Read Online Heart's Thief (Highland Bodyguards, Book 2) by Emma Prince - Free Book Online

unconsciousness would save her from betraying the only person who’d ever cared for her.
    As Colin’s hand closed around her limp arm, her ears filled with her own tormented scream.
    The firm pressure of his hand suddenly vanished.
    “Christ,” he muttered. “Yer shoulder is dislocated.”
    She would have laughed at his obviousness, but she was too busy fighting against the specks of black floating in her vision and the nausea roiling in her stomach.
    “Get on with it, then,” she mumbled. “If you mean to have answers, do your worst.”
    Only after the words were out did she realize through the haze of pain that she hadn’t used her Lowland accent, and instead had slipped back into her natural-born English one.
    She heard him suck in a breath through his teeth.
    “Ye are English .” He spat the word out as if it tasted bitter on his tongue.
    It didn’t matter now, she supposed distantly. He would torture and kill her either way. But judging from the hatred in his voice at realizing she was English, mayhap he would find a way to make this worse for her.
    She clenched her teeth, bracing for the fresh surge of pain she knew was coming.
    But his hand closed around her good arm instead.
    He pulled her to her feet before him, his eyes sharp and searching through the black spots in her vision. He swayed before her—or rather, she swayed, she realized dimly.
    Suddenly she was being lifted as if she weighed naught at all. Colin tucked her against his broad chest, her hurt arm on the outside so that it could nestle limply against her torso.
    “W-what are you doing?”
    “Taking ye back to Ruith.” His voice rumbled through his chest where her good shoulder pressed against it. “And then I’m going to find a good spot to reset yer damned shoulder.”
    The words were spoken with the sharpness of anger, but for some reason he seemed more annoyed than filled with vicious intent. Even still, mayhap he would draw out the pain, use the resetting of her shoulder as some twisted torture technique. She shuddered against him at the thought.
    He murmured another curse, his arms tightening slightly around her.
    The forest blurred as he walked. She tried to keep her eyes open, but they kept wanting to lower. Behind the darkness of her lids, however, the world spun dangerously, so she forced herself to drag them up.
    A few minutes later, he set her on her feet, keeping a hand fastened on her good arm to hold her upright. With his other hand, he spun his cloak off his shoulders and tossed it onto the damp forest floor.
    She heard the black stallion stamp a hoof nearby. Was this Ruith? Distantly, she wondered what had become of the brave little mare.
    Then he was easing her back onto his cloak. Why was he doing all this for her? It made no sense. Was he luring her into a false sense of comfort, only to tear it all away, thus making her torture all the more brutal? That was how the world worked, after all—people were cruel and self-serving, and kindness was reserved for the fortunate, wealthy few.
    Sabine groaned as she came to rest on her back. Her gaze lazily roamed the little window of overcast sky framed by dark treetops until Colin loomed over her once more.
    “This will hurt a mite, lass,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft.
    He took hold of her left elbow and wrist, then wedged his big knee into her armpit. She sucked in a breath between clenched teeth. Aye, it hurt just to have his hands on the cursed arm.
    “Can ye count backward from ten, lass?”
    “Aye, of course I can count—forward and backward.” It took her a moment to recognize the haughty voice as her own.
    Fabian had been right—pain would loosen even the most guarded of tongues. She clamped her jaws together once more.
    “Well then, get on with it,” Colin shot back.
    She dragged in a breath and began counting aloud. She knew what was coming—when she reached one, he would torque her aching arm. She’d heard of the counting technique. Fabian said it