Read Online Songbird by Colleen Helme - Free Book Online

Someone came to see her and she spent most of the day with him. Later, when I went to her, she sent me away. I never saw her again.”
    “Where did she send you?”
    “I don’t remember, but I was always doing things for her, running errands or taking messages. It must have been something like that.”
    “And that was when you were kidnapped?” Bran asked.
    “Yes. I’ve always wondered how my grandmother felt, and if she ever blamed herself for sending me away.” Teya pulled the blanket tightly around her to quiet her sudden trembling.
    Bran wasn’t finished. “The men who took you, are you sure they were the king’s men?”
    Teya opened her mouth to respond, then stopped. She had always assumed that they were King Thesald’s men, but what if they weren’t? “I think so, but now I’m not sure. They weren’t wearing the king’s insignia, but you could hardly expect them to. Their clothes were coarse and they were rough looking men with long hair and beards. After they caught me, they kept me tied up in a wooden box. It was like a coffin. It had three small air holes in the top, but that was all.” Her stomach clenched just talking about it.
    “Ah...that explains your fear of closed spaces.” Bran shook his head. “I’m sorry to put you through this, but I have one more question that I have to ask.”
    Teya braced herself, knowing intuitively that it was something she would rather not hear.
    “In all of the time that you’ve been gone, why has no one come for you?”
    It was a question Teya had asked herself many times. At first she had believed that her father would be right behind her and she would be home that night. Then, as time passed and no one came, she made up excuses. She had to believe that someday they would come to get her. It never happened. Ten long years of captivity and not once had anyone tried to get her out.
    “I don’t know.” She held back the unspoken fear that the real reason was because they were gone, or worse, dead. From some of the rumors she’d heard, they had fled to another country, but if that were true, how could she know where to find them?
    She hunched her shoulders under the blanket and pulled it tight around her. Still, she couldn’t stop shivering. Bran moved closer beside her, but in her distress she didn’t want his sympathy and shrank away.
    He seemed to sense this and was careful not to touch her. Teya immediately regretted it, wishing she could turn to him for comfort, but was afraid that if she did, she would start to like it. Sitting this close, he smelled of leather and horse with a deeper woodsy scent that was all his own.
    “You know, the first time I saw you,” he said. “I was struck speechless. That’s never happened to me before. You seemed untouchable, like you were above all of us lowly humans. Then you sang and everything changed.”
    Grateful to think of something else, her lips curved into a shy smile. “I noticed you as soon as you walked in. You were different. I remember you staring at me, but that’s what most people do. I lost track of you after that. I guess I had other things on my mind.”
    “Like your song for the king?”
    “Yes. I had decided that I didn’t care how much it hurt me, as long as it hurt him more. But of course it didn’t work, and I ended up spending the night in the box.”
    Bran went still. “What do you mean?”
    “It’s my punishment for defying him. He puts me in a small, enclosed cell...like a box, with no windows for light, and barely enough room to sit. It’s the perfect punishment for me because he knows how much I hate closed spaces. There were times when I thought I would go crazy in there. I always tried to imagine that I was someplace else. Sometimes it worked, but there were other times when I fell apart, especially at first. I never mastered that box. I don’t think I ever will.”
    Bran bristled. “I wondered what your punishment was.” His jaw clenched and she realized he was angry.