Secret Keepers

Chapter 29

What was I going to do? They'd drug me downstairs and thrown me into a side room before locking the door. I sat on the overstuffed bed in the corner and wept. I was scared. Cutter couldn't protect me here. And it was obvious those men were eager to play around with my body. I sniffed, but I gritted my teeth in determination. They could rape me, hit me, and torture me, but I'd never tell them about Cutter or any of the Secret Keepers.

I took a deep breath and got my composure back. I wasn't going to cry just yet. I'd cry when they hurt me, but I wouldn't cry now. I rubbed the mattress of the bed I was on and I was amazed at how soft it was. Then I realized this was what Cutter had described as a Nobleman's Whore Bed. Overstuffed for comfort during movement.

I got off of it and went to the window, sitting down on the sill of it as I stared out at the gardens far below. Whether I retained my knowledge of Cutter or not, he was bound to rip the castle to pieces looking for me. He'd get himself in trouble. But if the others came with him, they might be able to fend off any of their enemies.

I sighed and shook my head. There was no way to avoid this fate for me. Suddenly I saw someone walking far below in the garden path. It was a tall man with black hair and long gallant scarlet cloak. I could just barely see a circle of gold atop his head. It was the king himself. I narrowed my eyes and watched as he walked through the bushes and flowers, followed by two or three men dressed in fine clothes. I had impeccable eyesight so I didn't miss the gleam of a silver knife one of them slid from his belt.

I gasped and put my hands on the glass.

"No."

The two nobleman not holding the knife backed out of the way while the third stalked up behind the king.

"NO!"

There was no way I could let this happen. Not to Tracker's father. I unlatched the window and ducked out of sight before I screamed. "YOUR MAJESTY!"

I leaned over a little to see the king turn and look at his noblemen before the knife stabbed through his neck in a flash of red brighter than the cloak he wore. Failure weakened my legs. What would I tell Tracker? What would happen to the kingdom? The noblemen stole the crown off his head and left the bleeding body of the king laying on the garden path. I sobbed and buried my head in my hands, but it wasn't tears of sorrow I was shedding. It was tears of rage.

I'd never spoken to the king, but Tracker once told me he'd been a great man. He was always as nice as he could be in any situation. And he'd just been killed in front of my eyes. These noblemen were hunting my lover, terrorizing my friends, torturing harmless individuals, and now they had killed a king I had been hoping to meet. They'd crossed the line.

The door behind me clicked and I shut the window, sitting on the bed again. One of my kidnappers walked in and shut the door, slipping a knife into his belt. A silver knife. I somehow avoided the shivers going down my spine and I just avoided eye contact with him. "Afternoon, little lady. Now may I ask you a question?"

I stayed silent, but he continued. "You wouldn't happen to know the men who have apparently been hiding in our attic?"

"I don't know who you're talking about. There was no one there while I was walking around."

He narrowed his eyes and came closer. "I don't think you understand what could happen to you if you don't tell me the truth."

"I'm telling you the truth so I don't see why I have to understand."

He chuckled and teased the handle of the knife softly. "I'll make you understand if housing tell me what I want to hear. Now how long have you been accompanying Leeland Martin and his group of meddlers?"

I scoffed and crossed my arms as if in annoyance. "I don't know who that is?!"

"Adam Gingrich. Gerald Hannin. Justin Hannin. Peter Swift. Daniel Saden. Any of these names ring a bell?"

"No! I don't know who those guys are! I was wandering around upstairs and you happened to grab me. If I seemed to be snooping wasn't. I was just bored."

He slammed his hand into the bedside table and brandished the knife in my face. "Listen here you little bitch! You aren't one of the servant girls! Trust me. I've fucked nearly all of them. You're new. And you look like a girl with a tough spirit. I don't suppose you'd have stood for the Spoilers making you a personal plaything. So I can only guess you're a good friend of theirs."

Now I was confused. "The Spoilers?"

"They're more commonly known as the Secret Keepers, but ironically they did nothing of the sort. They'd spy on us noblemen and then go blab about it to the king. Getting us in trouble. I lost my female servants because Martin gave up my secret. Now if you're a smart little girl, you'll go ahead and admit that you've been living with them."

"I'm serious! I don't know who they are! Please believe me!"

The knife left my face, but then he grabbed me over my mouth, nearly crushing my jaw with the amount of force he used to haul me up close to him. "You really want to test my patience?! You have one more chance to tell me the truth before I make your body my personal plaything."

I squealed and kicked at him, going for his eyes with my nails. I managed to scraped one hand down his cheek in my blind panic and he yelled out in pain. He let me go and backed away, cradling his bloody face. I screamed at the top of my lungs for anyone at all to hear. "HELP! PLEASE!"

The man got his composure back before he grabbed me around my throat and forced me onto my back on the bed. "That's it! I don't care if you're their whore or not. You're my whore now!"

As he fumbled for his fly, trying to avoid my flailing limbs, something huge rammed into the door. He gasped and paused and I took that moment to grab him by his ear and his hair, yanking and ripping for all I was worth. He screamed in pain and tried to break away, but I took my nails to his eyes, gouging them angrily. He screamed and got out of my grip right as the door slammed off its hinges.

Rage stood there, blood and sweat dripping off of his face and shirtless torso. His eyes were blood red and his veins were about to leap off of his face and neck. He snorted like an angry bull before he let out a blood curdling war cry and attacked the man I'd just blinded.

I gasped and had to avert my eyes as Rage unleashed inhuman strength on the poor man. I looked back only once and witnessed a feat of extreme strength and morbidity as Rage twisted the head off the man's corpse.