ow,” she cried, unable to help it. Rubbing her back, she slowly looked up at the man’s face, which at that moment looked almost amused. It was the first minor evidence of a personality in him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, keeping his stance in the entrance.

She nodded her head, lowering her eyes again.

“You should eat,” he continued, walking in and taking off his riding gloves. He sat down on the chair and began to remove his heavy boots. “What is your name?” Her back was to him now. All her instincts told her to go along with him—maybe that would save her from being abused—but her mind wouldn’t let her. She hated him, hated all the barbarians in the camp, and couldn’t willingly have a conversation with them. He let her sit there quietly a minute before speaking again. “I asked you what your name is. It is rude to ignore someone’s question.”

Without thinking properly, she turned to look at him, anger burning hot in her chest. “You dare to speak to me about what is rude? You have killed everyone I have known and loved, and now keep me prisoner. Is that not ‘rude’? Why should I give you my name, when you only plan to rid yourself of me when you move on?” Her cheeks were hot, and tears welled up in her eyes. She had just put her foot in her mouth, but she didn’t care. If she were any braver, she would have gotten up right then and there and clawed at the man. His face wore the same detached look he normally had around her.

Slowly he began to smile, looking down to hide it from her, but she caught it. This angered her even more. Flying up from the floor, she ran at him, all thoughts now turned to a flurry of emotions. Her hands flew to his chest, punching him as hard as she could. He was momentarily taken off guard, but he gathered his wits quickly, grabbing both her hands and picking her up in a tight embrace. Even though she was now squished against his chest, she continued to try to move her hands and began kicking and kneeing at his legs. Lifting her off the ground, he carried her over to the bed, pinning her limbs down with his. His face now hovered above her as she struggled with whatever strength she had left. It was no use. She had no food in her stomach, and the emotions that filled her body weakened her more, the adrenaline slowly draining. He seemed to wait for her to stop moving. Unable to move a muscle, she finally gave in, looking up at his face. In the light of the day she could see his features better. When he had first found her in their house, his eyes had looked black, but now she saw that they weren’t black like a demon’s, but a deep chocolate brown. She searched them as he looked back at her. Her father used to say she was an old soul. He said her eyes looked like deep wells from years of past lives, just like this man’s. There was so much to be read in his chocolate eyes—sorrow, guilt, anger, rage, and something else she didn’t want to see.

Her breathing came out heavy as he kept her pinned down against the bed.

“What is your name?” he finally asked again, his face close to hers.

“Rose,” she replied, clenching her teeth. He smiled in response, a smile that was not mocking, but genuine. The kind of smile that would normally have made a person smile in response, it lit up his face in a way that made him seem almost like a different person than the one she had known so far.

“Was that so hard?” He got up, walking back over to the chair to take off the boot he hadn’t been able to take off yet. Her body shook as she stayed on the bed. It took her a moment to regain her composure before she sat up on the edge of it.

“What do you want from me?” she asked.

His eyes looked over at her, looking her up and down. “I don’t know yet.” He shrugged indifferently. It was such a casual answer, as if she had asked him what he wanted to eat for lunch. It made her angry. It was bad enough that she was there, but to not even have a purpose made it even worse.

“I won’t sleep with you,” she blurted out, her cheeks growing hot from just saying the words. The thought of sleeping with a man was foreign to her, and it was embarrassing to even mention. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, his mouth tightening to a straight line. His jaw seemed to become even more pronounced. She kept her face stern, hoping he would take her seriously.

“Callum!” a man’s voice yelled from outside. A second later the man threw open the flaps and barged into the tent. He stopped in surprise when he saw Rose sitting on the bed. Rose knew who this was—everyone knew him by his red hair and large physique. Brutus was a hard-looking man. His hair was as fiery as the flames he set upon villages; his face had strong lines and bone structure. The only thing that was soft about him was the baby blue eyes, which currently looked at her questioningly. He wore the same black pants and boots as the prince but had a chest plate covering the front of him and a helmet under one arm. “I didn’t realize you were busy,” he said, still looking at Rose. Her cheeks grew even hotter at the implication.

“I’m not,” the prince snorted. Callum was his name, Rose reminded herself. She hadn’t been able to remember what it was before Brutus had just addressed him. Now she did, however: Callum, the younger son of the late High King Elrond. Looking over at him, she wondered if he missed his father, or if he ever wondered what he would think of him knowing he was in league with Brutus and the sorcerer.

“Who is this, then?” Brutus smiled. Callum looked over at her for the first time since Brutus had arrived. He again wore the detached look that she was becoming accustomed to.

“Her name is Rose,” he replied, looking away. “I picked her up last night from the village at the base of the mountain.”

“A fine lass!” he said, chuckling. “How do you do, Rose. I am Brutus.”

“I know who you are,” she said back harshly. She bit her tongue immediately, cursing her temper. Surprisingly, he laughed in response. Rose knew people had been killed for less when it came to this man.

“A fiery one.” He chuckled again. “Excellent choice, my boy. It is about time.”

“It’s not like that,” Callum replied, avoiding her stare. Brutus raised his eyebrows, but didn’t press the matter. Rose had to admit she was a little confused herself by Callum’s behaviour toward her.

“Moving on then, yeah?” Brutus continued, taking a seat beside her on the bed. She wanted to move away, but knew better than to be rude again. His good humour could last only so long. He didn’t touch her, though, nor did he really look at her as they sat side by side. “We have word that your brother has been informed of our movements. I’m going to guess that he will want to keep any confrontations away from the city walls, so the army will be moving out within the next week or so. You know your brother well. Where do you think he’ll wait for us?”

Callum was looking down at his map as Brutus spoke. He seemed deep in concentration, running his eyes over all of Eden.

“It will have to be far enough to pose no danger to his people inside the walls, but close enough that they can still take advantage of the resources they have there.”

“Will they use the witch?”

Callum laughed bitterly. “My brother would rather die himself than put her at risk. Diana holds a special place in Jameson’s heart, so I wouldn’t count on her being in attendance.”

“Good news for us then.” He smiled, nudging Rose as if she were expected to agree. The man seemed to think she was on their side for some reason. She kept her eyes on the floor, avoiding his jest. She saw him shrug his shoulders at her indifference. He looked back at Callum. “Aziz will have the run of the place then, which is an extreme asset for our side. What do you think they will have to counter us with then? Surely he is not depending solely on his army?”

Callum continued looking at the map intently. Rose watched as he slowly eliminated spots one by one. She had heard that his brother was the better soldier of the two, but Callum was known for his intelligence. His years in the north had visibly changed him physically, Rose noted, likely making him as good a soldier now. She figured his brain was probably still his biggest asset, though. He finally sat back, looking over at Brutus only.

“I’m not sure what he’ll have,” he replied thoughtfully. “The King’s army is strong, and talented, but no match for ours. If we were attacking with just our men then it would be close, but Aziz’s contribution to our army is no match for them. I can’t imagine the High Priest or the Chancellor letting my brother rely solely on the army, so they must have something else up their sleeves.”

“What, though? What could they possibly have, if they refuse to use the witch?”

“Well, my brother will refuse to use Diana. I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind having her there, but it won’t happen. I’ve had my spies within the Capital City looking around, and none of them has offered me anything. They appear to have nothing else.” Brutus barked in laughter.

“Then this will be easier than I imagined. Soon, my friend, you will have your Kingdom back, and we will rule Eden!” Callum’s face remained sober as he turned back to the map. His finger landed on a spot.

“Here is where he’ll go. I would almost put my life on it.”

Brutus got up from the bed and walked over to look down at the spread-out map. “The emerald field? Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he replied, nodding. “It is far enough from the city, and the river will be behind them, so if they need to retreat they can lead our men into the waters. The King’s army is trained in those waters; they know the currents, whereas our men are not used to having to wade through water like this. It would be a big advantage to them. It is also far enough away from any smaller villages, so he won’t put anyone else at risk.”

“But it’s so flat, there would be nowhere to hide,” he argued.

“My brother won’t plan on hiding. He’ll want this battle to be face to face, as simple as it can be.”

“What about us then? How do we use this to our advantage?” Brutus asked, leaning down on the table.

“They might have the river, but behind us is the forest. That will give us sufficient cover from their archers, not to mention give our own archers infinite places to hide and pick their men off one by one,” Callum answered.

Brutus gave him a slap on the back. “Good point, my boy. Then we should head out soon. It will take us a week or more to get there ourselves.”