Taken by the Enemy (20 page)

“That was one. They only count if you do, but I’ll give you that as one. This will be two.” His voice was still too calm, and she wanted to beg, to plead with him to stop, but a third sharp swat landed just where her thighs met her ass. Pain echoed inside her, and she tried to stifle the scream.

“Two…” she whimpered, and he stepped close beside her.

“Louder. So everyone can hear you.”

“TWO!” she shouted, pressing her forehead against the tree, and he stepped back from her.

“Good. Again.” This time when the paddle landed, she lifted onto her toes, crying out as the ache spread across her backside. “Emmie?”

“Three! Fucking three!” Her voice felt raw, and she hated how loud her breaths sounded in the sudden quiet of the village.

Then another crack of the paddle against her ass, and she clenched her teeth in an attempt to stifle her scream.

“FOUR!” she shouted.

“Why are you being punished?” Lucian still sounded infuriatingly calm, almost bored, as he asked. She wanted to hit him in the face. Again. “
Emmie
.”

She bit the inside of her cheek, refusing to answer, and then the paddle landed harder than before. Her skin felt blistered, hot and aching, and she groaned loudly even as she tried to stifle it. “Five!”

“Tell me why you’re being punished.”

“Because you’re an asshole!”
That
was something she was happy to shout, but again there was mumbling and a few gasps.

“Count.” Lucian’s growled response made her quake, and she dug her nails into her palms on the other side of the tree.

Another strike. “Six!” Another wave of vicious pain. “Seven!” Again, harder. “Eight!” Again, and she was sobbing as she tried to press herself away from the paddle. “NINE!”

“Want to tell me why you’re being punished?” Lucian’s voice was dark, and the steady, bruised pulsing of her backside was encouragement enough to make it stop even if he hadn’t sounded so angry.

“I was disrespectful!”

The paddle landed hard again, and she screamed this time, unable to even suppress it. His voice came behind her. “Count, Em.”

“Ten! That was ten! Are you done?”

“For your actions this evening, yes, but not for your actions earlier. Five more.” He was serious, and she pulled against the ropes hard, squirming to try and get her hands free, but the knots seemed to only tighten as she struggled until her wrists ached and she could feel her pulse in her fingertips. “Keep counting.”

The next strike had her screaming again, her skin was too sensitive for more, she knew it. “Please, Lucian, stop, please…”

“I said keep counting!” His hand landed in a sharp swat across her ass, and it was considerably less painful than the paddle, but it still lit up like fire.

“That was eleven! Please!”

The next three came almost too fast for her to call them out, but she tried even as her knees threatened to buckle under her.

“Twe- Thir… FOURTEEN!” Sobs shook her as she pushed herself onto her tiptoes, trying desperately to ease the fiery pain that throbbed from where her thighs began to the top of her ass.

“Say you’re sorry, Emmie. For being disrespectful to me and Mathias.” Lucian’s voice felt like a life raft in a sea of pain and she grabbed on.

“I’m sorry! To both of you, I’m so sorry I was disrespectful, please just make it stop!”

“One more. Make sure to count.”

She groaned, pressing herself hard against the tree to try and avoid it, but the strike landed and she screamed, sobs choking her off. “Fifteen, fifteen! Please, stop, please, I’m sorry!”

Lucian’s hands ran up her thighs as he tugged her pants up, but the fabric was its own torment against her skin and she yelped and begged again. He whispered against her hair, “Shhh, I’ve got you. It’s done.”

“I’m sorry!” Emmie whined, and the strength of him as he wrapped an arm around her waist was welcome, because otherwise she was pretty sure her knees were threatening to give out.

“Untie her wrists, I’ve got her.” Lucian pressed his lips against her shoulder as she felt someone unbinding her from the tree. As soon as her wrists were free, her legs collapsed, but Lucian caught her and swept her up into his arms. “Go on, all of you. Back to your evenings.”

She felt them moving and though she could hear the steady hum of voices around her, she kept her eyes clenched tight. Too embarrassed to open them.

“I told you she just needed —” Mathias’ voice appeared to their right, and she flinched.

“Stop. I handled it. Now drop it.” Lucian was seething, the trembling of his muscles causing her to shiver as well.

“Well, maybe she’ll actually behave. You should have done it day one.”

“Go,” Lucian demanded, and Mathias must have left because they moved forward a few more steps and then she heard the familiar groan of his door. He laid her gently on her side on his bedding, and then stepped away to shut the door. Silence reigned between them, but Emmie could only focus on the ache of her backside, and the humiliation of having everyone in the village see what he’d done. “Em?”

His voice was soft, but she couldn’t force herself to respond. She had shouted out the numbers he had demanded from her, and that was enough.

“I want us to talk about this. Just us.” Lucian crouched beside her, and although she much preferred having her hair in her face as a barrier, he pushed it back out of the way. “Emmie. Talk to me.”

“You hurt me,” she whispered.

He flinched, but then the pained expression was wiped away. “I punished you, and it hurt, yes, but I warned you last time that if you did something like that in public again, I couldn’t ignore it a second time.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” She closed her eyes, bringing her hands up to cover her face, and she heard him sigh.

“Why did you do that tonight? And why in the hell did you say those things to Mathias earlier today?” He made a noise of frustration.

“Why didn’t you stand up for me?” The question was soft, but he cursed loudly and she peeked between her fingers to see him sitting on the floor a foot away with his head in his hands.

“Em, you can’t just do whatever you want here. I can’t just
let
you.”

“Rules,” she mumbled and watched him nod.

“Rules.” Lucian took a deep breath, scrubbing his face with his hands before he looked up at the ceiling. “You earned that punishment,
more
than earned it with that outburst in Mathias’ meeting earlier today, and then you cursed at me and shouted at me to ‘shut up’ in the fucking village commons. Did you really think there wouldn’t be consequences?” He was looking at her, but she kept her face hidden behind her hands.

“I wasn’t thinking about consequences.” Emmie swallowed, licking her dry lips. “I was angry.”

“That was obvious.” He groaned. “I never wanted to have to do that, Em, ever. I thought we were past this shit.”

“Past what?” she asked, lifting her head to look at him.

“Past you throwing temper tantrums.” The words hurt, and she clenched her teeth in an effort to stop the tears that burned the edges of her eyes.

“I have a right to be angry that Mathias brushed me off like I didn’t give him the idea to move quickly. I have a right to be angry that none of you would even
listen
to me about getting into the city, especially when I just escaped!”

“No one
knows
that, Emmie!” Lucian laughed bitterly. “Why did you think I was trying to make you stop talking? I was trying to
protect
you, I was trying to keep your secret!”

“So, your solution was to tell me to sit down and shut up?” Emmie sat up fully, immediately regretting it as her sore backside took the brunt of her weight.

“I was going to handle it! I
did
handle it!” Lucian reached over and threw a bowl against the wall. “Fuck! Em, after everyone left I told Mathias everything. All of it! And he’s adjusted his plans, they’re going in where you told them to, but you didn’t even let me have a chance to do something! I was going to tell you tonight, but you —”

“You told Mathias?” She winced, and he let out a frustrated shout.

“Of course I told Mathias! What did you think was going to happen when you basically told his entire council what to do?”

“So, he hates me now? Because of who I am? That’s why you did
this
?” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew it wasn’t true, but she knew it would hurt him, and she had an urge to hurt him regardless of whether or not she had
earned
the punishment screaming at him in front of the village.

“Mathias has been telling me to punish you, in public, since he tied you to that damn tree naked!” Lucian pushed off the floor and paced across the room, his fist tight in his hair. “He told me
that day
to whip you at the tree! To make you answer him, us, in front of everyone! And did I?”

“You
did
whip me!” she shouted, standing to relieve the pressure on her backside.

“I used a switch, in the privacy of my house, because you were lying to us! Cursing and disrespecting both of us! I have
never
lied to you, and I expect the same in return!”

“Then admit that you wanted to punish me tonight! Admit that you liked it!”

He froze across the room from her, and when his eyes finally lifted to hers, they were crystalline clouds, heather-gray behind the shine of unshed tears. “You don’t want that answer, Em. Please, don’t ask for it.”

“Will you tell me? Tell me whether you liked it?” The ache of the welted skin across her ass was too fresh, too new to ignore, and it urged her forward even though she felt like she was laying her heart out in the open.

“Em, please…” he begged.

Lucian, the powerful leader of the exiles, begged her, and part of her wanted to run. Wanted to escape before he spoke the words she knew would come next, but she had to know for sure. She had to hear him say it.

“Answer me.”

He held her gaze for too long, until her own tears almost spilled down her cheeks, and then he spoke. “I liked it, Em. I enjoyed it. Enjoyed hearing you cry out, hearing you beg. I enjoyed being the one that made you scream. I enjoyed watching your ass turn red. But I hoped more than anything that I wouldn’t
need
to punish you tonight. Is that what you want me to say?” His last words cracked, and he ran his hands over his cheeks as he turned away from her.

I don’t love him. I don’t love him. I don’t love him.

“I’m leaving.”

“Em, wait!” He turned around and she wiped at her own cheeks to scrub them of the fresh tears. “Please, stay tonight. Let’s just talk some more, I swear I didn’t —”

“No.” She shook her head, holding up a hand as if it could even remotely stop him if he really wanted to keep her. “I’m leaving. I can’t stay here tonight.”

“Please, we can do this. I know we can.” The pain in his voice made her own chest ache, and she hated that. Hated that somehow they were inextricably linked and hurting him felt like tearing out her own heart.

As painful as it was, she made herself speak. “I don’t think we can.”

“Emmie!” His voice was raw, but she turned away from him and pulled open his door to step out into the night. It was cold, making the tracks on her cheeks impossible to ignore, but she welcomed the chill, hoping it would dig deep inside and numb the pain.

Because this hurt, more than she had ever expected.

There were still plenty of people in the village center, but she kept her arms wrapped around her and her head down, ignoring the way that a bubble of awkward silence seemed to follow her as she passed through. When she finally made it to the path that led to the stable, she was grateful that it was blissfully empty.

No guard. No Clara.

Just empty night to match the hollow ache in her chest.

Lying down on the thin bedding in the stable made her immediately question her decision to leave Lucian and his warm, soft bed. All of the decisions she had made that day were questionable and as each one surfaced in her mind she thought of how different it all might have gone had she just learned to hold her tongue.

She probably wouldn’t be sleeping alone on this miserable bedding.

The steady pulse across her ass was impossible to ignore, and she wished it would cease for just a minute so her mind could settle because it was still spinning.

He liked hurting me
.

Emmie groaned, unsure of how she felt about it, but it wasn’t like it was a real surprise – she just hadn’t expected him to say it out loud. To admit it. Yet, Lucian had never been shy about it before. Not with the lines from the switch, not with the way he got hard spanking her… why had she expected this to be different?

The truth was she hadn’t, and she knew it. She was just embarrassed, and angry, and ashamed that he’d punished her at all. Ashamed that she deserved it after revealing Mathias’ painful secrets just so she could make a point. It had been cruel, selfish, and underneath all of her righteous anger about him brushing her off – she hated herself for hurting him. Hated herself for embarrassing Lucian when he had been doing his best to let her actions with Mathias slide, once again breaking his own rules. For her.

What was worse was that she had grown wet as he had paddled her ass, in front of everyone, and even in that moment, her clit seemed to have the same heartbeat as her backside. Why her body responded to Lucian’s rough actions, his punishments, she couldn’t explain. It was ridiculous that as angry as she was at all of them, all she wanted was to feel his hand between her thighs so she could
sleep
.

If you hadn’t stormed off like a child, you’d be in his bed right now.

Emmie whined, reaching over to Alice’s old bed to snag an extra layer to cover up with. If she really wanted, she could walk all the way across the village and back into Lucian’s house. He would let her in, they could talk through the mess of the day, and then she could sleep in his arms. But they both needed space, they needed to think about whatever
they
were, and whether they really could work.

Because no matter how much she wanted to say yes, lying alone in the dark with an ache in her chest, she knew she wasn’t thinking straight. There would be plenty of time to talk tomorrow, when her head was clearer.

A sharp jerking motion pulled Emmie out of sleep with a gasp, and she was disoriented for a moment. She was on her stomach, her arms were being pulled painfully behind her back, and it was still dark. The sudden tightening of rope across her wrists made her panic. “Stop!”

She twisted, trying to pull them free, but a knee landed on her back and she heard grumbling above her. “Stupid, spoiled, bitch…”

Another knot tightened the rope around her wrists and she was finally able to twist enough to see who was on top of her. “Clara? What the fuck are you doing?”

The blonde answered with a hard slap that knocked Emmie’s head against the bedding and made her cheek light up with pain. “Shut up!” Clara’s face was twisted with rage, and she reached down next to her to lift up a very sharp looking knife. “You’re going to come with me,
Emmie
, and if you scream, I’ll just cut off something unimportant. Understand?”

“I don’t understand! I haven’t done anyth—” Another hard slap made Emmie gasp in pain, her eyes watering as she leaned her head against the ground.

“Let me rephrase, how about you not talk
at all
unless I tell you to.” Clara climbed off of her and reached down to grip Emmie’s arm, digging her nails into her skin. “Get up.”

Emmie stumbled to her feet, and Clara dragged her out the door of the stable. The sky was a dull gray, covered in clouds, but dawn was coming. Clara shoved her to the side and she almost tripped over Ben’s feet. “BEN!”

“I said be
quiet
!” Clara hissed, bringing her knee up hard into Emmie stomach, and she would have collapsed to the ground if Clara hadn’t kept a vicious hold on her arm.

“Please,” Emmie whispered, fighting the urge to throw up whatever was left in her stomach. She scanned Ben’s body and couldn’t see blood, but the man was completely unconscious, slumped to the ground. “What did you do to him? He’s —”

“He’s an asshole.” Clara growled and pushed her around the side of the stable and on into the woods. “But he’s still alive, since you seem
so
concerned. He never even questioned why I had snuck some brew from the other growers. Idiot. I could have poisoned him, but
I’m
actually nice. He’ll wake up with a headache, and be in a ton of trouble when they find out we’re gone. Although why you’re pretending to care about any of them I have no idea,
Miss Daniau
.”

Emmie stopped, frozen in place by the use of her real name. Suddenly, her situation felt even more dangerous, and she wondered how well she could outrun the girl with her hands bound.

Clara turned towards her, grinning as she dug furrows into Emmie’s arm with her nails. “That’s right. I recognized you and your sister in your pretty dresses. Do you know how often the newspaper had pictures of your fucking family?” She huffed and kept walking, dragging a stunned Emmie along.

“I could never read the stories, but men used to leave papers inside the brothel all the time, and we’d look at all the pictures, and
everyone
knew your father.” She laughed low as she stepped over a branch and Emmie almost tripped on it when Clara jerked her forward. “He was one of our frequent customers, but like most men in power he was all bravado in the street, and no real muscle in the sheets.”

Emmie’s stomach turned. “I don’t want to hear this, Clara.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you want to hear, Emmie! You’re going to listen to me because you and your damn father never took time to listen to
anyone
!” Clara growled. “No one listened to me! That’s for sure. One of his friends tried to leave without paying, and when I demanded he pay me, he
hit
me. So I smashed a bowl over his head. And who gets exiled? Who gets dragged through the streets while people shout
whore
?”

The blonde shoved her hard against a tree, the prickly bush at its base scratching at her legs through her pants. Emmie kept her mouth shut tight as Clara moved closer to her, lifting the knife to trace it down her cheek. Fear made her tremble, and the edge of Clara’s mouth tilted in a small smile.

“Me. He exiled me, and nothing happened to the man. Because he was rich.” Her voice was low and threatening, and the edge of the blade pressed harder against Emmie’ skin, making her whimper. “Do you think your daddy would still want you back if you weren’t as pretty?”

Emmie closed her eyes, her nails digging into her palms as she fought to stay completely still.

“Knowing your father, he probably
wouldn’t
want you back.” Clara dropped her hand and grabbed Emmie’s arm to jerk her forward again. “And you’re my ticket back into the city. Back into real houses, real food, and real friends. I’m sick of being the outcast in that damn village, watching all of you new bitches get chosen like you’re somehow special.”

“How am I supposed to get you back into the city, Clara?” Emmie asked the question softly, but Clara just huffed.

“I’m not stupid. Your father would never tolerate the embarrassment of having to exile his own daughter. No. You left for some reason, and whatever reason that was… I’m sure Daddy wants you back.”

“He doesn’t want me back, Clara. I promise you, this is fool —” Emmie was cut off with another hard slap, and her ear was ringing as she shook her head.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Clara grabbed her arm again and forced her to keep walking. “We have a full day’s walk to make it to the wall before nightfall. Don’t make me hurt you anymore.”

Emmie clenched her jaw shut, hating that she had been so careless. If Clara had never seen the photograph of her and Gabrielle, this would have never happened. She would have never connected the dirty, messy, poorly dressed Emmie with the elegant, pristine, smiling Emeline Daniau.

Her worst fears were happening, because if the girl was right, if they believed she was Emeline Anne Daniau, if they took them back into the city – her father would be waiting for her.

They walked until she could see the sun through the treetops, and it had to be mid-morning when they finally stopped by a creek. Clara shoved Emmie to her knees and left her there to crouch down and drink from the clear water. As tempting as it was to try and run, her mouth was far too dry to pass up the opportunity to drink. She inched forward on her knees. “Clara? May I please have some water? I’m thirsty too.”

The blonde turned, wiping her mouth with her shirt. For a moment, she was worried the woman would refuse, but then she smiled. “Of course, Emmie.”

“Thank y—” Before she could finish Clara had grabbed her by her hair and yanked her forward, shoving her face first into the water. Emmie bucked, trying to pull back but her body weight was tilting her down into the creek. With a painful jerk, Clara pulled her out of the water and Emmie sputtered, choking on the water that had made its way into her nose and mouth.

“Still thirsty, miss? Here, let me help.” Clara shoved her head back into the water and Emmie jerked her head back and forth, her nails biting into her palms as she fought the urge to try and breathe. Finally, just as her ears were starting to buzz, the woman pulled her back again and threw her down.

For a few minutes every breath resulted in coughing and she just lay on her side trying to recover. The cool air was biting now that her hair was wet, and the ground was damp and cool beneath her this close to the creek.

“Get up.” Clara nudged her with her foot, harder than necessary. “Up!”

Emmie growled, rolling to her knees so she could kneel and then stand up slowly. The blonde didn’t even give her a moment before she’d planted her nails in her arm to drag her forward again. As much as Emmie wanted to scream at the woman, curse her, it was clear that Clara was anything but stable.

The girl was insane.

They marched for hours, and Emmie shivered for most of them, pleading with her own hair and clothes to dry. The trembling was an easy distraction from the random mumblings as Clara talked to herself. A little after noon both of their stomachs were growling, but Emmie knew better than to say anything about it. She’d probably end up with a mouth full of dirt and rocks for the trouble.

“What did Lucian see in you anyway? Before you pissed him off last night and got kicked back to the stable.” Clara’s sudden question made Emmie’s head snap up, pulling her out of the dark visions in her mind of what her father would do once he had her back.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh come on, he had to say something. It’s not like you have anything else to do right now, just answer me.” Clara seemed to be in a better mood, and Emmie wondered just how close they were to the city.

“Or what? You’ll try to drown me again?”

Clara laughed. “I wouldn’t have let you drown. You’re my pass back into the city, remember? Without you, they’d just turn me away again.”

“Again?” Emmie asked, but Clara only rolled her eyes.

“Tell me what Lucian saw in you. He hasn’t taken a woman for himself in my two years there, not even me, and I think every free man in the village has tried me once or twice.” The bitterness in her voice was apparent, and Emmie did her best to squash the momentary flash of sympathy.

“He said he liked my spirit,” Emmie mumbled.

“Your
spirit
?” She laughed. “If that’s all he cared about, he would have picked me!”