other form.”
“You will, soon. But for now, this gives me an excuse to have your hands on me, so I can’t say I’m sorry it will take me a day or so to heal up. Do you think I might need more ointment tomorrow?” he asked and winked at her.
“Are you always like this?” She set aside the water and cloth and began gently applying the ointment to the worst of his injuries.
“Only with you. When I get you home, you can ask anyone, and they’ll all tell you I’m usually a serious, grumpy bastard.”
She snorted in disbelief and dropped her head again so he couldn’t see her face, bracing herself for another wave of pain as she spoke of freeing him again. “I don’t believe you. And Vamir, you cannot take me with you. I have to stay here.”
“If you stay here, the sorcerer will punish you. I can’t leave you here knowing that.”
“I’ve been punished before. I’ll survive it. Especially if I know you are coming back to kill him and take me away from this cursed place.” Agony tore through her as her words triggered the collar again, and Vamir tensed beneath her hands.
“What’s wrong, little one? You’re hurting.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, hoping he believed her.
“Liar.” He cupped her chin in one strong hand and made her lift her head so he could see her face. “You’ve gone pale.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Something else you should know about soulmates. When they’re in close contact, like we are right now, there’s enough of a connection that I can tell when you’re trying to hide something from me. It took me a while to understand what I was sensing, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.”
She frowned at him. “Well, hells. You might have mentioned that earlier.”
Her comment made him throw back his head and laugh until the sound bounced off the walls. “This is all new to me, too. Now, what aren’t you telling me?”
“I’m bound by more rules than you are. The master was distracted last night. Your arrival was not expected, and he dislikes surprises. Because of that, he didn’t give you all the commands he normally does. He assumed I would have done it for him, but I didn’t.”
Vamir already knew he wasn’t going to like the answer to his next question, but he needed to hear it. “What rules?”
She answered him in that same matter-of-fact tone she’d used before, as if she were talking about the weather and not her life. “I’m not permitted to consider escaping or helping any of the other slaves to escape. I am not to think or act out against the master, and I am forbidden from ever using my powers to counter his. In fact, the only place I am permitted to use my powers freely is this room, or when I have his express permission.”
“You’re telling me that every time you discussed freeing me, or escaping, your slave collar punished you?”
“Discomfort is a small price to pay for what we’re planning.”
Vamir wanted to kill the bastard who had done this to her. Now he was paying attention, he had started catching on to the vague way she worded certain things. She was dancing around the edges of the collar’s control. It was subtle, which is why he hadn’t noticed before. Like anyone forced to live in the shadow of violence, Gwyneth had learned how to walk the knife’s edge between safety and pain.
“From now on, let me do the talking as much as possible. You stick to pain-free words like yes and no. Okay?”
Her quicksilver eyes darkened, and she shook her head. “You’ve already…”
He placed a finger across her lips, stopping her words. “No arguments. I’m pulling rank on you, little one.”
“Right now, I’m in charge of you. Not the other way around,” she muttered rebelliously.
“Only if I let you speak.”
He had her pinned under him seconds later, his mouth sealing hers before she could utter a single word. For a split second, she was utterly still, her eyes wild and wide as she stared up at him. Her expression
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