by Nicole René
His eyes lifted to where he left Namoriee, and his expression grew stormy when he saw she wasn’t there anymore. His lips pursed in anger and annoyance, but he returned his attention back to Leawyn.
“I’ll walk you to Tristan’s hut. We’ll get him together and head over to Xavier.”
Leawyn bit her lip, uncertainty filtering across her face. She thought about Xavier alone in the hut with Hiinex. About them fighting. Though she knew her husband was more than capable of handling himself, she worried about him being alone.
“No,” Leawyn shook her head in disagreement. “You go to Xavier. He needs you, and I will go get Tristan.”
He looked like he was going to argue with her, but she gave him a stern glare. “Go, Tyronian.”
Tyronian blew out a frustrated breath from between his teeth, his hand running through his long blond hair and pulling at the ends. He groaned and looked back at Leawyn.
“Fine,” he conceded. “But if Tristan’s not there, you forget about him and go back to the hut.”
Leawyn nodded. She tried to give him a small smile, but it came out more of a grimace. “Please, hurry,” she whispered.
“I’m going now. Remember, if you can’t find Tristan, come straight to me.” At her nod, Tyronian gave her a chaste kiss on her head and quickly made his way in the direction of her hut.
She watched him go for a moment, then turned around and started to walk to Tristan’s hut at a brisk walk. She dodged and weaved between the crowd, many of whom were drunk, fighting, and enjoying open displays of pleasure.
Finally, Leawyn reached her brother-in-law’s hut, and without knocking, she pushed open the door and went inside.
“Tristan, Xavier needs you—”
Leawyn’s words cut off immediately, and her mouth dropped open in shock.
The naked woman straddling a naked Tristan had her head thrown back and her eyes closed in pleasure as she bounced on top of him, moaning loudly.
Tristan had his hands on her wide hips, seeming to guide her up and down his shaft. His eyes cut to Leawyn’s shocked ones, and she noticed surprise there for a moment before they cooled, and he gave her a smirk. He slid his hands down to the woman’s bare bottom and gripped, spreading her cheeks.
When he pulled out and started to guide his erection into her ass, she quickly left the hut, slamming the door behind her.
Leawyn slumped against the door, trying to process what she just witnessed. Tristan just lay there and looked at her, almost as if he were daring her. Daring her to do what exactly, she didn’t know. And when he started to guide himself into her…into there—
Leawyn shook her head to rid herself of the unwelcome thoughts and images that burned into her memory.
She needed to get back to her hut and check on Xavier.
Leawyn stilled.
Xavier said to get Tristan or Tyronian. Technically, Leawyn mused, she didn’t have to get Tristan now, but.... she had come all this way. Sudden anger coursed through her. Xavier needed help, and as his brother and Xavier’s second in command, he had responsibilities to this tribe.
Leawyn steeled her spine, cheeks flushing with anger, and turned right back around and barged back into Tristan’s hut. They were still going at it, but this time Leawyn did not shy away. No. This time she marched right up the bed and stood before it.
“Get out,” Leawyn said first to the woman. “Get dressed,” she said next, looking at Tristan.
They both froze, the woman’s eyes opening in shock to Leawyn’s, her expression a bit startled. Leawyn didn’t waste much time surveying the women, and only gave her a quick glance to see it was Kassia, the tribe’s whore.
She turned her attention back to Tristan. “I need you to come with me. Right now.”
He gave her a bland look and resumed giving his attention to Kassia, his hips thrusting up into her with a soft slap.
“Go away, Sister, I’m busy,” Tristan dismissed.
Kassia looked from Tristan to Leawyn, and Leawyn could see the exact moment she decided to give her the same dismissal as her brother-in-law. Leawyn bristled.
“I’m not going to say this again—get up, and get dressed.”
They both froze at the tone of her voice—Leawyn herself was a bit surprised at the ferocity of it—and looked back up to her. At the look on her face, Kassia grew nervous, glancing back at Tristan as if to ask what to do.
Leawyn narrowed her eyes at her.
“I am Lady Chief of this tribe, and I’m in charge. You do not look to him for answers,” Leawyn hissed angrily. “You do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you, and I’m telling you to Get. Out!”
The last sentence was said in a yell, and they both blinked at Leawyn with shock. Kassia seemed to snap out of it and quickly got off Tristan. Leawyn stepped out of the way so Kassia could gather her clothes. Throwing them on quickly, Kassia hurried to the door.
When the soft thud of the door closed behind her, Leawyn looked to Tristan, who was glaring up at her.
“Get dressed, Tristan,” she growled angrily at him. She turned her back to avoid looking at something she had no desire to see again when he stood up.
“This better be good,” he growled out in annoyance. “What’s this about?”
Leawyn gritted her teeth, listening to the sounds of Tristan getting dressed. “I was held against my will in my hut, and Xavier was attacked—”
She was spun around, and suddenly she was looking up at Tristan, who held her tight. “What do you mean you were held against your will in your hut?” he yelled.
Leawyn shrugged herself out of Tristan’s hold on her arm and glared up at him.
“Exactly what I just said. Xavier defeated him, of course, and now he’s holding him captive. He told me to come get you and Tyronian and then come straight back.”
Tristan yelled out a curse in their native tongue suddenly, and Leawyn jumped. “Who else knows about this?” Tristan asked, his voice vibrating with anger.
“No one. Xavier told me not to speak to anyone and just come get you and Tyronian. I think...” Leawyn hesitated, her voice trailing off as she looked down. Tristan gripped her shoulders again and looked down to her.
“Tell me, Leawyn,” Tristan asked softly, “what do you think?”
Leawyn bit her lip uncertainly, her eyes sad and vulnerable when she looked up at him. “I think there’s a traitor in our tribe...and I think Xavier thinks so too,” Leawyn finally whispered.
Tristan scowled darkly, but didn’t disagree with her, which made Leawyn even more fearful. He grabbed her arm, urging them to the door of his hut. He paused and jerked open the door.
“Let’s go,” he said shortly and dragged her through. They set a brisk pace back to Leawyn’s hut.
Leawyn couldn’t resist. “So, is this important enough for you?”
Tristan’s grunt assured her he was not at all amused with her sass.
“Anything?” Xavier asked as he entered the hut they reserved for prisoners and stopped beside his brother, staring at the spectacle in front of them.
Tristan’s lips were pursed in a thin, angry line as he glared out in front of him. The room echoed with the wet smacking sounds made from flesh meeting flesh, pain-filled grunts, and air pushed harshly out of abused lungs.
Xavier narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching. He watched impassively as his cousin continued to rain blows on their prisoner. The cracking sound that assured a broken rib after a particularly hard jab caused a low, painful moan to leave the split and bloody lips of the man who was currently suspended with his arms high above his head.
“I’ll ask again,” Tyronian said lowly as he made a circle around his hostage. “Who sent you?”
Hiinex spit blood out of his mouth and coughed out a short laugh. “I don’ hafta tell ye somethin’ you already know,” he wheezed. He lifted his head to meet Tyronian’s hard glare.
Hiinex’s left eye was swollen shut, the right eye looked to be following close behind, and his face was de
corated with a collage of dark bruises. He had to blink against the blood the cut above his eyebrow gushed out in a steady stream.
“Who me am isn’t important,” Hiinex gasped, giving Tyronian a blood-filled grin. “What matters is your interrogation skills. ‘Cause if this is all ye got...I’ma hafta wonder how you’re going to protect your wee lass I saw you with earlier tonight.”
Xavier and Tristan tensed along with Tyronian. He’d been watching them.
“A bit too ripe for me, but she is a beauty, so I’m sure she’ll be sweet enough. Tell me, is she as pure as she looks? Or can I just dive in and taste her crea—”
Hiinex never got to finish his sentence. With a rage-filled yell, Tyronian charged him once again. In rapid succession, Tyronian’s tightly closed fists met Hiinex’s stomach and sides. The force behind the blows caused his body to sway against the ropes binding him.
“You don’t talk about her, you bastard!”
When another crack sounded, Xavier stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Tyronian paused with his fist raised. His broad shoulders heaved as he panted against his anger. With much difficulty, Tyronian stepped away when Xavier stepped forward to take his place. His murderous glare never left Hiinex.
Xavier looked at Hiinex with a cold expression. “Why are you here?”
Hiinex closed his eyes, breathing harshly. The slight wheezing sound he made when he took a breath assured that multiple ribs were broken and it was a struggle to breathe.
“Answer me!” Xavier barked out, kicking Hiinex with his foot. He gasped in pain.
“You have...something...we want,” Hiinex gasped. His words choked out of him as he coughed until blood pooled inside his mouth. Tyronian and Tristan stepped forward, sharing a glance with each other. This was the most informative thing they’d gotten out of Hiinex yet. Xavier’s eyes narrowed, his jaw clenching as he took another step toward him. He reached up and stilled Hiinex’s swinging body by his neck.
“What do we have?”
Hiinex shook his head weakly, refusing to say more. Xavier growled low in his throat.
“WHAT. DO. WE. HAVE?” Xavier roared, shaking Hiinex in his impatience. When he continued to say nothing, he sneered in disgust and pushed Hiinex away from him.
“Kill him,” Xavier ordered as he turned away to leave. “He knows nothing.”
“Why don’t you ask your wife?”
Xavier drew to a sudden halt; everything about him was tense when he slowly turned around to face Hiinex.
“What did you say?” Xavier breathed, his voice dark with a deadly combination of warning, disbelief, and fury.
Hiinex let out a humorless chuckle, which cut off into a coughing fit. He winced at the pain the action caused his broken ribs.
“I said, ask your wife,” Hiinex finally managed to wheeze out, watching as Xavier slowly started his way back to him.
“What would Leawyn have to do with any of this? With you?” Xavier growled down at Hiinex when he was standing right in front of him again. Hiinex shook his head, his smug grin taunting that he knew something important Xavier didn’t. Which he did—and that pissed Xavier off more.
“You’re blind,” Hiinex said. “You all are,” he added, shooting a look over Xavier’s shoulder at Tyronian and Tristan, who stood there with faces the picture of anger at Hiinex’s accusation. “That’s why you're going to fail.” He sneered up at Xavier. “You’re going to lose, and I’m going to enjoy watching you all die. Especially you,” he glared at Xavier.
The air grew unbearably tense. Xavier bent forward, their face inches apart.
“You are nothing but a calf pretending to be a bull,” he said, his voice dangerously low.
“You need to reevaluate your situation. You’re bound, helpless, and the chances of you living through what I’m about to do to you are very, very, slim,” Xavier promised darkly, his eyes filling with malice.
“But I can save you a slow and painful death, if you answer my three questions, and tell my cousin and brother here,” he nudged his head behind him in the direction of where Tristan and Tyronian stood, “anything else they would like to know. Otherwise, I promise you, I’ll strip you of your skin piece by piece. Now,” Xavier held out his hand behind him, and Tristan stepped forward, pulling his dagger out from its hip holster as he did and placing it in his brother’s outstretched hand.
“First question,” Xavier said as he turned back to Hiinex and placed the dagger under his armpit. “Where is the army hiding?”
Hiinex met Xavier’s eyes bravely, his face twisting up in a hateful sneer. “Fig’re it out yerself.”
“Wrong answer,” Xavier growled, and without further warning, he smashed the dagger into the soft flesh and twisted. Hiinex jerked against the chains holding him up, but otherwise didn’t make a sound except a long groan of pain.
Xavier yanked the dagger out swiftly, blood rushing to the surface and spilling down Hiinex’s side.
“I’ll ask again, where is the army hiding?” Xavier growled out. Hiinex stayed silent, shaking his head as sweat gathered heavily on his brow and lips. Xavier smirked and stabbed the blade back into Hiinex’s body and dragged the dagger downward, cutting the flesh in a smooth line as blood splayed out of him and stained Xavier’s shirt.
“Where?” Xavier asked calmly over Hiinex’s muffled shout. But still, he didn’t answer.
Xavier’s eyes flashed, and the hand not holding the dagger into Hiinex’s flesh reached up to where his skin protruded from the broken rib bone. Xavier quickly pushed against it, forcing the bone back in roughly.
Hiinex let out a terrifying pain-filled scream, jerking against the chains in his agony as his feet kicked out.
“Where is the army hiding?” Xavier yelled at Hiinex over his screams. “Tell me!” He jerked the dagger down and out, and with a quick flick of his wrist, a clean strip of Hiinex’s flesh landed on the ground in a bloody mess.
Xavier stepped back from Hiinex as he slumped against the ropes, his body shuddering with agony and shock as blood continuously oozed from his wounds. As promised, the skin was completely flayed from underneath Hiinex’s armpit all the way down to his ribs.
Xavier stared coolly at Hiinex, not at all fazed by his heaving breaths or the prisoner’s blood that had gushed all over him.
“Where?” Xavier asked calmly.
Hiinex weakly lifted his head to meet Xavier’s cold eyes.
“Just kill me,” Hiinex said in a whisper, his breaths ragged and uneven as he spoke. “Because I’ll never tell you.”
Xavier looked upon Hiinex with grudging respect for his tenacity. But that didn’t change anything. He needed answers.
Xavier tossed the dagger from hand to hand as he circled Hiinex. He would get the answers he needed, one way or the other. He was a man of his word, after all.
He raised his bloody knife again, and Hiinex’s screams filled the air as Xavier tortured him.
For hours, Xavier did as promised and stripped Hiinex’s skin off his body piece by piece.
The door slammed open with an almighty crash. Leawyn let out a short, startled scream and shot to her feet from the bed. Her mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of Xavier, who was covered with blood from head to toe, as he charged toward her with a murderous expression.
“Xavier, what—”
Leawyn choked on her words when he grabbed her around her throat with one hand and lifted her clear off her feet until her back slammed hard into the wall behind her. Her shocked cry of pain was short-lived when he squeezed her throat tight.
“What do you know?” He growled down at her, his eyes icy. “What did you do?!” he yelled, slamming her against the wall again and holding her up higher.
Leawyn’s eyes bulged in shock and fear, her hands flying up to clasp Xavier’s hand around her throat. “I don’t know what—”
Xavier let out what could only be described as an animalistic growl as he pushed his weight into Leawyn. “Don’t yo
u dare lie to me!” He seethed.
Her eyes filled with tears of fear, and she let out a choked whimper when his hand flexed around her slim throat. “Please!” She gasped.
“What did you do, Leawyn?” Xavier roared, enraged.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Leawyn cried fearfully, clawing at his hands. “Xavier...please!” she begged, her tears streaking down her cheeks when he flexed his hand against her throat.
He stared coldly at her a moment, lowering himself so his face was close to hers. Even though Leawyn was suspended high by his hand, her toes barely made contact with the floor, Xavier still towered over her.
“What are you hiding?” he asked coldly. She could feel the rage from his grip, and she was quickly losing her air supply if the dots in her vision were any indication.
“Please,” Leawyn whispered, squeezing her eyes closed. “I... don’t…know what you’re talking...about.”
Just when she thought she would pass out, Xavier released his grip around her neck with a sneer and stepped back. She dropped to the floor, coughing roughly as oxygen quickly rushed back into her lungs.
She didn’t get much respite when Xavier gripped her by her upper arm and jerked her into a standing position. She found herself against the wall again when he pushed into her personal space, and she couldn’t control her flinch when he raised his hand to slam his palms on the wall on either side of her, caging her in.
“I swear, Leawyn, if you’re lying to me...” he warned dangerously. “I’ll—”
“You’ll kill me?” she interrupted. “What else is new?” she spat hatefully. “Why don’t you just do it, then? I’m so sick of you threatening me, you bastard!” Enraged, Leawyn pushed against his chest roughly.
He didn’t budge, except to narrow his gaze.
She quickly reached down between them and pulled Xavier’s dagger free, brandishing it in front of them. Xavier narrowly avoided Leawyn slicing his chest.
“Do it!” she growled, thrusting her hand forward and offering the knife for him to do exactly what he threatened. “I have nothing left! Kill me and get it over with! You sure threaten me enough, so do it!”